Richard pressed on after Darcy’s mute reply. “I have known you my whole life, and in all our letters, you have never mentioned a young lady with the frequency Georgie said you mentioned Miss Bennet. Might I conclude in that frozen space of your rib cage where others would have a heart, you have developed some type of tendre for a certain young woman of our acquaintance?”
Still no response.
“Since you do not feel the need to enlighten me on your correspondence, do you care to discuss the scene earlier today?” Receiving no response, Richard said, “It appeared to me there is a deep familiarity with Miss Bennet, which had not existed before. This leads me to believe Georgiana might have the right of it.”
“What did my sister say?”
“Oh,nowhe speaks!” The colonel snorted. “Only what is plain to all in sundry. That she suspects you are in love with Miss Bennet.”
“In love?”
“Darce, if your mooning over her before your accident did not convince us, then your actions this afternoon surely would. I practically had to carry Lady Catherine from the room to protect Miss Bennet.”
“Was Elizabeth harmed?”
“Elizabeth,is it? Why don’t you enlighten me on the association between yourself and Miss Bennet?”
Silence passed before Darcy eked out a strained reply. “There is noassociation.”
“That is not as it appeared earlier to anyone who witnessed the sight.”
“Yes, well, once again, I did not have my wits about me.”
Richard harrumphed and took another drink, eyeing his cousin. “Was it a good dream? The one you woke up from withElizabeth?”
Darcy sighed, closing his eyes again. “Better than I could have hoped.”
April 20, 1812
They had stopped. It had been several days of exhaustion, sleepless night after sleepless night with little rest, if any. Yet finally, the dreams had ceased.Mother attributed it to Darcy’s health. Playing the part of the dutiful betrothed…“Who is neither betrothed nordutiful.” Anne de Bourgh grimaced, then tightened the reins of her phaeton and took the lane around the bend behind the garden. The gentle plodding of her ponies’ hooves on the gravel quickened once beyond Rosings, and she continued up the rise before cutting across the paddock.
Rosings’ gamekeeper had mentioned a possible poacher in his meeting with Lady Catherine earlier in the day, but her mother had not declared an edict yet, so Anne escaped before it was too late. She had fled to the grounds of Old Rosings, where she hoped she could find the answers to the dreams which had plagued her.
“I would not say theyplaguedme,” she muttered under her breath.They have just been so constant, unyielding. It is as if I had no escape from them.
But they had been refreshing. The dreams had pushed her to the very edge of control. Whatwashad been replaced by whatcould be. She whipped the reins, knowing she had very little time for solitude. Any moment a footman could be dispatched to find her, and her freedom would come to an end.
She pulled up to the ruins of her family’s ancestral home.Broken and forbidden.
She turned to find Miss Bennet walking from the woods.
“Good day, Miss de Bourgh.”
“Miss Bennet. What do you do here?”
“I often walk in the mornings.”
“And you come here?”
Elizabeth shook her head and looked around. “No. Until four days ago, I did not…know of its existence. It was only in conversation with Colonel Fitzwilliam that I became aware of it.”
Anne took Elizabeth’s measure before answering in a light tone. “Curious, how my family’s ruined estate would come up in a conversation.” Elizabeth did not replyimmediately, and Anne indicated the seat next to her. “Would you care to ride with me, and I will give you a tour of what once was?”
Elizabeth nodded and stepped up into the phaeton. The two women then commenced through the property of Old Rosings. Anne saw Elizabeth glance at the woods, and a strange feeling began to overtake her, but she pushed it aside.
“According to my father, this was once a grand home, one to rival the current Rosings Park. But I believe that was only in his imagination. It would not be considered stylish in today’s society.”
“What happened?”
