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“Yes, my dear, you know I always have time for you,” Lady Anne welcomed the lady she suspected would be her daughter-in-law before too long. “Close the door and come sit with me on the settee. Should I ring for tea?”

“No thank you Aunt Anne, I partook with William not too long ago,” Elizabeth said.

“Lizzy, you are usually more direct, why do you seem so tentative?” Lady Anne asked curiously.

“I want to do something for William,” Elizabeth began. “He is the most honourable man that I know, even before he saved my life from that debauching dastard.”

“Anything that you do would be welcomed by William Lizzy, surely you do not doubt his feelings for you?” Lady Anne asked not understanding why the young lady was having so much trouble articulating her wishes.

“My confidence in his feelings is extremely high Aunt Anne,” she responded and blushed a little as she remembered her utterance that Georgie heard. “As I unwittingly announced, I love him too.”

“Then why do you need to ask me if you would like to do something for my son?” Lady Anne asked the direct question hoping that Elizabeth would clarify what she was trying to say.

“It involves what you told me about your husband and my oath of secrecy, I would like to…” Elizabeth explained what she desired to suggest to her cousin and why the oath between his father and her late husband would not be violated if granted.

She made sure that Lady Anne understood that her feelings for William were not in any way tied to the decision made, so if Lady Anne refused, the matter would be forever dropped, and nothing would change between her and William.

“In talking to the Regent and the Queen, you would not technically be breaking your word to me as they know the full story,” Lady Anne said thoughtfully.

“I assume that you would like to canvass your parent’s opinion as well?

” Lizzy nodded. “The truth is that I never fully agreed with George’s decision, I supported him, but I always felt that he would have made a great Duke of Derbyshire.

As long as anything done does not breech the agreement made between the King and my late husband, you have my blessing to talk to your parents and your cousins. ”

“Thank you, Aunt Anne,” Elizabeth said pleased that Lady Anne had given her permission to proceed. “William deserves this more than anyone else that I can think of.” Elizabeth stood and kissed the aunt of her heart on her cheek and bade her goodbye.

For the first time since Darcy had been wounded, Lady Elizabeth felt like she could return home and that nothing bad would happen while she was across the square.

She asked Miss Jones to collect her belongings and return home with her while her maid placed her clothing in a trunk.

Biggs summoned two footmen then escorted the ladies back to Bennet House.

Biggs had not said anything to his lady, but he had noticed that there was a marked decrease in the number of ragamuffins begging around the environs of Grosvenor Square since the failed kidnapping attempt.

It was now obvious to him that the criminal he shot had used young waifs to spy on his Miss Lizzy.

He grudgingly gave the man some credit for being cunning enough to pull his spies back after one had almost been apprehended outside of the Gardiner and Associates warehouse.

Elizabeth was welcomed back to her home with open arms. When she asked where Tom was, she was informed that he was at Ashby house visiting his betrothed.

She discovered that he was not there, he was at the Bennet House with Lady Amy.

There had been negotiation between the couple and their two sets of parents, it had been agreed that they would marry the first Friday in June, the fifth, which would give them a two-and-a-half-month betrothal.

Elizabeth knew it was longer than the couple had desired, but she was sure that it was less than the Earl of Ashbury had demanded; his wife must have helped him recognise that a compromise was in order.

As she expected, they would marry from the Ashby’s home, Ashbury, in Surrey.

Her family was much relieved to hear that William had awoken, that the physician had declared that he was out of danger, and that he only needed to rest and recuperate.

The younger Bennet twins were excited that with her brother on the mend, they would see Georgiana soon.

They had visited her to make sure that she was well, but nothing beyond short visits.

They could now plan a shopping expedition for an agreed upon date.

They decided to visit Darcy House on the morrow to ask Georgiana to join them and then they would ask Retta, quickly excited that they would all be together again soon.

Elizabeth requested an audience with her parents and was invited to join them in the Duke’s study.

They were concerned that aught was wrong until she opened the conversation explaining that she had fallen in love with William Darcy.

She hastened to note that it was not out of gratitude for his saving her life but for the man that he was, the man she had learned to appreciate.

She huffed at the knowing looks that she received from her parents.

It seemed that everyone had already been well aware of what she had only recently admitted to herself.

In order to get her parents approval of her plan to honour William, she explained what she wanted to do, and that it was with Lady Anne’s blessing on condition that for now, what she imparted would not leave the study.