Darcy released Georgiana and turned to her. “Anne, I apologize for not being here to receive you properly.”
“Thank you, William. Do not concern yourself for us, as my mother made herself quite at home upon our arrival. Georgiana, why not take Miss Katherine for a turn about the gallery? It would do you well to leave the sick room for a bit.”
“Yes, Sprout. That is a marvelous idea.” Darcy kissed his sister’s blonde head and nudged her toward the door. “Anne and I will keep watch over the patient. If there is any change in your sister, Miss Katherine, we will send for you.”
“Very well, Wills. Come along, Kitty.”
“Yes, and I must write to Mama and Father. I should have done so immediately but was so distraught, I did not even think of it.”
“Maybe you will have happier tidings to include before you post it. Once your letter is written, please give it to Mrs. Reynolds. I will add my own letter and send it express.”
Miss Katherine kissed her sister’s cheek and took Georgiana’s arm before closing the door behind them.
“Do you think we need a proper chaperone to have the door closed?” she quipped.
Darcy rolled his eyes at her and quietly said, “You are quite safe with me.”
Noting her cousin’s tired eyes, her curiosity was as strong as her concern. “I am so grateful to have you returned safely. How did you avoid the storm last night?”
He cleared his throat. “I was able to seek shelter in my grandfather’s hunting lodge on the edge of the estate.”
“Oh, wonderful. So, you were in relative comfort.”
“Yes.”
“And knowing you, you enjoyed the solitude only a true Derbyshire snowstorm can produce.”
He did not respond but only nodded.
“Cousin?” She did not know when she might have another private moment with him so she blurted, “I believe it is time we speak on a matter that my mother would not have us discuss.”
He lookedup at her curiously, seeming to see her for the first time in the last few minutes. “What would you wish to discuss, Anne?” He walked over to the window and stared out into the darkness, his hands clasped behind his back.Good heavens! Has Anne discovered the truth of last night as well?
“Our future.”
“Our future? That has already been decided.”
“Yes, but not by us. I would like to hear your thoughts on the matter.”
“I…I would be happy to speak to you about this subject or any other.” He turned and looked at her, the weight of the last sixteen years not pressing him down as greatly as only moments before.
Before Anne could go on, she was interrupted by her mother’s voice in the hallway.
“Where is my nephew?” The door was thrown open and Lady Catherine seemed to fill the room. For a moment, he was taken back to the bedside of his dying mother all those years ago. “There you are!”
Miss Elizabeth’s comfortable sleep was broken and she sat up in a daze, crying out before falling back against the pillows.
Anne rushed to her and stroked her hair. “Miss Elizabeth, it is Anne de Bourgh. You are safe now. You are at Pemberley. My cousin Richard found you this morning and Darcy is here now. You are safe.”
As she said his name, Miss Elizabeth seemed to startle, but upon recognizing her surroundings and Anne, she retreated back into the comfort of the blankets.
However, at this outburst, Lady Catherine pronounced Miss Elizabeth’s manners to be very bad indeed. “I shall never forget her appearance this morning. She really looked almost wild when the colonel carried her in. I could hardly keep my countenance. Very nonsensical to be scampering about the estate in this weather. It seems to me to show an abominable sort of conceited independence, a most country-town indifference to decorum. If I were to…”
But Darcy could not hear the rest. A fury erupted through his perfectly exemplifiedmaster under good regulationpersona. “Decorum? Woman, you will not speak thus in my home.Youwill leave this room at once, retrieve the letter I asked you to bring, and wait in your quarters until you are summoned to my study. Do I make myself clear?”
The vein in his forehead and the clenching of his jaw indicated he would brook no opposition. Lady Catherine was taken aback and looked to counter but only for a moment. Her eyes narrowed and she steadily replied, “I hope that you have not been taken in by this country chit’s arts and allurements. Let me remind you, you are engaged to be married tomydaughter in less than a month’s time.”
Lady Catherine’s words were met with no response but his steely gaze.
