Darcy stalked the carpet in front of his office desk, trying to work out some physical energy so he could focus on work. It was rare that he actually worked from the corner office reserved for him at Pemberly Visions, but occasionally, he was needed for an in-person meeting. He’d driven in to D.C. before the morning rush hour, and the entire drive, he’d been tortured with memories of the golden flecks in Eliot’s eyes, and the slow quirk of the right side of his smile. And the way his hips had rolled sensually against George’s on the dance floor...

His phone lit up and chimed with a message from his sister, Gina.

Hey, bro. What’s up?

Darcy’s fingers hovered over the screen. He couldn’t tell her about George Wickham. He’d done his best to erase the man’s existence from their lives after what had happened between him and Gina. She had been a mess after the whole incident, crying every time his name was mentioned. He couldn’t complain to her about his frustration at seeing him again.

Darcy rubbed his hand over his eyes. Even if he were to discuss it with her, this would be one of the worst times. She already had her hands full of angst and drama, stuck with her mother in France. Gina was caught between a rock and a hard place these days. She was finishing her masters in music, which gave her quite a bit of time away from Mother, except in the summer. If their Mother wasn’t fronting the bills, Gina would have more freedom. And Darcy had offered. But Gina wasn’t willing to start that fight with Mother, and Darcy wasn’t exactly excited about it either. But he’d do anything for Gina.

I went clubbing last night, he typed.

Gina’s reply was almost immediate. A line of scream and surprised emojis followed by: What? Where? Tell me everything. You never go out! Did you dance? Who was there?

I played putt putt with Bing and his girlfriend, her brothers, and Carter, and you will be pleased to know that I was absolutely terrible. Gina always grumbled about how he beat her in actual golf.

So take you to putt putt golf, check. But what about DANCING?

Darcy shook his head, laughing. I didn’t actually dance, he admitted.

Another line of dismayed emojis. Why not? Were his girlfriend’s brothers both alphas or something? Because I know you didn’t dance with Carter.

Darcy realized he may have opened a can of worms he wasn’t completely ready for. No, they were both omegas.

Were they ugly? she asked immediately.

Darcy laughed. No, they were both good looking. One was a little young for me.

THEN WHY DIDN’T YOU DANCE? Ugh. You’re impossible. Tell me about the other one. I’m trying to figure out why you were so resistant. They were probably ugly and you’re just being nice.

He could just picture Gina rolling her eyes. Since when have I ever been accused of being nice? Eliot was… normally handsome? He has pretty eyes, and he’s a few inches shorter than me, with light brown hair.

Darcy, please understand I’m saying this completely in love, but I’m starting to think you’re defective.

A surprised laugh burst from Darcy. Well, you better hurry back so you can help fix me.

Darcy tapped his fingers on the desk, waiting for a reply, but his phone remained silent. Much as he wanted to continue the discussion, there was still more work to do. A fact brought into reality by the knocking on his door by his cousin and VP of Market Development, Will.

“Hey, Darcy.”

“Yes, Will, what is it?”

Will took a relaxed seat across from him. “Your meeting with the Schwartz brothers will begin in fifteen minutes. We’ve already been over the details twice with Lloyd. You haven’t eaten lunch—again.” Will set a white paper bag with the logo of Darcy’s favorite lunch spot on it and a fresh cup of coffee on the desk. “I had your secretary order your favorite sandwich.”

Darcy looked down at the bag, realizing he was hungry. “Thank you, Will.”

Will nodded. “You’re welcome. Fifteen minutes. Should I have your secretary remind you at five til?”

“Please.” Darcy opened the bag to pull out the sandwich. The delicious flavor of roast beef with horseradish burst onto his tongue. “What about you?” he asked as Will started to close the door behind him. “Did you get lunch?” Will might reprimand him about his obsessive work habits, but Will was just as bad sometimes.

Will raised another bag with a small smile. “I’m not entirely altruistic.”

The door closed before Darcy realized he could have invited Will to join him. The sandwich turned tasteless and dry in his mouth. His cousin went above and beyond the call of either business or family to take care of him, but what did Darcy give in return?

The sandwich was no longer appealing, but Darcy forced himself to take another bite as he opened the files for the upcoming meeting. He’d never been good with people, and Will knew that. Surely he didn’t take it personally.

But Darcy did. He prided himself on supporting and taking care of those few people he trusted to keep close, and he felt as though he was failing with Will.

The file opened and Darcy set aside his concerns for the moment, but did not dismiss them.

By seven that night, Darcy decided to order in a late dinner. He picked up his cell and noticed a series of texts from Bing—all talking about Jane and Eliot. He slid his thumb across the screen to read them. Bing had a tendency toward exuberance even in text.

