Pride and Stubbornness

It was the second time that evening that she'd given in, and she didn't like it, but with a sigh, she picked up her briefcase, and bid Lazarus goodnight.

Darcy was quiet as they walked to his car in the pouring rain and she was grateful. She didn't like they way he'd loomed over her while she was working, quietly assessing, and probably judging her. She'd seen his horror at how she treated Nick's wife, and the contempt with which he'd eyed the bar's patrons. The man was a snob and a half, and she didn't want spend another minute with him.

As she suspected, he drove a classy black Mercedes, and even opened the door for her. When he was safely behind the wheel, she gave him her address half an hour from downtown.

"So what were you doing in the bookstore?" he asked, breaking the awkward silence.

"Wasn't it obvious? I was looking for some crap to read," she hoped that would shut him up.

"Why?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"All I know is that you're a killer. I'd like to know more,"

"Alright, it's not like I'll see you again, anyway,"

Darcy had no intention of letting that happen, but he didn't say as much.

"I'm thirty two years old. I come from an upper middle class, half Asian family, and I was looking for a romance novel to ease the pain and frustration in the aftermath of a bad relationship,"

"How long has it been since the break up?"

Aurora shrugged.

"A few months; not that it matters. It wasn't love...it wasn't even lust," she said with bitter cynicism.

Darcy smiled, silently elated she wasn't attached.

He pulled up to her home, a 1920s style brick house, and watched her as she fumbled with the seatbelt.

"Thank you for the ride, Mr. Rochester" she said politely, jerking the belt open with a grunt of frustration.

"Darcy" he corrected.

"I barely know you," she said with her hand on the door handle. She was half soaked from the walk to the car. She wanted to go inside, put on a pair of pajamas and go to bed, not carry on an awkward conversation with a man who belonged on the cover of a bodice ripper.

"Fair enough; let me walk to you to your door. You're shivering and I have an umbrella,"

"You can't help it, can you?"

"Help what?"

"That 'perfect gentleman' thing; you can't help it can you?"

"I suppose not" he said laconically.

Darcy grabbed his umbrella and followed her out of the car. He moved close to her, shielding her from the rain and she tensed as they reached her doorstep. Aurora reached for her keys, cursing as she rummaged around for them.

"Thanks for agreeing to help" Darcy said.

"You're a loyal friend" she replied with a smile. Ignoring him now, she found her keys and slid them into the lock. Aurora had her hand on the door handle. She intended to dismiss Darcy and go inside, but looking up at his face, she stilled.

Those intense green eyes were focused on her, and something in her belly clenched in response. Aurora felt incredibly awkward. They were at the door; why the hell wasn't he leaving?

She didn't have much time to ponder that question, because Darcy reached behind her and pulled out her elastic. As he slid his fingers into her hair and tilted her head back, her briefcase hit the floor, and her mind went blissfully, deliciously blank.

The kiss was tentative at first.

Darcy wanted a taste, just one taste to get him through the night...and then she let out the tiniest of moans and he deepened the kiss. Her hand fisted in his jacket, jerking him closer and he gasped, pleased with her strength. Lost now, he slid an arm around her waist, wallowing in the taste of her.

"I need you," he murmured against her gasping lips, and she pulled away, staring at him with a mixture of arousal and confusion.

"This is crazy. I don't even know you," she said, and then to his surprise, she took his face in her hands and kissed him again. It was a mystery of human chemistry he didn't fully understand; that your true mate, that cosmic lover pre assigned, tasted and felt like home; at once soothing and potently arousing. His arm tightened around her waist, wanting to lose himself in her strength when, with equal ferocity, she pulled away.

"I am so sorry" she said shakily, wincing with embarrassment. "I never do this. I'll take care of your friend, but I hope we can forget about this,"

Before Darcy could even respond, she'd rushed inside and disappeared, leaving him staring at the door.

This whole situation was crazy, and God help him, he had it bad.

***

"You're hiding something," Jimmy said the following afternoon, eyeing his boss with suspicion. They'd been working all day, and throughout the day, Aurora would pause, as though remembering something, take a deep breath, blush, and shake her head, as though waking from a dream.

"I am not,"

"Spill it, Nemesis!"

Aurora did that lip licking thing she did when she was irritated. Then she sighed.

"I made out with Darcy Rochester" she said with a bowed head.

"You mean the GORGEOUS guy who came looking for you yesterday? What the hell is wrong with you! You look like you're embarrassed!"

