“Who?” I asked innocently. “I’m afraid I don’t…”
“What is this?” he interrupted. “It is not like you to be so obstinately coy, Miss Elizabeth. Have I offended you somehow?”
I blinked wide eyes through my masque. “Offended? How can you possibly offend when I do not know who you are?”
His mouth tugged to the side. “Ah, well. More is the pity. I thought you were someone I knew—a lady I was hoping to introduce to someone.”
“I have no wish to meet your affianced, if that is what you mean, sir. I—“
He stepped forward and gave my hand a gentle tug, pulling the masque away from my face and drawing me closer until I was almost standing on his foot. “There you are, Elizabeth,” he whispered.
I swallowed. And swallowed again. Dash it all, where was my sharp tongue now? “I… ah…”
“Do I have to drag them over here, or will you come with me?” His voice was teasing, pleading, and oh, so very smooth and melty.
Drat, but my throat was stuck. “I…”
“Why do you assume she is my intended?” he asked.
“Well, I s-s-saw you… dancing… and…”
“And in the sleigh? I wanted to catch up with you in the park, but blasted Van der Meer’s horses are a bit faster than my uncle’s.”
I squinted. “Your… uncle?”
“Lord Matlock. I was out with him, my aunt, and my cousins—Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam and his sister, Lady Maria. And Georgiana.”
“Georg…” Oh, bother, my voice broke again.
“Did you not see her? She was right beside me on the seat.”
“I… everyone was so bundled up. I only recognized you.”
He nodded slowly. “And you thought I was out courting, did you?” He gave a low chuckle. “Wait till Richard hears that. He will laugh himself into a fit.”
I glanced across the room. “That is… your cousin? Over there?”
“Both of them, yes. And they were looking forward to meeting you. Now… are you still Elizabeth Bennet once you put the masque back on?”
My lips twitched. “If you insist.”
24
5 January
“Mr.Darcy,didyoutruly claim that Pemberley’s lake was superior to the entire English coastline? Even above the Cliffs of Dover and the long shoreline of Falmouth?” Lady Maria asked in disbelief. “Miss Bennet, do not believe a word he says.”
“I simply stated that to me, it holds precedence,” Darcy said again, his teeth gritting behind his masque. “I did not say that everyone must agree.”
“Oh, I heard you quite clearly,” I insisted. “Lady Maria is correct, because in the breath just preceding that statement, you as good as said that no opinion that disagreed with yours could hold any weight.”
Colonel Fitzwilliam joined in, “Ah, yes! I recall that. Said it with such conviction too. You’d think he’d discovered Atlantis in his backyard.”
“I said no such thing,” Mr. Darcy argued. “I only said thatIcould not hold with such thinking. And you are twisting my words, for that was another subject altogether—one about which there can be no argument.”
“You see, Miss Elizabeth?” Colonel Fitzwilliam laughed. “I hope you understand the willful, obstinate nature of this brute who paraded you over here. He is not like to admit that he was ever in the wrong.”
“On that, Colonel, I beg to differ,” I said with a sweet smile. “Mr. Darcy has confessed certain mistakes in my own hearing.Andapologized for them.”