As Darcy read, he stood abruptly, all thoughts of dinner in the office gone. He headed toward the exit, noting that the light was still on in Will’s office. Were they the only two still working? Looking around, Darcy realized that they must be. He stopped against the open door. “Will, I’m heading out.”

Will looked up from his computer, sheets of paper—most with post-it notes in various colors attached—covered his desk. For such a formal and precise man, his organizational methods were incongruous, and Darcy didn’t understand how Will worked in such chaos, but his results spoke to his effectiveness. “Are you still staying at Bing’s?”

“Yes.”

“I know you’re uncomfortable taking residence at one of your parent’s properties, but you know that if you ever desire a place of your own, we have plenty of contacts who would be able to make the transition very seamless for you.”

Darcy had considered it several times, yearned for it more than that, but in the end, it always came down to the fact that if he did purchase his own place, there would be no one to force him out into society as Bing did. He’d be a sad, miserable, lonely man, and he was aware enough to realize that. When Gina finished her masters, he’d give it more consideration.

“It can’t be completely comfortable living under someone else’s roof for so long, unless...” Will waggled his eyebrows.

Darcy laughed—a bark of sound that made Will’s eyes go wide with shock. Will wasn’t the first to suggest that he and Bing were a couple. Will leaned back in his chair, hands folding at his waist.

“You of all people ought to know that Bing and I are nothing more than friends. And if we were, what cause would I have to hide it?”

Will considered him carefully, silently, and Darcy, in control, unreadable Darcy, felt warmth steal up his neck and burn his ears. He hoped Will wouldn’t notice—or, if he did notice, not comment on. But as the silence grew, he felt he had to say something, and so he said too much. “He has a few extra house guests tonight.”

“I see.”

Darcy had no idea if Will did or did not see. He also did not wish to find out for certain. “I’m leaving now.”

“Shall I—”

“Why don’t you take the rest of the night off?” Darcy leaned closer to see what Will was working on. “We can review the plan for Shoenn Bagels together tomorrow. I want to hear your opinion.”

Will’s eyes widened, but he recovered from his shock with speed. “I will.”

Darcy nodded, and continued walking to the elevator. Was it so strange for him to ask Will’s opinion? Perhaps. Though he always felt his cousin knew he did not need Darcy’s explicit request to do so.

A sound startled Darcy, and he stopped suddenly to look around. Was someone else in the office? He didn’t hear anything more and resumed walking, only to hear the sound again. He looked around.

Will walked up. “Since when do you whistle?”

Darcy coughed in surprise, realizing that had been the noise that had surprised him. “Whistling?”

A grin split Will’s normally stoic face. “Yes, you, whistling. First, leaving the office before ten and then whistling. The cause wouldn’t happen to be one of Bing’s houseguests, would it?”

Will’s question was a little too close for comfort. Darcy swallowed hard. His phone rang, the sound giving him an excuse not to answer his cousin. The face grinning up from the screen gave him even more of an excuse. “It’s Gina.” Darcy raised the phone to his ear, relief suffusing his body. “Hello.”

“Hello? Are you okay?” Gina demanded.

“I’m fine. Why do you ask?”

“Because you haven’t answered the phone with a simple, happy sounding ‘hello’ in five years. Ever since…”

“To what do I owe the honor?” Darcy drawled.

“Yes, that’s definitely more you. Have you spoken to our mother recently?”

“Unfortunately, yes.” She’d called him the first morning they were in Paris. Thankfully, he’d not yet gone to sleep, as it had been two in the morning in Virginia. She’d apparently fallen completely in love with the painting featured in the lobby of the hotel they were staying at and had paid such an exorbitant amount of money for a no-name piece of work that she insisted would be worth billions some day, that Darcy had quit working soon after with a headache and gone to bed.

“Glad you’re handling it well.”

“Very little I can do about it.”

“True.” Gina paused.

“Was there something else for this call?”

“I hate being stuck here with her?”

“I don’t doubt it. How’s the trip?”

“Boring. Her personal assistant is headed back ahead of us to start arranging things. I can’t wait for him to be gone.”

“That annoying, huh?” Darcy grinned into the phone at his sister’s complaints.

“The biggest faker I’ve ever met,” Gina added a growl of frustration.

The elevator reached the parking level. Darcy stepped out into humid warmth. “See you later, Will.” He raised a hand at his cousin.

“Where are you? Is that cousin Will? Tell him I say hi,” Gina asked.

“Gina says hi.”

