“Squeeze my hand, Richard,” Darcy continued. “Yes, feel, it is me. Breathe slowly.”
Elizabeth felt Georgiana’s fingers slip into her own, and she clasped them fervently. Every breast in the room fell still as something seemed to shift in the figure on the bed.
“Look,” whispered the earl.
Richard’s right eye squeezed, then opened. He blinked for several seconds, rolling his gaze about the corners of his vision. Cracked lips parted. “D... Darcy?”
“Yes,” he encouraged. “We are all here. Reginald is just beside me.”
Richard’s teeth flashed, and he groaned. “Darcy, what the devil...”
“Now, just lie back,” Reginald admonished cheerfully from over William’s shoulder. “Nothing to worry about. You can tell us all when you have recovered your strength.”
Richard shook his head and lurched, trying to raise himself. “Bloody fools,” he was muttering.
The earl fairly pushed Darcy out of his way and hung over his brother. “Come, Richard, you cannot even sit up. You have been insensible for days! Lie back like a good chap. All is perfectly well. See—you are even in your old room. Our mother is two doors away, dressing to come to you, and your wife has been constantly at your bedside.”
“Mother...” Richard quieted somewhat.
“Yes, yes, she is coming. Better still, Elizabeth is already here. Surely, you have been eager to see her!”
“Elizabeth?” Richard rasped. “Elizabeth who?”
“Why... Elizabeth Fitzwilliam, man. Your wife!”
Richard’s eyelid fluttered, and his fists twisted in the blankets. Then, in a voice as confused as it was indignant, he demanded, “What wife?”
“Darcy,youhadbetterdamn well have an explanation for this!” The earl slammed back the chair of his desk and flung himself into it with a vengeance.
“I do, and that is why we must speak privately.”
“Privately? I want to hear from her own lips why my brother does not know the woman who claims to be his wife! Why were you so eager to drag me from the room—afraid of the truth, Darcy? Has she been a fraud, after all?”
“If she is,” Darcy spat, “why have I have had to relinquish her hand? She is telling the truth, but not the whole of it, and I will have you know it was atmyencouragement, for better or worse, that she kept certain matters to herself.”
“Yourencouragement? Your...”The earl snorted. “Just how many secrets have the two of you kept?”
“Only this. SheisRichard’s wife, but the reason she became so was because it was dangerous for her to remain unwed. Richard married her to protect her from her own town, and then got on a train that very day. I doubt he ever expected to see her again, but he left her a way to reach us if she ever needed more help. And, as it happened, she did.”
Reginald pushed his fists into his desk and stood, leaning over it. “Why, Darcy? What was she running from? Poverty? A tarnished reputation? What?”
Darcy held his breath. “The law.”
Reginald narrowed his eyes. “What did she do?”
“Before I tell you—” Darcy held up a hand—“recall that Richard acted as he did for a reason. He felt it right to protect her—”
“Whatdid she do?”
“She... she was attacked, with brutal intent. She was still having nightmares about it for months...”
The earl clenched his teeth. “And what happened?”
Darcy shook his head. “She defended herself, and, ah... was accused of murder.”
Reginald sank into his seat. “Good Lord. You have brought a murderess into this house.”
“Hold there! First of all, it was Richard who married her and sent her to us for help.”
