“The same thing as many others—desiring to allow her child a bit of liberty. Not all take to it well.”
Fitzwilliam scoffed, then beat his arms to warm himself. “After I put the noose around Wickham’s pretty little neck, I mean to see that girl locked away until she is forty and too old to run after stray men.”
“If that satisfies your offended sense of justice. I must speak with my steward.” Darcy urged his mount to a gallop, leaving his irascible cousin to express his outrages to none but his own horse.
The first faces to greet him upon his return to the house were the last he had desired to see. Anne Fitzwilliam and Lady Sophia appeared to be just returning from a stroll in the garden, and they waited for him in the entry hall.
“Darcy!” cried Lady Sophia as he came up the steps. “Why, you must be fearfully exhausted. You must have been out all day, have you not? And in this cold!”
“I have.” He turned to offer his coat to the footman and proceeded into the house, but Lady Sophia would not be so easily brushed off. She followed close at his elbow, with Anne trailing not far behind.
“My dear cousin, let me call for some refreshment for you. Truly, you look exceedingly weary.”
“I thank you, but I must speak to my steward.” He bowed quickly, and turned away, but her hand at his shoulder stayed him.
“Will you not tell me what this is about?” She tilted her head and bestowed a sweet smile upon him, tossing her curls ever so slightly. “You arouse my pity by your long exertions and then refuse to be comforted. Poor form, my dear cousin!”
“I am afraid,” said he, “that the matter is a private one.”
“Private, he says!” she lamented to Anne. “Darcy, you have been too many years alone. A man in your position must learn to share a bit of his burden. Why, that is why you asked me here, was it not? To bring comfort and pleasure to the party—you said it yourself, so I must assume you meant every word, for you are nothing if not sincere.”
He nodded impatiently. “Indeed. I presume you and Anne are a great comfort to one another.”
“Oh, Darcy!” The lady affected a mournful sob. “How callous you are! You will not tell me what has become of that young Bennet girl, but I can imagine well enough. Why, the scandal, if it is learned that the sister of Miss Darcy’s companion has fallen into disrepute! Truly, sir, you are too generous, expending your energies on a girl of no account as you have. No one could fail to credit you as a magnanimous master, but do you not think all this entanglement in that girl’s affairs might be misconstrued?”
Darcy was staring incredulously at his cousin. “Misconstrued?”
“Why, naturally.” She stepped close and trailed her eyes over his frame in a manner that could only be called possessive. “One can understand your desire to hush up any scandal before it can be widely known, but to oversee the affair personally? Secrete the mother and sisters in your own house?” She laughed gently. “It is not as if you are in any way beholden to that shameful family. Why not send them all away before any breath of suspicion may touch our dear Georgiana?”
Darcy took a careful step backwards. His gaze flitted to Anne, and to Richard, who was finally coming through the front door, before narrowing once more on Lady Sophia. “I am afraid it is you who have misconstrued matters, Cousin,” he informed her. “As it happens, I am deeply invested in the welfare of the entire Bennet family.”
She made a face of mock condescension. “Come, Darcy, you cannot be serious. I suppose you will claim it is all for the benefit of a certain lady’s companion? Such creatures are to be found anywhere—why, ‘twould be the work of a moment to secure a proper replacement for her.”
Darcy permitted his teeth to show. “I am afraid not. Elizabeth Wickham is, apart from my own sister, the only female in this house who is irreplaceable.”
A loud snort of appreciation from Richard accompanied his wife’s horrified gasps. Darcy stared back at Lady Sophia just long enough to ensure that she was sufficiently silenced. Her complexion changed hues more than once, but the most satisfying bit was the way her elegant mouth gapped like a doomed fish. Darcy turned on his heel and marched down the hall…
Directly into Elizabeth.
“Please,sir,Iamnot accustomed to explanations from you, nor did I ask for one.” Elizabeth retreated to the far side of Mr Darcy’s study and stood with her arms crossed.
Mr Darcy approached slowly, more hesitantly than his usual manner. “And I am not accustomed to the necessity of explaining myself. You have always been clever enough that I need not feed you with a spoon, but under the circumstances, it would not be unreasonable if you had a question or two.”
“I have several dozen, but only a few of them are pertinent at the moment.” She cast her eyes to the ceiling and bit her lip.
He stood before her now, his hands first on his hips, then clasped behind his back, then gesturing in wordless frustration. “Allow me to assume the first, then. It… it came to my attention that my cousin, Lady Sophia, may have cultivated certain expectations. Expectations that I have no intention of satisfying.”
“I am sure your personal affairs are no business of mine, sir.”
His brow fell. “Have you no questions at all about the conversation you heard?”
Elizabeth drew in a breath and looked away. “You believe that I have.”
“I hope you have… no, I can see it for myself. You are blushing, Elizabeth.”
She turned back, her eyes wide. “Do you delight in humiliating me, sir?”
He shook his head. “No.”
