He turned to follow my gaze, and I heard a faint rumble in his chest when he saw Miss Bingley. “Miss Elizabeth, is it always encumbent upon a lady to accept… say, an offer to dance, or to skate, or to take tea with a guest?”
I frowned. “I should say that while it is not preciselyrequired, it can reflect rather poorly, should she refuse.”
“Just so.”
“Are you trying to say that gentlemen are under the same obligations? That they have no choice in their partners or must go where they do not wish to go?”
He turned us a little more toward the crowds, his strides on the ice easy and sure as he led me through the mêlée. “Occasionally, that is true. But just now, I wish to look after my sister, who is here somewhere with Bingley. Would you mind if we…?” He gestured before us.
Mind? He wanted to dragmearound the ice, looking for his sister and Mr. Bingley? How very odd. I forced a smile that hopefully looked lighter than I felt. “Of course.”
Before we got far at all, I heard Mr. Bingley’s voice rippling through the crowds. “Miss Bennet! Miss Jane!”
I glanced quickly at Mr. Darcy, but he did not look down at me. He merely thinned his lips and said, “Ah. I believe they are in that direction. Shall we, Miss Elizabeth?”
I drew in a breath. “Indeed, sir.”
8
8 December
“MissBennet!Ihadno notion you were in Town. My friend Mr. Van der Meer is keeping secrets, I see.”
We heard their conversation before we reached them—Mr. Bingley, with Miss Darcy on his arm, and Jane, blushing radiantly before him while Henry Van der Meer lifted his hat to Bingley. “Had I known you were already acquainted with the lady, I surely would not have. Miss Darcy, it is a pleasure to meet you again.” He bowed to the young lady, then stepped back, looking over his shoulder for someone. Probably Charlotte. Where had she got to?
But I was too distracted by another notion to search for her just now. “You and Mr. Bingley are acquainted with Mr. Van der Meer?” I murmured to my skating companion.
“Bingley is, better than I. I believe their fathers were business partners. I met him at the club.”
I squinted. “And you introduced him to yoursister?”
Mr. Darcy glanced down at me, a misty hue coloring his expression. “But of course. He has dined with us on several occasions—he, and others. I do not object to Georgiana associating with certain of my friends, provided they be men of good character and particular understanding.”
I blinked, my mouth opening faintly. “And just what sort of understanding is that?”
One of his brows quirked. “That they are to guard her as a father, escort her as a brother, and tremble for their life if even a feather on her bonnet is disturbed.”
“A fine brother you are, sir!” I laughed. “Buying her books and protecting her as if she were a princess. You would make me very jealous, indeed.”
He gave me a strange look, but said no more, for we were upon the others. Mr. Bingley’s cheeks had a rosy hue from the cold, and his enthusiasm was infectious. “Darcy, there you are—and with Miss Elizabeth on the ice! What jolly fun that we should all stumble into one another like this. I say, I’d no notion you were in Town.”
I smirked, and saw a faint shake of Jane’s head, but I could not leave this without comment. “Had you not, sir? Why, I am sure it was only an oversight—all the excitement of the Season, of course. Jane, was it yesterday or the day before when you left your card for Miss Bingley?”
Jane cringed and sent me a look of remonstrance, but Mr. Bingley… I dare say his genial features had never known such an expression as he dealt them in that moment. His cheeks blanched, his eyes hardened, and his teeth ground. “You left your card?” And then he looked at Mr. Darcy, swept his gaze over me, then pierced his friend once more with a question in his eye that need not be voiced in words.
“I encountered Miss Elizabeth yesterday at Hatchards,” Darcy confessed. “I ought to have said something sooner, Bingley. I apologize.”
I gazed up at the gentleman by my side. His voice was sincere, his manner contrite. Indeed, hehadconcealed our presence in town just as surely as Miss Bingley… but hedidask me to skate with him when he went to seek Mr. Bingley just now. That made no sense at all. Was he maliciously keeping information from his friend, or was he not?
“Well!” Mr. Van der Meer clapped his hands together and cleared his throat. “Miss Bennet, would you object if I left you with your friends to seek out Miss Lucas? I should like to be certain she is comfortable.”
Jane was staring at the ice, her ears probably burning through the fur bonnet she wore. “Thank you, Mr. Van der Meer,” she murmured. Henry Van der Meer looked first at Darcy, then at Bingley before tipping his hat to each of us ladies and skating away from the confrontation.
Lucky devil.
Mr. Bingley was still staring at Mr. Darcy, and Miss Darcy was staring at me. No one was speaking. And that was when inspiration struck. “Miss Darcy,” I said brightly, “would you like to warm up with some cider? I can see the color rising in my sister’s cheeks, and I am sure I speak for both of us when I say a little hot beverage could not go amiss. Would you care to join us?”
Miss Darcy sent a nervous glance to her brother, and though I perceived nothing, it seemed she received some sort of answer in his look. “Yes, thank you.” She abandoned Mr. Bingley’s arm in an instant and skated toward me.
