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He took her hand without suspicion. She left it in his, knowing that he would one day remember those words and wonder what she had meant by them.

CHAPTER 23

A Future Worth Protecting

Elizabeth had always imagined that an engagement would be a season of pleasant occupations. There would be letters, conversations about the future, and perhaps the occasional disagreement concerning the arrangement of furniture. She had not anticipated that it would require three generations of the Fitzwilliam family, two solicitors, a German prince, and a houseful of persons offering opinions about a wedding date.

"I should prefer to marry Fitzwilliam before we have both forgotten why we became engaged," she announced one evening over a basket of wedding fabrics.

Lady Matlock raised her head. "My dear, you have been engaged a little more than a year."

"Precisely. I fear my memory is not equal to another twelve months of discussion."

Saye, who had arrived from his estate with a list of tenants' concerns and discovered that the family had converted the smaller drawing room into a battlefield of satin, folded a length of lace back into its box.

"I understand the church is still standing," he said. "Perhaps we might inquire whether it could accommodate the event before arranging the napkins."

"You would reduce the entire ceremony to the availability of a building," Richard protested.

"Someone ought to begin with what is necessary."

"And I thought myself the soldier of this family," Richard said. "Yet you demonstrate a greater contempt for ornament than any general I have known."

Elizabeth lifted two samples of white silk. "I shall ask the church to receive us in our ordinary clothes. Saye will approve of the economy, and Richard may supply a military march if he must have some entertainment."

"I insist upon choosing it," Richard answered.

"That is precisely why you will not be allowed."

Lady Matlock laughed, but when the others went to dine she drew Elizabeth aside. "You may choose a date that suits you and Darcy. We have indulged ourselves in wedding plans because they are a cheerful occupation. It is not our intention to delay your happiness."

Elizabeth looked down at the silk in her hands. "I have delayed it myself. I did not wish Uncle Albrecht to arrive and find me in the midst of preparations for leaving England. Now that he is here, I scarcely know how to behave. He is so eager to give me a family, and I already have one."

"You have room for both," Lady Matlock said.

"I know. But he lost so much. Sometimes I think I ought to remain beside him until he has had enough of me."

"If he resembles his sister at all, he will never have enough of you. That is no reason to postpone a life you have chosen."

Elizabeth kissed her aunt's cheek. "I shall speak to Darcy."

Darcy arrived the next afternoon to find Elizabeth seated at a writing table, surrounded by correspondence. She explained that she had three invitations to answer, an unexpected request from a distant German cousin to acknowledge, and a letter from Jane so full of Mr. Bingley that one could scarcely find another subject between its lines.

"Does she mention my friend by name?" Darcy asked.

"Only seven times. I am growing alarmed by her restraint."

"Bingley has asked whether I think Miss Bennet would receive a proposal favourably."

Elizabeth turned so quickly that her pen scratched the paper. "And what did you tell him?"

"That he must discover the answer from Jane."

"A cruel man. You might have relieved him of months of uncertainty."

"I have been informed that a gentleman ought not to conduct another gentleman's courtship."

"By whom?"