Gradually, the hot roil of plans and arguments battering fierce inside me eased as we entered gentler countryside. I guided my spent mount toward sun-dappled woods, a vision forming unbidden behind my eyes… elfin features alight with pleasure or animated in spirited debate… slender hands clasping mine tremulously as today’s shadows fell… the trusting appeal unveiled for one fleeting moment unguarded...
My breath snarled in my chest, my pulse abruptly thundering for vastly different reasons. Fatefully, we had begun traversing uncertain terrain well off familiar paths. Each glimpse behind Elizabeth’s resilient defenses revealed arresting new depths. And my traitorous soul mirrored each discovery, refusing to maintain seemly boundaries.
No. I jerked my head sharply, denying such dangerous reflections. The role I had adopted countenanced no questionable wanderings in that direction, however softly alluring green glades now tempting just within reach. To safeguard every threatened heart, mine must remain staunchly disciplined against delicate rosebuds strangled too soon by grasping thorns.
With a remorseless will, I turned my back on green hollows wooing me toward sparkling streams and silver laughter. My course lay instead toward flint-eyed duty and coming storms, which must be weathered before this blackest night yielded to frail dawn. Elizabeth and George both would cry out against the coming separation my harsh means required. But far kinder fleeting pain now than enduring devastation later. I steeled myself against the agony of delicate hopes crushed under inevitability’s grinding heel... not all my own.
I wheeled my lathered mount round toward home, determined to outpace unwanted sentimentality clouding rational thought. But as the folly’s distant outline crested the next hill, some restless impulse turned my hands toward the winding path instead. My horse needed a drink and a good blow, and perhaps I could use a moment of quiet reflection in my father’s favorite haunt.
I had not visited the delicately carved stone gazebo overlooking Pemberley’s granite cliffs since he passed. Yet suddenly, the peaceful vista’s siren call drowned out stern self-lectures, promising a serene perspective unattainable in my cluttered study. Surely, an hour’s reflection gazing out at timeless hills could only grant clearer sight to mark out prudence’s difficult road ahead.
I touched impatient heels to sweated flanks, covering the last furlongs swiftly beneath overhanging oaks. But as the summerhouse came into view, my breath arrested as violently as if my careening steed had cast a shoe. For there, huddled wretchedly at the base of the steps curled into a shuddering ball of abject misery, lay a familiar slight figure.
“Elizabeth!” I threw myself from the saddle, my heart crashing wildly. She was huddled wretchedly at the folly’s base—a shuddering ball of grief many miles from home.
At my hoarse cry, she slowly unfolded from her muddy skirts. My heart twisted to behold her ravaged face swimming into bewildered view. She swiped at streaked cheeks, clearly battling for composure.
“Mr. Darcy! Forgive me, I did not... hear you ride up.”
I attempted a quavering smile. “Nor I any maiden in distress. Are you injured?” My glance took in her bedraggled state. She had stumbled repeatedly to end up here alone in such a manner. Alarm surged through me even as protectiveness flooded my veins. Gently, I grasped her chilled hands, willing warmth to flow between our entwined fingers. “Please, you are greatly overwrought. Will you not unburden yourself so I may offer comfort?”
She shook her head, covering her face with her hands.
“Please, I… has someone hurt you?”
Her hands fell away, and she stared at me with those eyes that made my insides turn to jelly. “No! Oh, no, nothing of the kind.”
“But you are very distressed. Come, is there something I can do for your comfort?”
Elizabeth dipped her head and swallowed, and j thought she would say nothing at all. Then, her words spilled out in a sobbing rush. “My uncle insists I must leave Derbyshire immediately before harm comes through renewed ties. What is he talking about?Why?”
I blinked, flinching when her hand squeezed harder into my own. “I’ve no idea. He said that?”
“He said…” she gulped and bobbed her head in a ragged gasp. “He said I was being selfish if I stayed. As if my being here could bring you harm! What can he mean? And how can I abandon those I love now, after just finding them again?”
I stared helplessly as fresh tears carved trails in the dust on her cheeks. At my ongoing silence, she ventured unsteadily, “You wrote to my uncle yourself… did you not? You would have—I know you too well for you to deny it. You demanded answers, I am sure of it. What did he have to say?”
I nodded heavily. “You do, it seems, know me well. Yes, I wrote, asking the very questions plaguing you. But no reply has come yet.”
She searched my face beseechingly. I hesitated before voicing the harsh truths that must temper fragile hope. “We should heed wisdom from those able to see farthest, however it wounds us.”
Silence hung between us as Elizabeth searched my face. Her earlier anguish still simmered beneath the surface, along with my own churning helplessness. Devil take it, it was not as ifIwanted to send her away again, too! But for George’s good and her own… and apparently, Mr. Gardiner feared whatever my father had told him to fear. Perhaps it would be best if I used this as an opportunity to see all concerns answered, quickly and quietly.
But Elizabeth was still weeping, still clinging to my hand as if I were her only champion. I could not misuse that trust. Gentle comfort was needed, not harsh reality.
I drew in a deep breath, softening my tone. “We cannot know yet what wisdom prompts your uncle’s warning. But clearly, he believes removing you from here shields someone from harm.”
Elizabeth brushed hastily at wet cheeks. “But who? How could my presence hurt those I love best?”
I shook my head. “I cannot guess. But trust it does not speak ill of you.” I hesitated. “Might continuing our acquaintance truly put others at risk?”
She gave a small shuddering sigh. “I cannot see how or why. But then little makes sense anymore.”
My fingertips found her shoulder, squeezing in tender solidarity, though words still failed. We remained thus, unspeaking, while her heaving breaths slowed and a semblance of calm returned.
At length, Elizabeth sniffed and forced a smile. “I make quite the watering pot soaked in misery. That is twice now you have had to dry my tears.” She gestured to her ruined gown and the flopping heel of her boot. “I even broke my heel again! Quite the picture of distress for a gallant hero encounter.”
I snorted, relief loosening my tongue to match her shifting mood. “A laughable damsel indeed.”
