Page 159 of What Change Entails

Her face heated. “You have become impertinent.”

“I have been studying under a gifted instructress.”

“You must choose another. This one cannot answer for the consequences.”

His expression was bright. “I shall risk them.”

The flirtation was light, but the feeling beneath it was not. Elizabeth sat straighter, unable to prevent a smile from coming and not inclined to hide it very well.

They drove over the ridge and down toward a lane bordered by hawthorn and low stone walls. Darcy pointed out farms, a small school supported by the estate, and a cottage where an elderly widow lived with two granddaughters and an extraordinary number of cats.

“Do the cats pay rent?” Elizabeth asked.

“In mice, I believe.”

“A useful tenancy.” Mama had forbidden cats at Longbourn… at least in the main house.

“More reliable than some.”

The road curved near a stand of ash trees. Darcy slowed the mare again, though not to a stop. “There is something I wished to ask you.”

Elizabeth’s earlier ease faltered slightly. “Yes?”

“Last night, when Miss Bingley mentioned… after Wickham.”

The name entered the air between them, unwelcome even amid sunlight.

Elizabeth withdrew her hand gently, not because she wished to, but because she needed the occupation of smoothing her glove.

Darcy allowed it.

“I wondered how Lydia knew enough to respond as she did,” he said. “She defended Georgiana quickly. Too quickly for ignorance.”

Elizabeth pressed her lips together. “I did not tell her.”

“I did not think you had.”

“After receiving your letter, I confided in Jane. No one else. Not even my aunt.”

“I know you would have guarded Georgiana.”

His words held no accusation. “Then Georgiana must have told Lydia,” Elizabeth said.

“I believe so.”

“She trusts Lydia very much.” It was surprising, but then Lydia did have a way about her that drew others to her side.

“Yes.”

A breeze lifted the edge of Elizabeth’s bonnet ribbon and brushed it against her cheek. She tucked it back beneath her chin. “I confess, that still astonishes me at times.”

“Georgiana’s trusting her?”

“Lydia being trusted.”

Darcy’s mouth moved with restrained amusement. “She has earned it more than I expected.”

Elizabeth arched one brow. “Mr. Darcy, are you admitting fondness for my youngest sister?”