His gaze never wavered as he tightened his jaw and attempted to stare her down. “That moment is not yet upon us, Miss Bennet. I think if it ever does arrive, you will find much of your distress was for naught. I believe Georgiana will feel as I do; that you take far more blame upon yourself than any other would dream of ascribing to you. Moreover, I daresay that even your errant sister shall receive Georgiana’s unstinting support when they are introduced at dinner. Georgie… well, Miss Bennet, my cousin is well aware how a young lady might be misled. She will be the last of all to assign blame.”
Elizabeth had met his hard stare without flinching until his last words. At these, she dropped her eyes and meditated on the depth of her own conviction. No, she could not be pardoned so easily! She dashed an unruly tear from her cheek, then glared back at him again. “I think you are wrong, Colonel, but I cannot deny that I owe her this debt. This far I will agree; I will accompany Georgiana to Pemberley and remain as her friend and guest for as long as you are out of the country.”
“No longer than that? I hope you do not assume, Miss Bennet, that I shall be returned in a matter of two or three weeks. My travels may take me far abroad in my search for answers.”
Elizabeth pursed her lips and withdrew her hand from under his. “Then let us be honest with one another, sir. What answers, pray, do you seek? For if you are to ask me to alter everything at your pleasure and place my future at the disposal of yourself and Miss Darcy, I believe I deserve to know the entirety of the matter.”
A slow tug curved his mouth, and the twinkle she remembered from Kent returned faintly to his eye. He tilted his head quizzically, and at last gave a soft, knowing chuckle, but he did not answer.
Elizabeth crossed her arms in annoyance. “Colonel Fitzwilliam, I have been most forthright with you, but when I ask the same courtesy, I am instead met with derision! I cannot help now but wonder if I have not given my word in haste and shall soon regret—”
“I beg your pardon, Miss Bennet!” he laughingly objected. “I mean you no disrespect, I assure you. I only came to see another side of you for a moment, and it really is little wonder… well, I digress. Naturally you have every right to enquire what is to keep me away from my cousin while she is so vulnerable, and to know what my expectations are. To be quite truthful, I cannot answer. There is a matter of honour and justice that compels me to search out all that I may, even at the expense of leaving my cousin in another’s trust.”
Elizabeth’s eyes narrowed speculatively. She turned away from him and wandered to the window, gazing out to the snow-dusted drive where stood the impressive carriage emblazoned with the Darcy crest. “You speak of matters of honour, sir,” she mused, then turned sharply. “Have you some means of bringing justice down upon those who killed Mr Darcy? Have you traced them, do you know who they are?”
Something flickered across his mouth—a smile? A scowl? “Not yet,” was his terse reply.
The colour flashed in her cheeks and she strode quickly to him. “But you have found something! You have learned some little of what happened, or you would not be going!”
He cocked his head again, lightly stunned at her swift conclusion. “You are correct, Miss Bennet. There was much for which I could not account, and though I still know very little, at least now I have some direction. I sail for the Continent in three days.”
Her eyes widened. “What could be on the Continent?”
“Whom, do you mean? There is a slight connection—a pitiful excuse for true information, but the more I have uncovered, the more mysterious matters have become. I cannot ignore this lead, but I beg you would reveal my errand to no other, and most particularly not to Georgiana. I could not bear to raise her hopes and then see them dashed once more if I am wrong. There is also the surety that anyone hearing of my intentions without knowing all that I know would think me mad!”
Elizabeth’s breath seized, her chest heaving without managing to fill her lungs as her heart spun wildly. Caught up fully in the mysterious hope of the colonel’s words, it was all she could do not to grasp the golden epaulets on his shoulders and shake him until he confessed all. “Sir, you may be assured of my secrecy, but I beg you would tell me. What is it you know? What hopes do you fear granting Georgiana?”
His chin shifted to the side and he drew a deep breath. “The body in the grave was not Darcy.”
Chapter seventeen
Porto, Portugal
“Downthere?”Ruystoodback from the stained wall, gazing somewhat askance at the air shaft from which Amália had first heard the voice. “Are you certain it was not just some echo from another part of the house?”
“I know what I heard, Ruy. There is someone imprisoned down there, and Miguel has some part in it!”
“Darling, there is a war on. I think you have no business meddling in state affairs. He could be anyone—a traitor, perhaps.”
“If that were so, why hide him away here? We have regular prisons for that. The things I heard were not the questions for a prisoner of war. No, Ruy, I think Senhor Vasconcelos is involved in something hideous and dangerous.”
He snorted. “’Hideous and dangerous’? Excellent recommendations they are. Please, tell me how I may involve myself at once!”
“Ruy,” she stopped him seriously. “This is my home now, and if it is taking place here, I am already involved. Something is dreadfully wrong with all this! Oh, Ruy, you ought to have heard that poor man. Why, my heart breaks, and I cannot even eat for worry over what must be happening to him!”
He sighed and shook his head. “This is why women do not go to war, you know. You would nurse back to health every enemy we shoot, and if he had a handsome smile, you would marry him as well.”
She crossed her arms and half-smirked. “Can you think of any better punishment for an enemy than to make him finance a society wife?”
A slow grin charmed its way to his reluctant mouth, and he finally bowed his head in defeat. “What do you wish for me to do? March into Miguel’s study and ask him all about it?”
She wrinkled her nose. “Please do be serious, Ruy. We must release him and somehow get him to a ship and safety!”
“That is no mean feat, my dear. Too many eyes are about during the day, and my presence in your house at night would most decidedly be noticed. You shall have to reach him on your own. From what you say you heard, the man may not even be ambulatory. Even if you find an opportunity to reach his cell in secret, how are you to extract him? You cannot very well hoist him upon your own back. If the man does have any strength of his own, how do you know he would not prove dangerous to you?”
She bit her lip. “I had not thought of that. Perhaps I may slip away tonight and speak with him through the door? I could at least gain some information about who he is.”
“And if you are caught? What then, my valiant little sister?”
