“Very good,” Darcy agreed. “I shall.”
“Of course…” Wickham trailed off.
There it was. “Yes?” Darcy prompted, wishing that he need not. Nothing good could come of anything Wickham had to say.
“Well, it is only that you must acknowledge it puts us both in an awkward position. I ought to be the one to buy my wife a pianoforte. And so I could, if you would only release her dowry to me. Will you not reconsider?”
Exchanging a glance with Fitzwilliam, Darcy could feel the warning in it. His cousin knew, as he did himself, that they must move forward with caution.
“I cannot at this time,” Darcy said at last. He paused, racking his brains for the best way to proceed. “However, I am willing to review the current arrangements if Georgiana is happy and safe under your care in —” he hesitated, looking at Fitzwilliam again. “Two years?”
Wickham’s face clouded with anger. “Two years?” he repeated through clenched teeth.
“I think it reasonable,” Fitzwilliam put in. “You have your whole lives to spend together, after all, and you will continue to receive the allowance until then. What is two years as a trial period? We all know that you have had your financial troubles in the past. Our only thought is for Georgiana, as we know your sole purpose is in thinking of her welfare.”
If only that were so.But little as Darcy believed it, his cousin’s tactic was a good one. Wickham had never been willing to play the villain openly. They might use that against him, for he would not choose to defy good principles.
At least, not aloud. What his actions might say was something else entirely.
Wickham swallowed hard, then nodded. “Very well,” he said reluctantly. “But I hope I will prove myself to you before then.”
There was little enough chance of that, though Darcy did not choose to say so. Two years was a suitable period for a man to prove his mettle. Wickham would either rise to the occasion and become the man Georgiana deserved, or he would not. Darcy would not allow him to seize control of the entire fortune his father had laid aside for Georgiana until he saw his character proven.
Wickham raised his glass, his eyes wide with sarcasm. “To two years, then. After such time, I hope you will keep your promise and give Georgiana what is rightfully hers.” Wickham raised his glass in a toast, then drank the rest down in one gulp.
“To two years, and to Georgiana,” Darcy replied, joining in the toast. He, too, hoped that he would have grounds to release the money in two years. Perhaps Wickhamcouldso far reform his character, with Georgiana by his side, and such an incentive in front of him.
Perhaps, but Darcy did not intend to hold his breath.
The gentlemen finished their drinks in relative silence, then repaired to the drawing room to join the ladies. As soon as he came through the doorway, he saw Elizabeth’s head snap up, and a brilliant smile spread across her face. His heart skipped a beat. She seemed so genuinely, artlessly pleased to see him. Could it mean that she might truly care for him? He joined the ladies, all of them gathered around the pianoforte as Georgiana regaled them with a lively rendition of “God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen.”
Stopping next to Elizabeth, he spoke softly in her ear. “I am glad to rejoin you. Have you spent the time pleasantly without us?”
She laughed. “Very pleasantly, but I, too, am glad you have rejoined the party.”
“And Lady Catherine is behaving herself?” he teased in a whisper. Though, as she was seated on the far side of the pianoforte, there was not much risk of his aunt overhearing them.
“Yes, for the most part,” Elizabeth said wryly. “She is not used to having to share.”
Darcy chuckled. “No, she is not. You manage her wonderfully well.”
She looked up at him, her lips parted in surprise. “Why, I thank you.”
“It is I who must thank you, Elizabeth,” he told her. “This winter would not have been half so pleasant without your influence. Indeed, we would not have this merry party gathered here at all.”
“And you do not miss your solitude?” Elizabeth asked him.
“No,” he told her. “When I can be surrounded by such joy instead, I do not miss it at all.”
Elizabeth seemed to take the compliment to heart, even as much as he might have wished. But before she could answer, the song ended.
“Oh, I have had such a delightful idea!” Georgiana exclaimed. “Why do you not dance while I play? Would that not be pleasant?”
Lady Catherine scoffed at the idea. “What can you be thinking of, Georgiana? Have you no sense of formality, of elegance, to propose so informal a dance? In any case, my dancing days are long over, and Anne is not well enough to dance.”
Darcy watched his cousin’s face sour. Then, suddenly and unmistakably, a spark of determination entered her gaze. “I am well enough,” she said quietly, but with real resolve behind herwords. He thought his aunt would fall out of her chair in her shock.
Anne did not let her mother’s sputtered protests stop her. She rose elegantly from her chair, if a little hesitantly. “I would be happy to stand up, if one of the gentlemen does not mind having a partner who is out of practice.”
