“Not at all. Either that, or it was the most clumsy attempt to woo a woman that I have ever known.” She smiled up at Darcy then and added, “Bar none.”
He had to just give her one more little kiss for that.
She then added, “I think it might have been made up.”
It took Darcy a moment to understand her. “You think they… No. It is too devious, even for them.”
“I do not think there was ever any estate, nor any real wish for the colonel to court or marry me. I think it might have been some scheme to prevent you from proposing to Miss de Bourgh. I simply could not grasp that your own cousin, dear friend that he seemed to be to you, would have conspired to steal me from you, and right in front of you, no less.”
Darcy examined the idea. Fitzwilliam had heard much of what happened that wretched night in Hunsford Parsonage. He had listened to Darcy rail against himself, the world, women in general, and the stupidness of society. Then he had told him he needed to get his bollocks out of his reticule, and go and win the lady. Darcy had refused. Then Fitzwilliam had sent Saye in to tell him the same thing. Saye had told him to pull his head out of his arse, and go woo the lady. Darcy had refused.
They had played billiards with the object being that if Darcy lost, he had to go to Hertfordshire and try again with his lady. Darcy won, and told them to bugger off. His cousins had cajoled, persuaded—even threatened him once or twice that if he did not go back to Hertfordshire, they would never speak to him again. He had ignored it all.
Until Fitzwilliam came in saying he would try to win her himself. Then, and only then, had Darcy been provoked into action. He cursed softly.
“He will never admit it,” he told Elizabeth. “I do not doubt that you are correct, but we would never get him to tell us so.”
Elizabeth smiled, a brilliant smile that provoked him to kiss her again. Amid receiving his kiss, she whispered, “It might be fun to call his bluff.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
“What is it exactly that you wish to show me?” Miss Goddard asked.
Saye had taken her below stairs, supposing he had done his duty to the party by dancing with his hostess and one or two other lady bumpkins. Now it was time to really make Miss Goddard see what she was missing, and perhaps get a kiss or two besides.
“Oh, I want to show you a lot of things,” he said with a wicked grin. “And see lots of things from you in return.”
“You, sir, are absolutely terrible.”
“You would not wish for someone too sedate,” he informed her as they strolled down a small hall. “I think I am just what you?—”
The sound of pounding and a man calling out interrupted what he had been about to say. “That sounds like Mr Darcy,” Miss Goddard said nervously. “Behind that latched door.”
“So it does.” Saye walked over to the door and unlatched it while he called, “Darcy? Get the stallion back in the barn, man, I am opening the door.”
Well, well, well,he thought as the door swung open.Progress has certainly been made.His eyes took note of hiscousin’s dishevelled hair and partly undone cravat and the slightest blush of whisker burn on Miss Elizabeth’s lower face.Nicely done, Darcy.
“Saye, I insist on knowing something,” Darcy said, looking surprisingly stern for a man whose breeches were certainly causing him significant discomfort. “How much a part of this farce were you?”
“Farce?” Saye did his best to appear innocent. “I am not sure I follow.”
“I know that Fitzwilliam had no earnest intentions in pursuing Miss Elizabeth.” Darcy crossed his arms over his chest. “Tell me the truth, Saye.”
Briefly, Saye considered lying. Why give it up now?
“I cannot help but notice,” said Miss Elizabeth, “that the colonel’s new estate seems to undergo changes in name rather regularly. And if the truth must be told, his attempts at courting me were...lacklustre.”
Blast!The clever sort of woman was Saye’s least favourite, but she would do well for Darcy. After a few moments, he laughed. “It worked, did it not, Darcy? Here you are, happy in a closet with Miss Elizabeth rather than rotting in hell with Lady Catherine.”
Darcy took a step towards him. “Saye?—”
“See here, Darcy, I know you probably dislike the fun at your expense, but all’s well that ends well, hm?”
“That is not what I intended to say. I can stand to be the object of a caper, but it does not follow that I shall not have my own share of the amusement as well. For now, we must conceal the fact that Miss Elizabeth and I are to marry.”
Beside him, Miss Goddard exclaimed with a delight that mirrored Saye’s own. Darcy had got his heart’s wish and, from the pink of her cheeks and the look in her eyes, he surmised that Miss Elizabeth had as well.
“Keep it quiet? No can do,mon ami.” Saye gave the pair a regretful nod. “Too much money on the line.”
