Page 47 of Her Affections and Wishes

“No, and I did not linger.” He gave a repulsed little flinch. The encounter must have been mortifying. “I assumed it was Julia, given her overtures to me, but I am not confident enough to say so publicly. She is the only young blonde guest, but I do not know every female servant here, or he might have met a woman riding around the area. Not that I would expose Julia if I was certain. Their business is none of mine, but it makes me think Julia and Mr Travers could have worked together to trap you.”

“And you think he was persuaded to startle the horse? One of us would have recognised him.”

“Could you be sure?”

Elizabeth closed her eyes, trying to remember what she saw before she fell, and shook her head.

“He stormed off after losing the Derby, and no one saw him for the rest of the day. He might have gone to the carriages to see you knocked off on Julia’s demand.”

“But if she is secretly in love with Mr Travers, why not marry him? Why fixate on you?” An alarming thought came to mind. “She was not unwilling when you saw them?”

Darcy sat on the floor whilst giving her a disapproving glare. “Would I have left if I thought she was being assaulted? It was abundantly clear she was an equal partner.”

He was right, and Elizabeth rubbed her hands over her tired eyes. Nothing made sense. “Why would she pursue you so frantically, but then be with Mr Travers?”

“I don’t know,” he said wearily. “She was not interested in me six weeks ago when we dined at Rosings. She risks a great deal to offer herself to me with no promise of a proposal, let alone without a public engagement and signed settlement papers. To say nothing of the risk of her actually bedding Mr Travers. He has shown her absolutely no interest all week, no hint he would marry anyone, let alone her. And to add all this violent mischief? What is her goal?”

She still doubted there was any mischief aside from this trap with the jib-door. Julia did not startle the horse, and it made no sense to throw the vase and do this trick if she was with Mr Travers? Unless he did not want to marry her either? Was Darcy more attractive to Julia because he was not interested? What a foolish woman to pursue men who did not want her. Angry and jealous people were not wise.

But what if she was not just angry or jealous, but desperate?

“Fitzwilliam,” she said, “what if Julia is not merely determined to marry, but she has to marry, and soon?”

Wheels of thought spun in his eyes. “She unflinchingly offered herself to me twice, and if we know she was with Mr Travers, it is not impossible she could be pregnant by a previous partner. Perhaps whomever is the father could not be induced to marry her, but if she can persuade me or one of the other men here to marry her, then she is saved.”

“She might mean to seduce one of you and then claim the child is yours and hope you are more honourable than the last man. Either way, she cannot have much time.”

It was not impossible Julia expected a baby. She tired easily, laid abed in the morning, scarcely ate breakfast, and was sick to her stomach the entire ride to Woodcote. Did Lady Metcalfe know, or was she helping her daughter find a husband as any mother would?

Darcy stretched out his legs in the small space. His feet hit the staircase. “This is a great deal of speculation. We know nothing for certain. We ought not to say anything and damage her good name. As much as I dislike the woman, ruining her goes against my conscience.”

“We are also speculating that someone wants to harm me,” she said pointedly. “We have not a whit of evidence aside from knowing two people lured us here, which is quite a different thing than anyone injuring me. This was deliberate, but the others were accidents. Is Mr Travers helping Julia secure you? Why? Did they know you were here with me? Are you saying all three incidents were done by the same people? There is no proof. We have no answers⁠—”

“I know!” he interrupted. His impatient tone stung, and she drew back. “I am sorry, dearest.” He held out a hand. Elizabeth left the step and took it, settling in the tight space next to him. He kissed her hand and said, “I have no answers, only suspicions that my future wife thinks me of defective judgment.”

“Not defective, just perhaps a little less rational than usual. I agree that someone played this cruel trick on me.” She stretched up to kiss his cheek. “Even if I doubt all the rest, I will stand by you. Although, I think you are far too suspicious.”

Rather than smile, he seemed more tense as they sat side by side. “I wish you were right, you know. But I cannot help but think wicked mischief is at play.”

“And you hate to sit here and do nothing. We can do nothing about it until either the servants or family return after the races. It must be noon, and the starting time for the elite race is…?”

“Three, so the family will not be home until five with all those carriages, although perhaps some servants will be back earlier. We can take turns calling for⁠—”

“I am not yelling for five hours.”

“Very well. We will start taking turns at half three,” he insisted, with arms crossed.

Elizabeth blew out a breath. It would be a long afternoon if Darcy sat here in annoyed tension, angry that he could take no action and angry that he was powerless. His understanding and temper answered all her wishes, but she would have to distract and enliven him if they spent the afternoon trapped behind this door.

Chapter Ten

Elizabeth sat next to him, legs outstretched and feet tapping together, prattling away, but Darcy was too preoccupied for her lively chat. She had two hairbreadth escapes and had now been cruelly trapped behind a jib-door. These were serious offences, and graver than Elizabeth believed them to be. To her, the vase and the carriage were unfortunate incidents that had nothing to do with one another, let alone her.

But he was certain it was a jealous and desperate Julia Metcalfe, who had now recruited someone to aid in her scheme.

“If Julia did trap me in here, just think how cross she will be to go to the races and learn you are nowhere to be found,” Elizabeth said later in a half-serious, half-sportive tone. “I daresay she will shriek and stamp her foot when she learns instead of having you to herself today and tonight, she forced us to spend all day together behind a locked door.”

He made an evasive sound of acknowledgement. Julia Metcalfe had cloven feet as far as he was concerned, but there was no proving she was behind the previous accidents or this scheme. And Elizabeth was determined to believe they were merely two mischances and a trick, rather than three dark actions taken by a dangerous woman.