34

Lydia and the colonel made quick work of their plans, for that afternoon he received a response to the express he had sent his cousin, the new viscountess. The Webster estate was but twenty miles from Cameron Court, and the newlywed couple relished the idea of packing up in haste for a spontaneous journey. Rather than waiting until the evening before the ball, they meant to arrive in time for supper that very evening.

A splendid meal had already been ordered, a combination of Elizabeth’s favourite dishes and a few lavish treats Lydia had grown fond of in London. Richard suggested they might enjoy a musical evening, for Georgiana was an excellent performer, and Lydia had grown almost as proficient as Elizabeth. “We might dance a jig or two.”

Lydia tapped her chin and considered the idea. Never before had she hesitated at the prospect of dancing, but at present it did not feel right. “I had thought of dancing, but not for tonight. Certainly we shall not wait until the ball, but I do not think this evening the right occasion.”

The colonel placed his hand on her brow and inquired if she was feeling feverish, but she swatted him away. “Your cousin is far too shy to perform to strangers on the first evening. Let her become better acquainted with Lizzy first – and Jane, too. And then, you know, some informal dancing might feel more comfortable. It has been quite awhile since Lizzy last danced, I believe. She, too, may wish to feel more at ease before we attempt it.”

The colonel’s eyes lit up. “Perhaps you and your sisters might enjoy the services of a dancing master in preparation for the ball. Even my cousin would enjoy it. And of course you will require the services of four very gallant gentlemen to assist you.”

“Well done,” Lydia cried. “That is a grand idea! I am sure I am in want of practice, too – we should all do well to improve ourselves. And perhaps Jane may wish to see what dances she is capable of without exerting herself in her condition, though Charles will need to be excessively attentive to his lady.”

“An example well to be followed,” he quipped with an exaggerated bow. “Ah, but that leaves us in want of some diversion tonight.”

“Games,” Lydia said, grinning at the sudden recollection of what revels Kitty had orchestrated for the birthday Elizabeth spent in Kent. “Are not parlour games an excellent way to become acquainted with new friends? Lizzy is excessively good at them, and most amusing – she can make anybody laugh, and Georgiana will be put entirely at ease with her, and then they shall be fast friends.”

“Excellent,” the colonel said, rubbing his hands together with glee. “We shall be perfectly grouped for a few rowdy games. It may do Will some good, too, for I do not think he is quite at ease with his new brother yet, and he shall have to learn to be comfortable with him if the rest of our schemes are to go off well. Pray, what are the rest of our schemes, since you are so very clever?”

Lydia rolled her eyes and smiled. “Can we not enjoy one triumph at a time? I have my parlour games, and you will have your dancing, which will undoubtedly garner you an excellent partner in addition to helping those who need it.”

“Oho,” he laughed. “You have a very high opinion of yourself.”

“And here you thought we had nothing in common,” she teased.

He leaned close enough to nudge her elbow with his own. “Because I also have a high opinion of myself, or because I also hold you in such esteem?”

“Both, I should hope,” she sputtered, giggling at the thrill of his intimate camaraderie.

He took her hand in his, bringing it nearly to his lips. “Quite so – but that will hardly prevent me from proving a fierce competitor in tonight’s games.”

She narrowed her eyes and grinned, pulling her hand away to tap him on the nose. “All’s fair in love and war.” And then she flounced out of the room; she felt a conversation with the pastry cook was perhaps in order.

***

Elizabeth and Lady Webster – Georgie, as she asked everyone to call her – were as pleased with one another as Lydia was with herself for having thought to invite her friend to come to Cameron Court a fortnight early. Indeed, everybody was in high spirits at dinner that evening. The informality of the meal and the celebratory atmosphere made it easy for Elizabeth to acquaint herself with Georgie, and it seemed all their companions were equally keen for the two new arrivals to become fast friends with the rest of the party.

Though Elizabeth did not speak with Captain Darcy as much as she would have liked over the course of the meal, she had ample opportunity to appreciate the gentle affection that he shared with his sister. She had never seen him so happy as when she herself began to converse with Georgie. As with the opening of any new acquaintance, they asked one another the usual questions about their families, their favourite pastimes, their opinions on books and other subjects of interest – and once they were perfectly at ease with one another, they began to turn their combined wits against their mutual friends.

