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“Here, Mr. Darcy, we shall decorate properly.”

“We?”

The question caught her, and she tipped her head slightly to the side as she considered him. The amused challenge remained, but something more inviting sat beneath it now. “Yes,” she said. “If you intend to present yourself on Christmas Eve, we shall certainly put you to work.”

“I had not realised courtship involved forced labour.”

“That is hardly my fault. You should have investigated the terms before asking to call.”

“I was not inclined to risk the delay.”

Mr. Darcy had a way of saying such things without flourish. He simply slipped a truth in after a jest and left her without an easy reply.

Aunt Gardiner rose, breaking into their lively, ridiculous conversation. She placed a folded note on the table—Elizabeth had not even seen it delivered. She really was most inattentive today.

“If you will all excuse me, Mrs. Preston has sent word that the ribbons are ready, and I should like to have them before she closes.” She checked another piece of paper before tucking it into her workbasket.

“Do you have other errands as well?” Elizabeth asked.

Aunt Gardiner kissed Margaret’s head on her way past. “Yes, there is a list, but I shall see to it tomorrow. Jane, if the boys are too much, take them up to Nurse. Henry, stop whatever that is you are doing to Edward’s soldier.”

“But I am not finished,” Henry protested.

“I fear you are, Henry.”

Uncle Gardiner appeared in the doorway.

“Mrs. Preston’s,” her aunt said, and without hesitation, Uncle Gardiner offered his wife his arm. She smiled, took it, and within moments they were gone.

Elizabeth stood to retrieve her aunt’s paper. Aunt Gardiner had said almost nothing, which told her rather more than a complaint would have done. She unfolded the paper and read the list of errands.

“You are thinking about something,” Mr. Darcy said.

“Mr. Darcy, you have very determined opinions about Christmas,” Elizabeth replied, her words thoughtful.

He frowned. “Should I fear what is about to follow that sentence?”

“It is only that if the decorations are to be done on Christmas Eve, someone must first make certain we have everything required for them. And I do not believe that should be my aunt.”

Mr. Darcy regarded her. “Therefore, you propose that ‘someone’ should be us.”

“I am proposing that a gentleman who has spent his visit defending the precedence of entrance halls ought to be prepared to support his principles with action.”

Across the room, Henry shouted that Edward had stolen his button. Jane protested that neither boy owned the button, Mr. Bingley volunteered to settle the matter, and Miss Bingley informed them that she was best suited to resolve the case.

“The button belongs to Eleanor’s doll and is therefore Eleanor’s,” Miss Bingley said. “You shall have to return it to your sister if you cannot share.”

Mr. Darcy ignored it all. “Very well,” he said. “What must be done?”

Elizabeth smiled at him and held out her aunt’s list.

CHAPTER 14

Darcy had been given charge of the oranges, which he suspected was a test.

“Those cannot all be for the kissing bough,” Miss Elizabeth said as he set everything he had carried inside upon the Gardiners’ dining room table. She peered into the basket.

Darcy waited.