by Wells, Linda
She touched his cheek, “More, please.”
Georgiana cleared her throat before she turned. “Did you know that she would wear pearls in her hair and a gown embroidered with silver? Or did Parker and Judy conspire together?” She touched his waistcoat. “I think it was you and yet you give credit to Parker.”
“I am not so vain, not anymore.” He saw a shadow come over her face and took her hand. “It is because I married a lovely woman who loves me. Dressing well is a pleasure, but I take more pleasure in Elizabeth’s good opinion of me than anyone else’s in the world.”
Elizabeth stood on her toes and holding his face, kissed his cheek and hugged him. “Thank you, Will. I feel the same way about you.”
Darcy smiled into her eyes and drawing a deep breath, turned to his sister. “I am excited to dance tonight with my dear wife, but I have not in any way lost sight of the significance of this date, as I told you in the note I wrote this morning. I am not always the best at expressing myself to you, Georgiana, but … I am … our family is blessed because you came home today. You were not lost forever as … I had feared for so long.” He held her gaze and the siblings stood still for a moment, both at a loss for what to say until Darcy opened his arms and embraced her. Georgiana held his waist and felt tears springing back into her eyes.
“So you encountered Wickham today?” Georgiana gasped and Elizabeth sighed. “Did you truly think that Elizabeth would not tell me something so important? I just happened to hear it before she had to choose her moment.” Elizabeth smiled and shook her head as he nodded to her. Darcy returned his attention to his sister. “Now, I know what you said to Elizabeth, but I will ask again, did he frighten you? Threaten, demand?”
“No. He asked after my health, and Hope’s. Nobody would have thought anything was amiss, Brother.”
Darcy nodded and hugged her tighter. “I understand that you questioned him about your aunt’s ring?”
“Yes. I … I suspected the reason before, but I … You know that the reason he wrote to you was to send me back home?” Seeing him nodding shortly, she closed her eyes. “Samuel is so angry.”
“So am I. I will never forgive him.” He said quietly. “Samuel was not present when I last spoke to Wickham so he does not know what passed between us. He stayed away from Pemberley, he did not seek you out, and he did not demand anything more of you than your time. This was not planned. And while I strongly object to him coming … close enough to touch you,” Darcy took a full breath, “I will not pursue him. I suspect that he will be satisfied for a while, knowing that you and Hope are well. However, you will never be alone in such a way again. I do not care if it is I who must follow you into a shop filled with lace, you will not be left vulnerable as long as you remain under my roof. Is that clear? I mean to have many, many more anniversaries such as this one before I give you up to another man’s care.”
“Yes, sir.” She felt his arms tighten around her. Georgiana hugged him back just as fiercely and swallowed back her tears. “I thought that Samuel would ride after him and … and … beat him, or …”
“As Elizabeth correctly pointed out, he would never have left you.” Darcy let go and looked down at her. “I would have beat him if I had heard such a thing.” She stared at him. “You may look like a grown woman, and you might even have acquired the confidence to stand up admirably to your seducer and kidnapper, but you are still very young and have so much more to learn.” He spoke seriously, “I am proud of what you did today.”
“You are?”
“And so is Elizabeth.” He held out his hand to his wife. “Even if she did not express her pleasure so happily.”
“I thought she might mount a horse and go after him herself.” Georgiana smiled a little.
“That is because we love you, and do not care to see you hurt.” Darcy smiled when Elizabeth made a noise and looked to her.
“You have taken this surprisingly well, Mr. Darcy.”
“I have been anticipating this encounter for quite some time. As usual, Wickham saw an opportunity and grabbed it, but it pains me that it was a date of significance when he made his presence known.” He touched his wife’s face. “If he had done anything more …” His voice lowered and his teeth bared.
“But he did not.” Elizabeth reminded him.
“Has it ruined your night?” Georgiana asked worriedly, looking between them.
Darcy drew a calming breath and closed his eyes, “No, I will not allow it. However, I suspect that it has upset Samuel’s. I will speak to him, Elizabeth, before he says anything to Richard.”
