“Yes.” The answer came quickly, but Fitzwilliam caught his tone.
“Yes, but?”
“Sometimes I hardly know how to act around her, Fitzwilliam. I freely admit I enjoy her company, but I dislike the way I feel when she is near.” His cousin gave him a confused look. “Every time I talk with her alone, my stomach churns with anticipation, but a tightness in my chest suggests I am nervous. But nothing about her makes me uneasy.” Darcy sat back, heaving a sigh over the strangeness of it. “I do not understand it.”
His cousin abruptly turned away, trying to hide a smile.
“What?”
Fitzwilliam waved him away, muttering “Nothing” as the door opened and Elizabeth entered. When Darcy introduced her, Fitzwilliam gave him an emphatic look over Elizabeth’s head that he supposed meant he approved of at least how she looked.
“Have you finished your blustering over the injustice of being stuck with me?” she asked him when they sat. “Or does your cousin know you so well that he would side with me if there was any complaining to be done?”
Darcy was unaccustomed to anyone sporting with him but his cousin, but from her, he found it charming. “I spoke the truth and gave you some very civil compliments.”
She looked at Fitzwilliam and said, “Mr Darcy is all politeness.”
“Did he impress you on first sight?” Fitzwilliam asked her. “Or did he scowl and look down on everyone?”
Elizabeth addressed her answer to him. From how she smiled, Darcy knew he would be teased. “After our first meeting at the concert, I assumed you would be someone who generally spoke in short sentences, seldom smiled, and never laughed.”
Fitzwilliam held back a sound between a laugh and a cough.
“I soon disabused you of that notion. I share my opinion as freely as you do.”
“Well, you spoke at length, and often while insulting someone in the process, usually me.”
“But I smile.”
Elizabeth laughed, and Darcy decided he wanted to hear that sound every day. “You do.”
Their shared smile faded, and she turned back to Fitzwilliam. “You must have come all this way to decide if your poor cousin has ruined his life. Mr Darcy said you are his dearest friend, and I hope in time you will cease to see me as a mistake and a lamentable connexion. Perhaps one day you and I can be friends.”
Fitzwilliam gave her a long look. “I have no doubt,” he said quietly. “After hearing Darcy talk about you, I was afraid he had been completely taken in, but perhaps it is an advantageous match on both sides. And I must always be grateful to you for what you were willing to do for Georgiana.” He looked at Darcy. “I am now more concerned with what Wickham will do.”
“He now has a bride with no money, so he will be angry. He took a risk and is gambling it will pay out.”
“How very like him.”
“Should we give her anything?” Elizabeth asked. “If only to more easily return to England? I know you do not want to, but she wrote to me to congratulate me on my marriage and said they have lodgings for now but will make their way to town.”
“It would be like giving a drunk a drink,” Fitzwilliam replied, “enabling him to continue reprehensible behaviour.”
Wickham would always want more money or even threaten Georgiana with harm if Darcy ever yielded. “Wickham has to know from the beginning he will get nothing from me.”
Elizabeth sighed. “I just feel for Georgiana.”
“She knew what the consequences would be.” As much as it broke his heart, his sister chose Wickham. But perhaps it would give her time to see the man she married for what he was. If she ever wanted to live apart from Wickham, he would take his sister back in an instant and damn the societal consequences.
“Now that I have met you,” Fitzwilliam said slowly, “I think you and Darcy should go to town rather than hide in Derbyshire.”
Darcy sat up in surprise. “Who is in town in September? If we need to be seen together, we ought to go in January.”
“I am not sure it is wise to wait that long. There is a great deal of talk about you and your sister.”
“There is nothing to be done about Georgiana’s choice. The gossip and newspapers may question my choice of a wife, but my reputation is unassailable. My great-uncle was a judge, my uncle is an earl, and my character speaks for itself.”
“And you have a great deal of money,” Elizabeth quipped.
