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“So, spending time with me once again meets with your busy schedule, Mr. Darcy?”
Darcy clasped his hands behind his back. Clearly, she did not intend to make this easy for him, despite his having suffered one of the most trying evenings of his adult life. He stood straight and tall. “I admit I might have handled matters better as regarded my abrupt departure from Bosley. If I had it to do over, I would have done things differently. I wager you would say the same.”
“Perhaps a bit of temperance might have been in order, but I shall not apologise for feeling as I did.”
“Nor do I expect you to.” Darcy looked around to discern if anyone else was about. Seeing no one, he took Elizabeth by the hand and led her away from the vantage point of the windows. He brushed a kiss across her knuckles. Still holding her hand, he said, “There is much I wish to say to you. I recall you mentioning Oakham Mount when we were together in Bosley. I have made inquiries on how I might find the place. Meet me there in the morning.”
“How do I know you will not steal away in the middle of the night on some urgent matter pertaining to your sport?”
His face registered his astonishment. “Miss Bennet, you are not being fair. I told you I would return to Bosley. You chose not to wait for me.”
“Did you really expect me to stay in Bosley when everything about the place held memories of you?”
Darcy hushed Elizabeth with a touch of his finger upon her lips. “I am here now. You and I shall create new memories.”
CHAPTER 14
WHAT THEY OUGHT TO BE
As much as Elizabeth enjoyed the fresh morning air as well as Mr. Darcy’s companionship, if she would but admit it, his taciturn manner was a cause for discomfort. She surmised some conversation was in order. After many pauses and many trials of various subjects, she ventured upon one that would surely satisfy her curiosity over his being there.
“Did Lord Holland tell you that I had returned to Hertfordshire?”
“Actually, he and I spoke on a number of subjects concerning you.”
“Oh?”
“You need not feel embarrassed. I could no more be angry with him for his ardent admiration of you than I could be angry with myself. We share similar tastes.”
“I will allow that he and I discussed a great many things concerning you, as well.”
“No doubt.”
“Have you not the slightest bit of curiosity about what we discussed?”
“You are determined to tell me, so I am obliged to listen.”
“Well, I normally would not say anything at all, but you are here, and I feel it a matter that truly must be discussed if we are to reclaim our prior standing as friends.”
“I should like to think we were more than just friends.” Darcy reached for Elizabeth’s hand, but she pulled away. “Pray tell me what did Lord Holland say that you want to discuss with me?”
“He said you were engaged to be married—to your cousin Miss Anne de Bourgh. Of course, he did say it was a tacit engagement and one that your family desired. He persuaded me that your purpose in leaving Bosley was to honour your family’s expectation. I considered all he said in conjunction with your cousin’s arrival and your subsequent hasty departure. I was compelled to attribute irrefutable truth to Lord Holland’s pronouncement.”
“It is not true. I am not engaged to my cousin. I never have been, and I never will be. Lord Holland should not have told you such a falsehood. He knows where my heart lies.”
“How could he possibly know the workings of another person’s heart?”
“Believe me when I say, he knows. Surely you know it as well. His sole purpose in telling you about Anne was because he wanted you to doubt my constancy. It seems he accomplished his mission.”
“Mr. Darcy, if I have been given to doubt your constancy, it has very little to do what Lord Holland told me.”
“Then what other reason would you possibly have?”
“You … you led me to believe I was important to you … that you were someone I could depend on—when depending upon another was the last thing I ever wished for myself. You led me to believe I could trust you, but then you left so hastily with vague assurances that you would return. What was I to think?”
“You can trust me. I said I would return as soon as my business was settled, and I did. In fact, I returned even sooner than I had planned. I had to see you. I could no longer bear the thought of us being apart. When I returned to find you gone, I came here as soon as arrangements could be made with Bingley to send orders to his housekeeper at Netherfield to prepare for my arrival.
“Now that I am here, I do not intend to waste another minute discussing Lord Holland and what his purposes were or my family’s expectations. All that means nothing to me, and it should matter even less to you.
