“But you cannot be, because it only brings you pain,” she said. Then she licked her lips. “Well, perhaps that is the way of love in the end, though, isn’t it? My love for Richard, it has only brought me…”
“Pain?” he whispered.
“Notonlypain,” she amended. “But a great deal of it, and only a little pleasure.”
Darcy let out a sharp wheeze of a breath.
“Shouldn’t have said that,” she realized.
“No,” he agreed. “I don’t think you should have.”
CHAPTER SIX
ELIZABETH WENT WALKINGthe next morning on the path that she had walked before. She did not truly expect to run into Neithern, so she brought along a book. She liked to walk and read at the same time, though she was often teased about it by her sisters, who would say that she was missing looking at the scenery around her, and why walk at all if she had a book, why not just stay home and stay seated?
But there were other charms to the out of doors besides the sights. There was the breeze and the way that wood smelled, especially after it had been rained on. There was the feeling of movement, as well. It was good to move one’s body, and that felt agreeable to Elizabeth. It was only that her mind was always moving, always working, and a book gave her mind something to do. It calmed whatever chatter was there and gave it focus.
This morning, she had brought alongEthelinde. She had read it before, but it was quite engrossing, and she was completely transported away in the pages of it all when she was interrupted by Neithern’s voice.
She started, snapping the book shut, quite losing her place (she noted with chagrin), and she looked up to find him approaching her on the path.
“You did walk, Miss Bennet,” he said. He came closer, smiling at her. “Or ought I say, Mrs. Fitzwilliam?”
She raised her eyebrows. “I shall answer to both, considering the situation is as it stands.”
“I don’t know if you’re aware, but your secret is not likely to be a secret for long. I was informed of it by two people yesterday in and around the afternoon bowls game.”
Well, that had gone quickly, she had to admit. Of course, Caroline had been quite drunk yesterday, and this would have made her even more likely to share the secret far and wide. Elizabeth had wanted it yesterday, and she hoped the reasoning was sound.
“So,” he said, eyeing her. “I think you were about to tell me something else yesterday, not that you were secretly married.”
“Do you think that?” she said, looking him over. “You think I have a number of secrets, Your Grace?”
“I am quite certain of it, in fact.”
She only shook her head, looking through the book for her place, so that she could mark it with the mark she had tucked between the front cover and the first page.
“Shall I swear never to repeat it?”
“I am only a bit worried about relaying all of it, I must say. It could be very damaging to me if it came out, and also, I’m worried that you will think I have an ulterior motive in telling you about it.”
“An ulterior motive,” he said, tapping his chin. “What could that even be?” He raised a finger. “I know. You must be the illegitimate daughter of my father or something and your ulterior motive would be to fix your financial situation, which you claim is precarious.”
She went entirely still, fingers in the midst of turning the pages of the book, and she simply gaped at him.
He was laughing, but then he noticed her expression. “Oh, dear,” he said. “I have guessed it on the first try?”
She cleared her throat, ducking her head down to page through the book. “I am not entirely sure if it is true, I must say. It is possibly true. My mother claimed that the duke was my father, but I have no real proof, and I must say, everything about it proves entirely confusing. No matter what information I discover, it only creates more questions.”
“Well, my father spent my entire lifetime locked away, so it would have been difficult for him to be fathering bastards,” said the duke.
“Yes, well, it seems we are the same age, or thereabouts,” said Elizabeth. “So, it would have been before that.”
“You don’t think we’re—” The duke gestured back and forth. “Twins?”
“I don’t know,” she said, laughing. “That doesn’t make sense, does it. We clearly have different mothers. What do you know of yours?”
“Very little,” said the duke. “She died bringing me into the world. I understand that she had run away from him, from my father, due to his madness, and she wished to hide my existence from him because she was worried that he might do something to harm me.”
