Elizabeth was surprisingly shy of him at first, perhaps overborn by the notion that her charm alone must win him to her cause. Richard, however, was not immune to feminine modesty, and he took this display of blushing reserve as an indication that my affianced bride had not somehow entrapped me. When at dinner she made me laugh aloud, he smiled and visibly relaxed, though I knew he still had questions.
We could hardly have the kind of honest discussion, for which he seemed ripe, in the usual manner: over port after dinner. Bingley was my guest as well, so we were forced to talk of regimental business. Later, however, Richard came to my room.
“Well, Darcy?” he said, making himself comfortable in a chair and placing his heels on the footstool by the hearth.
“Say your piece,” I replied, assuming an equal posture of repose on the other chair in the room.
“Papa will not like it.”
“And Lady Catherine may well cut me.”
“You are not the least bit concerned, are you,” he remarked in surprise.
“Not in the least. I am in love with a woman I trust, respect, and admire. That is sufficient compensation for whatever strictures I might endure from mere relations who wish only to please themselves in the matter of my marriage—my preferences be damned.”
“She is not what I pictured for you.”
“Believe me, she is not what I pictured for myself, thank God.”
“She is…well, I am not certain how to phrase it.”
“She is delightful.”
“I am surprised to say I wholly agree.”
“You will stand up with me?”
“I shall. Georgiana has never looked happier.”
“That is because she has neverbeenhappier,” I said with a smile of deep satisfaction. “Will you travel back to Kent with me when I go to apprise Lady Catherine of my betrothal?”
“Nothing could entice me to do so.”
I chuckled. “Perhaps you might agree to stand next to me when I visit your parents.”
“Perhaps not. I believe I shall stay with Georgiana at your London house and help her achieve a splendid debut.”
“That would be marginally of use to me, though I never thought to have to call you a coward.”
He laughed and replied that he would not have stayed alive in the war with Napoleon without a strong instinct for self-preservation.
I poured him a brandy, and we sat staring at the fire until Richard roused himself and said with a half-smile, “I say, Darcy, what is the situation with poor Bingley? I have never seen him look more fraught. Is he perhaps besotted with Miss Bennet?”
“How can you say so?” I replied with a grin. “He is impervious to her beauty, I assure you.”
I enjoyed Richard’s company in Brighton as much as I always did, yet he annoyed me more than a little when he began to pay a great deal of attention to Jane. This might have been mischief on his part or an actual inclination toward Elizabeth’s handsome sister. Either way, the competition incited Bingley to press forward with his attentions, and the atmosphere of the townhouse in Brighton became more awkward than not.
The intrigue was a sufficient excuse to take Elizabeth out walking or, when the rain let up, for me to ride alongside the ladies as we surveyed the Pavilion, the pier, and the seaside. Since neither of us had an appetite for affairs outside our own, she and I mutually agreed to let the matter resolve itself to Jane’s satisfaction.
We sat over a small table with the calendar one morning after breakfast and selected several dates that would serve for a wedding, and Bingley offered to open his country house to any of my family and friends who chose to come. What Miss Bingley would think of being required to play hostess to my wedding guests when I was not her bridegroom, Elizabeth and I also agreed to ignore.
Georgiana came to the table where we sat and grasped Elizabeth’s hand. “I do wish you would stay with me in London, at least until I am presented.”
But Elizabeth held firm in her decision, and when Georgiana attempted to persuade her with more entreaties and mournful looks, she resorted to bluntness.
“My dear Georgiana, I love you too much to do as you wish! Do you suppose I would do anything to add to your discomfort? Surely you must realize that, were I—a total stranger to your set—standing beside you at every ball you attend, you would be forced to answer any number of questions about your new friend, particularly when your brother is so clearly in love with me.”
Richard let loose a shout of laughter from his chair, Jane went to the window as though entranced by the view, and even Mrs. Annesley had to pretend to peer very closely at her book. Reluctantly amused, Georgiana conceded that Elizabeth and Ididstare at one another a great deal, and she would dread having to fend off the gossips. She then mollified herself by staking a claim over Elizabeth’s attendance for the duration of hersecondSeason.