Lydia, the colonel, and Captain Darcy all received a great deal of witticism from Elizabeth and Georgie, and all three were happy indeed to be teased at in their turn. The young Viscount glowed with admiration for his timid wife’s sudden vivacity, and even earned considerable esteem from the other gentlemen when he joined in the banter. Even Charles and Jane looked pleased to be sharing in the merriment together.

Lydia’s efforts to make Elizabeth’s birthday a joyful celebration became even more marked when the party adjourned to a large and seldom-used parlour to play games. The blossoming young woman was born to plan parties; she led them through Blind Man’s Bluff and Charades, taking every opportunity to encourage laughter and camaraderie between everybody. And the rest of them were perfectly willing to be charmed into affable, playful contentment – by the end of the two games, they were all using Christian names with one another, jesting as candidly as long-standing friends.

But Lydia was not finished, for when she declared that she was not at all ready for the delightful evening to come to an end, she secured the agreement of all. Other games were suggested, but she eyed Jane and Elizabeth with triumphant mischief as she said, “Our jollity here tonight has made me reminiscent of how things used to be at Longbourn, when we were girls. Lizzy, do you not think it feels like those Christmases several years ago, when we all played certain games together?”

Elizabeth chortled. “Oh no,” she cried, knowing what her sister was up to. Her protest was only half serious, and the manner in which she shook her head merely made their friends more curious.

Even Jane seemed to suspect and approve of what Lydia hinted at. “Lizzy was quite the master of revels for a few particularly memorable holiday celebrations.”

Elizabeth laughed again, nearly ready to give in to the inevitable and allow Lydia to persuade them all to make fools of themselves. “There are a great many other games we might play.”

Lydia wiggled her shoulders in eager and self-satisfied anticipation. “Yes, but none so fun as our Bennet family secret.”

“It was not so secret,” Captain Darcy interjected. “You included Olly, who then told boatloads of people.”

At this, Elizabeth’s eyes went wide. Her momentary mortification gave way to something more pleasant as she smiled at him. Perhaps the memory of her late husband ought to have hurt a little more, but at present she could only rejoice that Captain Darcy had known that exuberant, irreverent side of Olly.

“We played at sea, on a few occasions, though I understand it was a modified and less… destructive… version of the game,” Captain Darcy said with a grin.

Nearby, the colonel sputtered with laughter. “Destructive? What sort of game is this, exactly? Lydia Bennet, you must explain yourself at once.”

Lydia looked as if she would like nothing more, but she flicked her gaze to Elizabeth as she said, “It is called Regents and Lunatics, and Lizzy invented it one year when we were snowed in at Christmas.” Then she pursed her lips expectantly at her sister.

Elizabeth shook her head but indulged her companions’ curiosity. “It is a mad game, but diverting when trapped indoors with an inordinate amount of punch to consume. But it is rather too athletic to attempt at present, especially for Jane.”

“She can manage,” Lydia insisted. “Charles will help her move about.”

Jane looked pleased and gave her husband a shy smile. “I believe you would enjoy it, though we must do a bit of rearranging. We will likely make a mess of the room, but I shall help the servants tidy it all up tomorrow. And I shall not imbibe overmuch – only very small sips of wine. I will certainly not attempt to claim a victory.”

“Now you must explain, for I cannot but be fascinated by what sort of game you devised, Lizzy,” Charles cried.

Elizabeth understood now why Lydia had wished them all to sit in the larger parlour – and there were several pieces of unused furniture piled oddly about the edge of the room. Lydia had been planning this, and Elizabeth accepted the inevitable – it began to seem like jolly good fun.

“We must move all the furniture into the proper arrangement before beginning. A large table goes in the centre, and on the table we shall need several bottles of wine, a decanter of brandy, and four baskets of pastries. Then, four large ottomans or chairs are placed very near the table – these are called the Rookeries – like the four rooks in the corners of a chess board.”