"I am"

"What the hell for?" Jimmy screamed.

"Because he's rich, and from a prestigious family and—"

"To hell with that! What was it like?"

Aurora did that head shaking thing again.

"It was... amazing" the man tasted incredible and kissed better than any fantasy. She'd become oblivious to him until they'd kissed, and now... "Oh hell! It doesn't matter anyway. I don't plan to see him ever again!"

"It's a shame..." Jimmy said sadly.

"Sure, a damn dirty shame," she muttered cynically. "Let's get to work"

***

The next few weeks were a blur. Aurora got Nick neatly out of his marriage with his money intact, and thankfully saw nothing of Darcy Rochester. Lazarus paid her fee and more than pleased with her work, he referred her and her firm to all his wealthy colleagues. Despite the taxing ordeal, or perhaps because of it, she and Nick had become fast friends. As Nick's friend, Aurora knew she wouldn't able to dodge Darcy forever, but with extreme discipline and a mind crushing workload, she managed to push the incident to the back of her mind.

"Do me a favor?" Nick asked shyly one day over lunch.

"Within reason" Aurora replied.

"There's this charity ball I have to go to. Would you come with me?"

Aurora stared at him as though he'd grown a second head.

"A charity event..." she said slowly, not bothering to hide her disgust.

"It's something I go to every year as part of the whole 'wealthy businessman' routine. I normally go with my wife, but—I don't have one anymore," he said uneasily, shoving his fingers through his hair.

"You're much better for it," Aurora said reassuringly, gently tapping his hand with a fingertip. "Go stag to this thing. With your looks you'll probably be considered the most eligible bachelor in town."

"I don't want to deal with all the questions and gossip. Come with me...please?" he begged.

Aurora couldn't stand that look because she couldn't say no to it.

"This isn't a date is it?" she asked suspiciously.

"Good God No!" Nick replied instantly. "Nothing personal, Aurora, but after all I've been through, dating is the last thing on my mind. Please come with me...I'll make it up to you,"

Aurora sighed.

"Where and when?"

Nick brightened instantly.

"Friday; be ready by seven. I'll pick you up"

***

"I HATE these events," Aurora growled at the mirror while Jimmy put the final touches on her hair.

"But you look fabulous!"

Aurora stared at herself in the mirror and frowned. The dress was floor length ruby red satin with a high slit up the side, and left her back bare save for two straps that crossed between her shoulder blades. It wasn't something she would have chosen for herself, but Aurora admitted Jimmy had impeccable taste. He'd done her hair up, crammed her feet into high heels, and painted her lips to match the dress.

"You did a good job," she admitted, and in response Jimmy smiled and handed her a red beaded bag.

At that moment, a silver Porsche pulled up in front of her house. Like the perfect gentlemen, Nick opened the door and waved.

"Be sure to lock up" she told Jimmy, and with a deep breath she headed outside.

***

Aurora hated formal events.

They were always full of the same people: middle aged businessmen, trophy wives, and aging patriarchs. If you took the combined personality of the room and multiplied it by a thousand, you might have something as interesting as a documentary on socks. These people, she thought cynically, were society's big decision makers. They gave money to just about every group that asked, but they wouldn't be caught dead with any of them. The charity 'du jour' was Cold Youth, an organization that specialized in getting street kids into stable homes and schools. "I feel like I'm going into a shark pool" she murmured.

"How do you think I feel?" Nick replied nervously. He reached for her hand, and she took it and squeezed briefly.

Steeling herself against the whispers of women in the room, she made the rounds with Nick. They said hello to all the people he had to, and stayed silent while he chatted business with the old patriarchs. Aurora wished she had a watch. One evening was beginning to feel like an eternity...and just when she thought things couldn't get worse, Darcy Rochester walked in. She knew, because she all but felt him.

His tux was immaculate of course, and on his arm was a smiling young blonde ten years his junior. Aurora turned her back, hoping he hadn't seen her, but he simply moved in front of her.

"How are you this evening, Miss Nemesis?" he asked.

"Very well, thank you" she answered stiffly.

Aurora looked beautiful tonight.

When she had first seen him she turned her back, revealing an expanse of smooth gold skin that all but stopped his heart. She was here as Nick's date, a fact that would have angered him if he hadn't seen the way his friend was eyeing his sister. Aurora tried smiling at him but it looked more like a grimace. Darcy couldn't blame her; their last encounter didn't make things easy between them.

