He shrugged slightly. “It was a moot point. Cunningham makes the Prince Regent look underdressed, and his title is purely honorary. If it were unwarranted pageantry Lady Catherine sought in her companions, he would suit far better than I.”
This satisfied Lord Matlock and prompted Cunningham to raise his glass in salute, though it did not wipe the curious smirk from the latter’s face.
The earl pushed his chair back and stood up. “I am for my library. It grows cold in here. Will you join me, men?”
Cunningham scrunched his face up in distaste. “Much though I relish the prospect of watching you fall asleep beneath a book, I do not think we ought to subject Darcy to it.” To Darcy, he said, “Fancy a game of billiards?”
Darcy accepted with pleasure, and they made their way to that part of the house, though when he reached to take a cue from the rack, Cunningham stopped him with a hand.
“You’ll not be needing that.”
“Why not?”
“Because I have no intention of playing. I only wanted to get rid of Father.”
Darcy did not ask why; it would soon grow wearisome to prise his cousin’s meaning out of him one question at a time.
“Do not look at me like that!” Cunningham complained. “I am a simple creature. I cannot be expected to concentrate my attention on thrashing you at billiards and interrogating you about your love life at the same time.”
Darcy made a noise of disgust. “You have been speaking to Fitzwilliam.”
“Fitzwilliam, Kilmarnock, Reeves, Patterson—it seems the whole world and his dog is talking about the Master of Pemberley’s grand love affair. I must be the only blockhead in London who knows nothing of it.” He stepped forwards, putting himself between Darcy and the cue rack. “I insist, therefore, that you tell me everything about her.”
Darcy exhaled forcefully. “Damn.”
“Yes, Fitzwilliam told me you are trying to keep it under your hat for some reason, but I must say you are doing a poor job of it.”
“I am not trying to keep anything under my hat—there is nothing to conceal.” Darcy paced to the other end of the table, where he stood with his back to Cunningham, tapping his clenched fist agitatedly on the cushion. “I had thought these blasted rumours were limited to the margins of society. If you have heard them, I haven’t a hope in hell of remaining unscathed.”
His cousin did not answer immediately, and into the silence came the sound of footsteps and the clink of glass as he walked to the sideboard and poured them both a drink. Darcy went the rest of the way around the table and accepted his, then sank into an armchair.
Cunningham followed suit. “I may have exaggerated. I do not think theentireworld has heard about it.”
Darcy took a desultory gulp of his drink. “That is small consolation when everybody whohasheard is making such a mountain out of it.”
“Calm yourself. It is doing the rounds in the clubs, not the Lords. Nobody has heard it who truly cares.”
“Would that nobody cared! What is it to anyone whom I associate with? Nobody is taking notes on your harem of heiresses.”
“But I make no secret of my affairs. Perhaps if you were not going to such lengths to keep this quiet, people would be less fascinated.”
“I tell you, there is nothing to keep quiet. I have no intentions towards her.”
His cousin splayed the fingers of his free hand in acquiescence. “If you insist! Although, that begs the question why not? By every account I have heard, she sounds like a hell of a catch.”
A strange and spectacularly unhelpful sense of pride washed over Darcy. Of course people approved of Elizabeth. If it were simply a matter of character, there could be no objection to the match whatsoever. “There is more to consider, not least Georgiana’s prospects. And trust me, you would not thank me for giving you such a cousin.”
Cunningham leant back in his chair and crossed his legs. “Darcy, you might get away with imposing your opinions on lesser men, but you will not put words in my mouth. I shall be the judge of who and what deserves my approbation.”
“You and the rest of the family—I am all too aware. Which is precisely why you will not convince me that you could tolerate being disgraced in the eyes of the world.”
“Disgraced? I am beginning to wonder whether you and I are talking about the same woman. This is Miss Elizabeth Bennet?”
Darcy was taken aback. “You know her name?”
“Clearly.”
“Do you know, then, that her family is?—”
