She turned to Lady Helen.
“I believe he intends to court me with marriage in mind.”
Darcy swore softly. “The devil he does.”
Lady Helen said, “I watched him. He has been struck. Dunwich loves no one but himself, yet now he is utterly captivated. I do not say it is love, but it bodes ill, for his pursuit is always relentless.”
Elizabeth looked from one face to another.
“What am I to do?”
Darcy asked, “Aunt, will you take Elizabeth under your protection? I would also ask that Georgiana and I may reside with you until we are married.”
“Yes, that will answer. Richard and Anne came to me earlier today to wait out the refurbishments at the de Bourgh townhouse. Elizabeth, Dunwich will not dare offer insult to a guest of a peer, and with two gentlemen in residence, your honor will be secure.”
Her expression hardened.
Beaumont said, “Elizabeth, if you prefer to remain with us, I will invite your father to town. Perhaps his presence would discourage the man’s raffish behavior.”
“Thank you, Beaumont, but Dunwich would never dare call upon Elizabeth while she is sheltered at Matlock House.”
He turned to Elizabeth. “Darling, will you agree to this?”
“Yes, sir. I have no wish to ever see that man again. No matter how coldly I answered him, he merely laughed and declared it amusing and insisted it rendered me uniformly charming. There was nothing I could say to depress his pretensions, and I knew not how to express my disgust strongly enough to convince him that I found him abhorrent.”
Jane patted her sister’s hand. “I shall have Sally pack your trunk as soon as we return home. Lizzy, you have only to wait out four weeks more, and then you shall be married and settled in Derbyshire. Everything will come right in the end, you shall see.”
The two families slipped away unnoticed when the dancing recommenced.
Together with his valet, Georgiana’s maid, and one of the Miller brothers, they traveled to Matlock House, which stood only a block farther up the street.
Elizabeth was in her chamber unpacking when Georgiana tapped upon the door and then bounded in the moment she was invited to enter.
“Lizzy, Fitzwilliam told me everything about Lord Dunwich and his appalling behavior. Shall your name appear in all the society columns tomorrow?”
Elizabeth’s eyes narrowed. “Society columns?”
“Why, yes. Every ball is written up for public consumption the following morning.”
Elizabeth said wryly, “I believe my name may indeed appear in the papers. They shall likely report that society’s darling bachelor is now betrothed to a milkmaid and that the wildest rake in town has been smitten by an unsophisticated provincial.”
The two young women talked late into the night. At last, when Elizabeth could scarcely keep her eyes open, she said, “I must go to bed, Georgiana, or I shall fall asleep sitting in this chair.”
“Lizzy, may I sleep in your room? I know Lord Dunwich shall not break into the house; nevertheless, I am afraid.”
“Of course you may, provided your brother approves.”
“Thank you, Lizzy.”
Georgiana embraced her tightly before hurrying away in search of her brother.
Meanwhile, Darcy was closeted with Richard over a game of billiards, having already recounted everything that had transpired at the ball.
Richard said, “I am sorry to have missed it, but under no circumstances can I show myself at a society function.”
“No, you cannot. You have, in effect, lost your mother.”
“I have stationed a second footman at the door. Between the butler and two footmen, no one shall gain entrance, though I doubt Dunwich would dare show his face here.”
