He looked over his shoulder at her. “You think it odd given the precarious situation I am in? Since I cannot help anyone at the moment?”
This was not a man accustomed to feeling out of control. “But we are going to escape, so ultimately you can help this boy if he chooses it.”
“What manner of child from a family of gin drinkers and smugglers decides he wants to study the law?” he mused. “It is a fascinating juxtaposition, is it not?” He did not pause for ananswer. “He hides from the taproom and his drunken mother to read discarded books in a smuggler’s shelter, and he wants to enter the law, possibly to punish the people who were supposed to take care of him.”
There was nothing she could say, so Elizabeth watched Darcy think. He had a strong but calm attitude and carried himself with authority, and yet treated anyone who might depend upon him with kindness. His sense of honour was more heavily ingrained than she had seen in most gentlemen. Darcy thought he had a duty to this neglected child.
Kirby told them they would never escape the house, and even if they did, no one in this village would give them sanctuary. Elizabeth squeezed her eyes shut and breathed slowly. She could not give in to fear. Staying to be further victimised or killed was not an option.
“We ought to talk about something we can take action on now. We need a plan to escape.”
Darcy agreed. “I think we flee before they move us someplace else.”
“But Kirby hinted that no one in the village would help us.”
“I do not judge them harshly.” He inhaled a deep breath and would not look at her. “The people here benefit from cheap goods, and they are afraid of the violent men who provide them. And would be too afraid to give evidence against them. But our best chance is foryouto be seen, and likely in some state of distress.”
Kirby’s warning about the local populace stayed in her mind. “What if we waited?”
He shifted on the bed to better look at her. “Waited for what? There is no one coming to rescue us.”
“If they are moving us to hide us in another place, far from here, what if we escape then?”
Darcy scoffed. “Our chances of survival lessen each time they move us from one place to another.”
Elizabeth shook her head, warming to the idea. “We cannot hide here in Shoreham, and no one will aid us. But we would have better luck in a larger town.”
“No, we should attack our captors here,beforewe get in the carriage,” he said firmly. “Then we do not have to overpower anyone just to get outside. You merely have to get away to where someone will see you. Not difficult because I think we are on the High Street.”
“I don’t think anyone will help just because I am a woman,” she cried. “Markle’s sister lives here, and he is known in Shoreham. Here the villagers might all look the other way out of fear, but in a town, someone is bound to aid us.”
Darcy stood, shaking his head. “His gang is known all the way to the coast.”
“Not with the same strength that they are known here in Shoreham.” Elizabeth did not like looking up at him, and she scrambled to her feet. “We would have better luck if we overtook them in the carriage or when we change the horses in a larger town than we could in Shoreham.”
“Unless he drugs you and blindfolds me.”
She felt herself grow furious. Darcy had wanted to escape, and now when she saw the wisdom in it, he failed to see their best hope was to escape in a larger town. “Why are you afraid to take a risk now? The way I see it, we have no options here, but we at least have a chance in a town farther from one of their safe houses.”
Darcy practically vibrated with some elemental force, and he took a long time to answer. “No. We overpower them as soon as they attempt to move us. The moment that door opens,” he said, pointing, “the goal is to get you onto the street.”
“This area is under his gang’s control!” she cried. “Kirby told us as much. Ten miles away could be completely different. Ten miles away, someone could help us, or we could find somewhere to hide, or send a message for help, or hire a carriage ourselves. Here we have nothing.” Darcy’s face was of repressed apprehension. Elizabeth looked at him curiously. “Do you not like my plan because it is not yours?”
He now looked excessively shocked. “That is what you think of me? That I need to control everything? So arrogant as to not think a woman can be sensible?” He shook his head. “Do you not credit a single thing I say and refuse to escape at the first chance you get because I am the man who made himself agreeable nowhere, and who had refused to dance with you?”
“I do credit your opinion, your intelligence.” That he still believed that she thought so little of him disappointed her. “I have greater respect for you now that I know you better, and since you swore to be less selfish and to reunite Jane and Mr Bingley. You even tried to preserve me from being kidnapped, from being harmed. You cared for me after what happened downstairs.”
“Do not thank me forthat,” he cried. “If you cannot believe me capable of that, you must think me the most despicable creature on earth!”
She shook her head. “No, I don’t, truly I don’t. I—” She looked into his eyes and wondered what she felt for Darcy. She was not passionately in love with him, but she cared more for him now than she had two days ago. She liked him now very much. Could she come to love him? He was certainly deserving of being loved, and had blazing attractions she could no longer discount. As she looked at his face, regretting that she had injured him, her gaze dropped to his lips. She wondered what they would feel like on hers.
Elizabeth blinked and looked away. Now was not the time to investigate how deeply her heart was engaged. “I just don’t understand why you want to escape from Shoreham when we have no place to go, nowhere to hide, and no one to help us.”
“Steamer is a brute, impulsive and vicious,” he said, pacing the few steps available to him at the foot of the bed. “Conway and Colton are followers—they are not going to take action on their own, but they are not afraid of violence, either. Markle is willing to commit violence himself, but he has others to do it for him, and we cannot trust him to keep his word. That is why I want to escape immediately. Think of me what you will, Elizabeth—ungentlemanly, selfish, proud—but you cannot believe I want to see further harm come to you.”
“I think better of you than I did before,” she said softly, “so please stop assuming such hateful things about how I see you. I know you are a good man.” It was the truth. Despite whatever had happened in the past with Wickham, the man standing before her today was a respectable, trustworthy man.
He nodded but stayed silent. Darcy’s face was pale, and he shook with some barely contained energy. He seemed more distressed than frustrated about being powerless.
