“Devonshire.”
“I knew it!” she exclaimed triumphantly. Clutching his arm more firmly, she asked, “Do you believe in coincidences, Colonel?”
He had to own he did not.
“Then, we agree. It is possible that solving one case might resolve the other. I shall continue to pursue answers, and if I discover anything regarding Mr. Darcy or Miss Bennet, I shall inform you immediately.”
“I could do no less for you.”
She smiled at him fully. “Thank you. I admit I had hoped to secure your support.” She pulled a calling card out of her reticule and handed it to him.
“Wimpole Street, Marylebone,” he read under his breath.
“That is my address. Please, if you learn anything, send a message to my butler, Parrot.”
How very proper. Richard could not rightly correspond to a young lady to whom he was not engaged, but there was nothing to prevent him from writing to her butler. Smart.
He saw her into the carriage and watched the conveyance until it disappeared down the wide street, doubting he would ever see her again but hoping that he might.
CHAPTER 21
“Is this right, Brother?” Georgiana leaned closer to Nick, holding up the ribbons he’d shown her how to braid and knot into the figure of a heart. Sailors often gave a Celtic knot as a keepsake for the loved ones they’d leave behind.
Nick wished he could be as relaxed in her company as she was in his. He was still adjusting to being a big brother to this wide-eyed maiden who looked at him as though he’d made the sun. He’d try his best not to disappoint her, but he was a black mark on the Darcy name. Nick knew it. Lord and Lady Matlock knew it.
Lady Matlock sat nearby with her two daughters, who peeked at him when they thought he didn’t notice. Mrs. Annesley, Georgiana’s governess, stuck to her side, her embroidery stitches miraculously neat and even, though her eyes darted between him, her charge, and the door where Mr. Bennet and Mr. Gardiner hadentered a quarter of an hour ago. Lord Matlock was with them … leaving Nick guarded by a bunch of females. But they were kindly guards, and over the past hour he’d grown to rely on their calm encouragement, warning looks, and gentle nods.
“It’s perfect. Ye’re quick to learn.” He prayed the blush his praise provoked on her cheeks was from pleasure and not embarrassment. Lady Matlock’s warm look and gentle nod told him he hadn’t said anything wrong. He exhaled in relief. One hour in their company was more exhausting than an entire morning pumping bilge water.
Looking at Georgiana’s wrist, Nick calculated its circumference in comparison to the threads he’d braided, looking for the point where he needed to splice them together. He didn’t know how it’d come about, him showing Georgiana how to braid and knot ribbons in lieu of ropes, but it’d been Mrs. Annesley’s doing. Slicker than a wet plank, she was.
Tucking the last of the thread through, Nick broke off the extra length and handed the bracelet to Georgiana. “Here,” he blurted gruffly, realizing that he should try to say something grander, but not knowing how to speak softly when everything about him was rough. Even his fingers were rough; his touch frizzed the silk threads.
What’d he been thinking? He shook his head at himself, feeling the fool. There was nothing he could give Georgiana that she didn’t already have. Sheprobably had dozens of bracelets of far superior materials—gold and silver, inlaid with jewels.
“It is beautiful!” she exclaimed, rolling the pink, yellow, and blue strands over her hand. “It fits perfectly.” Cheeks pink and eyes bright, she pressed her wrist close to her heart. “I shall wear it every day.”
Nick didn’t know how to react. “I’m honored,” he choked out, bobbing his head in what he hoped looked like a gentlemanly bow.
Georgiana held the bracelet closer to Mrs. Annesley, who nodded her approval. “It is lovely,” she said. Then Georgiana turned to her aunt and cousins, who praised Nick’s artistry.
He wasn’t the sort who easily blushed, but Nick felt the heat rising to his face and a strange mixture of satisfaction and mortification that made him both happy and miserable.
When he heard the entrance door open and footsteps against the marble floor, Nick popped up to his feet. He needed a reprieve. To escape before he made a muddle of everything.
To his left, the colonel strode. And to his right, coming down the stairs, was Lord Matlock, followed by Mr. Bennet and Mr. Gardiner. Nick breathed a sigh of relief. Georgiana followed him, but he was no longer outnumbered. He could blend in with the men and trust them to take charge of all the pleasantries that put Nick on edge.
“Richard, see what Nick taughtme to do?” She showed the Celtic knot, then raised her wrist to be admired. “And he made me this bracelet.”
Far from the oohs and aahs of the ladies, the men grunted approval. “Very nice,” Richard said, looking to his father, who echoed the same sentiment. Mr. Gardiner agreed, and Mr. Bennet merely chuckled. After Georgiana had returned to the parlor, he commented, “You appear as comfortable surrounded by a bevy of females as Mr. Darcy.”
Lord Matlock nudged the gentleman with his elbow. “Darcy is more likely to insult a young lady than to flatter her, poor devil.”
Nick choked on his tongue.
“As my dear Lizzy can confirm,” Mr. Bennet added with a snicker.
“Best they get all these misunderstandings out of the way now; then they shall have a lifetime to be happy together,” Mr. Gardiner commented.
