“I care nothing for that.”
“You will be made a mockery. Worse, you will offend a dozen good families when they see you settled with a woman of no connections. They will take it as an insult, Darcy. And what if the world at large learns that she was Richard’s wife first? You cannot have thought this through.”
“On the contrary, I have thought of nothing else for many months.”
Reginald turned around, his jaw slack in horror. “Months! What did you mean to do? Keep her on the side while Anne—”
“Do not even suggest that!” Darcy joined his cousin on his feet and turned the opposite direction, fisting one hand at his waist. “Like you, I early noted Elizabeth’s attractions. I found her company pleasurable, but I had no intention of breaching propriety—though I will not deny that I was tempted.”
“And what? When you found out about Richard, you saw your chance?”
Darcy set his teeth and turned to face his cousin. “That was not the way of it.”
“It surely sounds like it. Is that why Anne went off in search of greener pastures? I wondered at it, but it makes sense—”
“Anne found what she wanted,” Darcy interrupted. He took a moment to calm himself, then—“You know as well as anyone that our betrothal was more of a last option than a mutual desire. It was not I who ended the engagement, yet I do not see you chastising her for it.”
“BecauseAnneis not my cousin! Who will be affected but herself? She does not have a younger sister whose chances depend materially upon her own choices. Anne may have ended things, but it is you who will bear the world’s censure for it, particularly if you take up with another so soon. They will think… By thunder,thatis it.” He stalked towards Darcy, his fingers curled in a threatening cuff. “You have succumbed. Is she already carrying the heir to Pemberley?”
“Do not be ridiculous.”
“I do not think I am. You have fallen and taken her with you! You admitted yourself you were tempted by her.”
Darcy scoffed. “There is a vast difference between acknowledging the leanings of one’s private inclinations and indulging them. One is merely the awareness of danger, the other transgression.”
“And you, Cousin, have such limited experience with women that I doubt you know where one ends and the other begins! I would wager that in two years, you embraced Anne with far less frequency and passion than you have already done for her replacement.”
“Do not speak of Elizabeth as if she uprooted Anne from her rightful place. That is not how it was. And if I confess to your suspicions, would that not rather confirm that my sentiments are fully aligned with my intentions?”
“What it confirms is that your head is not the master of you at present. Really, Darcy—”
“I have declared my intent, and I shall not back away from it.”
Reginald sighed and gazed at him with a deadpan scowl. “Oh, that I know. If there is one thing I know about you, it is that you are too blasted stubborn to back down, even if it is for your better good. But have you thought of Elizabeth in all this? What will be said of her, how she will be treated? A supplanter, an impostor, and perhaps even a loose woman she will be called. Egad, she has often proclaimed her preference for a simple style of living, but you would make her the mistress of one of the largest estates in all Northern England! And with no allies among this new sphere to support her! Will she truly be content, or have you simply swept her off her feet until she cannot see what you are placing before her?”
“She is not ignorant, Reginald. Moreover, her character is much more akin to my own than I think you understand.”
Reginald paced the room once more, then stopped and turned. “What of Richard?”
Darcy bowed his head and nodded; his eyes low. “You know I mean no disrespect to his memory.”
“Mother will not understand that, and I daresay there will be many who raise their eyebrows at the news.”
“What news? We never told the world that Richard even had a wife.”
Reginald crossed his arms. “And we still do not have a death certificate proclaiming her free to marry again.”
“I am not speaking of carrying her off next week. A few months, perhaps—long enough to see everything done decently.”
The earl cocked a brow. “And you can swear to me that nothing…untowardwill arise in that time?”
“Good heavens, Reginald. No one ever made such assumptions when I undertook a long engagement before.”
“Before, you had your head still affixed to your shoulders, but now, I rather think another organ is leading you about.”
Darcy thinned his lips. “My heart—indeed, it is, and for once in my life, I mean to follow it. Have I your blessing?”
Reginald blew out a sigh and ruffled his hand through his hair. “I will not withhold it, but only because I know it would not matter if I did object.”
