Page 145 of Honor Requires

She kept her gaze lowered, her fingers brushing lightly over the shell in an effort to steady herself. The memory of the garden lingered with vivid clarity—the feel of his grasp, the restrained intensity of his voice, the truth at last spoken between them. It felt like she had stepped from one world into another and been returned too quickly to the former, expected to carry on while pretending nothing had changed. She could still feel the warmth of his hand at her wrist—constant, deliberate. She had not mistaken nor imagined it.

How am I to sit here and speak of ordinary things, when everything has altered? That was the truth. And she could not say it. She reached for her teacup and found it untouched, the surface gone cold.

“Lizzy.” Jane’s voice, gentle but unmistakably curious, drew her from her thoughts.

Elizabeth looked up.

Jane was watching her with a look that combined affection with a growing, unmistakable interest. There was no censure in it, no sharpness, but neither was there any lack of perception.

“You were gone a very considerable time,” Jane smiled coyly.

Elizabeth attempted a composed smile. “The gardens are diverting.”

“And now,” Jane returned lightly, “I cannot recall their being quite so absorbing as to detain you both for so long.”

Warmth rose to her cheeks. “We walked longer than I expected,” she said. “And the morning was very agreeable.” It was a hollow excuse. Even as she spoke it, she knew Jane would not believe her.

Jane’s smile deepened, though she did not immediately reply. Instead, she leaned back in her chair, her gaze still fixed upon Elizabeth with unshaken persistence. “And what do you think of our neighbor now?” she asked.

Elizabeth’s composure wavered for the briefest instant.

“The Count of Vendicarsi,” Jane pressed, as though clarifying the question for one who might have misunderstood it. “He appears most attentive.”

Elizabeth clasped her hands together in her lap. “He is…very polite.”

“Only polite?” Jane’s brows lifted, though her tone remained gentle. There was no accusation in the question, but it pressed gently all the same.

Elizabeth hesitated. “It is too soon to say what his intentions may be,” she said at last, choosing her words with care. She kept her gaze constant, though she felt anything but composed.

Jane tilted her head, her expression mild but thoughtful. “Too soon, perhaps, for certainty. But not, I think, too soon for impression.”

Elizabeth did not answer.

Jane watched her for another moment, then reached across and lightly touched her hand. “I knew,” she said, “that your heart was not lost forever.”

Elizabeth’s breath caught. She looked up, meeting Jane’s gaze fully for the first time since returning from the garden. There was no teasing in her sister’s expression now, only a calm, certain kindness that saw more than Elizabeth had intended to reveal.

“I never believed,” Jane continued, “that you would remain unchanged, however determined you appeared. Time does not extinguish such feelings entirely. It only waits.”

Elizabeth felt her composure shift once more, not toward disarray, but toward more openness and vulnerability than she had allowed herself in years.

She sees too much. But how can I deny it now? “I do not know what may come of it,” she said.

Jane smiled. “No. Nor can you. But I am very glad that something has come at all.”

Elizabeth returned the smile, though her thoughts were far from settled. Before she could speak further, the door opened.

“Colonel Fitzwilliam.”

Elizabeth turned at once. Richard entered with his usual easy confidence, though there was a sharpness beneath it today, a keen awareness that did not escape her notice. His gaze moved quickly from Jane to Elizabeth, and something like satisfaction flickered there before it was masked by his customary warmth.

“Jane,” he said, crossing the room and bending to kiss her cheek. “You are well, I trust.”

“Very well,” she replied, smiling. “And you?”

“Better now that I see you, dear sister.”

He straightened, then turned toward Elizabeth. “Miss Bennet.”