Elizabeth smiled at this – it had been her father’s contribution to the game when they had made it up more than five years before. “From each Rookery, another five pieces of furniture are positioned in a loop – so that one might advance from one Rookery to the next in a circuitous pattern.” Elizabeth pointed a finger and made a sweeping gesture as if drawing a clover leaf.

“Are we to stand on the furniture?” Georgie gasped.

“You must, for the floor is the Thames,” Lydia informed her. “But first everyone must begin with a full cup of wine, and you can only refill your cup when you are at a Rookery.”

“But you must always have wine,” Jane supplied. “And you must drink it every time you move through the circuits.”

“So the game is to drink wine and leap about on the furniture?” Charles did not appear entirely opposed to the idea.

“But only as the Regents allow,” Elizabeth said. Her enthusiasm for the scheme was growing as she explained the rules, flooded with recollections of playing the chaotic game with her loved ones in her younger days. “Each player takes a turn at being Regent, and they can determine who moves through the circuit. They may demand Quote, Quiz, or Quirk, and everybody must call out an answer directly.”

“Quirk is worth one space advanced,” Lydia added. “The Regent will do an impression of somebody present and we must guess who it is, and only those correct may move through the circuit. Quiz is worth two spaces advanced, if answered correctly.”

“And the question must have an objective answer,” Jane reminded Lydia with a knowing look. “It cannot be a matter of opinion, or we shall endlessly debate.”

“Quote is worth three spaces advanced – the Regent will recite a line of verse, and everyone must complete the quote correctly to advance,” Elizabeth explained.

“And you must take a drink from your wine every time you advance a space,” Lydia chimed in with one of the most definitive rules of the rowdy game.

“And if nobody is correct, the Regent advances that many places instead,” Elizabeth continued.

The colonel guffawed. “And my mother thought raising so many boys was a ruckus! What mischief the Bennet sisters got up to at Longbourn!”

At his side, Captain Darcy beamed at Elizabeth with unmistakable admiration. “How very accomplished.”

“It is a lot of rules, but I like it,” Charles declared.

“Shall we attempt it?” Georgie looked hopeful.

Her husband gave her an indulgent look before turning to Elizabeth and Lydia with a modicum of scepticism. “It seems amusing, but why is it called Regents and Lunatics?”

“One of the four circuits is a Lunatic Circuit,” Lydia said proudly. “When you are in the Lunatic Circuit, you can throw things at the Regent if you get a wrong answer.”

“Though it is considered bad form to get an answer wrong on purpose just for the privilege of hurling pillows at a sibling’s head,” Elizabeth drawled, arching an eyebrow at her younger sister.

Jane looked momentarily alarmed and said, “I may have to be exempt from that rule – I hope you understand. And Marie Antoinette!”

The colonel smirked. “Marie Antoinette?”

“If you are standing at a Rookery when it becomes your turn as Regent, you may call out ‘Marie Antoinette’ and the last person to say, 'Let them eat cake’ is pelted with pastries.” Lydia, the designer of that particular rule, gave the colonel a wicked smile.

“Oh, and do not forget Queen Charlotte,” Jane said. “This rule was named for Lizzy’s sister by marriage, Charlotte Lucas. If you run out of wine in your cup before you reach a Rookery and refill your chalice, you are obliged to heckle everybody relentlessly until your cup once again runneth over.”

“But do not forget the King Edward Caveat,” Elizabeth said, thinking of the time her mother had scolded her uncle for ruining a favourite rug. “If you soil a carpet, you must abdicate – you can never be Regent again.”

“I am likely to be the least, er, regal of players,” Charles laughed. “But they are our carpets, Jane, and hopefully you will grant me a pardon! Ha! I like this game very much, which is lucky for you all, as we shall likely make a mad shambles of my home! I imagine I shall fall down a great deal. What if I must move onto the same furniture as another player?”

“If you tumble into the Thames, you simply move to a Rookery and refill your cup. But if there are too many people you must pass to advance in the circuit, you can just swim the Thames,” Lydia said. “You can walk across the floor to whatever place you like, but you have to mime swimming while you make the crossing.”

“And if you think you are going to fall, perhaps down your wine instead of spilling it,” Jane suggested. She gave her husband a bright smile, and then turned that radiance toward Elizabeth, who was heartened by her sister’s joy.

