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“You intimidate me, sir,” I admitted in a small voice.

Darcy

“You intimidate me,” she murmured.

We were alone, arguing about horses of all things. She objected to my keeping horses on the road or so I thought. But with those three words, a light came on in my head, and I became slightly irate.

“No,” I snapped at her. “You have poked at, laughed at, and punctured my consequence from the first moment of our acquaintance and done me a great deal of good in doing so. You may not now express awe at the size of my stables.”

A small, reluctant smile peeked out, though her eyes remained modestly downcast. I pressed on.

“You, Elizabeth Bennet, are equal to anything. You have defied Lady Catherine de Bourgh, and if you do not stand up to my wealth and consequence and the many privileges I enjoy, if you do not take in your stride what service I offer you out of friendship, then I shall…” I faltered, uncrossed my arms, and came across the room to stand opposite her.

How could I tell her of my disappointment if she proved not to be the woman I believed her to be?

“You will what?” she asked with her head tilted, sparrow-like.

“Nothing! You are not a wilting, cringing miss styled after Maria Lucas. I refuse to believe you are, and this talk of my horses and of intimidation is pure silliness.”

Elizabeth’s face softened as a tender smile broke out, the sparkle returned to her eyes, and she said, “You will allow me to be silly, then?”

“If you must, but I sincerely hope these episodes are infrequent.” I sounded annoyed even to my own ears, but I was still feeling a trifle resentful at having been pulled through a knothole over horses.

“Well, I am sorry to tell you, Mr Darcy, that I am feeling silly over another matter altogether.”

“We are not done wrangling?” I asked, as an overwhelming wave of feeling for this woman gripped me. What I would not do for her! “Tell me, then,” I said, struggling not to push a stray curl off her forehead.

“You are unlikely to deposit my sister and me at Piccadilly Circus, sir.” I knew exactly what road we were now on and I steeled myself as she continued.

“We shall traverse Cheapside and enter Waters Street and pull up to number twelve, the home of my uncle who is in trade, a place and situation to be deplored by everybody, according to Mr Bingley’s sisters. ”

“And?”

“Your sister?—”

“My sister will be perfectly amenable,” I replied drily, and then out of irritation, out of the unceasing harassment of wanting such a perverse, difficult, headstrong and beautiful woman, I put my fingers to her forehead as my mother did to me when I was a child.

“Are you ill, Miss Bennet? I think you might have taken a chill this morning in Kent. That would explain this strange turn.”

She chuckled but turned back to the window nonetheless, and so I came up behind her, near as I dared, and spoke softly into her ear.

“I would wish you thought better of me, Elizabeth Bennet.”

Unfortunately, we were in this lover-like attitude, this dangerous proximity, when Richard breezed in. Thankfully, he did not so much as raise an eyebrow as Elizabeth and I abruptly separated.

“Shall we go, Cousin?” he asked.

“Take Miss Bennet down, will you, Richard. I shall settle with Martin and be with you directly.”

I stood in that room, wrung out and on fire.

When I was finally able to move, I went below and settled with the innkeeper before I stepped outside and into my waiting coach. Richard sat in an attitude of nonchalance, pretending to look out the window, and I tolerated his smirking for ten miles before my impatience boiled over.

“What is it?” I snapped.

“Nothing! The day is fine, is it not?”

“If you must have it, we had a row.”

My cousin’s expression of insouciance fell off. “Did I not tell you to behave better with Miss Bennet?”

“It could not be helped.” Somehow that realisation calmed me. “I may have even made progress,” I confessed, sitting back and stretching out my legs. This was a tentative position, but something in that heated encounter had struck me as reciprocal.

“You looked to be making very good progress when I came in the room,” Richard said with a chuckle.

“She is unnerved by my wealth.”

“Is she? Unnerved you say?”

“Hmm. Quite put off. Her uncle is a tradesman who lives in Cheapside, and I was showing away with a grand repast and my own teams.”

“And did you reassure her?”

