Page 74 of The Cheapside Runners
Darcy closed the gap, took her hands, and kissed the back of each knuckle. He made no effort to do anything more intimate (as was wise with any woman who could thrash you). They had no gloves, so it was slightly more intimate than the contact between friends, but not likely to make their passion burst into flames.
She gave a winsome smile. “I know I can appear fearsome, but I have never allowed any man even this close. I would hope we can—”
“We shall proceed as slowly as we are comfortable with. This is as new for me as it is for you.”
“Yes, it has always been clear you are not another Mr Bingley. I suppose we have both been, by necessity, concerned with the worst of the opposite sex. Shall we join the family?”
When they entered, they nodded to the parents and greeted the children who were old enough to join for meals. Miss Gardiner’s thirteenth birthday was coming up in a week, so thatbecame the primary topic for the rest of the meal.
~~~~~
After breakfast, Mrs Gardiner went with the children to the nursery while Mr Gardiner went to his office, leaving Elizabeth and Darcy alone with a maid doing some mending to chaperone.
Darcy asked, “I am happy to see you here, but slightly surprised. What is happening with your students?”
“You know that my father has required my presence at Longbourn for half of the year, though I have been dragging my feet enough to cut it down to about four months. I am not the only instructor. Mrs Rose is managing the class today. You will eventually meet Mrs Scarlet, Auburn, and Jade.”
“Do they all employ similar disguises?”
“They all use aliases, but most are married or widowed, so less concerned with their reputations. The evolving clothing through the course is part of the curriculum, so they do the same but not the makeup.”
“Would it be impertinent to ask what they are doing?”
“Ordinarily, I would not allow it, but if we are courting, we must learn to trust each other to have any hope of success.”
“I agree. I have always wanted a love match, which most of my contemporaries believe is somewhere between absurd and unlikely.”
“I have never been partial to pessimism. More often than not, it is self-sabotage. I have as well hoped for a love match, but was—”
When she ran out of words, Darcy quietly suggested, “Sceptical, perhaps?”
“That works well enough, I suppose.”
“Can you guess thefirstadjective I heard to describe you?” he asked with a smirk.
“It is hard to say. Since you got it from my uncle, it couldeasily have been impertinent, brave, foolhardy, stubborn—”
He laughed lightly. “Not even close. He asked me to attend dinner and engage in polite conversation with a niece who was a bit toocynicalfor her own good.”
“That turned out well,” she said with a grimace.
“I hear your scepticism, but I believe itdidturn out well. I doubt I could have achieved even the most tepid sort of affection if I had not reformed myself a bit with your uncle’s help.”
“It is hard to say, but I cannot disagree.”
“With your coin analogy, I want to get to the guinea of love/hate, but I doubt I would have managed to even get onto the farthing without improving my manners. When I said I might have ignored you that first month without your uncle’s intervention, I was serious.”
They laughed together, and Darcy rather thought he had moved an inch from a farthing to pence, and optimistically hoped he might even have a shilling in sight.
She sighed. “I think my uncle feels responsible or guilty for my cynicism, as he calls it. I like to think of it more as pragmatism or scepticism, but he could be right. He just wants me to be happy and fears my exposure to the worst of men might hamper it.”
“What do you believe?”
“I try to teach my girls to have balance in all things.”
“I remember you lecturing Bingley and me aboutunbalanced risksat Netherfield.”
“I imagine you now comprehend how difficult it was for me to maintain my composure in that meeting.”
