Fitzwilliam shook his head. “You are not just a landlord and master. Despite your chaste history”—his voice lilted in a tease—“youarea man first.”
Darcy was tempted to remind his cousin ofhisunchaste history with Mrs Lanyon, but that would only prolong a conversation that was fast becoming too personal. It was bad enough that his heart beat faster at the thought of holding Elizabeth against him, feeling her arms around him and her lips moving over his, preferably whilst they were lying in his bed.I long to know for certain in what manner she thinks of me, if she loves me.“I shall manage it in my own time, and in my own way, thank you.”
“Does the uncertainty of her affections not weigh on you just the same as all the rest of your concerns?”
Darcy suspected his face expressed the truth of that. “Of course it does. But how do I think of my own happiness, of courting a woman, when the people here are suffering? When one of my friends is possibly a murderer?” He shook his head. “Soon I will have a conversation with Miss Bennet,” he repeated.
Fitzwilliam nodded once. “Leave it with me.”
Darcy knew that look. “No, no, I shall speak to her in my own time?—”
“Balfour and Utterson return tomorrow night and our acting as sleuth-hounds begins in earnest. You need to leave Pemberley for a few hours tomorrow, and you need to throw yourself at Miss Bennet’s feet.” Fitzwilliam walked away, ignoring his plea to not interfere. “Leave it with me,” he called over his shoulder as he left.
To Elizabeth,it felt almost like a family party, although she and Hester were outsiders. The conversation at dinner was quick and lively. It could not help but touch on Pemberley’s concerns, but it did not feel as heavy a presence as it had been. The talk between the cousins recurred to their younger days, and they supplied anecdotes in abundance to occupy and entertain the rest of them. Colonel Fitzwilliam’s presence added a levity that had been missing since the first storm, and his presence made Darcy exert himself more than he had recently.
After the gentlemen rejoined them in the drawing room, she realised that Hester was also more at ease, but it was because Colonel Fitzwilliam did not distinguish her with any particular attention. He was engaging and polite, but he never singled her out, and Hester was calmer than she had been yesterday.
He respects the boundary Hester has placed around him.
Elizabeth was playing—content that no one was truly listening to her performance—when she heard the sudden sound of Darcy’s laughter. He was on the other side of the room with his cousin, and Colonel Fitzwilliam had said something that stirred Darcy’s face into mirth. His laughter was more melodic and joyful than she would have expected from one so guarded.
She watched Darcy playfully shove his cousin—making the colonel laugh—and then walk away, still smiling. The mirth slowly faded from his face as he sat with Miss Darcy, admiring her work and likely saying all the things an attentive older brother ought to say. ColonelFitzwilliam, now by himself, noticed Elizabeth’s attention and joined her at the instrument.
“No, Miss Bennet, I cannot tell you what I said to him. Men must have their secrets, you know,” he said with a wink.
She laughed. “I hardly care what you said to him.” At his disbelieving look, she added in a lower voice, “There is a sadness now that overshadows Mr Darcy’s countenance. I am simply happy to see it lifted.”
Colonel Fitzwilliam looked at his cousin, with a sad little smile. “Darcy has a more sorrowing heart than one might expect. Not for his own affairs,” he added quickly, “but for those dear to him.”
“He has scarcely smiled this week, let alone laughed. I understand it, of course, but I see a weariness in him, and I worry for his equanimity.”
Elizabeth felt Colonel Fitzwilliam’s attention and busied herself with looking through the sheet music. To him, she must sound strangely protective of an independent man, who had lived in the world, who had every advantage.I sound too affectionate for his friend’s sister-in-law.
“Darcy feels these things more than any other person I have met with,” he said quietly. “I am exceedingly sorry to see him so. It is more than responsibility or duty towards the people here. I cannot quite describe it,” he said, shaking his head.
“He is extremely affected by their suffering,” Elizabeth said softly, still looking at Darcy.
He noticed their attention and left his sister to come nearer. “You two have been looking at me,” Darcy said with an air of nervousness she was surprised to see. “What have you been talking of?”
“We were noticing how dull you look,” Colonel Fitzwilliam said quickly, “and it must be because there are so few women here to shower you with attention, hoping to engage in a flirtation. You must be terribly lonely without half a dozen single women trying to make you fall a little bit in love with them.”
The look Darcy was giving his cousin was thunderous. “Yes, a commonplace flirtation with any woman breathing sounds very like me.”
Colonel Fitzwilliam pretended to look around the room. “Where are the ladies breaking their hearts over you? Where is there a woman for you to flirt with?”
This was said heavily, and Elizabeth blushed. Darcy did not look half as amused as his cousin, and Elizabeth decided to spare him this unwanted teasing. “I suppose it is because Mr Darcy put out mantraps, or should I say womantraps, around his grounds to discourage the hordes of women who seek his perfection.”
Colonel Fitzwilliam barked a laugh whilst Darcy gave her a little smile. “Indeed. It is the only reason I can sleep peacefully at night, knowing that I am safe from senseless chatter and empty flirtations.”
There was a moment of silence where Colonel Fitzwilliam looked expectantly between them, but she and Darcy only smiled shyly and said nothing. The colonel huffed. “Well, if there are traps across the park, for your safety Darcy must have taken you touring elsewhere in the Peak?”
“Hester and I went to Haddon Hall with the Bingleys, and Mr Darcy brought us to a charming well dressing festival in Bakewell”—she gave Darcy a smile—“but all I have seen of Derbyshire has been this park. Whilst avoiding the womantraps, of course.”
“That will not do. Mrs Lanyon,” Colonel Fitzwilliam called across the room, interrupting Hester’s conversation with Mrs Annesley, “this is your first time in Derbyshire also, is it not?” She nodded. “Darcy, we ought to take the ladies to see some of the picturesque beauties of the Peak. Where ought we to go?”
“Oh, we could take them to Dovedale,” Miss Darcy cried.
The proposal was caught by delight. Miss Darcy, Mrs Annesley, Colonel Fitzwilliam, and Hester all talked on of exploring the dale, and a picnic, and it was only a morning’s ride—fifteen miles—and would the views not be well worth it, and they could have it all arranged to leave in the morning.