I smiled and told him I had, while thinking my cousin would consider our brutal conference a strange way of reassuring a lady.

“Enough of me,” I said after a deep breath. “I thank you for tending to Miss Mary. I would not have had the chance to disabuse Miss Bennet of her notions otherwise.”

Richard smiled. “You make Miss Mary sound like hard duty.”

“All the better if you do not think she is.”

He laughed and shook his head before he went back to watching the streams of farms and villages pass us by.

Dreaming of his property, no doubt. I then spoke to him about various thoughts I had had about where and how he should settle when he sold his commission, and we passed the time pleasurably.

Only in the back of my mind did I entertain the nagging worry that I would not measure up upon presenting myself to Elizabeth’s relations in trade.

Lord, do not let me betray so much as a twitch of dismay!

At Bromley, Elizabeth and I circled each other like rival dogs. We had both been bitten in Maidstone, and thirty miles later, we affected great politeness, since neither of us would yield to the dominance of the other. Fitting since a matched pair by definition presupposes equal points.

“What troubles you, William?” Georgiana asked.

We sat waiting for tea in a snug at the Green Goose. Elizabeth, Mary, and Mrs Annesley were at the window looking at the church across the square, and Richard had gone to secure ale for the coachmen and grooms.

I could think of no subtle way to speak to my sister of my misgivings, and so I spoke plainly. “We shall soon arrive at Miss Bennet’s uncle’s house. He is in trade.”

“Oh yes,” she said. “Elizabeth and Mary have been telling me about the Gardiners. They sound like very agreeable people. I wonder if we might have Mrs Gardiner to tea? I have told my friends to come tomorrow.”

The anticipation of a jump that turns out to be nothing but a clump of grass will leave a person rather flat. “Of course you must invite her,” I said stupidly.

Was I the only member of my party bracing for an unwelcome acquaintance? Apparently so. Richard, whose tours in Spain had brushed all the polish off of him, could mix with anybody. From the window, I saw him regaling his batman, Sargeant Brown, with something lewd from the sound of their laughter.

I had a dozen miles in which I prayed to be cured of my priggishness.

Our progress into the city was naturally slow, and when we finally arrived on Waters Street, I was immeasurably relieved to see Mr Gardiner’s house stood in a perfectly ordinary neighbourhood removed from the principal bustle of the city.

Briskly, Richard and I stepped out and helped the Bennet sisters down.

The townhouse door opened and a pretty lady, younger than I expected, came down the steps.

“Lizzy! Mary! What is this?” she cried, but with a mixture of gracious welcome intermingled with her surprise.

“Oh Aunt, you would not credit—but I must make you known to our new friend, Miss Georgiana Darcy.”

Mrs Gardiner went instantly to my sister and after a graceful curtsey said, “Miss Darcy? But you must be from Pemberley in Derbyshire. I grew up in Lambton, and I met your mother, oh, many times. How delightful to make your acquaintance! And how kind of you to take up my nieces. Will you not come in?”

“No, no Aunt. We have had a full day of travel and settled it that we shall go to Miss Darcy’s for tea tomorrow if you will allow it.”

“I hope you will come too, Mrs Gardiner,” Georgiana added shyly.

“Certainly, and very happy to do so. Where shall we go?”

I listened as my sister gave the lady my Mayfair address and then Elizabeth said, “Mr Darcy, Colonel Fitzwilliam, allow me to introduce my aunt Mrs Gardiner—oh, and my uncle too, I see. Uncle Gardiner, you must come and meet my friends.”

Could this be Mrs Bennet’s brother? I tried not to stare as a well-favoured man, beaming of intelligence and sophistication came down the stairs to stand next to his wife.

He kissed his nieces and said to Elizabeth, “Well, scamp, you have surely gotten into a scrape if you arrive like a package tossed out on the kerb. What have you done, then?”

She laughed and said, “Oh, I assure you I was very bad, sir, and you had better scold me half the night. But first, may I introduce you to Mr Darcy?”