Page 27 of The Heroic Mr Darcy’s Bad Manners
Darcy approached Richard’s chamber with long strides; his elation was of such a nature that needed to be shared. He rapped on the door and impatiently waited for footsteps to approach, but hearing nothing, he knocked a second time with more force. Finally, the rustling sound of fabric could be heard, then his cousin’s slow footsteps moved towards the door only to open it a fraction to peer out at him.
“What the deuce do you want?”
Richard was in his shirt with bare feet and rumpled hair.
“We are expected at Edensor for dinner in little more than an hour, and you are still sleeping,” Darcy admonished.
His cousin blushed, as he should.
“I was hoping to entice you to have a tumbler of port with me in my study.”
“We need to dress for dinner,” Richard reminded him.
“Formality be hanged!” he growled impatiently.
“I have never thought you would eschew propriety and have me scandalising your servants in my night-shirt.”
“You have never seen me this happy,” Darcy admitted in brutal earnestness.
Richard chuckled but could not be persuaded.
“Go to your suite and make yourself presentable to your betrothed. You should begin by washing that smug look off your face.”
“Dearest, I do not begrudge you a moment with your cousin,” the dulcet voice of Lady Jane drifted from within the room.
Darcy had completely forgotten about her presence. He had appointed them with a suite of rooms, and the idea that she might have joined his cousin in his room had quite escaped him. The thought planted conjectures in his mind for when he was a married man himself, and he turned abruptly towards the master’s suite.
“That will not be necessary. Darcy is leaving to dress for dinner, as should we.”
The door closed behind him as he walked, deliriously happy, to his own chamber.
#
At dinner that evening.
The small party containing only family forwent formality and assembled more intimately in Edensor’s smallest dining room.
“We should all move to Pemberley,” Darcy suggested.
“Elizabeth cannot stay at Pemberley now that you are engaged,” Richard contradicted.
“I assure you that she would be perfectly safe under my roof,” Darcy declared.
“Her safety is not the issue,” Richard argued.
He resented the implication. “I am a gentleman,” he replied coolly.
“You forget that I have recently entered the married state myself and know something of the madness that befalls a man violently in love. Besides, who is to say that it is not Elizabeth about whose behaviour I am the most concerned?”
He whipped his head round to Elizabeth, whose cheeks were turning the most delightful shade of red. He could not let the disparagement stand even if she were most tempting, and, as their kisses had shown, of a passionate nature.
“I give you my word,” he declared firmly.
“On this I shall not be moved,” Richard countered.
The cousins glared at each other, neither inclined to yield.
“I do not mind remaining at Edensor,” Elizabeth soothed.
She was so sweet and always obliging.
“I dare say Eudora is only happy to host you for the few days before we return to town,” Richard suggested, then turned to Darcy. “Elizabeth is not yet one-and-twenty, so you need Lord Glentworth’s consent, though I suspect that will be easily granted. But…” He paused and glanced at his wife. “Glentworth might be less inclined to give his blessing if your honour is not intact…”
Darcy heard Elizabeth’s short intake of breath beside him. She looked astonished before she erupted into a wry smile directed at her sister. He followed her gaze, and Lady Jane smiled as serenely as ever and would have fooled him had he not discovered a red spot forming on her neck.
Darcy glanced at Richard, who looked less comfortable by the moment. This was a turn he would never have surmised, but he decided against prolonging the awkwardness by enquiring, even though it irked him no end that Richard was thwarting his wish to move Elizabeth to Pemberley.
“Out of the question, Darcy!” Eudora said firmly.
“I have been overruled and bow to the majority.”
Elizabeth patted his knee under the table, and Richard’s insistence she could not reside in his house suddenly became more understandable. The simple touch enflamed him.
Before the Pemberley party left Edensor for the night, Darcy requested a moment of Elizabeth’s time in private, whilst holding a small box tied with a tattered blue ribbon.
Mrs Bennet and Eudora exchanged significant looks and allowed the betrothed couple a moment in Edensor’s library. He grabbed Elizabeth’s hand and grinned at the clandestine glances she sent at the box in his hand. He hoped she would not be disappointed…
“Open it!” Darcy handed it to her once the door had closed.
Elizabeth pulled off the ribbon and peered into the box. The contents made her laugh, and he sighed in relief. She was not offended.
“In Hertfordshire, and later in London, I noticed your devoted interest in this. At first, I worried I had sullied myself because your eyes never lifted from that silver button, and I was left utterly bereft of the pleasure of gazing into your beautiful eyes. I thought you should have it, so that you can occasionally enjoy its allure and never again avoid my eyes. If you ever give it back to me, I shall know I have disappointed you and promise to immediately amend whatever concerns you have. I want you to have it in exchange for the blue ribbon you lost during our ride back from the picnic in St James’s Park, because I have grown rather attached to it. I would like to continue carrying it for the times we may spend apart.”
Elizabeth laced her arms around his neck. “I shall cherish it,” she promised and pulled him down for a blazing kiss. She pulled back only to mutter, “You may keep the ribbon,” before she resumed her ardent expression of gratitude, love, and passion…
#
Georgiana returned to Pemberley the next day and expressed her joy over the prospect of a sister. She chose to stay at Edensor to become better acquainted with Elizabeth.
Whilst his most precious ladies were chatting amicably, Darcy used the opportunity to pull his aunt aside. There would be no time to commission a new wedding ring for Elizabeth—at least he hoped not. He had therefore brought a small selection of what was obtainable at Pemberley and sought his aunt’s opinion on which would suit his blushing bride.
Eudora studied the rings. They were all old, ostentatious, and not the current fashion.
“Give me a moment,” his aunt requested and disappeared for several minutes. When she returned, she brought one of her own.
Eudora had once been engaged to be married, but her betrothed had died before the wedding. He had gifted her a dainty ring that was exactly to Elizabeth’s taste, but Darcy could not accept it.
“While I appreciate the gesture, I cannot deprive you of your token of Edward’s affection,” he declared.
“Balderdash,” Eudora cried loudly enough to draw the attention of the young ladies. “Though it comes with certain conditions. I demand to be recognised by your children as something akin to a grandparent, and I reserve the right to indulge them beyond measure when they visit, which I plan to be quite often.”
“All fifteen of them at once?” He smiled.
Eudora swatted his arm but then laughed aloud and muttered, “Conceited little devil,” so low he almost missed it. “A Darcy never begets more than two children, a boy and a girl, and that I can manage.”
#
Two days later, the Pemberley party left for London, where consent was given with everyone’s honour still intact. The wedding was held within a month. Darcy grinned throughout the entire ceremony, to the detriment of his aching cheeks, which were not used to quite so much exercise. Elizabeth was his, and even more important, she was happy, smiling radiantly on his arm throughout the breakfast that followed, contentedly as they moved to Darcy House, and ecstatically during the course of the night.