Page 5 of Requirements for Love (Love in London with Mr Darcy #3)

“I think they share my concerns about her inferior connexions and did not want to encourage you in pursuing her.”

Bingley took a long drink. “That would not ultimately have prevented my marrying her, you know. What dissuaded me was your assertion of Miss Bennet’s indifference.” He stared and asked in a low voice, “Did you lie, Darcy? Did she admire me?”

His friend had so much trust in his discernment.

When he remembered the disappointed look in Miss Bennet’s eyes before she turned away in the drawing room, he doubted that she felt nothing for Bingley.

“I still say she showed you no particular regard, but I refuse to adopt the measures of art so far as to conceal from you her being in town, as I fear your sisters will. If you choose to meet Miss Bennet, observe for yourself if she has any fondness for you—or rather, enough fondness to satisfy you.”

Bingley set down his glass and said, “We should part from our friends early.”

As he rose and wished the other men at the table a pleasant evening, Darcy hastily followed.

He could hear his friends laughing about what ladies they wished might slip on the ice outside of their homes.

“You mean to go to Cheapside? You cannot call on the Gardiners, on strangers, at this late hour.”

His friend smiled as they went to the hall for their coats. “I am not. I am visiting your guest to inquire after her health. And then I will ask her if she thinks her sister will welcome my calling.”

It did not take them long to make their way from St James’s Street to Charles Street. Bingley might yet meet Miss Bennet without ill consequence. But it seemed to Darcy that Bingley’s regard was not extinguished, and his friend must make his own choice.

As they entered the house, he thought of the young woman one floor above him, and Darcy’s heart beat fast. He was in some danger, too.

He asked a maid to inquire if Miss Elizabeth was up to receiving a guest, and they were invited into the parlour. It was now her bedroom as well, and the presence of a small campaign bed, dresser, and wash stand made him feel out of place in his own home.

Her expression looked rather blank when he entered, but when Bingley followed him, she brightened.

“My dear Miss Elizabeth,” cried Bingley, striding to her side. “I hear you have taken a tumble. Are you in any pain?”

“How do you do, Mr Bingley? I am well so long as I do not move my ankle, which I find very frustrating.”

“You could not have fallen in a better place,” he said. “How fortunate to have had an accident nearly at the doorstep of a friend.”

Elizabeth looked over Bingley’s shoulder to give him an arch look. “I do not think Mr Darcy finds it fortunate to have me impose on him.”

“I shall not say that you are mistaken,” Darcy replied, coming near, “because you could not really believe me to resent your presence in my home.”

Her eyebrows lifted. She looked like she did not believe him. He supposed he had not been hospitable when it became clear she could not risk further injury and had to stay. But he could not very well say she was far too tempting, that he was afraid he would propose while confined to the same house.

He would have to be a more courteous host.

“Have you need of anything?” he asked quickly as he sat across from where her foot rested on a stool.

She had put a stocking over her bandaged foot, and he was oddly disappointed to no longer have a glimpse of her toes.

“Have your things arrived from Gracechurch Street? Was dinner to your liking?” Another thought occurred to him as soon as the words were spoken.

“How did you get to the dining room?” he asked with some concern.

He should have thought of that before he left for the evening.

“My things arrived, and your housekeeper brought me a tray,” she said, pointing to the table next to the sofa. “I did not feel like forcing a footman to carry me down and up the stairs to sit in that large dining room all by myself.”

The idea of anyone other than him holding her in his arms made him flinch. If she noticed, she did not comment on it. “I will try to be more at home for the next fortnight.”

“I did not intend to complain,” she said hurriedly. “You need not trouble yourself on my account.”

“My sister and her companion will be here as well, and it would be rude to leave you all on your own. There are two adjoining drawing rooms on this floor, one large and one smaller. I will have the breakfast table in the morning room brought up to the smaller one. If we do not have guests, the four of us can eat our meals there, so you need not manage the stairs. Of course, if I have company to dinner, I will certainly carry you up and down.”

Her cheeks turned pink. “You have already gone to enough trouble. I do not mind eating from a tray in this room.”

“Miss Elizabeth, he is going to insist,” Bingley said with a laugh. “You have never stayed here or at Pemberley. Darcy’s guests are accommodated; there is nothing to say about it. Whatever can be done for your comfort will be done in a moment.”

Another sceptical look was thrown his way. “I am not a guest, or rather, not an invited one. I would not presume to be treated like one.”

“Miss Elizabeth, what have I done to make you think that you are not welcome?”

Rather than answer, she just shook her head. “I thought I would be confined to this room unless I was to hobble into the drawing room if my aunt and sister visit. ”

“Not at all,” he said firmly. He could not allow himself to fall in love with her, but that did not mean he would treat her coldly. “I promise you are welcome, and I will do whatever I can to make a trying experience more tolerable for you.”

Her lips quirked up when he said “tolerable”, but he did not know why. “Thank you. It should be better now that my own things have arrived. I now have my work basket at least, and my sister and aunt sent a note that they promise to visit me the day after tomorrow.”

“Speaking of your sister,” Bingley said heavily. Darcy lowered his head to hide his bemused expression, but not before he saw Elizabeth’s grin. “Is Miss Bennet in good health? I did not know that your sister—that you and your sister—were coming to town this winter.”

“We decided at Christmas that we would both return with my aunt. You were already gone by then.” Turning from Bingley, she said to him, “How very suddenly you all quitted Netherfield last November, Mr Darcy. It must have been a most agreeable surprise to Mr Bingley to see you all after him so soon; for, if I recollect right, he went but the day before.”

