“So in the end he was Wickham in top form,” he spoke into her hair, “spouting lies for the pure enjoyment of it.” He released a harsh laugh, tipping her backward to once again rest against the pillowed sofa arm. He stroked over her cheek, gazing intently into her eyes. “I suppose we both expected it. At least I knew he would not be able to resist cornering you for a few barbs in hopes that our love was not as strong as it is.”
“Mr. Wickham, I am saddened to admit, likely has no concept of love. Despite my assertions to the contrary, he is probably congratulating himself on reminding me of how impossible our relationship. If it pleases him to do so it matters naught to me. We know the truth and neither of us would convince him otherwise even if we wished to try. But it is sad for Lydia to be bound to such an unfeeling man.”
“Is that what yet troubles you?”
“Partially, of course. I would wish more for my sister despite knowing how foolish she is.” She sighed. “But, no, there is more. Although now, here in the safety of your arms and after the marvelous expression of our love and this discourse, my vision seems all the more fanciful and ridiculous.”
“Elizabeth, I do not understand.”
“After we returned to Netherfield I was upset. We went for a walk, all of us, and I told Jane about Mr. Wickham. It helped to talk to her, unburden myself to a degree, but I was so dreading causing you any pain. I will confess, William, that for a few moments at least, I wished we were not always so honest with each other. But it was only a fleeting, cowardly thought as I longed to share the burden with you, knowing that you would ease my heart.”
“Just one of the jobs I gladly discharge, beloved.”
“I know and I love you for it.” She paused and inhaled deeply, her voice muted as she resumed. “It is like a dream that seems so real when you first awake with heart pounding and the sensations vivid. But then the more you try to bring the images into precise focus they become hazier still and slither away until all that is left is an impression that lacks clarity or power. This is like that. After I told Jane, as I was yet wrestling with my emotions, I looked across the meadow to a parked carriage. It was just sitting there, alone, not ominous in the least. Then, for a breath of time only, I imagined I saw a face.”
She was staring into the distance, brows wrinkled with concentration. Darcy examined her closely, but she did not appear to be anxious. Rather she looked confused and mildly irritated.
“I cannot think for the life of me why I would imagine him at that moment. There is no connection whatsoever, except that they are both men who have caused us pain in profound ways.”
“Who? Who did you imagine?”
She turned back to him, peering unblinkingly into his baffled eyes. “The Marquis of Orman.”
Darcy drew in a sharp breath, lips pressing together until nearly invisible, and the spasm that jerked through his jaw was marked. “Are you sure?” He choked out in a low growl.
“No! William that is the point! I am the exact opposite of sure. I could not describe what I think I saw if my life depended on it! That is what gave me a headache and has distracted me all night. Not Mr. Wickham, but the struggle to bring coherency to what is now only a vague impression of a person we shall never forget. I knew I had to tell you, but it does seem rather stupid since I cannot recall the tiniest detail that lends credence to speaking his name.”
“Yet his is the name that surfaced in your mind when you saw… whatever it is you saw. Why?”
“I do not know! Except that, if you examine it from a certain perspective, they are, as I said, men who have caused us pain. Perhaps on some unconscious level dealing with Mr. Wickham has unearthed frightening memories of Lord Orman.”
“Tell me what you saw, as much as you can recall.”
“A carriage, plain and nondescript, sitting on the road some distance away. No movement from the coachman. I did not think much of it initially. Then I detected movement from within. A hand, I think, holding a walking stick and tapping on the ceiling to alert the coachman. William, it truly was the barest glimpse. Perhaps not even that. Did I see a face? I want to say I did, but all I remember is pale flesh holding a cane, a flash of gold, and dark eyes. Orman’s name seared through my brain and I doubled over in pain. That part was real. The pain. But Alexander was there with dandelions, and Mrs. Hanford and Jane expressing concern, and as quickly as it was there it was gone. The carriage too. Lost in the dust and I saw nothing else.”
Darcy had risen from the sofa and was standing stiffly before the fire, his face etched with perturbation and fingers fidgeting. “You may judge it nothing of import, Elizabeth, but I do not. It has been years since your last nightmare of Orman. There is no logical reason for you to conjure his name or image unless something you saw in those fleeting seconds reminded you of him. Granted, that is not proof it
“What did you last hear of the Marquis’s activities?”
Darcy shook his head curtly, voice hollow in his abstraction. “Rumors mostly and I do not attend to gossip. I know he was ill and weak for a long time. Talk of the extensiveness of his injuries varied, many wildly incorrect, as I know since I was the one who inflicted them. No one has seen or heard from him since he left Derbyshire. He retreated to his estate on the southeastern border of Dartmoor and apparently never leaves. He has not been to London at all. I heard once… Wait!” He pivoted sharply, face gray and drawn. “Wickham lives in Devon! What part again?”
“Exeter, I believe, but that is north. It is too coincidental, William.” But the faintness of her tone belied the assertion. She suddenly recalled the vague comments by Lydia, as she and Jane had discussed just that afternoon.
“I do not believe there is anything coincidental about it. Rather, it is rational.” His voice rose, words rushing over each other. “News travels eventually over the breadth of England. Wickham hears of the incident with Orman, learns he resides miles away, and plots a course of revenge with the one man in the entire country who can not only fund it but has more hatred toward me than he does.”
Darcy was pale and rigid with rage. Wrath caused his heart to pound painfully and every muscle to ache from clenching. His voice was flat and icy cold. Lizzy jumped up, crossing to where he stood immobile, and grasped his face between her hands, forcing his darkened eyes to meet hers.
“William! Get control of yourself! You are leaping pell-mell into unfounded conclusions. No!” She interrupted his response before it was uttered. “You listen to me. All you say could, and I stress
“Elizabeth,” he mumbled from the depths of her neck, “I cannot ignore this.”
“I know. And you should not. But nothing has really changed. Tomorrow Kitty will be married and the day after we will leave for London. Once there you can exert all your considerable influence to discover what, if anything, is really going on with Mr. Wickham and Lord Orman.”
“We need to know for certain. You do understand this, dearest, do you not?” His eyes pleaded with hers, hands steely where they rested on her waist.
She nodded. “Of course…”
But he was already looking over her shoulder, eyes haunted as he drew inward, seemingly forgetting her presence. “I should have killed him when he was under my blade. Swift and conclusive. I was a fool to leave him alive, more dangerous than before.” He paused, inhaling expansively. His brow creases deepened, his timbre low and questioning as he asked, “What could they be planning? Orman has few friends and none who are idiotic enough to collaborate with him. Especially against me. A scheme to damage the estate? Pemberley? Wickham would love that!”
He paused again but quickly shook his head. “No, that is unfeasible. Wickham knows nothing of Pemberley finances or management and the Manor is too well protected. Orman does not have the wealth or influence to damage the estate. They cannot harm me in that way.”
Lizzy gasped, fingertips digging into his shoulders. “He would… he would not try to… injure you? William! I…”
Darcy was abruptly alert and focused, fully aware of her trembling and panicked eyes. He shook his head decisively, cupping her face within his cool but sturdy hands. “Do not fear for me, love. I can take care of myself and am extremely cautious and vigilant. Besides, that is not Wickham’s way or Orman’s for that matter.”
He wiped the tears off her cheeks with tender thumbs, studying her eyes in an attempt to convey confidence