“Mrs. Darcy?” There was a knock at the door and Judy appeared. “The guests have begun to enter the estate.”
“Thank you, Judy, we will be right down.” Immediately the atmosphere changed. Elizabeth’s hands ran over her arms and hugging herself, she spoke very softly, “Will?”
Darcy pulled his shoulders back and bowed to his sister. “Excuse me.” He grasped Elizabeth’s hands and took in everything. His small smile lifted his lips, and extended up to the crinkle in his warm, loving gaze. “You are beautiful.” He bowed over her hand, brushing his lips over the silk of her glove, and then slipping his arm around her waist, held her to him before bending her backwards for a breathtaking kiss. Smiling down into her dazed eyes, he slowly brought her back to lean against his chest. “I love you, Mrs. Darcy.”
She drank in the confidence in his gaze and at last relaxing, the sparkle returned to hers. “Tell me again.”
“SIR? THE FIREWORKS have been fired from the Lambton Road gate, and more were spotted from the Kympton entrance. The guests are arriving.” A groom announced excitedly from atop the pony he had been riding.
“Yes, I saw them and let the house know.” Barnes looked to the drive and saw Ferguson approaching. “Are the torches lit?”
“Yes, I rode along the entire way. I think that it is clear enough, at least to keep the wagons on the straight path. I was worried about the ridge there.” He pointed up where a trio of torches burned. “I hope that there are enough to keep them all night.”
“We have a full moon.” Barnes looked up at the sky. “Benson is up at the cabin in the walnut groves, he’ll keep an eye on the flames and relight them at the end. We don’t need them for too long; this isn’t some London affair where the guests come late to be noticed.” Barnes laughed as Ferguson rolled his eyes and jumped down from his mount. “The people around here haven’t seen a to-do like this at Pemberley in a long, long time. They won’t want to miss a minute of it. I predict we’ll be running like chickens with their heads cut off for the next two hours and then it will be quiet until they all start staggering home.”
“Staggering.” Ferguson shook his head and handed the reins to a waiting groom. “I watched them unloading the casks yesterday.”
“I snagged one for ourselves.” Barnes winked.
A carriage rolled up to the house and out stepped Samuel, followed by his father and mother. He looked around and spotting the two stewards, turned away from the house and headed for them.
“Yes sir?” Barnes stepped up. “Did you notice anything amiss as you came up the drive?”
“No, no, it was well lit. The drivers unfamiliar with the road should be fine, if their horses do not shy from the flames.”
“Aye.” Ferguson nodded. “But you can’t anticipate everything.”
“No …” Samuel sighed and glanced at the glowing windows of the brightly lit house. “But I can anticipate one thing.”
“Sir?”
“I thought that I caught sight of George Wickham in Lambton today.” Ferguson’s face became as grim as Samuel’s while Barnes simply cursed. “I know that it is extremely unlikely that he would appear, but I would feel … I will be grateful to know that someone outside is aware besides me.”
“Does the master know?” Barnes asked.
“No, and I will not ruin his night. He and Mrs. Darcy deserve this evening.”
“As Mr. Darcy has not b
een told, may I assume that Wickham did no harm to anyone from Pemberley?” Ferguson asked quietly and held Samuel’s eyes.
“That is correct.” Samuel saw his nod and immediately straightened. “You know well enough how he has abused my cousin’s good will, and his reputation in the neighbourhood. Would you want him anywhere near tonight?”
“No, sir! Of course not!” Barnes cleared his throat. “Don’t you worry, Mr. Darcy, we will keep our eyes open for the man, but like you said, he would be a fool to come here. You just go in and enjoy the evening, sir. No doubt there will be a lot of pretty ladies to meet.”
Samuel closed his eyes and managed to let down and smile a little. “Yes, no doubt. Thank you for bearing with me.” Nodding, he looked up at the ridge as he saw the shadows of a line of carriages lit with lanterns passing the torches. “I will leave you to your work. I am sorry to add to it.”
