“Caroline, is it?” Padgett asked sharply.
Richard nodded. “It is.”
“Your father will not be pleased.”
“I cannot muster much will to care about the earl’s opinion on the matter.”
“Her uncles were traitors.”
Mirth left Richard. “Yes, her uncles were, and they paid, and then Bingley paid, though he had nothing to do with their treachery. The score is settled. Nor is the incident common knowledge.”
Padgett shrugged. “It was merely an observation.”
Richard continued to glare down at him. “One I trust you will not share with my father, or anyone else, for that matter.”
“Why would I besmirch the reputation of one of the Crown’s most valuable assets?”
“You would not,” Richard ground out, aware that was Padgett’s way of saying that so long as Richard remained useful to him, no one would ever find out about Caroline’s uncles.
“I am pleased we understand one another and happy to extol the lady’s virtues to your father, should he ask.” Padgett frowned. “What are her virtues?”
Easing from under a cloud of anger, for he had no illusions that Padgett would ever be done with him no matter who he married, Richard mustered a lighter tone. “She is intelligent, and quick. Ambitious, driven, and elegant. And a woman well acquainted with the realities of our world.”
“Not a hothouse rose, then,” Padgett surmised.
“Indeed, no.” Richard smiled, conjuring a vision of Caroline, her eyes glinting as tidbits of relevant gossip sped from the corner of her mouth while she smiled at whomever approached them. She never forgot a name or face, and she had an uncanny knack for knowing what motivated a person. “She is the sort of woman who could help a man earn a seat in parliament.”
“Parliament, is it?”
Richard offered Padgett a bland look. “Of late, this life has begun to wear on me, and yet I live but to serve my country. Parliament seems a reasonable compromise.”
Padgett drummed his fingers, his features folded into thought. “Yes. Parliament.” His gaze snapped back to Richard. “Well dowered, is she not, your Miss Bingley?”
“Would you expect me to fall for an impoverished woman?”
Suddenly, Padgett chuckled. “You could not have planned this better. The earl would have protested Miss Bingley most strenuously, but after fearing you enamored of a pennilesscountry miss with no connections or social finesse, he will be pleased with Miss Bingley’s wealth and ambition. Well done, Fitzwilliam. I am impressed.”
Richard shook his head, unwilling to give confirmation to that level of deviousness. “I had no way to know that I would meet such an appealing woman in Bingley’s household, nor that Darcy would arrive and become enamored with Miss Elizabeth Bennet.”
That earned him a long, scrutinizing look before Padgett finally shrugged. “Very well. I will have you back to Hertfordshire in a matter of days. I am afraid there is a certain amount of paperwork that requires doing. Statements to write up and have witnessed so they may be presented to a judge, etcetera, etcetera. You are familiar.”
“I am,” Richard agreed.
“You will stay at Matlock House?”
He shook his head. “I believe I will impose on Darcy House, in case my father returns quickly.” He would also like to keep close to Georgiana for the next few days, to see how she bore up under the loss of Wickham, but Padgett did not need to know everything, despite what he thought.
Padgett nodded. “Very well, then. You are dismissed and may begin your reports.”
“Yes, sir.” Despite the hours of reports that lay ahead of him, Richard whistled as he strode through Watson, Hastings, and Vane.
Elizabeth tromped across dormant, furrowed fields, first those rented by Mr. Bingley, and then onward into her father’s estate. Wind lashed her cloak and snapped at her skirt, but with less agitation than filled her thoughts. She would likely be in trouble again, for such a lengthy disappearance on the firstday she’d been permitted to walk alone since the morning she’d brought Fitzwilliam to Mr. Wickham, but she had been unable to take the quickest route back. She needed time to sort her thoughts and emotions.
How dare the earl attempt to force her to sign away her right to a future with Fitzwilliam? And to offer her money in exchange, as if she were some feckless, mercenary miss with no constancy in her heart. Were Elizabeth a man, she would have challenged him, no matter that he was an earl and duels illegal. He insulted her to the core.
And Miss Bingley, consenting with such alacrity. Elizabeth shook her head. She did not know the other woman over-well but had thought Miss Bingley possessed more character than she’d shown. A greater strength of purpose. Did Miss Bingley believe Lady Catherine’s declaration that Mr. Darcy was already engaged? Elizabeth certainly did not. Besides which, what did a woman who already had twenty thousand pounds even need with two and a half thousand more? Miss Bingley’s honor could be bought for so low a price?
Not that any price would do. Not for Elizabeth. Even if she and Fitzwilliam had no chance of a union, as Miss Bingley seemed so certain, Elizabeth could not be purchased like a ewe at market.