“All this nonsense continues until the wine is finished, and then the first person to reach a Rookery, then pour and drink a glass of brandy is declared the winner.” Elizabeth concluded with a sweeping outward gesture of her arms. “And there you have it, the whimsy of a bored but determined seventeen-year-old girl.”

The colonel appeared to consider the math and then looked quizzically at Lydia. “You played a drinking game with your family at age twelve?”

Lydia shrugged her shoulders. “Mamma did not make very strong punch.” Then she grinned. “But Papa did.”

Charles was eager to begin directly. “You may have to remind me of the rules again, but I am keen indeed. Who will help me move the furniture?”

Lord Webster volunteered at once, earning him a look of devotion from his bride. The colonel stood and asked, “What of the wine and brandy and pastries?”

“I have arranged it already – Peters will bring it all, and eight large wine goblets,” Lydia said, giving them all a knowing glance before directing the butler.

“I will help you, Charles,” Captain Darcy said. “I think it a mad plan, but it will please so many fine ladies.” He leaned toward Elizabeth as he rose, whispering, “Including the finest woman of my acquaintance.”

Elizabeth blushed but smiled with pleasure at the silkiness of his words as well as the feel of his breath on her ear. The game promised a great deal of impertinence and impropriety that bordered on indecency, but it would be immensely amusing. She was glad that Lydia had thought of it – perhaps it was just what they all needed.

Within a quarter hour, the room had been transformed. Chairs, sofas, cushions, ottomans, and a variety of sized sturdy tablets were arranged in the cloverleaf formation, with Elizabeth and Lydia supervising the gentlemens’ labour in placing the furniture properly. Charles insisted that his wife not lift a finger to assist them, in her condition, and made sure that none of the furniture was placed more than a foot apart, so that she might easily traverse it.

“I shall make a boat of a small cushion, and float the Thames to assist you in traversing the circuits,” he said gallantly to his wife.

Jane smiled and took his hand in hers. “How excellent, my dear – the first new rule added in three years!”

“The King Charles Heir Armada,” Elizabeth declared, clapping her hands regally.

“Heirmada,” the colonel japed.

Georgie threw a pillow at him for the pun. “Forgive me – I was practising for the Lunatic Circuit.”

Lydia was so delighted by this that she threw her arms around the surprised and delighted Viscountess and embraced her. “I am so happy you wish to play. I feared you would think it undignified.”

“I certainly do,” Georgiana teased. “Which is precisely why I wish to play! And I am a married woman, now, so my brother cannot forbid me.”

“It is fortunate she has had a protective and attentive brother, for she has a very indulgent husband, but seldom requires me to be so indecorous,” the Viscount quipped.

Captain Darcy clapped his new brother on the shoulder with a wry smile. “You forget, Jerome, I am the only one besides the Bennet sisters who has actually played this game before.” He turned to look warmly at Elizabeth. “Mrs. Lucas’s husband taught it to me when we were at sea. We could only hop between one bunk and the next in our quarters; Captain Lucas liked to play the game when we were in stormy waters, for the motion of the boat added a degree of difficulty. It helped distract us in dangerous conditions.”

Elizabeth returned his heated gaze with one of her own. He had told her many stories, years ago, of his time at sea, and often his tales included Olly. But he had never told her this one. She was glad of this pleasant surprise, as her heart swelled with a longing to embrace both of the men she so loved. Even as she wistfully thought that one of them was gone forever, she was filled with joy that the other was here, at last. Oh yes, they were in dangerous waters indeed.

Once the arrangements were complete, the revelry of Regents and Lunatic began; everybody poured themselves a glass of wine and selected a piece of furniture as their starting position. Georgie asked if she ought to remove her slippers, but Jane reassured her, “It is not as though you have been tromping through mud in them – but if any damage is done, I had already planned to reupholster much of the furniture in this room.”

“And you may need them, for if you find yourself in the Lunatic Circuit without any other projectiles in reach, a shoe will always do nicely,” Lydia said cheerfully.

Colonel Fitzwilliam looked as though he wished to propose to her that very moment. But he only asked, “Who shall begin?”