Her eyes locked with his, and he felt she blamed him for separating his friend from her sister. Miss Bingley’s lies had been exposed, but her hardened gaze told him she somehow knew what he had done. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat and looked away.

“It was a long time since I had had the pleasure of seeing your sis—your family,” Bingley corrected. Before she could reply, he added, “We have not met since the twenty-sixth of November, when we were all dancing together at Netherfield.”

Elizabeth said she was pleased to find his memory so exact, and Darcy thought he heard a tone of genuine regret in his friend’s voice.

He felt the painful prick of guilt on his conscience.

If Bingley would willingly overlook her unsuitable connexions, and if Jane Bennet actually loved his friend, then he had done them both a disservice by separating them.

“Well, now that you, my sister, and I are fixed in town for the winter,” Elizabeth said brightly, “there is no reason we cannot meet.”

“Excellent,” cried Bingley. “I understand your sister visited Caroline today. When Caroline pays a return call in Cheapside, I will join her.”

Elizabeth’s hopeful expression fell. Darcy knew Miss Bingley would never return that visit. Or, if she did, a month would go by before she performed that perfunctory act.

Bingley was going to pursue Jane Bennet regardless of the situation of her mother’s family and learn how she felt about him. Darcy could either interfere—express to him again all the disadvantages of the match—or he could be a better friend than he had been.

“You ought not to wait on Miss Bingley and Mrs Hurst,” he said tightly. “They are often busy and might not call on Miss Bennet as soon as you want to see her.”

Elizabeth’s mouth fell open as she stared at him as though he had said the most shocking thing she had ever heard. By the time Bingley looked from him back to Elizabeth, she had arranged her features into a smile again.

“Yes!” she agreed. “You would be welcome in Gracechurch Street. You need not wait for your sisters. My aunt wants to meet you, and Jane would be glad to see you again.”

“Very well,” Bingley cried. “I will call first thing tomorrow.”

Elizabeth repeated all her pleasantries and told him her uncle’s direction in Cheapside.

Darcy heard the front door open and ladies’ voices in the entrance hall. “I believe my sister is here. Are you well enough to meet her this evening, Miss Elizabeth?”

“As long as she is not expecting me to take a turn about the room.”

He smiled at Elizabeth’s playful manner. “Why do we not move into the drawing room?” The parlour was crowded with extra furniture, and there were not enough chairs for two more.

“So easy for you to say,” she said, not unkindly. “Although it is more work for you , since I am forbidden to hop along on my own.”

“I will go down and greet them,” said Bingley, “and we will meet you in the drawing room after you settle, Miss Elizabeth.” Turning back at the door, he said to Elizabeth, “I am so sorry for your accident, but I am pleased you fell near to Darcy. I might otherwise never have known you were in town.”

Elizabeth rose on her own, keeping her weight on one foot. Darcy came near, and for a moment, it looked as though Elizabeth was going to put a hand on his shoulder. Then she drew back and leant into the side of the sofa instead.

“Miss Bennet, you are going to have to accept help, and your balancing against me and my lifting you from room to room is unavoidable.”

“I should not presume?—”

“Yes, you should. You should presume I am going to help you, and you should presume I would rather you reach out to balance yourself with my help than tip over to the floor. May I?” he asked, gesturing that he would pick her up.

She nodded, and without another word, he carried her down the corridor into the larger drawing room.

He set her into a chair, and then moved a chaise nearer to the fire and arranged the screen.

The chair was near to the chaise, and he held out a hand.

She rose on one foot to take it, and with his help, hopped the few feet to the chaise.

He left and returned with a blanket for her legs. “You are kinder than I realised,” she said after he handed it to her.

“For moving some furniture to accommodate an injured lady? Oh yes, I am a virtuous man,” he said.

“No,” she said softly, tucking the blanket around her. “You do not want Bingley to meet with my sister, but it is what they want, so you will keep your reservations to yourself for the sake of your friend’s happiness.”

He felt he had to be honest. He abhorred disguise, after all. “I wanted to separate your sister and my friend, but his interest is unabated, and I cannot be a party to all that Miss Bingley would do to keep them apart.”

“Because you and Miss Bingley want him to marry Miss Darcy instead,” she insisted.

There was not enough time before his sister came up the stairs to summarise all the other reasons the Bennet family was unsuitable for any man of sense and consequence.

“It is not an advantageous match for him, but now all that remains to be seen is if your sister returns his feelings with the same strength. I would hate for anyone I care about to suffer an unequal marriage.”

The coals cracked in the silence. “He cruelly disappointed Jane when he left,” she finally said.

He bowed his acknowledgment. “We will soon learn how far both of their feelings extend.” He heard the tread of several pairs of feet on the stairs.

His thoughts were with his sister, at her having to stay with a stranger for propriety’s sake, her nervousness around new people, and her difficult summer.

Coming quickly to Elizabeth’s side, he sat across from her and said, “My sister is—she is timid, but I know she would be glad to call you a friend. A lively and friendly woman such as yourself could be good for her. Any kindness you show her—she has not had an easy year. I would be grateful for your patience and kindness toward Georgiana.”

She looked taken aback, and he supposed she had reason to be. He had been forward and open. Neither was in his nature.

“It is touching what frank kindness can do, and in a short time, is it not?” she said, giving a soft smile. It struck him in its sincerity, and his heart beat a little faster. “You want me to cultivate a friendship with your sister?” she asked, as though she did not believe it was possible.

“With certainty.”

She now gave him a smile more like the playful ones he was used to. “Then be prepared for me to pour forth the warmest expressions of friendship toward Miss Darcy. We cannot assume she will reciprocate, however.”

He returned her arch smile as the drawing room door opened. “I defy anyone to resist your appeals.”