“I bloody well would, if it spares his life. Tell me, is this really Richard you are worried about?”
Darcy bared his teeth and fought to keep his fists from clenching in his cousin’s face. “It is both of them.”
“Indeed. Why is he running? I still cannot believe him capable of disloyalty, so what did he do?”
Darcy sighed. “Behaved damned decently, if what he says is to be believed. Apparently, that is enough to get a man killed. He released the family of a Boer officer and infiltrated the British prison camp to do it.”
Reginald crossed his arms and frowned. “And you said he was making sense when he told you this?”
“How should I know? None of this makes any sense.”
“It does—why else would the army be so reluctant to give us a death certificate? Because they knew he was not dead! The general had no wish to cause a scandal, and he would certainly have one if he branded my brother a turncoat. Everyone would find out just what happened, and the army would be risking a public outcry. They simply let us believe he was dead, and intended to make it so once they caught him.”
“And now they will know he is not.”
“Eh? How do you mean, have you told someone? I did heed your caution, and a timely one it was. I had been about to write to the War Office and give them a piece of my mind, but I refrained. I have told no one, and the surgeon and my servants I paid off for their silence.”
“Yes, but who wrote to us of his whereabouts?” Darcy demanded. “Someone knows who and where he is, and we have no idea of their name.”
“Surely, if whoever it was meant to do harm, they would have done it themselves,” the earl reasoned.
Darcy clenched his teeth. “Let us hope. Still, it makes me uneasy if Richard truly is in danger. If one person knows his whereabouts, you can be assured that five more do, as well.”
“So. Little as I like it, perhaps we need to give serious ear to his notion of going.” Reginald stuffed his thumbs into the pockets of his waistcoat, and his face looked more haggard and reluctant than Darcy had ever seen it.
“But he is in no condition to be on his own! Even if his body is well, his mind is extremely far from it.”
“You just said he wouldn’t be on his own, that he means to take his wife.”
“And you think that a better solution? I had to pull him off her not twelve hours ago because he meant to choke her to death! Did your mother tell you that? Do you think any placehewould go could possibly be a safe place forher?”
“Darcy, I understand your troubles, but it really is not yours to say what they do. They are married, and they are both adults. If she wishes to go with him—”
“Does she? She does not even know about it yet, but I know what her answer will be, and it will not be given with pleasure. She has lost enough, and I refuse to see her lose more out of some misguided sense of loyalty.”
Reginald rounded his desk once more, a hand to his forehead as if it pained him. “Darcy, you know I love you like a brother, but I will say this one time. Stay out of it. Do not interfere between Richard and his wife, or so help me, I will wash my hands of you.”
Darcy braced his fists on the desk and bent forward with a snarl curling his lip. “And if you let him guilt her into going, following him off to some god-forsaken backwater wasteland where she is never heard from again,Iwill have done withyou!”
“Yourplayinghasimproved.”
Elizabeth’s fingers froze on the piano keys at the sound of Georgiana’s voice. She looked up, and her face warmed slightly in welcome. “I have not been practising as much as I ought, but today it has been the only thing to bring relief.”
“Maybe that is the secret. You are not approaching it as something you are forced to do. It is finally something you can do for pleasure.”
Elizabeth lifted her shoulders. “Perhaps.”
Georgiana eased onto the bench beside her and appraised the music. “I never thought you would master this piece, but at last, you managed it.”
Elizabeth gave a weak smile of gratitude. “I had an excellent teacher, and the composer was quite considerate of my abilities. Have you decided what to do with your talent?”
“I am determined on Boston. I had settled it some while ago, but I have not yet confirmed it with William. I do not think he is ready to hear of me leaving him.”
“His fondest wish is to see you happy. I think he would be glad to think of you finally pursuing your passion.”
Georgiana waved her hands in vehement denial. “Not yet, and probably not for a while. Especially not today—he is an absolute bear at the moment.”
Elizabeth’s fingers strayed absently over the keys. “Did he tell you why?”
