“Yes! A real surprise she gave us—Elizabeth, I mean. And Mother as well, to be truthful. None of us believed a word of Elizabeth’s story, you know. Darcy did, I suppose, but the rest of us… why, we nearly missed a real gem of a girl.”
“I should have written to you,” Richard confessed. “But I never thought it would come off that way. I certainly put you lot through a great deal.”
“It would have been nice to know the truth of the matter all those months,” Reginald agreed. “But as to being put through a great deal, it was truly you who bore the hardship. I often remind myself of that. No matter what difficulties we have had here, you have had it far worse.”
Richard snorted. “Sometimes I wonder about that. I think about all the galas and soirees Mother would drag us to, with all the preening young misses vying for your attention and the posturing young bucks challenging mine. Nothing is ever as it seems in the drawing-rooms and ballrooms of our sort of society. A cross word in an unguarded moment can instigate a scandal that wags tongues for weeks. No, it is not so very different, save that I can expect a straight-up fight with my fists rather than being stung by a thousand nettles. Still, I would take a starched collar and uncomfortable shoes over malaria and bullets any day, given the choice.”
“Indeed. At any rate, you should be free of them all now. Richard—” Reginald paused, his brow lined with some thought or other, and he held up his hand. “No. Never mind, it is better left unsaid.”
“What was it?”
“Nothing, really. A silly sentiment that would have meant nothing, because I do not know how to say what I truly wish.”
Richard extended his hand to his elder brother. “I will miss you, too, Reginald. God willing, maybe I can come back someday. Perhaps when I am too old and grey to be of interest to the Army, no one will recognise me for myself, and I can come as a common traveller. One never knows,” he finished lightly.
“I hope that day comes sooner rather than later.”
Richard grunted. “I would ask one favour, though. Look after Darcy, will you? It occurs to me that he will be quite alone when everyone has gone. He always was a solitary chap, but I do not think he enjoys it that way.”
Reginald nodded. “That is a ticklish subject, but I will do all I can.”
“If you ask me, he needs to be introduced to some pert young lady. He cannot be pining away for Anne forever.”
Reginald’s expression changed. “Pining for Anne? Is that what you think troubles him?”
“Oh, I am as shocked as you are, for I never saw any particular symptoms of affection between them, but you ought to have seen his face earlier, when I asked about her. White as a sheet, he was.”
Reginald rounded his desk with an odd curiosity marking his features. He tilted his head once or twice, then looked Richard directly in the eye. “Have they told you nothing?”
“Well… no. I asked him where she was, and he told me she found someone to make her happy. That was all he said.”
The earl’s eyes widened. “That ‘someone’ she found was your wife’s cousin, William Collins.”
“Billy!” Richard nearly roared in laughter. “The spineless dandy of a youth, who whiled away his days dreaming of big cities and looking at fashion magazines?ThatBilly Collins?”
“The very one, and as it turns out, they were better matched than anyone could have imagined. I thought it would set Darcy on his ear, but Anne’s defection was—at the time anyway—precisely the relief Darcy wanted.”
“Relief? Explain.”
“Well… Elizabeth! Good heavens, man, do you know nothing?”
Richard squinted. “I have been recovering from a fever for a week, and everyone has been walking on eggshells and whispering about me. I know the woman I married is not half so tart as she was when I met her, though I suppose past and present circumstances might explain that. And I know that Darcy looks as if he is swallowing bile every time I see him.”
“They were engaged, Richard!”
His face fell. “Engaged?”
“Affianced, betrothed! The only thing they were waiting on was official documentation.”
Richard shook his head. “That cannot be right. Darcy and Elizabeth? No, it… Impossible. He said nothing of this.”
“Well, to begin with, I warned him off speaking. He was all determined to tell you everything at once, but we decided it was too much for you to hear. I deferred because it was his to share, but I cannot believe he said absolutely nothing. Are you certain? You were not entirely yourself when you first came. Perhaps he spoke, and you misunderstood.”
Richard blinked vaguely as he tried to remember. “He said something horrid that he apologised for later, and it begins to make more sense.”
Reginald put his hand on Richard’s shoulder. “I know this must come as a shock, but do not let it trouble you too much. Think, you were gone nigh on a year, and many a handsome young widow is swept off her feet in less time than that. I say it is a jolly good thing it was Darcy and not some other rascal who would not behave so honourably in the circumstances. Darcy and Elizabeth had accepted the way things are, have they not?”
Richard’s chest quaked. “Have they?”
