“What do you mean?” She looked up. That quizzical look in her eyes. A willingness to smile at him again.
“Youarea great reader.”
“That was Miss Bingley’s appellation.” She laughed. “I told you, I deserve no such praise. Nor such censor as she intended. Now father,he—” A flicker of frustration crossed Elizabeth’s face before being replaced by a half smile again. “I cannot object to a visit to Paternoster Row.”
“We can walk out together, the offices of my man of business are a mile further down the road part St. Paul's.”
After looking at him in an odd way, Elizabeth then smiled at him. “I would like that.”
The door to the breakfast room suddenly opened loudly, and a cheerful voice exclaimed, “Darcy! Coz! Heard you got mousetrapped by the parson. Didn’t even invite me.” Colonel Fitzwilliam sprang forward from the door, extending his hand out to Elizabeth. “And hello, hello, might I suspect thatyouare the cheese that the parson put in the trap? For in that case, I do not blame my cousin for letting the spring close over him. Excellent to meet you.”
Elizabeth stood and looked at him quizzically but took his extended hand. “If I follow the metaphor, I am in fact the Stilton.”
“We are not at home.” Darcy grinned at his favorite cousin.
Ignoring Darcy, Colonel Fitzwilliam kissed Elizabeth’s hand and said, “A finer wedge could not be imagined.”
“Elizabeth, my cousin Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam, second son of the Earl of Matlock. Fitzwilliam, Mrs. Darcy.”
“Mrs. Darcy! Such a creature. Just two months ago there was no hint that such a creature would ever exist again.”
Elizabeth studied Colonel Fitzwilliam. “Might I invite you to join us for breakfast? Though I must warn you, Mr. Darcy hasalready claimed the best of the cheese.”
Colonel Fitzwilliam laughed liberally. “Don’t mind. Not at all. Very good coffee here.”
He poured himself a cup. “See, Darcy, that was proper hospitality. Offering of food and beverage. Not telling a fellow who rode forty-five minutes to catch you unawares that ‘I am not at home’. Transparently ridiculous. You stand here. This is your home. AndIthought you despised all forms of deception.”
“The meaning of the statement was wholly clear from its context,” Darcy replied instantly. “So, there was no dishonesty.”
“Stuff and nonsense. You said what you said.”
“I can confirm,” Elizabeth said in an amused tone, her eyes twinkling, “that Darcy claims to dislike trickery of every sort. We, therefore, ought to assume he truly thought he made a clear statement. I do not wish to overstep my bounds by speaking for my husband, but I believe he meant to say that we are not at present accepting visitors, and that the conventional way to express that in our society is by saying ‘one is not at home’ — is that not what you meant?”
Darcy smirked.
“Still a ridiculous thing to say,” Colonel Fitzwilliam repeated. “How was I to know that he didn’t want to convince me that he was elsewhere? He ought to have been clearer.”
“Perhaps I expected greater perception from you than you possessed?” Darcy said.
Colonel Fitzwilliam flung a cloth napkin at Darcy’s head in exchange for that. Then he said to Elizabeth, “Apologies, I know, I know. At least three years' delay was obligatory before I engaged in any cousinly rambunctiousness in front ofMrs. Darcy.”
“Oh, do not mindme.” Elizabeth was looking at him in a different way than he’d ever seen. “I am delighted to observe.”
“Ah, well. In that case—" And Colonel Fitzwilliam alsotossed a spoon and two other napkins at Darcy.
When Darcy did not reply with anything but a quelling glare, Colonel Fitzwilliam lowered his voice and said to Elizabeth, “It is being an oldest son. He always thinks he must be dignified.”
“I see,” Elizabeth replied.
Darcy tossed a napkin back at Colonel Fitzwilliam.
“Excellent shot,” Elizabeth crowed.
And despite himself Darcy grinned and bowed his head to her.
Over the following minutes it was clear from the easy and free conversation between Elizabeth and Colonel Fitzwilliam that she liked him. She had no difficulty bantering withhimover a breakfast table. Darcy though found it increasingly hard to figure out what he might say to Elizabeth.
She made him nervous. It was ridiculous after the previous night, but she did.