Will smiled. “Tell her she has my many sympathies and I look forward to seeing her soon.”

Darcy relayed the sentiments, making a note to ask why Will would be seeing Gina. As far as he knew there were no company or family decisions that they needed to make. His footsteps echoed as he walked to his BMW. His mother had tried to push him to purchase something flashier the first time she’d seen it, but Darcy had never been one to spend money for money’s sake. “I’m off to Bing’s.”

Gina sighed. “I wish I were with you.”

With more emotion than he expected, Darcy said, “I wish you were too.”

“How’s Bing’s new lady friend?”

“That’s why I’m going over. Evidently she’s temporarily moved in.”

Showing more maturity and cynicism than Darcy wanted her to possess, Gina commented, “It’s never temporary.”

“Not everyone is like Mother.”

“Or a few other people in our lives we could name.” Gina sighed. “I know. I just wish both of us could meet nice guys for once.”

Darcy’s mind immediately fled to a memory of Eliot’s face smoothed with relaxation as he lay on the ground, surrounded by trees. His mind wasn’t the only part of him reacting to the memory either.

“Definitely, our dear Ms. de Bourgh,” Gina spoke with an inflection that Darcy couldn’t quite identify, “has damaged our view of relationships. Thank goodness you and I both know how to handle ourselves.”

Darcy’s jaw tightened as another memory set in, one of how close he’d come to losing Gina and a huge chunk of the family business to—Darcy didn’t even want to think his name. “True.”

“So, Bing’s?”

“Yes.”

A curious note struck Gina’s voice. “And you’re pleased? I can hear it in your voice. Normally you hide in your rooms when Bing has guests over.”

Darcy opened the car door and slid into the front seat, enjoying the smooth feel of the leather interior. “Normally, I would. But in this case, I feel duty bound to assess a certain omega.” He switched the phone’s audio to handsfree.

“For yourself or for Bing?” Gina teased.

“Bing, of course,” Darcy answered, hitting the gas too hard as he pulled out of his parking spot. “You know as well as I do that Bing needs looking after or he’ll end up tied to a gold digger and homeless within the year.”

Gina’s laugh was sad. She knew it was true. “Best of luck to you.”

“I will need it.”

“Stay clear of Carter. He’s always trying to drag you into his arms.”

“That will not be a problem.” Not that Carter’s attention had ever been anything more than an annoyance. Darcy wasn’t interested in Carter. “Though I shudder to think how he’ll handle this particular influx of guests.”

“Why? Does the group include a majorly hot and rich alpha he’s all over?”

“That would be a relief,” Darcy said. “No, he’s gotten it into his mind that Jane’s—”

“That’s the girl Bing likes, right?”

“Yes.”

“And Carter doesn’t like her?”

Darcy shrugged, even though Gina couldn’t see him. “No, they get along fine, as far as I can tell. It’s Jane’s brother Carter has a problem with.” Darcy sensed he was straying too far into dangerous territory, but he was used to telling Gina nearly everything. Just because he was wrestling with his attraction—okay, yes, he was admitting it. His interest had gone beyond curiosity to attraction—to Eliot didn’t mean he had to completely avoid any reference to the man.

“Ooh, I love gossip. I love when Carter gets catty, too. Tell me about this guy. Alpha? Omega?”

“Omega.”

“Tall? Short?”

“Um, normal?”

“Darcy! Stop with the one word answers! Tell me what this guy looks like!”

Again feeling he was straying into dangerous territory, but feeling that to shut down now would draw more attention to his situation, he did his best to describe Eliot as factually as possible. “He is slightly taller than my shoulder. Slender. A wedding planner. He has dark hair and green eyes with golden flecks.”

“Golden flecks, huh?”

That was when Darcy knew he’d gone too far. He braced himself for Gina’s inevitable barrage of questions, but they didn’t come.

“Sounds like Carter’s just getting catty out of principle. Other than his eyes, nothing really extraordinary?”

Darcy breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn’t revealed too much. “They are rather nice eyes.”

“Ah, but the eyes don’t make the man, do they?”

Darcy felt an inexplicable need to defend Eliot. He was more than his pretty eyes. He was witty and bright and intelligent—

Ah. But those weren’t the eyes Gina was referring to, was she?

“Gina, I—”

“Hey, Mom is calling me. I’ve gotta go, okay? Talk to you later.”

Before Darcy could respond, she was gone. Dammit. If he hadn’t been so caught up in his own mind, he would have realized that of course Gina was going to remember the man who had broken her heart. Another man who was often praised for his “fine eyes.”

Gina was right, and Darcy would do well to remember that. The eyes did not make the man.