“On the count of three, everybody must hold up any number of fingers they choose,” Elizabeth said. Lydia counted to three, and they all held out their hands. “Jane, Lydia, and I have one, so we will each go first in order of age. Colonel Fitzwilliam and Charles, as you have two fingers up, you go next – oldest then youngest. Let me see, then it will be Lord Webster, then you, Captain Darcy, and lastly Georgie. And we shall repeat the sequence until there is a victor.”

Lydia looked to Jane. “Quirk, Quiz, or Quote?”

“So many Q’s,” Charles muttered.

“At the time the game was devised, Lizzy was an ardent and annoying admirer of alliteration,” Lydia quipped.

“How queer,” said the colonel.

“Quite quixotic,” Captain Darcy agreed, grinning at Elizabeth.

“Quiz,” Jane cried. “Let me think – what year was the Magna Carta signed?”

“1215,” was the answer given by everybody but Lydia, who said “1066,” before clapping a hand to her face.

“Too easy,” Elizabeth chided her.

“Yes, but now nearly all of you can advance two places,” Jane said.

“And take two sips of wine,” Lydia reminded them, sulking at her exclusion.

It was Elizabeth’s turn to be Regent next, and she tapped her chin thoughtfully as she considered. She knew Lydia wished them all to be quite foxed by the end of the game, but Elizabeth worried for Jane, who had taken the tiniest of sips from her glass of wine. She did not wish her sister to come to any harm in the game, and yet Charles was being so attentive. When she had played this game as a younger woman, she had preferred to ask questions that would stump her companions; this time she did as Jane had done, in making her demand an easy one to satisfy.

“Quote,” she said, thinking of something Olly had often said of her diminutive stature. “Though she be but little….”

“She is fierce!” This time everybody cried out the correct answer, drinking and shambling about the furniture as they advanced along the circuits.

Lydia was next, and she grinned from her position on one of the Rookeries. “Marie Antoinette!”

“Let them eat cake!” Everybody answered in a chorus, but Charles had been the slowest to speak, and was subsequently pelted with tarts. He caught one mid-air, took a bite, and gave Lydia a bow.

Lydia followed suit in delivering an easy question. “How many wives did Henry the eighth have?”

There was a cry of “Six,” from everybody but Charles, who blurted out “Eight,” and clapped a hand over his face in chagrin. His fingers smeared some jellied fruit across his face, inciting a great deal of hilarity in his guests.

Richard managed to stump them all by asking, “When was the Battle of Culloden?”

Only Captain Darcy and Lord Webster advanced and drank, though Georgie and Lydia had advanced to the Lunatic Circuit and seized the chance to throw their slippers at him.

Charles chose Quirk and leapt from an armchair to stand by the window, his hands clasped behind his back, his posture erect, and his countenance brooding and grim. “Captain Darcy,” Elizabeth, Georgie, and the colonel answered.

“Well done,” the latter boomed. “But it seems you have taken a dunking in the Thames, is that not so, Miss Bennet?”

“Finish your wine, Charles,” Lydia chided him.

He had just refilled his glass, as they had all been obliged to do once already, and so he took a couple minutes to finish the drink and put another before leaping back into the game. He selected a place in the Lunatic Circuit and declared himself quite ready to give a few incorrect answers.

The game proceeded with increasing wild glee as the decanters of wine began to deplete. Elizabeth had kept a steady pace a few spaces back from Captain Darcy throughout the game, until she knew the answer to a verse of poetry Georgie recited and Captain Darcy, positioned on a Rookery, did not answer. Now Elizabeth found herself at his side, one space away; they were almost near enough to touch.

It was Jane’s turn again. “Quirk,” she declared, before batting her eyelashes and fanning herself as she mimicked Lydia’s voice and said, “Flirting! Who is flirting? Are you talking about me? I do hope so!”

Lydia protested so vehemently that she fell off the little end table she was perched on; “King Edward,” Jane cried, though only a few drops of wine had been spilled. Lydia grumbled and refilled her cup.

