Darcy looked again at the tall man now seated with the woman in the rose gown, but he did not recognize her. “Elizabeth, did you perform some sort of witchcraft? That cannot be the same washed-out woman you introduced to me the evening we dined at Longbourn.”
“No witchcraft involved, sir. She spent some hours with that wonderful personal maid you hired for me. Miss Ellis has a magic wand, and when she wields it, women become beautiful.”
He grinned down at his wife. “Is that what she does for you, Elizabeth?”
Her cheeks warmed. “Yes, sir, she does that for me, so that I may keep your jaded sensibilities fixed upon my charms and not upon the London beauties.”
“My jaded sensibilities?”
“Yes. We all believed you to be jaded, or why else would you have said that I was barely tolerable, unless you had been spoiled by the lovelies in London?”
He laughed softly. “Elizabeth, if we were not in company, I would take you to our chamber and love you until you at last forgot those dreadful words I uttered months ago. I imagine I shall go down to my grave, and the final words I hear from your lips as I take my last breaths will be how I found you barely tolerable. Will nothing I have said or done in the subsequent months ever make amends?”
There was a wicked gleam in her eye. “No, sir. I shall always work to keep your jaded eyes fixed on me and me alone, for as long as we both shall live.”
Epilogue
July 1814
“Cinder, where is your mistress?” Darcy patted the massive dog’s head. “Elizabeth, are you up there, darling?”
Darcy stood upon the lawn and looked up at the tree house. He heard a slight movement, and then Elizabeth appeared above the half wall.
“Come down, darling, and walk with me.”
She turned away, gathered her things, and then descended the stairs. He watched her closely.
“Did your mother become too much to bear?”
Elizabeth let out a weary sigh. “She has been here only one week. I do not know how I shall live through the next four.”
“Has your father no control over her?”
“He does, when he is near her, but he is so enamored with your library, sir, that he is rarely in her presence.”
“What has she done now?”
“She is in the kitchens, supervising the baking.” Elizabeth closed her eyes and pressed her fingers into her left temple.
“You are in pain, darling?”
“I have a pounding headache. Perhaps a walk will ease it. Have you time to walk to the castle?”
“Yes. Give me your book, and I shall carry it for you.” He studied her face with concern. “Could this headache be a symptom of your delicate condition?”
“You are kind to say so, sir, but my headache is caused solely by my mother. She will not listen to anything I say. I am certain cook and the other servants will quit before the holiday is over and Mamma returns home.”
Darcy walked on in thoughtful silence. “Perhaps we can distract her.”
“How?”
“I shall inquire when the next assembly will be held in Kimpton. You may insist that your mother take your unmarried sisters shopping for gowns. That alone will occupy several days, with the drive to Kimpton and the long hours of shopping, the selection of patterns, the fittings, and all the rest, followed by the drive back.” He pressed his head against hers for a fleeting moment. “Tell her that I insist on purchasing each daughter a gown especially for the occasion. Perhaps they will make it an event and extend their shopping over several days.”
Elizabeth leaned into him as they walked. “Nothing occupies her more fully than preparing her daughters for a dance. She believes Mr. and Mrs. Collins will not cast her out when Papa meets his eternal reward, so long as she has married off all her daughters.”
“Lydia is still rather young to marry, is she not?”
“Not in Mamma’s eyes. She dragged my dear Jane to assemblies at fifteen. Fitzwilliam, I care not how far we must drive to attend an assembly. Only find one that is planned within the next twoor three weeks, so that my mother may be wholly distracted from poor cook and her staff.”
