Page 91 of What Change Entails

“I assure you I do not remember it calmly.”

That startled a faint laugh from her.

Darcy’s mouth curved despite himself.

Conversation became more difficult after that. Every silence carried too much perception.

Elizabeth sank back into the chair near the fire, drawing her feet beneath the skirts of her gown. “It is strange,” she murmured. “Had someone told me three months ago that I should one day sit comfortably with Mr. Darcy beside a fire at midnight, I should have laughed at them.”

“You would have mocked them mercilessly.”

“Certainly.”

“And now?”

Elizabeth faced him slowly.

The fire crackled between them.

He knew what she meant before she answered. Darcy’s attention fixed helplessly upon small things: the loosened curl near her throat, candlelight moving across her sleeve, the rain beyond the windows. His pulse had grown distinctly unreliable.

Elizabeth lowered her eyes first. “Now I think Derbyshire produces very peculiar circumstances.”

“That must be the explanation.”

“Yes. Geography is clearly responsible.”

Darcy lowered himself into the chair opposite hers. The distance between their chairs appeared much smaller than before.

Elizabeth tucked one curl behind her ear absently while studying the fire. “Your sister appears happier.”

The shift in subject surprised him slightly.

“Miss Lydia has altered the household considerably.”

“She alters every household considerably.”

A reluctant laugh escaped him.

Elizabeth brightened instantly at the sound.

“You laugh more here as well,” she observed.

Darcy leaned back slowly against the chair. “I did not realize my deficiencies had become so extensively catalogued.”

“Oh, they were discussed thoroughly in Hertfordshire.”

“I tremble to imagine it.”

Elizabeth grinned openly now. “Mrs. Phillips declared you incapable of human amusement.”

“She has been disappointed.”

“Profoundly.”

Conversation wandered so naturally that several minutes passed before either was aware of the hour. Darcy found himself telling her stories he rarely shared outside family circles: Georgiana hiding kittens in the east wing as a child, Bingley falling into the ornamental pond at Cambridge, Horace stealing an entire roast from the kitchens two Christmases prior.

Elizabeth gave way to unguarded amusement.