Page 11 of Her Whole Heart
“It is only Hen,” Milton said. “She knows Darcy is a great rude chap when with family.”
“He is a great rude chap in a ballroom with strangers too, it seems,” Fitz replied, sending a look at Darcy that dared him to deny it.
“Perhaps he is a little rude,” Lady Henrietta said, pulling the bell to signal the servants that dinner was about to begin. “But he is not wrong about Miss Elizabeth Bennet.”
Chapter Four
Darcy had just arrived in the vestibule of Carlisle House when he spied four ladies come out into the hall. Lady Carlisle, her niece, and yes—his luck was running true—Miss Elizabeth Bennet, who was dressed in a white gown trimmed with primrose ribbons and appearing as fresh as a blue sky after a spring rain. Her sister was just behind her.
He offered them all a bow, they curtsied, and then Lord Carlisle was calling him into his study.
The earl was standing, arranging a few papers into a neat pile. He finished organising his things and waved at a chair. “Sit down, Mr. Darcy.”
Darcy hesitated. He knew himself to be in the wrong, but he felt stubbornly averse to admitting it to anyone other than Miss Elizabeth. She was the only one to whom he owed an apology. But the command had been issued by an earl.
He sat.
“I can see you were not pleased to receive my invitation,” Lord Carlisle said, a trace of humour in his voice. “Good.”
Darcy raised his eyes to meet the earl’s. “I suspect I know why I am here, my lord, and I am prepared to make my apologies to the lady.”
The earl chuckled. “That is not the point of this meeting.” He lowered himself into the leather armchair and peered at Darcy across his desk. His examination might have been less than a minute, but it was long enough that Darcy began to shift a bit in discomfort.
“Mr. Darcy,” the earl said at last, and Darcy nearly sighed with relief, “I am no longer a young man.”
Darcy began to protest politely, for though the man was past sixty, he was trim and appeared in good health.
“No, no,” the earl said, swatting away the words as though they were insects buzzing in his ear. “I am not being modest, I am stating a fact and attempting to make a point.”
“Yes, my lord.”
The earl sat back and folded his hands over his stomach. “You said some harsh things about my ward in the middle of a crowded ball in a voice that could not be misheard.”
Darcy closed his eyes. “Yes, sir, I did.” There was no point in denying it.
“My niece insisted on having her friends here with us for the season. To be honest, I was not sure we ought to host the Bennet girls. It seemed to me that sponsoring two young women so wholly unknown to society was setting ourselves up for trouble. My thoughts were not so far from those you expressed.”
The earl seemed to expect Darcy to reply to that, but he was not sure what to say. “Indeed?”
“Indeed. Do you know what convinced me that I was wrong?”
Darcy shook his head. Whatever it was, guessing was unlikely to reveal the correct answer.
“I spoke with them.” The earl leaned forward. “That was all it required. You had the same option available to you. Instead, you decided to humiliate Miss Elizabeth for quite literally no reason at all. You danced, butwas she inappropriate in any way? Did she cling to your arm? Flutter her eyelashes? Tug her dress lower to display her assets? Anything that a woman set on enticing a man is known to do here in London?”
No. She had . . . engaged in the art of conversation. Darcy shook his head.
“From what I could glean from her sister, Miss Elizabeth thought you appeared rather dour and gloomy and that she might be able to make you smile. That was her only purpose.”
Darcy’s brows pinched together. Miss Elizabeth’s words had been sharp and challenging, not amusing. Although, when he attempted to recall what part of their debate had so irritated him, he could not identify it. Perhaps it was that she was debating him at all. Was he really so perverse? He had always said he enjoyed a good debate. Was it that he did not appreciate it when a cleverwomantook up the gauntlet? Darcy did not like to think it of himself.
“We were introduced while they were in town with their aunt and uncle. They came for tea, and I spoke with them, asked them about their goals in town and if they thought being in the company of my family would be of use in achieving them. And do you know what I learned?”
“No, my lord,” Darcy replied, taking a breath to allay his anxiety.
“I learned that other than my niece, there are unlikely to be finer young women participating in the season this year than the Bennet girls. I am very pleased for Amelia to share her first season with them.”
“As you say, my lord.” Darcy thought the earl must want something more. Perhaps now he would be forced to apologise prettily, and that would be fair. He longed to have that done and this entire episode firmly behind him. The earl, however, did not seem inclined to conclude their interview just yet.
