Page 47 of One Night with Mr. Darcy
“Charlotte, there are a number of things about me you don’t know. I do notdeservea second chance,” Elizabeth muttered.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
ELIZABETH WAS STARTLEDwhen she came upon Colonel Fitzwilliam coming out of her sister Jane’s room.
He was carefully closing the door, and he did not see her there until he looked up and saw her standing in the hallway.
“You know I come to visit her around this time every day,” she said, though she had established no real rhyme or reason to visiting Jane, truly. “You are here to come at me this way, having heard that Mr. Darcy is coming at me through Willie.”
“Oh, dear,” said the colonel, letting out a delighted laugh. “I do suppose that is a way he came at you and through you, if one thinks about it.”
She stiffened. “He told you.”
“Well, if I was going to engage in some sort of pretend rivalry for your affections as a cover for his ability to get to know his son, then it was a good thing for me to know what I was actually doing,” said the colonel. “So, yes, he told me. But I shan’t tell anyone else.”
“So, you are not… this is not some attempt…” Elizabeth sighed heavily. “Why are you here?”
“I thought your sister might be lonely,” said the colonel. “That is all. I spoke to her for a time and we agreed I might come and see her regularly. I offered to read to her, but after hearing me read, we also agreed that was perhaps not my strong suit.” He laughed softly. “Now, she is asleep, I’m afraid, if you hoped to speak to her.” He tilted his head to one side. “She doesn’t know.”
“Oh, of course she doesn’t know! You think I went around announcing to people that I was some sort of loose, scarlet woman? That I had no control of myself? That I allowed myself to be ruined—that I welcomed it, even brought it on myself?” She rubbed her forehead.
“Ah, you’re quite hard on yourself, then. I suppose this is why you and Fitzwilliam get on so well.” The colonel’s eyes danced.
“My hardness upon myself is nothing compared to what society’s would be if they knew the truth.”
He nodded. “That is unfortunately accurate, I suppose, madam.”
She pushed past him and opened the door a crack. Jane was, indeed, sleeping. She pulled the door shut. She’d come back later, she supposed.
“Walk with me?” said the colonel.
She sighed. “I don’t have a choice, do I?”
“You do. I have no intention of thrusting my company upon you against your will.”
“Let’s walk.” She gestured.
“I’m sorry if you don’t wish me to know,” said the colonel as they fell into step together, making their way down the hallways. “I don’t judge you for it or think badly of you. You seem a remarkably resourceful woman, in fact. I admire you.”
“No, I did not plan any of this.” She gestured at the house.
“You did not engineer your marriage to another man to save your reputation?”
“I didn’t know I was with child when I acquiesced!”
“Ah, of course,” said the colonel.
“I’m not some sort of calculating mercenary, truly. I simply have done what I could to survive. I’ve had some luck here and there also, I suppose. But, in equal measure, a great deal of tragedy. I am neither to be envied nor pitied, I think.”
He nodded soberly at her. “Yes, I quite agree. A good way to look at it, I believe. Listen, I should like to present something to you? A possibility. I don’t wish you to answer it now, though. Just think on it. I have presented it to Darcy, and he rejected it soundly, of course, but that has not entirely deterred me.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I think you should marry me,” said the colonel.
She stopped walking, thoroughly stunned.
“No, not like that. You’d be his, of course. I would be… whatever I am. We would never touch one another. You can have more of his children, if you like, and they can be my children. I’d much rather it that way, truthfully. It solves a number of problems for me, you see? I have no lands nor income, but marrying you, I’d have Rosings. And my family, they’d think it was brilliant, and I could stand to curry some favor with my father and mother.”
