Darcy exhaled slowly, forcing himself to still the rapid progression of thought.
One matter at a time.
Establish the truth of Frederick’s status.
Secure Mr. Bennet’s cooperation.
Anticipate and neutralize Collins.
Determine Elizabeth’s wishes.
Everything else must follow.
He shifted slightly, careful of Elizabeth, and adjusted the coverlet where it had slipped from her shoulder. She stirred faintly at the movement, her fingers tightening momentarily against him before relaxing once more.
Darcy stilled.
After a moment, when her breathing deepened again, he allowed himself the smallest release of tension.
Extraordinary.
That he could be lying here, holding his wife, while calmly planning how best to unravel what might very well become a legal and social catastrophe—
It was, he thought, not a situation for which he had been particularly prepared.
And yet—
His gaze settled on Elizabeth once more, and something steadied within him.
It will be managed.
Not easily. Not quickly.
But it would be done.
Because it must be.
And because she should not have to bear it alone.
Elizabeth stirred slightly, her hand shifting against him. Darcy stilled at once, his hold gentle but secure.
Let the world wait.
For this moment, at least, she was at peace.
And he would do all he could to keep it that way.
∞∞∞
Elizabeth had never before found breakfast to be such an exercise in restraint.
She sat at the table with every appearance of composure, her hands neatly folded when not engaged, her responses measured, her countenance calm. Anyone observing her might have thought her merely attentive to the polite conversation passing between the party.
No one, she was quite certain, would suspect that her thoughts were nowhere in the room at all.
They were upstairs.
Her cheeks warmed slightly at the direction of her own mind, though she bent her head to her plate in what might easily be taken for interest in the meal before her. The murmur of voices continued around her—Lady Catherine expounding upon some improvement at Rosings, Bingley offering cheerful agreement to Jane, Lady Anne contributing with gentle tact—but Elizabeth heard very little of it.