“No trouble at all, sir.” Barnes nodded and when he had gone, looked at Ferguson. “How do you know Wickham, again?”
“He appeared at Sommerwald. Mr. Darcy threw him off and I made sure he was gone.” Ferguson met his eye. “I followed orders.”
Barnes sized him up and nodded. “All right then. I know a bluff when I see one.” He pointed to a carriage coming in from the Kympton road. “Let’s go to work.”
JANE LOOKED OUT at Darcy and Elizabeth speaking to Samuel in the foyer. With their backs turned, the tone of the conversation was difficult to understand, but it ended with Darcy shaking his cousin’s hand and fixing him with a serious look before clasping his shoulder with a small smile and letting go. Elizabeth touched Samuel’s arm and kissed his cheek when he turned to her. The bemused man seemed lost for words, but nodded and slowly walked away and joined the other men, occasionally sending glances to the couple and then upstairs before looking down at his hands. Richard clapped him on the back and said something that spurred laughter in the other men. Returning her attention to her sister, Jane said softly, “Lizzy is so nervous. See how she passes her palms over her skirt?”
“She is shy, just as her husband is. I never would have known it of either of them if I had not seen them at home.” Sophie watched them sympathetically and smiled at Jane. “Elizabeth hides it so well when she must perform, especially around the elder ladies of the family. It is rare that they see her with her guard down. And the reason we see it now, I believe, is because her husband is beside her. How can a woman be nervous when a man takes her hand in such a way?”
Lifting her chin, she caught Richard’s eye and looked to the couple pointedly. Confused, he stared at his cousin and back to his wife with a shrug. She enfolded one hand over the other and raised her brows and nodded. Richard looked again, and saw how Darcy’s thumb was brushing over Elizabeth’s ring. His lips twitched, he rolled his eyes, then winking, returned to his conversation.
“Message received.” She said triumphantly. “Elizabeth taught me that. She is so good communicating with her husband with her eyes, have you ever watched them at dinner? They are talking to each other constantly. My husband is observant, but he is always caught up in his conversation, too. I sometimes feel like I need to be a sailor with those flags they use to signal each other? Oh, you do not live near the sea; you probably have no idea what I am talking about.” Sophie laughed, and looked back out to the grand foyer. “Where did they go?”
“I do not … There they are.” Jane watched Darcy smiling at Elizabeth as they took their places near the open door. With Sophie’s observations in mind, she could see them lending confidence to each other. Elizabeth’s gloves fell down her arm and she was laughing, pulling them up again. Shaking his head, Darcy retied the ribbon at her elbow and leaned to brush his lips to hers gently. Jane sighed and looked to see if Bingley was watching, and was unsure if she was sorry that he was not. “I cannot imagine being kissed so openly, can you, Mrs. Fitzwilliam?”
“Please call me Sophie? We are sisters now, in a way, are we not?”
“I … I suppose that … yes, in a way … You may call me Jane.” She glanced at Louisa and Caroline shunted away into a corner by Lady Catherine and receiving a lecture in deportment and grace. Sophie and Jane exchanged looks and Jane looked back at Elizabeth. “How long have you known my sister?”
“Oh … not long at all.” Sophie watched Elizabeth holding Darcy’s arm with one hand and smoothing her dress with the other. “We met at my father’s home. I remember that night so well, of course, that was the night that I met my husband.” She felt Richard’s eyes on her and immediately he looked shyly away. “I will always be grateful that the Darcys chose to visit Sommerwald.”
“I wonder if Lizzy feels the same way about my husband? He brought Mr. Darcy to Hertfordshire.” Jane blushed when she noticed his delighted gaze and she knew that it was born from the kisses they had shared before they came downstairs.
“I wonder if I would ever have married another.” Sophie watched Richard returning energetically to his conversation with the men. “Do you think that you were destined for Mr. Bingley?”
“I would like to think so.”
Sophie studied him, “Has he descended from the clouds yet? That grin of his could light up this house without the thousand candles burning.”
