Skip to content

Swipe Left on Mr. Darcy — Guard Down, Page 3

By Suha · Published

Log in to see this page

Page 3 of Guard Down is for signed-in readers. Logging in brings you straight back here — and an account is free if you do not have one.

Transcript

Lizzie rises from the table and turns to head upstairs to Jane. Below, Darcy sits apart with a coffee, his steel-grey eyes quietly tracking her across the room over the rim of his cup — and beside him, Caroline's sharp eyes flick sideways, catching him staring. A silent, charged beat. (No dialogue.)

Image description

Lizzie rises to head upstairs; below, Darcy watches her over the rim of his coffee cup while Caroline notices his stare.

About this chapter

Still stranded at Netherfield while Jane's fever breaks, Lizzie has to survive days in the cool glass house in yesterday's clothes — trading barbs with Caroline, fielding Darcy's unguarded stares, and puncturing a smug drawing-room debate about what makes a woman a real catch. Then her family descends: Mrs. Bennet sweeps in with Lydia and Kitty to 'rescue' Jane, gushing over the house, sprawling on the designer furniture, and demanding Bingley throw a party — while Lizzie dies of embarrassment and Caroline drinks it in. Bracing for Darcy to confirm every cold thing she believes about him with a verdict on her circus of a family, Lizzie gets the opposite: he sidesteps the insult entirely and quietly tells her that her sister is lucky to have her. It disarms her more than any cruelty could — and her tidy verdict on Mr. Darcy starts to come apart.