The Trials of the Honorable F. Darcy (2 page)

***

Darcy really was busy that night; he had plans for dinner with Caroline. Dinner, of course, meaning sex. He wasn’t quite sure when he had decided it was acceptable to have sex with his best friend’s sister but it had been occurring on an occasional basis for the last two years. He drove to her apartment and ate dinner without paying attention to it. They watched a movie absently until she straddled him on the couch. Although he was physically aroused, he felt empty, detached. She writhed and moaned beneath him and he performed those acts which brought her pleasure. His breathing was hardly quickened by the effort; she was easy to please. He allowed her to orgasm and then reached his own quickly in an almost businesslike manner. Afterwards, he leaned against the headboard and drew his knees up, resting his elbows on them.

“What are you thinking?” she asked him sleepily. He was thinking that he was ashamed of himself for taking advantage of her. He knew that she wanted him, had dropped hints and made advances for years. He looked at his hands clasped between his knees and sighed deeply.

“I was thinking about work,” he lied. He gazed into space in the darkened bedroom for a moment, while she rolled over and nestled closer to him.

“You think about work too much, you need to relax,” she murmured. He did not respond. He was not happy with this “relationship,” it went against everything he believed in
-
sincerity, honesty, integrity. He resolved at that moment that he would not sleep with another woman until he felt some genuine affection for her. It didn’t have to be love, he wasn’t a romantic, but it did have to be more than a physiological reaction. He mentally prepared himself for a long period of celibacy. Then he made an excuse, dressed, and went home.

***

Having experienced the mortification of being found not tempting, Elizabeth found it very hard to take Judge Darcy seriously. She found it, in fact, very easy to appear before him; she prepared excessively for each case to prove to herself that she was better than him. She showed her indifference to him by refusing to take the bait when he said something offensive
,
as he did on a daily basis. Having absolutely no respect for him as a human being, she teased him. She gave him pert glances and said “Yes, Judge Darcy,” when he instructed her to do something. She fought him over evidentiary issues and objections without deference to his position and advocated for her client unequivocally.

As a result, Darcy found that she was one of the best attorneys who appeared before him. She did not back down from his intimidation
,
unintentional though it was, was always well-prepared, and often crafted creative settlements. She wrote exceptionally persuasive trial briefs, well supported by case law and legal analysis. He learned that Elizabeth
Bennet
had ghost-written several briefs on behalf of other attorneys at Gardiner and Associates and had a very high success rate of appeals against Judge Clayton. He was impressed by her dedication, often running into her in the elevator after hours as both were working late. After several weeks, he found that he had developed a healthy respect for her and actually enjoyed her appearances before him. He found himself looking forward to her cases, in a purely intellectual sort of way, of course. It had nothing at all to do with her velvety brown eyes.

***

While Judge Darcy avoided meditating on the very great pleasure a pair of fine eyes in the face of a pretty woman can bestow, he did allow himself to appreciate Elizabeth’s fiery streak. On one particular occasion, her opposing counsel had refused her settlement offer and then disappeared for two hours. When he finally returned, he had the nerve to tell Judge Darcy that Elizabeth was stonewalling him.

“Miss
Bennet
, are you refusing to negotiate?” Judge Darcy inquired over his glasses.

“Well, your honor, I would have been happy to continue negotiations had Mr. Byrd not disappeared for the last two hours! As it is, he has refused all my settlement offers, the case law is in my favor, and I refuse to be bullied into settlement. It is against my client’s interest,” she answered hotly. Her cheeks were flushed and she was quite angry. Why should she have her client offer more money just to avoid a trial they were likely to win? Not even the disapproving Judge Darcy would make her do such a disservice to her client.

“Miss
Bennet
, nobody is bullying you. I take your point. Go set it for trial,” he said and dismissed them. He frankly thought the other attorney was being unreasonable and was likely to lose at trial and thought Miss
Bennet
had made the right choice. Nonetheless, he was surprised that she had the cajones to assert that he was bullying her into settlement! He hid a smile. He was beginning to like her.

Elizabeth, on the other hand, found Judge Darcy disagreeable and overbearing. She had often chatted with Judge Clayton about their families or work but never with him; he was forbidding. He did not look like he would suffer conversation with a young woman. He frankly looked bored when someone was talking to him; and so she did not engage him in conversation. Nor could she forget his dismissal of her feminine charms. Certainly she had not harbored any attraction for him
,
he rather reminded her of Clark Kent without the super ego
,
but to hear herself described thus had been a blow to her pride.

So, she was surprised when he spoke to her one day as she stood alone in his courtroom. She was waiting for Charlotte’s case to finish so that they could go to lunch and she had wandered into his courtroom to read the latest Appellate Court ruling that he had posted on his bulletin board. She had not seen him and had her back turned to him as she read.

He saw her come in and stand with her back to him. She was rocking back and forth on one of her high heels, well-shaped legs showing beneath her modest skirt. He took a moment to admire her rear
,
he was after all not made of stone
,
as she read. Finding his thoughts wandering into unacceptable territory, he cleared his throat and said,

“That case will be of benefit to you, I think, in some of your toxic mold cases.”

She turned, startled, when she heard his voice. He was sitting at the bench looking over a stack of papers. He had taken off his robe and sat in shirtsleeves.

“Yes, it appears to pretty much absolve the insurance companies of any liability without absolute proof of causation by defect,” she said. He nodded.

“It does disadvantage those people who are the victims of floods,” he said.

“And those people who just refuse to fix a leaky washer and then sue the insurance company for millions.”

He nodded in concession. “You like insurance defense, then?” he asked trying to make small talk.

