Page 75 of A Most Favourable Match

Wickham shrugged. “Some people might say so, but others might swear that she was there for an hour and that we were overheard exchanging lovers’ vows or even cries of passion,” he laughed. “You know how gossip is, Darcy, especially where a lady is concerned. By tomorrow, she’ll likely be carrying my child, according to some, twins perhaps.”

He guffawed heartily at his imagined wit. The complete absence of morality in a man who had been raised beside him made Darcy sick to his stomach.

“You really wish to marry a woman who despises you?” he asked the nonchalant Wickham. “You are really such a rogue as to ruin Caroline Bingley’s whole life for money?”

“Well, her brother could always pay me off instead, I suppose,” Wickham mused. “I’d consider that, if he were generous enough to make it worth my while. I’ve heard that Bingley is worth five thousand pounds a year, so he could afford something pretty substantial.”

“That would still leave Miss Bingley compromised and unmarriageable,” Darcy pointed out dryly. “It is no solution.”

“Well then, you could always play the white knight and marry her yourself,” Wickham proposedwith dark mischief, laughing uproariously as soon as he saw Darcy blanch at the very idea of leading Miss Bingley to the altar. “You’re a single man, so why not? Ha, you do not care for that idea, do you? I thought as much from seeing you together.”

“That would be quite impossible,” Darcy said stiffly. “It can never happen.”

Quite apart from his cool feelings for Miss Caroline Bingley, there were other reasons that precluded any consideration of such an idea. There was only one woman in the world Darcy was willing to lead to the altar, and he would not speak Elizabeth Bennet’s name before this man, regardless of his gibes.

“Your honour only goes so far and no further, doesn’t it, Darcy?” Wickham taunted him. “Look at it this way: if she takes me, at least Miss Bingley will be marrying a man who does not wince at the very idea of her.”

“This is your last chance to be a gentleman, Wickham,” Darcy warned him. Yet even as he spoke, he knew he had little leverage left. “If you have even a trace of the honour my father imagined in you, you must announce publicly that this has been a terrible misunderstanding and make it clear that nothing improper passed here between you and Miss Bingley.”

This speech only made Wickham laugh all the harder.

“Why in the world should I do that, Darcy? No, thank you. I’ll take the very handsome lady and her money rather than honour that comes with no reward.Tell your friend Bingley that I am ready to discuss the terms of the marriage contract whenever he likes.”

Restraining his urge to pummel the rogue to the ground, Darcy turned to leave. Wickham rose to accompany him to the door as though he were merely seeing out an expected guest.

“Cheerio, Darcy. I’m sure I’ll see you at the wedding,” he called insouciantly at Darcy’s departing back.

∞∞∞

Hiring a horse from the inn, Darcy rode back to Netherfield Park with a heavy, angry heart. If he married Caroline Bingley, Wickham would prey on her brother forever. Darcy knew too well how expensive Wickham’s tastes were and how dark his vices ran. The lives of both Bingley siblings would be made utterly miserable by such a connection.

Caroline Bingley did not deserve that, and Darcy would save her from it if he could find a way, any way but the one that Wickham had so jokingly suggested.

As a purely mental exercise, Darcy thought through the case for marrying Miss Bingley. His friendship with her brother and enmity with Wickham were both strong calls for even so radical a measure, as was Darcy’s sense of honour, so roundly mocked by Wickham.

Yet marrying Miss Bingley was also impossible, both for the sake of the love he bore Elizabeth and forhonour of another kind. With another woman held so deeply in his heart, marrying Miss Bingley would make him almost as bad as Lord Grantchester deceiving Jane Bennet, and only slightly better by virtue of Miss Bingley being less innocent.

The thought of John Tellington while riding up Netherfield Park’s drive seemed to conjure the man himself; only moments later, Darcy saw Lord Grantchester handing off his horse to a groom a little way ahead. When he saw Darcy, he waited for him at the bottom of the steps.

“Grantchester, I thought you were in London,” Darcy greeted his friend as he descended his mount.

“We came to pack up the house,” the other man replied, although his well-groomed appearance was slightly at odds with this explanation. “Then, I heard what happened in Meryton this morning and had to come over. It is a bad business, isn’t it?”

“Very bad,” Darcy concurred as they came up the steps. “I’ve spoken to Wickham, and there seems no way out of it. Bingley will be devastated.”

Lord Grantchester laid a hand on Darcy’s shoulder and stopped him on the top step before they could reach the front door.

“I might have a way out,” he said, his face serious. “That is, Miss Elizabeth Bennet made a suggestion, and I have talked it over with Matthew. We are now resolved to act, although I may need your assistance in persuading the Bingleys.”

“Explain,” Darcy demanded. Having knownWickham for many long years, it was difficult to believe there was anything he could have missed. “I would not want to give Bingley false hope.”

There on the doorstep, Lord Grantchester explained Elizabeth’s idea and the resulting plan in a low voice and then looked to Darcy with earnest eyes.

“What do you think?” he asked.

Gradually, Darcy felt the frown that had weighed down his features and his spirit melt away, to be replaced by a smile of both amusement and considerable relief. And all, all was due to his Elizabeth. Her lovely face and playful temper were nothing compared to her quick wits and resourcefulness. If Darcy had not already metaphorically laid his heart at her feet, he would have done so at the moment he heard of her plan to slice through the Gordian knot that bound them all.

“I think of Miss Elizabeth Bennet with great admiration,” he replied to Grantchester and then slapped his friend across the back. “I really think that might work and would be for the best all round… Yes, I shall support you, if Bingley and Miss Bingley need any persuasion. The case is so desperate that they might jump at the idea.”