"Lucy! My God! I haven't seen you since you were twelve!" Nick exclaimed, eyeing his sister with the kind of rapt admiration one usually reserved for divas.

"Lucy?" she asked with a lift of her brow.

"My sister" Darcy replied, introducing them. Aurora's features softened with what looked like relief. She looked from him to his sister, trying to discern similarities between them, and she must have found some because Aurora smiled warmly.

"Nice to meet you, Lucy; are you enjoying the party?"

"I don't really enjoy these things," Lucy admitted sheepishly. "I'd rather be out with friends, but my brother didn't have a date."

Darcy watched as Aurora enjoyed another laugh at his expense. Apparently that was all it took to win her friendship, and he stared at his sister with admiration while she chatted it up with his dream girl. Nick, he realized, much to his irritation, was watching Lucy with puppy dog eyes.

His sister was only twenty three and Nick was fresh out of a bad marriage. This didn't bode well to Darcy.

He was about to intervene when Aurora announced that Nick owed her a dance. "I didn't know you danced..." Nick began.

"I don't" she said amicably, grabbing his hand, "teach me".

As it seemed like the only way to avoid boring, awkward conversation, Darcy followed suit, pulling his sister onto the dance floor.

"She's gorgeous, brother," Lucy told him as they waltzed effortlessly across the floor, "but she doesn't seem to like you,"

"I have that effect on people," he answered dryly, watching Lucy's mouth twist in a frown. "She's not indifferent" he added, remembering the ferocity with which she'd kissed him, "but she hasn't had a chance to get to know me, either"

"You didn't give her one, Darcy. You shouldn't have backed off like that. She probably thinks it was a fluke,"

"She was busy with Nick's divorce. I didn't want to bother her,"

His sister stared at him with that look she'd perfected in her early teens; the you're an idiot look.

"When it comes to women, you're not normally such a colossal moron," Lucy said thoughtfully. "Why is this one any different?"

"I actually care," he muttered irritably, hating it when she was right. "What am I supposed to do now?"

Lucy smiled slowly. "That's easy; the band's about to play a slow one. Switch partners,"

"But Nick's got a..."

"I can handle it,"

With a nod of surrender, Darcy spoke to Nick over Lucy's shoulder. With a smile and a blush, Nick gave in, and they smoothly switched companions.

"Thanks a lot, Darcy," Aurora murmured irritably.

"You look annoyed with me" he said cautiously, surprised at how easily she fit in his arms.

"I was trying to help you. You clearly don't like Nick ogling your sister. I dragged him onto the dance floor to get him away from her,"

"My sister can take of herself," he said dryly, looking over her shoulder to make sure Nick's hands were at waist level. "But I appreciate the gesture."

"You'd better, I can't dance" she muttered, gasping when his fingers grazed her back. The move sent a tingle straight up her spine, and she cleared her throat, trying to shake it off. "Your fingers are callused," Aurora said, not bothering to hide her surprise. Men like him typically had smooth hands with perfect manicures. This wasn't the case with Darcy Rochester. The fingers gently caressing her back were man hands: big, strong, and rough with calluses.

"I blame it on a mix of fencing, riding, and woodcarving," he said.

"I can see you doing the first two...but woodcarving?"

Darcy smiled slightly. He was one of those men who rarely smiled, and when he did it was more with his eyes than with his mouth. It made him that much more disarming, and despite herself, Aurora relaxed in his arms.

"It's a hobby I picked up during my rebellious youth...you look stunning" he said.

"Thank you" she said, trying not to be pleased. "What other scandalous activities did you take up?"

"Martial arts, sculpting and a couple of other things my parents didn't really approve of...Do my calluses bother you?" he touched her back again, and she couldn't help sucking in a breath.

"Not at all" her voice sounded unusually high to her ears. Aurora shut her eyes, trying to purge thoughts of what those calluses would feel like on other parts of her body.

"I don't want to forget about what happened a few weeks ago" Darcy said abruptly.

Aurora stumbled in her high heels, and Darcy moved to catch her. The gesture forced their bodies even closer on the dance floor and Aurora placed her hands on his shoulders to steady herself. She marveled at his strength for a moment, inhaled the scent of cologne and man when she realized the music had stopped.

"Thank you for a wonderful dance, Mr. Rochester,"

"Darcy" he corrected.

