Page 113 of I Thee Wed
Darcy answered dryly. “Very well, Phillip, I stand corrected. Elizabeth, name the day and the hour, and I shall begin teaching you.”
Elizabeth looked pleased. “Thank you, Fitzwilliam. I shall take you at your word, but not today. Today, I plan to take our guestsinto the kitchen. We are going to learn how to bake a cake, which we shall eat at tea time.”
She turned and studied his features. He looked displeased. “Georgiana asked if we might, and I agreed. You approve, sir?”
Darcy opened his mouth to answer. The idea was displeasing, but Phillip forestalled him. “Of course, he approves. Anything you plan must be considered perfectly proper and part of my little cousin’s expanded education.” He turned to Darcy. “Success in baking rests upon the natural reactions of the ingredients. Georgiana’s education would be incomplete without some acquaintance with chemistry.”
Elizabeth glanced at Phillip, then raised a brow at her husband and moved away to join her friends. Phillip caught the look and grinned, leaning toward Darcy just enough to murmur under his breath, “I do not hesitate to tell you that she is the sort of woman I should like in my bedchamber.”
Darcy’s face darkened at once. “Get your own wife, Phillip, and stop thinking of mine.” He turned on his heel and strode away. “Well? Are you coming to play billiards with me or not?”
Darcy frowned as he walked ahead of Phillip.Let him find his own wife.Phillip would have Abby; he himself had let her slip through his hands. But what of Elizabeth? He loved her. He had loved her from the first moment he saw her. Did that love count for nothing? Why should Abby be thought the more suitable, merely for her connections?
Chapter 81: Richard and Anne
A carriage bearing the de Bourgh crest entered the yard, where the Darcys stood waiting to greet them. Richard hopped out, smiling at his cousins, then turned and handed Anne and Mrs. Jenkinson down from the conveyance.
Georgiana flew from the house and threw her arms around Richard’s neck. “Richard, I have missed you.” She stood back and looked him over. “You received no injury at the hands of that smuggler gang?”
“No, little cousin. I am very well, as you see.”
She turned to Anne, embraced her fair cousin, and kissed her before taking her arm to walk toward the entrance. “Anne, we will spend our holiday at Windermere, and we shall have such fun together.”
“Richard!” Lady Helen, abandoning her customary elegance, allowed herself to hurry and embrace her younger son. “You are here.” She held him back to look at him. “And you are well, no injuries.” She brushed away a tear. “Do not mind me, son. I have been so worried about you, but I see that you are perfectly well.”
She turned to Anne. “Shall I take you up so that you may rest? The trip from Kent to Derbyshire is long and tedious.”
Richard took his mother’s arm. “My cousin is very well, mamma. I have taken prodigious care of her over the past five days of our journey.”
Elizabeth approached the elderly companion and offered her arm. “Mrs. Jenkinson, shall I take you directly up to your rooms so that you may refresh yourself, or will you take tea first?”
The elder lady met her eyes. “I am exhausted by the journey, Mrs. Darcy. I want nothing better than to go upstairs and take a long nap.”
Elizabeth regarded her with sympathy. “Then that is what you shall do. Come, I will direct Mrs. Reynolds.”
Darcy and Phillip watched from the entrance. When Richard reached them, Darcy clasped his shoulder with evident affection. “Richard, I am so glad to see you alive and in one piece.”
Phillip drew his brother into a brief embrace, then grinned. “So, the smuggler gang did not carry you off to France in a fishing boat. Brother, I mean to hear every detail.”
Richard laughed, gratified by their warmth. “Very well, but let us have brandy first.”
The three withdrew to Darcy’s study and settled in to hear Richard’s tale.
Meanwhile, the women gathered in the drawing room to take tea with Anne. Lady Helen, always direct, regarded her niece. “My dear, you look quite changed. I see color in your cheeks, and you look very well. The Scottish air has agreed with you.”
Her willowy niece laughed, something she had never done before in Lady Helen’s presence. “Richard insists upon walking me out every morning, whether I wish it or not. He declares it is good for my health. Perhaps he is right, for I find myself with more appetite than ever.” She glanced down at her form. “I have gained weight. All my gowns had to be let out.”
Lady Helen’s eyes warmed. “I see that you have curves, my dear. Your new figure is lovely.”
Anne smiled. “I fear I was sadly underweight before. I blame mother’s French chef and his complicated sauces and creams, which do not agree with me.”
Her aunt studied her, satisfied. “You look very like your namesake, Lady Anne. She, too, was tall and willowy, but with a most attractive figure, as you now possess.”
The young woman flushed. “Thank you, Aunt Helen. You are very kind.”
Georgiana was studying her cousin’s features. “You do have a beautiful figure, cousin. I can scarcely believe my eyes at the difference in you.”
Laughing softly, she said, “I am indebted to Richard for any improvement. My cousin is unyielding when it comes to his wishes.”