“My sister, Mrs. Hurst, said this morning that he probably will not be on his feet again until he actually withdraws his father’s money from the bank and puts it in the attorney’s hand.”
“Well, that is true enough.” Sophie laughed. “Will you have to travel to London?”
“I am sure that we will have to go. The Hursts certainly will not wish to remain longer and impose on the Darcys and then there is my sister Caroline …” Jane sighed and she felt Sophie squeeze her arm. She smiled a little and looked back to her husband. “I just realized how much I have ahead of me.”
“Elizabeth has been such a good friend to me. I am glad that we do not live too terribly far from Pemberley. Our husbands would complain bitterly about the money we spend on postage otherwise. Although, they do regard each other as brothers so maybe they would not protest too much.” Sophie looked from her husband to his parents and then to the Darcys. “I am sure that we will be very familiar with the path between our homes as the years pass. Our children will grow up together. I like that they may become as close to each other as Richard is with Fitzwilliam.”
Jane bit her lip and offered cautiously, “I think that my husband described the location of our new home to be equally distant from Pemberley and Gladney?”
“Yes!” Sophie’s eyes lit up. “Richard said as much! He wished to find a map in the library to show the gentlemen. He said something about competing with Mr. Bingley in a race to Pemberley one day. Can you imagine them coordinating their watches somehow?”
“I think that it would be wonderful.” Jane smiled towards Bingley. “We would be a family together.”
Sophie smiled as Richard strolled over. “I would like that Jane, very much.”
“What are you two ladies speaking about so enthusiastically?” Richard noticed where they were looking. “Shall we join the lovebirds?”
Sophie held his arm. “They are trying so hard to carve out some privacy, Richard, can’t you see that? Please leave them be. They are nervous enough.”
“Elizabeth? Nervous at a ball?” He laughed and remembered dancing with her at Netherfield. “Well … I suppose that I might not have been the best one to comfort her the last time she was dancing.” Seeing Sophie’s brow lift, he cleared his throat and kissed her hand. “Another time, my dear. But I will take your advice and leave them alone.” He rocked back on his heels and clasped his hands behind his back. “For now.”
“What are you doing?” Darcy whispered. “If a speck of lint dared to land on your skirt, I have no fear that it is long gone by now.” Elizabeth’s hand stilled and he felt her stiffen. “Breathe.”
“You are a demanding host.” She hissed. “What happened to you being uncomfortable in social situations?”
“Oh,
have no fear, as soon as the guests roll in I will most certainly resort to my famous self. My position is to help you arrive intact and sane for the moment when the first guest appears. At that time, I will gladly hand over the reins and let you drive for the rest of the evening. In fact, I am counting on it.” His eyes twinkled. “What do you say to that, Mrs. Darcy?”
She looked at him speculatively. “I think that you are abandoning your duties at the first sign of trouble.”
“Nonsense. A ball is a woman’s event.”
“Tell that to all of the wife-hunting men who appear.”
“Men do not hunt wives. They hunt fowl. A woman is a bird who adorns his arm and brings him pleasure in her song.”
“What trollop!” She cried.
“Mrs. Darcy, your language!” Lady Matlock admonished.
Darcy clucked his tongue and shook his head. “Oh dear, dear, dear. Perhaps I shall have to take charge after all.”
“Hush.” She glanced at him and pursed her lips. “If men are so disinterested, why is it the males of the species who primp and preen in their colourful feathers to attract a lady? And dance, might I add?”
“To propagate the species.” He said disinterestedly.
“Is that all you want? To make little Darcys?”
“I certainly would like to practice doing so. If one happens to appear as a result, then well done, me.” Darcy practically snorted when her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. “Good heavens, Mrs. Darcy! Any wider and you will resemble a baby bird waiting to be fed!”
“And I can imagine just what sort of worm you would provide for my meal.” She whispered. Now Darcy’s eyes widened and she nodded, entirely satisfied with herself. “Well done, me.”
“Touché, love.” Darcy cleared his throat and shot her a look. “You are becoming entirely too accomplished with word games.”