Mr. Darcy seemed to catch some nuance as well, his gaze drifting toward her with an almost imperceptible glint of amusement. “Indeed, sir. I am now… exceedingly curious.”
“Oh, but we need not assault the gentlemen with your questions all at once, my dear,” Aunt Gardiner protested. “Can we not begin with the usual pleasantries? It is always delightful to have friends from Derbyshire in London.”
“Ah, yes—Derbyshire,” Mr. Bingley said with a grin. “I had forgot you hailed from there, Mrs. Gardiner. And yet I wonder if Mr. Darcy himself would even recognize it, as long as it has been since he saw it.”
Mr. Darcy gave him a mildly reproachful look. “I remember Derbyshire well, thank you, Bingley. It is simply that business in London has required my attention.”
“Required?” Bingley scoffed. “You might as well admit you have buried yourself in ledgers, Darcy, and barely come up for air!”
Mr. Gardiner laughed. “Ah, a man dedicated to his pursuits—Mr. Darcy, you must know you are in good company here.”
Mrs. Gardiner cast her husband a look. “And yet, Mr. Darcy, it is still a fine thing to revisit one’s home and take a bit of leisure now and again. You may recall that some years ago, we were able to purchase a bit of property that included the cottage where I grew up, and have scarcely had an opportunity to see it since. We intend to journey north next summer for just that purpose. Perhaps we can hope to see you back in Derbyshire one of these days?”
Mr. Darcy’s gaze softened slightly. “I would not deny Pemberley has its appeal, Mrs. Gardiner. But my friend here”—he gestured to Bingley with a faint smile— “seems intent on keeping me tethered to every venture in London.”
“Which is, naturally, to everyone’s benefit,” Mr. Bingley replied with mock solemnity. “You know Darcy. He is a fearsome creature when he has nothing whatever to do, so he invents things to keep himself occupied and create the illusion of being indispensable wherever he goes.”
“As I recall,” Mr. Darcy returned mildly, “each of those ‘things to keep me occupied’ originated inyourimagination, not mine.”
“Only because you were starting to get that ‘look’ in your eye again, old man, and I feared I, myself, would be your next project,” Mr. Bingley laughed. “Better to try to keep up with you than to have to stay a step ahead of you, I say.”
Elizabeth chuckled and nearly forgot her place—the words simply came. “I daresay, Mr. Darcy, that business cannot be so consuming that you never find time for your home in Derbyshire. Wemaketime for those things that are important to us, do we not?”
He turned to her, a faint look of surprise flickering across his face. “Perhaps I have… forgot the charm of certain places.”
“I would not have thought the charm of one’s home could be such a fleeting memory, sir.”
There was a tug at the corner of his mouth. “You have caught me out, Miss Elizabeth. You are quite right. There is nothing amiss with my memory, nor is anything wanting from the charms of my home. I have simply persuaded myself that I am more useful elsewhere, and for the most part, I have been proved right.”
She pressed her lips and tilted her head. “That is an interesting condition you added—‘for the most part.’”
“Indeed, Miss Elizabeth,” Mr. Bingley interjected. “The only person Darcy has ever lied to is himself, and having so little practice at it, he is not at all skilled in the art. He scarcely believes half the things he tries to persuade himself of.”
Elizabeth laughed. “Mr. Bingley, I cannot decide whether you mean to compliment or insult your friend with such a remark.”
“Both, I imagine,” Mr. Darcy replied, but there was a spark of humor in his eyes. “I will own my flaws openly before any man… or woman, if I may,” he added with a deferential dip of his head. “But Bingley is partially in jest, for a frank appraisal of his words would have you assuming that I am not entirely in touch with reality and that I fancy the world is a place more to my own liking than it truly is. I assure you, that is not altogether the case.”
“Then, on what mattersdoyou deceive yourself?” she asked.
Mr. Darcy shifted in his chair, and his eyes flicked briefly to Mr. Gardiner. At that, Elizabeth sucked in a breath. Somehow, she had managed to monopolize her uncle’s guest. It had not been her intention, and yet… something in her was terribly curious how he would answer.
“It might be said that sometimes I…” he hesitated, “… I suppose my friend’s assessment is correct. I permit myself to believe that I am the only one who can accomplish what is needed.”
Elizabeth arched her brows. “A failing, indeed, but not a very interesting one, Mr. Darcy.”
A flash of laughter brightened his face. “Indeed! I must ask, then, Miss Elizabeth, what sort of faults you find ‘interesting.’”
“Oh, all the nefarious ones. Gentlemen who own too many watch fobs to be entirely decent, ladies who wear ostrich feathers out of season, and anyone who insists that the violin is more pleasant to the ear than the piano.”
His brows ticked together in what appeared to be slight bewilderment. “Then perhaps you will find me ‘interesting,’ after all, Miss Elizabeth, for while I have never worn an ostrich feather, I am afraid you will find me guilty of the other two faults.”
“Excellent! We shall have something to talk about, after all.”
Four
The butler announced dinner,and Darcy offered his arm to Mrs. Gardiner, leading the others to the dining room. He was determined to keep his focus on the matter at hand, but found his attention straying, almost of its own accord, to Miss Elizabeth Bennet as she walked beside her uncle. There was something disarming about her, something he could not quite put his finger on. And she had the most remarkable eyes—a rich, cerulean blue with shards of silver splintering through them, and even shafts of turquoise when the light struck them. But it was more than their color, although that was what had first taken his fancy. It was the sharp intelligence mirrored there that sent prickles down the back of his neck.
As he helped Mrs. Gardiner into her seat at the foot of the table, he glanced up and discovered Bingley escorting Miss Jane Bennet, taking both seats on one long side of the table. That would, necessarily, place Darcy beside Elizabeth Bennet during the meal. It was all arranged rather too neatly, and to his increasing dismay, he was not nearly as offended as he ought to have been by the false pretense that had brought him here tonight.
