Page 49 of The Widower of Pemberley

“But if you have another attack, I must be here.”I shall be gone soon and will not know.

“If I die…our last words were affectionate. Must liveyourlife. Soon you will leave. Might be last card party at aunt’s. Should see your friends.”

Elizabeth agreed in the end, as much as because her papa became agitated as he insisted she go to the party as out of an actual desire to see her friends.

She had only a mild curiosity as to whether the officer was as handsome as Lydia and Kitty declared, and she had no desire to meet him for herself.

All her thoughts were about Mr. Darcy, even though she was not marrying for love.

She remembered his soft kiss and the way his taste had lingered on her mouth.

Chapter Twelve

Lord Matlock sat grey faced and frowning in the pale wintry light that filtered through the windows of Darcy’s town-house.

His uncle said nothing for half a minute, while Darcy’s cousin Colonel Fitzwilliam paced and hemmed, unwilling to be imprisoned in a chair.

It had been Darcy’s good fortune to find both his uncle and his cousin in town on business when he arrived to have the marriage settlement written. He was pleased to be able to make the announcement in person.

Darcy expected opposition and argument from his uncle.

He looked forward to answering their objections.

Lord Matlock had always spoken to Darcy about the importance of marrying well, and shortly after Mary had died, he had mentioned that in the case of an entailed estate and no male heir, he was as eligible as he had been before his first marriage.

Thus, when Darcy announced his planned union, he dwelt at some length on all the features of Elizabeth that his relations would find unpleasant: one uncle in trade, the other a country attorney; the absence of any dowry; and the large dependent family who might soon be fully in his charge—a little wildness in the younger children, a mother who was vulgar and talked too openly about her hopes for good marriages, and finally an exceedingly dull cousin who was Lady Catherine’s parson.

Thatdrew a grimace from Colonel Fitzwilliam but no change in Lord Matlock’s stiff countenance.

After all deficiencies of the match that Darcy could think of had been stated, he leaned back in his heavy oaken armchair, crossed his legs, and waited.

And waited.

“Sir,” Darcy said at last, as the silence lengthened, “you hoped that I would marry high a second time, but there are advantages to Miss Elizabeth’s situation in life. She will never have the same cause to repine that Mary found in my taciturn nature, as I have informed her about my ill traits, and she will be suitably grateful that I have raised her up. She also does not have the notions of many of thetonthat it is unfashionable to pay regular attention to children, and—”

“Enough. By George, enough!” Lord Matlock slammed his palm against the lion-headed arm of his chair. “I should have known. I feel quite the neglectful relation. Despite the fact you presented a calm appearance and spoke in an unaffected manner, I should have known that you were not well after Mary died. You still are not. By George, how could you be?”

“I am perfectly well.”

“You have taken leave of your senses, and—”

“I assure you, I have given great thought to the matter, and while I do not wish to deny the importance of wealth and connections in choosing a bride, there is no necessity in my situation—”

“No. Not that.” Lord Matlock groaned. “We should have stayed with you—I should have put aside my other business. The whole was a terrible shock. You never thought thatshewould do something like that to you.”

Darcy’s lips pressed together grimly.

His uncle’s words made him remember that terrible discovery, the shock that had gone through him. Even though he hadthought he no longer loved Mary, to know that she had betrayed him in such a way. And with Wickham!

And then…

Startled face, lost grip, body falling.

Crack of head hitting marble.

Colonel Fitzwilliam poured a glass of port from the sideboard and pushed it into Darcy’s hand. “Drink it all, Coz. Terrible memory. I know what it is like.”

Darcy automatically swallowed back the whole. His hand shook.