"Right...join me in the ladies' room, will you Lucy?" she called after his sister, gently taking her by the arm. Lucy barely had time to accept before Aurora rushed them away. Darcy stared after her, wondering how such an intelligent woman could pretend to be so thickheaded.

"I believe thanks are in order," Nick said as they headed towards the bar.

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about you, thanking me, for bringing her,"

"I don't understand"

"I'm not blind, Darcy. I saw the way you were looking at her the night I hired her. I could have gone to this thing alone, but I didn't. I brought her here for you!"

"Thank you" was all he could manage.

"Good. I'm having a party up North next weekend. I'll invite her, and you'll bring your sister--"

"Now wait just one minute!"

"Don't screw it up Darcy, I like her," Nick said stubbornly, and Darcy knew the matter was closed.

***

"My brother said you were screaming in the middle of the romance section when he met you."

"Screaming is a bit of an exaggeration," Aurora said carefully.

"Oh. Why were you screaming?"

"Because I was hoping for a romance novel that would cater to someone like me."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Have you ever read those things?"

"A few," Lucy admitted.

"All the heroines are either redheads, or have exotic dark hair and bright blue or green eyes or look like . . . well . . . you. No offense."

"None taken; but why would you read those things in the first place?"

Aurora shrugged. "Romance doesn't happen in real life. Bad boys are deadbeats and gorgeous rich guys cower before even richer parents who don't want their precious bloodlines tainted by ethnics or the middle class. You probably hate me now don't you?" she asked cautiously. She expected to see anger and reproach in the other woman's eyes, but she didn't. She saw sympathy.

"You've obviously been burned before," Lucy said thoughtfully, "but don't write Nick and Darcy off because of it."

Aurora smiled slightly, sadly, and took Lucy by the hand.

"Come on, I'm sure Nick's dying to see you!"

On a laugh the women left the bathroom, only to find their dates facing off against a woman as old as she was ugly.

The Waldorf matriarch was as mean as she was grotesque. Her five feet, four inch frame was covered with ugly fat with growths and age spots that the best make up artists couldn't conceal. Picture Jabba the Hut in Donna Karan.

As Aurora and Lucy approached, Paris Waldorf the First's already cold eyes sharpened to dagger points.

"Nemesis, what are you doing here?"

"She's my date," Nick said nervously.

Mrs. Waldorf's mouth twisted with disdain.

"As I suspected . . . Nicholas, you should be ashamed of yourself! You abandoned a perfectly respectable wife to cavort with an impoverished half breed!"

Aurora's muscles tightened and Lucy put a hand on her arm, trying to reassure her. Around them, people began to stare.

"You should know better!" Mrs. Waldorf continued, behaving as though Aurora wasn't there. "Is the Lazarus fortune to be so tainted by the mongrel children of the South Pacific?"

"That's enough!" said a voice. Aurora turned her jaw dropping as Darcy Rochester stepped between her and Mrs. Waldorf. "Mrs. Waldorf, pray tell me, what year is it?"

"I don't see what that has to do with anything . . . "

"Humor me," Darcy said his voice ripe with irony.

"Its 2006," Mrs. Waldorf replied.

Darcy's head cocked in acknowledgment. "Well then perhaps you should return to the eighteenth century where you belong. Your opinions are about two hundred years out of date . . . but I suppose you can't help it, can you? You're what, five hundred years old?"

Lucy coughed, Nick cleared his throat, and the room echoed with soft chuckles and strangled laughs. Aurora could only stare as Mrs. Waldorf stormed off, shouting about how she'd never been treated that way in her entire life.

She looked at Darcy, her heart hammering in her chest, and for the first time saw beyond his wealth and prestige. He defended her without a care for the opinions of business associates and fellow members of the modern aristocracy and something bloomed in her chest, melding with the already complicated attraction. When he offered her his hand Aurora stared down at it, as if she couldn't tell what it was.

"I'm not going to sleep with you just because you defended me!" she said instantly. Then she stopped short, as though realizing what she'd said, and hastily announced that she had to leave. With what looked like a curtsy, she made her apologies to Nick and Lucy and bolted out of the ballroom like a bat out of hell.

"Go after her, you idiot!" Lucy told him as Darcy ran, but Aurora was fast on her feet. By the time he'd reached the bottom of the front steps, she was already in the cab and driving away. Breathless and heartsick, Darcy looked down at the sidewalk.