“Why yes, she took Miss Darcy when they called on that new family in the cottage, but they said they did not need any other attendant. Miss Darcy returned over an hour ago, sir, and said as far as she knew, Mrs Darcy had gone to her bath!”
“She has not, and her maid has not seen her return.” Darcy’s fist tightened again, crumpling the innocent letter between his fingers. “She was not in the conservatory, and it is far too cold today for her to be out so long!” His mind played through any other possible options. “Have the stables been checked?” he finally inquired.
“No,” Mrs Reynolds shook her head. “Mrs Darcy seldom….” She never got a chance to finish her sentence. Mr Darcy had spun about and raced out the door, in search once again of his free-spirited young wife.
Mrs Reynolds chuckled a little and shook her head. The only one who really worried for the mistress’ safety was her husband, who would have been fretting over her had she been only as far away as the next room. Mrs Darcy was quite a capable young woman, Mrs Reynolds assured herself. An ideal mistress she was, after the pattern of Anne Darcy herself, but with far more boundless energy. She was exactly what the young master had been needing all along. Wiping her hands on her apron, she hummed a little tune and set back to her duties.
Darcy had set out for the stables at a run. He only took a deep breath when he, at last, spotted his wife’s figure, still svelte despite her third month of pregnancy, silhouetted against the light filtering through the end of the barn. “Elizabeth!”
She turned from the horse she was petting, one of his many wedding gifts to her, with an impish smile. “Oh, dear, have I set the house into an uproar again?”
“The house! Forget the house. What about me?”
“Come closer, William, and I will apologize properly,” she grinned.
He approached, still trying to look stern. “Elizabeth, you ought not to be tiring yourself just now. And in this weather! It is going to snow very hard this evening, Elizabeth. It is not like that ‘light winter’ you were having in Hertfordshire. Even an April snow in Derbyshire is something you should not be caught out in!”
“How fortunate for me, then, that I have such a wise and devoted protector!” She shot a pert look up at him and unbuttoned the front of his coat so she could wriggle her way under the warm folds, forcing him to put his arms about her.Dastardly woman!he thought with an inward smile. She somehow always managed to put him right where she wanted him, which… was usually rather pleasant.
“Elizabeth, you must take this more seriously.” He arched a firm brow at her, frowning a little. It was his last ploy, and it was doomed to fail.
“Oh, I amveryserious.” She turned her face up to his and deliberately knocked his hat to the ground, weaving her fingers through his hair and tugging his towering frame down to her level. “There. Now, I shall be quite warm, William!”
“I ought to scold you and send you indoors like the wayward woman you are!” he thinned his lips and cocked a hint of a smile at her.
“But you will not. You are going to tell me what is in that letter in your hand. Now then, when shall we be attending your cousins’ wedding?”
“What?” he shook his head in astonishment. “I never... How do you do it?”
“Oh, it is rather simple, William. Richard has been calling on Anne ever since we wed, and it cannot have taken all of that time to settle Lady Catherine in the dower house.”
“Indeed, it can! I thought we would require an armed escort there for a while!”
“Ah, but the colonel was rather persuasive, was he not? I am surprised at you, not seeing how he managed to wheedle into even your aunt’s good graces at last during that undertaking. Poor Anne never stood a chance against such charm!”
“Well, however muchyoumay have suspected it,Idid not! I thought there was some… attachment… in another quarter. You remember, the one that I am not to speak of.”
“The colonel is a gentleman, William! To imply that he would form designs on a girl who is not out and who is his own ward! Perfectly shocking.” She blithely flicked some snow from his coat.
“Indeed. And I am to expect that this ward of his is not displeased?”
“Not at all. It was she who was encouraging his attentions to Anne, I believe. She is young, William, but she is mature enough to know it. She very selflessly wanted to see her dear cousin happily retired and settled before he was injured in the army. As for Richard’s interests, well, Anne and Georgiana do have many qualities in common, after all, and I think he found much in her to admire as well. It is almost like she and Georgiana are sisters, rather than just cousins.”
Darcy stared at her penetratingly. He had never divulged that particular secret, not even to Elizabeth, but it seemed she had her ways. “How do you do it?” he dared to ask again.
“Do what, William?” she arched her brows innocently. “I have not yet the clairvoyance to determine their wedding date. Have you any intention of telling me?”
“No, indeed!” he tucked the crumpled letter back into his coat. “I insist on having some secrets, after all.”
“It won’t work,” she insisted with a grin. “Just like when you gave me Persephone here,” she stroked the mare’s nose again. “You cannot surprise me, William!”
“I did surprise you at least once. I take comfort in that.”
“That is true! I think I have never been so shocked in my life! I had no idea then that you possessed a very proper streak of recklessness. If, however, a proposal of love is to be the nature of your surprises, William, I invite you to continue to try.”
“Indeed, I shall.” He laughed out loud and bent to scoop her up in his arms.
Elizabeth squealed in delight, wrapping her own arms around his neck. “William, you must put me down! After all, you might drop me, and heaven knows, we can have no risks to my health right now.”
