“Right,” she said. “Well, the upshot of it is that Neithern is going to go look for a marriage license between his mother andhis father. He does not even know his mother’s name, but what he does know of her mirrors my mother.”
“Truly? How astonishing,” said Mr. Darcy. “Perhaps you are twins.”
“I can’t think that’s the answer, however,” she said. “But then, it seems that no matter what I find out about all of this, nothing seems to quite fit correctly.”
“I know exactly what you mean,” he said.
Now, he should find some reason to excuse himself and part company with her, and he knew it. Instead, he sipped at his lemonade and looked at her. Not long looks, not at all. Short ones, after which he looked elsewhere, but then he came back to look at her afresh. She was lovely to look upon.
She cleared her throat. “Oh! Last night, we spoke, and I allowed this to stand, for I was distracted by other things, but it has weighed upon me, and I must say that I could not allow you to give my husband and myself anything.”
He turned to her in confusion. “What?”
“You said it was your fault that I felt financially unsure? And I joked about how it was your fault that it rained, and then you said—”
“Oh, yes, I remember. Well, it is only that I did promise, after all that mess with Wickham, that I would assist in some way, and then, well, none of that became necessary, but I still wish you to be happy and comfortable, and if it will add to your happiness, I should like to do it. It makes me happy to see you happy, you see. And if my cousin is not making you happy, then—”
“Well, we should likely give him a chance, I suppose.” She made a face. “I have done my part to put pressure on him, though. He shall return home to the knowledge that there is a rumor we kept our marriage secret so that we could do everything properly. So, he must now do it properly, I think.”
“Ah, so this is why you said what you said to Caroline.” He smirked. “It is well done, I must say. I think Richard deserves it, actually.”
She smirked too.
Their gazes caught and snagged on one another.
They looked at each other for too long.
She smoothed at her skirts. “Yes, but I must strenuously object to your doing that, Mr. Darcy. You cannot give me things like that. It… I think it is a bad precedent to set between us.”
“I think Richard would take money from me,” said Darcy. “I shall give it to him, then, not you.”
“No, even so, I don’t think we should have so much of your meddling in our lives!”
“Meddling,” he repeated, looking into his lemonade.
“You have both meddled with me rather a great deal,” she said. “You both have behaved as if you were entitled to elements of me. Youspiedon me, for heaven’s sake.”
“I suppose we did go too far,” said Darcy. “But our intention was to protect you, Elizabeth, and if you think I shall ever stop trying to protect you, you will find that I shan’t.”
She let out a breath, and she did not look entirely displeased that he had said that. “Yes, but you must let me go, mustn’t you?” She glanced up, questions in her eyes. “Especially with his being gone, fighting, possibly in danger at this precise moment?”
“Don’t do that,” said Mr. Darcy, shaking his head. “He used you ill, and he doesn’t deserve your pity.”
“It is not pity, exactly,” she said. “But he is my husband. I must cease finding fault with him and cleave to him. If I were your wife, you would not be pleased that I am saying these sorts of things about you behind your back. You would wish my loyalty.”
“You are being too hard on yourself. You are being loyal,” he said.
“I am doing my best,” she said. “And I think I should take care not to make it more difficult to be loyal. And I think you should… well, I wish you would not continue to make it more difficult either.” With that, she walked off, leaving him there.
He drained his glass of lemonade, feeling like a cad.
She was good at making him feel awful about himself, though, that was the thing about that woman.
ELIZABETH WISHED SHEhad not run away from Mr. Darcy like that, because she didn’t know if they were meant to speak to Mr. Houseman together. She thought it might be easier if they did, rather than needing to relay information back and forth to the other.
But now, she had all but told him to stay clear of her.
She forced herself to stop thinking about Mr. Darcy—after all, she was a married woman—and to stop thinking about who her father was—after all, she had lived all her life without knowing—and to try to focus on something else.
