I embraced her humor with both hands. “Very well, I shall begin with the first attempt, as they escalate in deviousness in chronological order.”
She nodded approvingly. “Any lady accomplished in the art of contrivance ought to possess a healthy measure of deviousness. I am all anticipation!”
My lips twitched, and I struggled to recall my last season with the same ire I had felt moments ago. “The first lady proclaimed herself faint from lack of fresh air at a crowded ball. I took her out to the balcony for a turn, certain of her true intention once I noticed the couples who had been there only moments before had disappeared. What was more, the torches had been snuffed,leaving the balcony dark. Before I could retreat back to the ballroom, she fainted.”
“Oh, how delightful! Of course, you had to catch her.”
I tipped my head at her.
She continued, more circumspect. “As I thought. Why should the lady suffer an injury if she can inflict greater damage on the reputation of the gentleman with whom she presumes to form an attachment?”
I stopped trying not to smile. “What she did not know was that earlier I had sensed something was amiss and took defensive measures. When the young lady suggested a turn on the balcony, I had signaled for my cousin Richard to follow us.”
“You have mentioned him before. Are you very close?”
My smile widened. “Richard is my dearest friend and comrade. Were we not related, I would wish to claim him as family. He is only two years my senior, but he lords it over me with the increased wisdom and experience his superior age has granted him. We have saved each other from numerous scrapes over the years. I trust him implicitly.”
“I hope to meet him some day.”
“There is a good chance you will. He has threatened to join Bingley’s party several times. He would like you.”
Elizabeth would like him, too. I tried not to be jealous.
“It is pleasant to be liked. Pray, how did he save you from this first compromise?”
“He jumped out of the shadows and offered to take my place, so long as the young lady was agreeable to the exchange.”
Elizabeth’s laughter trilled. “He is a bold one! Did she accept?”
“As agreeable as he is, Richard has no fortune or title, being the second son of my uncle, the Earl of Matlock.”
She bunched her cheeks and shook her head. “She will regret refusing him when her rich, entitled husband gambles away his fortune and loses his hair.”
“No doubt. I will have you know that the men in the Darcy line are well known for their thick hair and wise investments.”
She laughed. “Duly noted. What about the second attempt? I presume it was not as clumsily done as the first?”
“Not at all. I consider it a masterful example of trickery.”
“Excellent!” She rubbed her hands together. “Do tell!”
“I was invited to attend a garden party… where I would have been the only guest. Had my indispensable valet not learned of the plot and informed me, I would have gone.”
Elizabeth tsked. “If I were that lady, I would dismiss all my servants for spoiling my scheme before it even had a chance to be realized. How disappointing!”
“You think that is disappointing? I thought it quite clever, though I clearly do not approve of such methods.”
She cupped her chin in her hand, her focus solely on me. “That is all?”
“What?! You wish for more? Was that not dastardly enough?”
She laughed. “Oh no, sir! Were I so inclined, I would think of a dozen worse ways to ensnare an unwilling gentleman!”
I did not doubt it. She had not even tried, and I suddenly realized she had successfully captured me. My heart tripped in my chest.
Clearing my throat and redirecting my thoughts before they took root, I launched into the final tale. “The mother of the third lady slipped a powder into my wine glass at a dinner party. Sadly for her, in her haste, she fumbled the glass and spilled the contents all over the tablecloth.”
So irate had I been, so fiercely had I protected my independence, I had never appreciated the humor in thesesituations until Elizabeth’s laughter filled the room. I laughed with her, anticipating other ways I might please her.
