Swipe Left on Mr. Darcy — Guard Down, Page 9
By Suha · Published
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Transcript
Mid-stroll across the room, Lizzie stops by the glass wall, hand on her hip, and catches Darcy's gaze directly. Lizzie: 'You're staring again.' Darcy, guarded but caught, the faintest crack of warmth in his steel-grey eyes: 'I'm deciding if you're laughing at me.'
Image description
Mid-stroll by the glass wall, Lizzie stops and calls Darcy out for staring; below, a caught Darcy deflects with a guarded line.
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.