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“I will say,” she told him softly, “that I never thought I should be tucked into my bed by you, Mr. Darcy.”
A hundred fantasies of Elizabeth he had shoved aside over the past months broke free to riot before his eyes. She is not herself, he told himself sternly. She does not realize . . .Behave like a gentleman. He stepped back.
Fitz waited until Darcy was finished, but then motioned angrily to the doorway. Darcy did not appreciate the summons, but he understood it. He glowered back at his cousin but followed his lead, stopping first to add a few more coals to the fire. As Fitz passed through the opening, Darcy turned his head to look at Miss Elizabeth.
She was staring at him.
“Thank you, Mr. Darcy,” she said. She appeared miserable and fatigued.
He gave her a curt nod and stepped out of the room.
Darcy had no idea how he was going to get them all out of this—but he would, and Fitz would help. Elizabeth Bennet deserved to live a long, happy life, and he was going to be certain that she did.
Fitz stood in the middle of the study, his arms folded over his chest.
“What is it, Fitz?” Darcy asked impatiently. “You had better just say it. We need to devise a plan.”
“What in the blazes do you think you are doing, telling Miss Bennet that you will save her family?” Fitz snapped. “We cannot make promises we do not know we can keep. The girl’s life is already in ruins. Do not make it worse.”
“It sounds as though you actually care what happens to her, though you attempt to hide it,” Darcy retorted. “Where was that concern when you were in her company?”
Fitz shook his head. “You may not like it, but it is unfair to allow her to develop a friendship with you, to depend upon you, when you shall have to send her away. If I am unpleasant, she will not regret having to go.”
Darcy sat heavily in the chair behind his desk. That was what the end must be, he knew. They could not save Elizabeth’s reputation if she remained at Darcy House, but they could not ensure her safety were she to depart. As much as he did not wish it to be true, Miss Elizabeth had been absent from her family for an entire day and would soon be missing overnight. It was unlikely her family could hide that fact. His heart ached for her.
“Before we decide what to do with Miss Bennet,” his cousin continued, “we need to discover who is behind her abduction. We must not give anyone an opportunity to connect you to her.”
“Fitz,” Darcy asked softly, “do you believe they were going to kill her?”
“I do not know,” Fitz responded plainly, “but they did not care about her seeing their faces, and they forced laudanum upon her without any apparent concern for the dose. Whatever they had planned, it was not pleasant.”
Darcy’s frustration mounted. “What was their aim? Who benefits if Miss Elizabeth were to disappear or was killed and I am blamed for it? It cannot be over Pemberley. Georgiana would inherit and as angry with me as she is, I doubt she desires to see me hanged.”
Fitz rolled his eyes. “It might be a gambit to wed her for the estate, but she is very well protected.”
Now,Darcy thought guiltily.
Fitz rubbed the back of his neck. “Bingley is the obvious choice. He cannot be pleased you refused to wed his sister.” He paused, thinking. “You say he is courting Miss Bennet’s elder sister. Were the Bennets mired in a scandal it would certainly limit any competition for her hand or make the father willing to acquiesce to his offer. Is there a fortune involved?”
“Mrs. Bennet informed the entire neighborhood that Miss Bennet’s eldest son would inherit the estate.” Darcy’s disdain rang loudly in his words. He could not help it—the woman was foolish and vulgar. “Still, would not a scandal frighten Bingley away more than draw him in?”
Fitz shrugged. “Bingley would gain the estate his father wanted without having to deplete his own fortune. His alliance with the family might mitigate the damage, or he could be willing to marry her and wait for the scandal to pass.”
Darcy rubbed his eyes with one hand. “If Mrs. Bennet is correct. Apparently, there was an entailment, but the heir presumptive has died. If Mr. Bennet was the tenant in tail, he could pursue a common recovery. As he has not, he is likely not working with an entail but a strict settlement. In any case, an estate generally does not revert to the current family in residence, though there might be a remainder man named in the original document.”
Fitz stared at him blankly.
“A contingency,” Darcy explained. “Another man to inherit, even if he is not from the Bennet line. Eventually, it all depends on how it was written and what the will says.”
“Does Bingley know that?” Fitz asked, moving to pour himself a glass of port.
Darcy lifted his shoulders. “He should. I tried to teach him. But I find that he was often not listening.”
“I cannot imagine why,” Fitz said sardonically, and took a sip of his drink. “He expected you would be his brother and do his schoolwork for him. Besides, you are fastidious in your work whereas Bingley tends to flit from one thing to another.”
Darcy accepted a glass of his own port from his cousin. “I believe you just told me I am prone to delivering jobations.”
Fitz met his gaze and lifted his eyebrows. Darcy thought he would deliver another jibe, but instead, Fitz asked, “Perhaps Bingley’s sisters? I cannot imagine they are in favor of his suit.”
