“The Crow is dead, but she and I did have onething in common, and that was the happy task of disposing of property and fortunes. There is no better way to find all your distant relations than to announce you are making a new will. I suffered a bad cold last winter that brought them all running!”
The lady laughed again. Darcy tried to join her in her mirth, though it did not come easily, for a hard lump had arisen in his throat at the sight of Elizabeth and Hartham teasing one another, flirting, Elizabeth giving him a playful shove. She had avowed that she did not love him. Had that changed?
He was beyond relieved to see Fitzwilliam approaching her with Miss Hawkridge and Miss Larkin, and Hartham being forced to stand up from the settee to greet the ladies. Anything to get him away from her.
“Does not the present earl hold the lands?” he asked absently. He hoped it was not impertinent to enquire.
“He holds the Preston lands,” the dowager answered, “but my family’s property is all my own, to do with as I see fit. Benedict is the son of my dear sister, but I shall not leave him a farthing if he is not settled and married.”
Darcy was immediately alert. “Does he know that?”
“He will soon. It is the very reason I got him back from gadding about Greece and Italy. ’Tis a strange group he consorts with; none of them seem to have much inclination towards matrimony, and some of them forty years old!” The lady shook her head. “Would that I could understand this generation! But never mind his friends; Benedict is about to find out what is best for him. If he does not fancy playing thefool in his own tragedy, he will propose to Miss Bennet before the month is out.”
Not if I have anything to do with it!Every particle in Darcy’s body revolted against the notion of Elizabeth marrying anyone but him. He opened his mouth to ask Lady Preston whether she understood just why her nephew might be disinclined to marry, then closed it again. It was not his discussion to have. Not with Lady Preston at any rate. Whether it would be wrong for him to discuss it with Elizabeth, he was less certain. Ought he to warn her? And did it matter—was she even inclined towards Hartham? Before their misadventure on the balcony, he had hoped she might be amenable to the renewal of his own attentions—and she had not been entirely unreceptive then, despite her anger. She had accepted his coat about her shoulders with gratitude enough.
Alas, his resolve to step up his efforts before Hartham got a foot in the door was immediately delayed when he spotted Miss Larkin heading in his direction. Undesirous of enduring another bout of her assiduous attentions, he offered to fetch Lady Preston a drink and slipped out through the nearest door to go and get her one.
He successfully evaded Miss Larkin for another two hours by inveigling his way into a game with the Earl of Talbot. He spent most of the game surreptitiously watching Elizabeth and lost himself and the earl two hundred pounds apiece as a result.
“What the devil has got into you tonight, Darcy? You are usually far better than this,” the earl remarked afterwards.
“My apologies, Talbot. I am a tad rusty.”
“It is all the salty water you keep drenching yourselfin,” Saye said as he approached their group. Darcy clenched his teeth and turned to deliver him a sharp rejoinder but was forced to swallow a groan upon seeing Miss Larkin on his arm. He could not long be without her, it seemed.
She let go of Saye’s arm and attached herself to his as fast as a whippet. “Your cousin is being absolutely horrid, Mr Darcy!”
“He generally is,” Darcy remarked absently. Across the room, Elizabeth and Hartham had risen from their own table and seemed about to quit the room.
“He is making the ladies leave, that you men might commence the more serious play.” She pouted. “Will you not tell him you would like us to remain?”
“I fear when Saye has his mind set to a thing, persuading him against it requires more power than I possess.”
“How good you are, Darcy, to comprehend your own limitations,” Saye replied with a smirk.
“Then do tell me you will see me home,” Miss Larkin said. “For Georgette is staying here with Miss Darcy tonight, and I do not wish to travel alone in the carriage. We were attended by my companion, but I fear she took ill earlier and I sent her home.”
“No need to trouble Darcy.” It was Hartham, very cheerful—as well he might be with Elizabeth still beside him. “I can see you home while I walk Miss Bennet back to her lodgings.”
“On foot?” Miss Larkin looked astonished.
“But of course,” said Hartham with a fixed grin. “It is not far, and the night is fair now that the rain has passed.”
Miss Larkin’s smile dimmed as she likely cast about for a way to refuse Hartham. Darcy himself strove notto show the vast relief he felt. It was an inappropriate request in any case. Did she imagine they might move about Brighton in his carriage with no repercussions?Perhaps she wishes for the repercussions, he thought grimly.
“Make sure you come back, Hartham,” Saye said. “We have a score to settle, you and I.”
Hartham merely smiled and offered an arm to each of the ladies. Miss Larkin made a song and dance of bidding Darcy farewell before accepting one. Elizabeth watched it all with her impenetrably dark eyes, giving Darcy only a wan smile by way of goodnight before curtseying to Saye and moving with Hartham in the direction of the door.
Saye gave Darcy a vicious nudge and nodded after her. “Go on, man!”
“Miss Bennet?” Darcy called, unsure of what he might even say.
She turned to look over her shoulder at him. “Sir?”
Think of something!“Um…my sister has expressed a wish to call on you…to be better acquainted with you, that is. Would the day after tomorrow do?”
She paused and then, with a sweetness of manner that sent his heart thrumming, said, “I believe any day will do, Mr Darcy.”