Everybody guessed that it was the youngest Bennet sister Jane had mimicked, except for Captain Darcy. He extended his hand to Elizabeth, who stepped onto the same ottoman where he remained. She could see in his eyes that he had failed to answer deliberately, for the sake of standing shoulder to shoulder with her.

And now it was Elizabeth’s turn. As she had reached a Rookery, she bent down to pour herself a fourth glass of wine, and she was grateful that Captain Darcy steadied her, for she was half-dizzy with drink already. She straightened her shoulders and softly said, “Quirk,” before affecting a solemn face, her voice gravelly as she held Captain Darcy’s gaze and pronounced, “She is tolerable, but not handsome enough to me.”

Charles, Jane, and Lydia all called out the right answer; from the Lunatic Circuit, Colonel Fitzwilliam threw a pillow that hit Captain Darcy squarely in the chest. Captain Darcy knew the answer all too well, but he did not speak it, which would have obliged him to move a space away from Elizabeth. He only sipped at his wine and then smiled enigmatically as he stared at Elizabeth in a way that made her feel a vast deal beyond tolerable.

The moment was shattered when Lydia sang out, “Lizzy, you forgot to….”

“Oh! Marie Antoinette!” Elizabeth waited to see who would cry “Let them eat cake” last; once again Captain Darcy said nothing. Elizabeth held onto his hand as she leaned down and plucked a strawberry petit four off the centre table and then she leaned close to him as she smeared it across his cheek. She licked the debris from her fingers and grinned, swaying a little.

Captain Darcy dropped her hand to wrap his arm around her waist and draw her closer. Elizabeth gasped, and he seemed to recall that there were six other people in the room, all of them intoxicated and hysterical in their mirth. “I thought you might fall into the Thames,” he said. In a lower, deeper tone he added, “It would serve you right, wicked minx.”

“I shall be kind to you, sir,” she teased, wiping a little of the strawberry from his face. This time he caught her hand in his and placed her fingertip to his lips, tasting the sweet fruit in a gesture that sent a thrill down her spine. Fortunately, nobody observed them, for the Colonel had asked a question that had aroused some historical debate between Lord Webster and a deeply inebriated Charles.

It was only a few more rounds before the other players came to realise that there may be some strategy in deliberately answering incorrectly, and thus finding themselves sharing a space with somebody they wished to be near to. By the time they had emptied all but one decanter of wine, all four couples were arm in arm, each sharing a space together.

Elizabeth was incandescently happy. It was a balm to her heart to see Jane and Charles so merry together, and she was pleased by the obvious affection that existed between Lydia and Colonel Fitzwilliam. Even the Websters were enamoured with one another in their own shy way. And she and Captain Darcy….

Elizabeth realised that she was as much in love with him as she had ever been. There was still a place in her heart held firmly by Oliver Lucas, but she found that her grief could remain even in a moment of pure elation, and it was a sublime sensation. Olly would be delighted to see her now, standing with Captain Darcy on a sofa in the Lunatic Circuit, their arms linked between them as they each removed a shoe and hurled it at Viscount Webster.

“I am so pleased that you and Olly played this game together,” she said, staring up at Captain Darcy and marvelling at his perfect face. Oh, how she loved him. And yet, how she wished Olly was there, covered in cake and fuddled with wine, laughing and invoking Queen Charlotte just to abuse them all with his impertinent teasing.

“I miss him,” they both said at the same moment. Elizabeth held his gaze; his eyes were liquid and dark, and then they swept over her lips. “It is confusing,” he murmured.

She shook her head. “Love is not finite,” she said. And then she hiccuped.

“Fortunately, the wine is,” he said. “I believe we have both had enough, and if we give a few more wrong answers, we might remain here and throw things at our friends.”

“Very well, only we must also finish what is in our cups,” Elizabeth said.

“We are in our cups,” he laughed. His smile seared her insides and she swayed against him. He finished his drink in a single gulp and said, “Drink up, Lizzy, and help me taunt our companions in the most animated language.” He was utterly perfect.

When the colonel, perched on a Rookery, recited another easy Shakespeare quote, they gave uproariously incorrect answers. “Exit, pursued by bear,” Elizabeth shouted.

“Oh my stars and garters,” Captain Darcy cried.