“Insurance defense allows me to indulge my inner evil overlord,” she raised her eyebrow and steepled her fingers under her chin in a posture of evil contemplation. “All defense attorneys are bad people at heart, you know,” she grinned.

“You’re very good at it,” he said, smiling slightly. She laughed.

“Hey, there you are,” Charlotte said as she came in. “Hello, Judge Darcy,” she said pleasantly.

“Hello, Miss Lucas.”

“Judge Darcy was just telling me what a terrible defense attorney I am,” Elizabeth smiled. Of course she was deliberately misunderstanding his compliment in order to tease him. She was the only attorney who ever teased him; he wondered if he should be flattered or worried.

“You should see how she treats the staff,” Charlotte grinned and Elizabeth gathered her things.

“Have a good day, Judge,” Elizabeth called as she left. She didn’t wait for him to reply.

Over the next few days, Darcy noted with some concern that his eye was drawn to Miss
Bennet
with an uncommon frequency. He had begun to be
...
attracted
...
to her. Of course as a judge, any personal connection with one of the attorneys before him would be highly questionable and probably cause for investigation and headaches
...
but he could still look. And look he did.

He thought she had a very pretty face; not exotic or glamorous but definitely not in the ordinary mien. She had warm, expressive brown eyes that she often rolled in contempt at her opposition’s arguments when she thought he wasn’t looking. Her eyebrows were dark arches that expressed disbelief, sarcasm, or frustration on quite a regular basis. But she had a quick smile and pleasant laugh. She was generally in good humor and had a keen wit that he appreciated
,
which she only exhibited when she thought he wasn’t paying attention. Her creamy complexion contrasted against her dark brown hair, which she always wore pulled back into a professional bun or chignon. That a curl usually found its way from her bun only to be tucked behind an ear struck him as somewhat charming, as if she could barely contain the energy that tried to escape from her body.

Aside from her prettiness, Jim was right; she had a very fine body. She was not particularly tall, perhaps 5’4”. She was not too skinny or too heavy; she had good curves that were shown to her advantage by well-cut suits. She disdained the traditional dark suit, often wearing light blues or greens, which he thought suited her better than black. Those colors made her eyes stand out.

While Elizabeth
Bennet
was busy impressing Judge Darcy with her impertinence and legal acumen, her sister Jane was impressing another gentlemen in an entirely different way.

Jane
Bennet
had begun her residency at Meryton Hospital in late June. Since that time
,
and it was now
mid-October
, she had been secretly admiring the pediatric surgeon. Dr. Charles Bingley was happy, talented, good with children, and oh-so-hot. She had a fear that he might be gay; but if he wasn’t, she was determined to have him.

“Hello, Dr. Bingley,” she said as she sat next to him in the cafeteria.

“Jane! How nice to see you again. How is it coming over in urology?”

“I wanted to thank you for lending me this text,” she said, placing it on the table next to him. “I think I’ve learned a great deal about the male anatomy from studying this book.”

“I’m glad you enjoyed it. I thought it might be a little hard for you,” he replied.

“Not at all. I think I understand it pretty well. In fact, I’ve taken the liberty of putting my phone number on the post-it note in Chapter Sixteen if you wanted to call with any questions about the text.” Jane licked her forefinger and paged over to Chapter Sixteen “The Male Sexual Response,” and pointed to the post-it note with her cell phone number on it.

“Please feel free to call me, Doctor,” she said.

“Please, call me Charley,” he said a little breathlessly. She smiled. Not gay.

***

“Oh, come on Darcy, it will be an absolute bore without you,” Caroline said as she sipped her coffee with Darcy and Charles.

“It will not!” Bingley said indignantly. Caroline gave him a disbelieving snort and turned back to Darcy.

“It will be full of scrubs and nurses,” she pouted.

“I do know people outside the hospital, you know!” Bingley said hotly. Darcy watched the interaction between older sister and younger brother. He could almost envision her holding Charles out at arm’s length with her hand on his forehead while he swung fruitless punches at her.

“Aren’t you inviting any of your friends, Caroline?” Darcy asked, sipping his tea. Dreadful stuff, the Americans really knew how to fuck up a cup of tea but he drank it nonetheless.

“I’m inviting you, aren’t I?” she said, leaning over the table and poking her finger into his chest. He looked down at her red lacquered nail.

“Halloween is a tedious holiday. Everybody thinks it’s their one time in the year to get outrageous by dressing up in a devil costume,” Darcy drawled.

“It is!” Bingley grinned. “I’m not sure what I’m going to be yet
...”

“No doubt it will be outrageous,” Darcy interrupted. “Maybe you could be a surgeon; you could wear one of those little paper masks!” he said with mock excitement. Then he shook his head and leaned back in his chair. “It’s a time for everyone to get drunk, act stupid, and hide behind a mask while doing it,” he snorted disdainfully.

Bingley sat back with his arms crossed.

“Honestly, Darcy, sometimes I think the wart on Caroline’s ass is more fun than you.”

Darcy choked on his tea and Caroline swatted Bingley on the head. She turned her attention back to Darcy.

“Will, really, I’ll be desolate if you don’t come,” Caroline purred. “Bring Georgie, she’ll have fun.”

Darcy rolled his eyes and put his teacup down. Caroline was under the impression that his 25 year old sister, Georgiana, was perpetually 15.

“I’ll make it worth your while,” she sang, tracing a little circle on his hand with her fingertip. Darcy ignored her and looked at Bingley.

“What time will it be?” he asked Bingley. Bingley grinned.

“Starts at 8.” His smile disappeared. “And you’d better not come dressed as a judge!”