Darcy did not so much as raise his eyes. “Go away.” Under his breath, he muttered, “And I am not untouched.”
“Not entirely, but there are pleasures you are yet ignorant of. It is about time; you are nearly thirty.”
“My not being married had more to do with it than my age.”
“How romantic. I feel for Miss Bennet, though. If you ever end up?—”
“Good night, Fitzwilliam!”
Darcy leant on the desk, resting his head in his hands as he listened to the footsteps move away. This manner of sporting with him was common, but he had no patience for it now.
Balfour or Utterson killed someone.
Pemberley was silent and he was alone, but he felt the oppressive agony of despair as though it was a presence in the room screaming at him. Both men had been his friend, and the deception, the dishonesty, the falseness of that friendship burned him.I brought a man into my home who is capable of killing someone and dumping her body in a stream.The guilt was excruciating.
He heard footsteps re-enter the doorway. “Damn it, I told you to go to bed.”
“You did not.”
Darcy snapped his head up and saw Elizabeth come near and set a chamberstick on the desk. “After the way you acted in the drawingroom, I thought you might need company. I have waited a long time for everyone else to go to bed so I could talk with you.”
She came around the desk and reached out a hand. Darcy said a quiet apology as he pressed a kiss to it, then held a loose grip on it. “I am perfectly well, dearest Elizabeth.”
“This is you well?” She raised her eyebrows. “It is a good thing we did not announce our engagement, otherwise all of your friends would think you a reluctant groom. They would think that you were being forced to the altar with a knife at your back.”
He smiled. “On the contrary. I know I am the last man in the world you could be prevailed on to marry. If anyone knew our history, they would think it wasyouwho had to be coerced down the aisle.”
She perched at the edge of the desk. “Now that you think Jane is worthy of Charles, I am willing to accept you to have your house, your purse, and your protection at my command.”
“So you are not one bit in love with me?”
“I fell madly in love with you, but for now it is a great secret.”
He laughed softly, enjoying having Elizabeth here with him.
“Fitzwilliam, why are you up so late, and all alone, in the dark?”
I was considering the heartless behaviour of someone I trusted, someone capable of murder.“I was distracted by unpleasant thoughts, and I thought an interval of serious meditation was the best corrective.”
“You had your cousin set up a watch in the village.” He looked at her in surprise at her wanting to talk about that. “It is astonishing that a tenant would raid the debris and damaged houses of their own neighbours for valuables, especially since you have done so well in assuaging their fears and in meeting their immediate needs.”
“Yes,” he said shortly, not wanting to worry her with it, “the conduct of the looter astonishes me beyond measure.”
She waited as though she expected him to say more before saying, “The same person might have broken into Pemberley to steal the candlestick that matches this one,” she said, pointing to the one still on the desk.
He let go of her hand, leant back in his chair, and nodded, wondering what her point was.
“It was likely the same person who stole it, who looted the village,and who killed Carew.” She took a breath. “But we both know that the person who took the taperstick from this desk did not have to break anything to gain entry to this house”—she gave him such a sad look—“because it was one of your guests. One of your friends probably killed her.”
He did not so much as blink, shift his weight, or look away. Despite shielding her from it, Elizabeth had observed, assessed, and came to the same conclusion Fitzwilliam had. He had to throw off all reserve and speak to her with the confidence of a husband who loves and trusts his wife.
“I did not want to worry you,” he whispered.
“Thank you for wanting to spare me the pain of knowing, but what about you?”
“Me?”
“You must feel pain at this, this breach of trust?—”
