The awareness startled him enough that the expression faded in an instant. “Your brothers conduct historical debates with alarming seriousness.”
“They conduct everything with alarming seriousness.” Elizabeth chuckled. The warmth of the sound washed over him.
“Yes,” he murmured. “I have noticed.”
Wilson appeared shortly afterward. Again.
Darcy’s satisfaction diminished instantly upon seeing him cross toward Elizabeth with obvious purpose.
Wilson noticed Darcy too.
Feeling somewhat pleased, Darcy thought he detected genuine irritation beneath the man’s hearty manner.
Interesting.
Very interesting indeed.
The afternoon concluded eventually with tea and general conversation, though Darcy found himself increasingly aware of Wilson’s attentions toward Elizabeth and increasingly displeased by them.
The emotion arrived slowly enough at first that he almost mistook it for ordinary irritation.
Then Wilson leaned too close while showing Elizabeth some ridiculous sketch of mill machinery.
Elizabeth smiled politely.
Wilson smiled back with unmistakable satisfaction.
And something sharp twisted unexpectedly beneath Darcy’s ribs.
He went very still.
Jealousy. The realization fell with humiliating clarity.
Darcy lowered his untouched teacup slowly while across the room Elizabeth chuckled at something Wilson said without genuine warmth.
It should have reassured him. Instead, he found himself thinking only that Wilson had made her laugh at all.
A thoroughly irrational response. And perfectly undeniable.
The Matchmakers at Work
Breakfast at Longbourn seldom passed in complete peace.
On the morning Mrs. Bennet received three unexpected acceptances to a dinner party she did not remember extending; however, the atmosphere bordered upon catastrophe.
Mrs. Bennet sat at the head of the table with a small stack of correspondence beside her plate and an expression Elizabeth had learned to interpret as restrained bewilderment. Sunlight filtered pale and watery through the breakfast room windows, silvering the steam rising from coffee cups and catching against polished china while the family assembled in varying degrees of wakefulness.
Jane appeared serene despite lingering traces of her recent illness. Mary already had a book propped discreetly beside her plate. Kitty yawned repeatedly over toast. Lydia appeared unusually alert for the hour, which alone ought to have inspired suspicion. Mr. Wilson had not come down.
Thomas and Toby whispered together over something hidden beneath the tablecloth.
Mrs. Bennet unfolded another letter slowly.
“The Longs are coming on Thursday,” she announced.
Mr. Bennet lowered his coffee cup. “How enterprising of them.”
Mrs. Bennet ignored him. “As are the Kings.”
