With a relieved smile, he squeezed her small hand and rested it on his elbow. He was glad to hear of Georgiana’s comfort with Elizabeth, but he burned with annoyance that Richard was at this very moment sweeping ahead of him with that lovely lady on his arm.
They followed Bingley and Jane Bennet on the same path Darcy had taken from the house the day before. The stinging memory of his turmoil of yesterday made the colour in his face rise. Elizabeth walked blithely before him, her lilting voice drifting back on the breeze. Something she said made Richard laugh gaily, and he placed his off hand on the small feminine one nestled in the crook of his elbow. Darcy fairly seethed. She had never walked withhimso! What was Richard up to, strolling so cosily withhisElizabeth?
The path came to a minor divergence, with a lower path proceeding through a muddier place and the higher rounding a small bend. Bingley took the higher path, darting a quick but significant glance at the walkers behind. Elizabeth and Darcy both noticed, if the others did not. Elizabeth tactfully suggested that as the path was not yet impassable, her party might appreciate the small bubbling creek that lay just ahead on the lower road.
As they approached a low bending oak tree just before the creek, Elizabeth released the colonel’s arm and turned to Georgiana with an infectious grin. “Miss Darcy, may I show you something?” Hesitantly, but with a pleased little smile to her brother, she placed her hand in Elizabeth’s. The two young ladies traipsed out of view over a small grassy patch to a grove of trees beyond, heedless of the mud and grass tugging at their skirts. As they vanished from sight, the gentlemen could hear the musical sound of their distant laughter.
Fitzwilliam turned to his cousin with an arched brow. Darcy regarded him darkly. “Unhappy, Cousin?” Fitzwilliam smirked.
“Why would I be?” he growled. “You and Elizabeth seem to be getting on famously.”
“Yes,Elizabeth, if we are calling her such, is quite charming. She promised to sing for me someday, you know. You said she had an enchanting voice. I should like to find out for myself.” Richard affected an air of nonchalance, but he secretly loved goading his brooding relative. Never since eleven-year-old Richard had picked the best puppy—the one seven-year-old William had wanted—from George Darcy’s favourite pointer had it been so easily done.
His cousin took the bait admirably. He stalked closer, glowering. “Be careful, Richard!” he hissed.
Richard laughed lightly. “Oh, come on, William, do not be that way! You know I only wished to put in a few good words for you. She had you completely at her mercy in there. I have to admit, it must not be entirely unpleasant.” He gave a low whistle. “You did not exaggerate, Cousin. She is impressive. Lovely and clever, and she talks about more than bonnets and dancing.”
Darcy sighed heavily, leaning against the oak tree. “Georgiana likes her,” he murmured.
Richard nodded. “She would be good for her. There is something genuine and sincere about her. I believe she would be kind to Georgie for her own sake, not yours.”
Darcy made a wry face. “Not very optimistic about my prospects, are you?”
“You know what I mean, William. More than one lady has tried to worm her way into your affections by ostentatious attentions to Georgie. Surely you have noticed. I can promise you, Georgie has too, and she does not care for it. Miss Elizabeth is quite the opposite. Truly, she is a remarkable young woman.”
“Is she not?” Darcy gazed longingly in the direction the ladies had taken.
Richard was still incredulous at the easy way this country miss had thoroughly bewitched his staid and cautious cousin. Now that he had met the lady, he could see exactly why the secretive and close Darcy had found her zest appealing, but he had never expected the man to be so wholly given over to his feelings.
“Father will give you a bad time, I fear. At least he will rant and storm until he gets to know her, but I wager she will have him eating out of her hand before dessert is served. Mother will love her immediately, but there is still Aunt Catherine.”
Darcy was still, his voice quiet. “She was going to be made unhappy in whatever choice I made. You know as well as I, there was no future in that.”
“True, but be prepared for unpleasantness all the same. She will not attempt to spare your lady’s feelings. I only hope that whatever form her disapproval takes, you will be able to shield Miss Elizabeth at least until the lady becomes resigned to the match. You do not need Aunt Catherine discouraging your Miss Elizabeth just now.”
Darcy snorted to himself. “She would stand in no awe of Aunt Catherine. In fact, if she did not dislike me so strongly, I would wager that the surest way to obtain her acceptance would be to have our aunt forbid the marriage!”
“You have a point,” Richard chuckled. “Aunt Catherine will not be the only one who disapproves, you realize. Enchanting as Miss Elizabeth is, she is nothing like the women of theton. I mean that in the best possible way, but do you think she will fit in with your circles in Society?”
“Better than I do,” Darcy grunted. “She is not easily intimidated.”
“Yes… so I see.” Fitzwilliam eyed his cousin thoughtfully. “She is not very happy with you. That much is obvious, but neither is she frightened of you. If you can somehow earn her regard, she could be just the ally you need against those gussied-up cats.” He finished with a playful wink.
Darcy turned to look his cousin full in the face, his eyes deeply serious. “Richard... Imustwin her affections.” His voice wavered somewhat. “I have only ever met women who want Pemberley and my wealth more than they want me. I do not mean to sound vain, but you cannot know what it is like, to know that everyone who approaches me sees only my pocketbook and my position. Elizabeth is blind to all of that. If nothing else, her refusal proves that. There is no one like her. Do you think she can ever be brought round?”
Richard blew out a long breath. “If things truly stand as you say they do, she has little enough choice. She will have to marry you eventually. Give it time, Cousin. You are as fine a man as any I know. She will learn to like you well enough, I daresay.”
Darcy rubbed a hand over his eyes. “I fear that is no longer enough for me.”
Chapter 10
Elizabethhadinitiallyreachedout to Georgiana as a relief from speaking to her brother and cousin. The colonel was certainly charming enough, and she felt that under different circumstances, she could have thoroughly enjoyed his company. Within a short while, though, she had become convinced of the unnerving certainty that he had more than one ulterior motive.
The timing of his arrival was too strong of a coincidence. She suspected that he had been summoned from London after the events of yesterday morning. Elizabeth felt more than sure that he was seeking to determine an opinion of herself on behalf of the rest of Darcy’s family. She haughtily determined that she did not fear his disapproval, having not sought the connection in the first place. The more unsettling prospect was that he also seemed unusually interested in praising his cousin to her. One of His Majesty’s soldiers as an ambassador of peace; it was a strange emissary to choose.
With little expectation of pleasure, she had tried to cultivate conversation with the sister. Her initial feelings about the girl had proven ungenerous. Within a very few minutes, Elizabeth became convinced that what George Wickham had described as extreme pride was instead profound bashfulness. It was an easy enough mistake, she reasoned. A young woman possessed both of great wealth, and painful shyness could easily be called overly proud. Anyone could have thought so had they not spent enough time around the girl. Perhaps Wickham’s youthful connection to the family had occurred when Georgiana was too young to be known well to him.
Now, as they plundered toward a well-loved grove of trees, the girl’s demeanour underwent a dramatic shift. She giggled light-heartedly and had no fear of either mud puddles or brambles. There was nothing prideful about Georgiana Darcy. Instead, she seemed like a young girl desperately in need of a friend.
