Page 73 of Elizabeth and Caroline
“Well,” said Mr. Darcy, smiling mirthlessly, “everyone involved in this claims it was all so very proper, don’t they? But perhaps they just can’t give it words. And we shan’t force them to, not if they don’t wish it, for that would be monstrous in its own way.”
She swallowed, not liking the implications there.
“But my sister never has to get married,” said Mr. Darcy. “And your sister, if she needs my support and doesn’t wish to be touched by a man ever either, I shall provide that.”
“Fitz, I believe them both,” she said. “When we found them, they did not behave as if they had been…”
He met her gaze. He nodded, drawing in a breath. “Good. I want to believe that. I want to believe that very much.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
WHEN CAROLINE RETURNEDhome, her sister Louisa was not the least bit pleased that she had left the house and been gone all day.
They had a long discussion, in which Louisa went on and on about how much responsibility it was to look after Caroline, and how Caroline herself seemed to have no interest in looking after herself and that Louisa didn’t see anything for it but to send her back to the country with their brother.
Caroline could have explained that things had been quite dire in the Darcy household, that she had been needed and necessary and told all of the Darcy secrets. But she was too loyal to Elizabeth to do that. She went to bed in a state of hopelessness.
She had seen the colonel at the Darcy house, but he had been a different man than the man she’d met the night before at the ball. He’d been practically lupine, moving here and there with graceful force, like a sleek predator, all of his disposition tending towards a lethal graveness. He had noticed her, but when she fell into his gaze, it was assessing. He wished to ascertain whether she was safe or not. Finding her so, he turned his attentions to his cousin and wife, and finding them all right, he had been mostly concerned with the younger girls, Lydia and Georgiana.
He had spoken with them both, his voice quiet, hisexpression grim.
And then, he’d left.
And she’d left.
He’d only spoken to her enough to say that he was quite glad she was all right and to express his gratitude for her assistance that day.
If Louisa was certain to send her back to the country, would she even see the colonel before she went?
She could not send him a letter or anything, of course, because it was not proper for a single woman to converse with a man in that way. She could send one surreptitiously to his house, though she understood he was currently staying with his mother, which would be risky, she thought, for what if the servants spoke of it to his mother or what if his mother intercepted the communication, and Caroline did not think the countess would approve of her.
She resolved that she would get Elizabeth’s help to communicate with him if she did not see him before her departure. That was likely the best way to go about it, after all.
And then, she slept.
She was gratified and surprised and quite pleased when he called upon her on the morrow, however.
Obviously, she and the colonel could not be left alone during his call, so Louisa sat in with them in the sitting room as he came in and sat with her.
She wondered which colonel this would be. The wolflike colonel, ready to pounce on anything that might threaten his loved ones? Or the jocular, witty man from the night before, who—even so—had the ability to wield his words like knives?
“You’re looking quite well today, madam,” he said, gazing at her steadily. “I hope you have been well since we last saw each other.”
“Indeed, sir,” she said. “I have been quite well. I hope you are in good health also.”
“Ah, well, as good as can be expected, given what we were dealing with yesterday. I am concerned and worriedfor my cousin Miss Darcy, of course, and I don’t take it well that Mr. Wickham is running free and wild.”
Louisa spoke up. “What happened yesterday? Caroline, you told me none of this.”
The colonel lifted his chin, looking her over, and he smiled. “Didn’t you, then.”
Caroline shook her head.
The colonel nodded at her. “I see, then. I see quite what you’re made of when it comes to it, Miss Bingley. That speaks well of you.” He turned to Louisa. “Mrs. Hurst, there was a family situation yesterday that could have proved very dire, but thanks to your sister and Mrs. Darcy, it was mitigated. We really could not have done it without their quick thinking.”
Caroline liked that he was praising her, but she thought it was more down to the fact that Mr. Darcy hadn’t had the letter from Lydia. On the other hand, the colonel had known about the letter from Lydia, and he hadn’t thought of the boarding house, either, so perhaps it was her and Elizabeth’s good sense that had brought it all about.
“Well, I had no notion, Caroline,” said Louisa. “Really, as I was going on yesterday, saying that you were behaving like a spoiled child and that I could not have you here underfoot if you were going to play girlish games like that, you could have stopped me.”