“That is Christopher Marlowe, you plebeian,” the colonel scoffed with a roll of his eyes. “And by the bye, Marie Antoinette!”

“Let them eat cake!” was the resounding cheer, and though Jane was the tardiest in speaking, the colonel gave her a gallant bow before selecting another target. He gathered up all the remaining pastries and launched an assault on Captain Darcy, and as a result, Elizabeth, as well.

The pair of them jumped and danced on the sofa to avoid the tasty projectiles, and Elizabeth lost her balance as a lemon tart hit her face. She fell into Captain Darcy and his knees buckled, sending them both tumbling backward onto a sofa. She landed on her back, atop Captain Darcy, and he instinctively wrapped his arms around her waist. For a moment she folded herself into him, relishing the feeling, before she recollected herself and scrambled into a more decorous position. Captain Darcy stood up on the sofa and helped her to her feet, and this time they did not look at one another. Her face was burning.

The wine was gone, and all the other players remained on Rookeries. Charles and the Websters had long since abdicated, and so it was Jane who had the honour of being the final Regent. She called for Quiz and then beamed at her husband as she asked, “When did I first arrive at Cameron Court?”

There was a moment of puzzlement before Bingley cried, “July twenty-first of 1804!” He reached for the bottle of brandy, poured himself a glass and then downed it hastily. “I am the Regent Lunatic!” He leapt from the chair he had been standing on in his stocking feet, and then lifted Jane in his arms, wobbling a bit as he spun her about. When he set her down, he wrapped his arms around her and said, “I have never had so much fun in all my life!”

Everybody applauded, and Charles gave a bow. “It is tradition that we all shake hands afterward,” Lydia said.

“And perhaps we might all say goodnight,” Jane added.

Everybody seems to be in agreement that it was time to retire after they all shook hands with one another in high humour. Elizabeth was well and truly foxed, but just as intoxicated by the warm friendship amongst them all. She shared her brother-in-law’s enthusiasm, for never had she enjoyed Regents and Lunatics so much. Never had she enjoyed any evening so much, she thought with a dreamy smile as she watched Captain Darcy bid everybody good night and then turned to beckon her with his eyes.

He led her from the room, keeping a slow enough pace that his sister and her husband reached the top of the stairs and disappeared down the corridor to the guest wing well before Elizabeth and Captain Darcy turned the other direction, for their rooms were at the back of the family wing. Charles and Jane tarried behind alongside the colonel, who carried an exhausted and half-delirious Lydia in his arms.

Emboldened by the darkness that allowed them to disappear from view, Captain Darcy and Elizabeth walked hand in hand. “Did you enjoy your birthday revels?”

“It was the best birthday I ever had,” Elizabeth slurred, leaning into him.

“You ought to have had such a birthday two years ago,” he replied, his voice thick with emotion.

“Would you have told me you love me?”

“Yes.”

Elizabeth squeezed his hand in hers. “I would have, too.”

“I would have liked to hear it spoken in return.”

With a shaky sigh, Elizabeth realised she had not said it back that morning. It felt like a year had passed between that morning and the present moment, in the dark corridor a dozen paces from her bedchamber. “I have been shouting it at you with my eyes all night. I am sure it has been in every look we have exchanged.”

They walked on in silence until they reached her room, and then he spoke with a heavy sadness in his voice. “This morning, when I declared myself to you, I believe you spoke only of your love for Olly. I understand, of course – it has only been five months – but I… God, Lizzy, you must give me some hope.”

She laid her hand on the doorknob, and for a moment she imagined inviting him into her bedchamber. She had not been a married woman, possessed of the knowledge of what went on between a man and a woman, two years ago. But now… the thoughts that raced through her mind sent a rush of heat through her body.

She was not so lost to drink that she would act upon her wanton impulse, but she would certainly give him hope. She turned and leaned her back against the door, slowly running her hands up his chest, beckoning him to move closer to her. “I have loved you since the night we met, but never have I loved you more than I do right now, after such a day as we have shared.”

Captain Darcy exhaled, his body trembling with restraint she both hated and appreciated. He leaned against her and rested his forehead against her own. “I will not ask for more than you are ready to give, my love. We have all the time in the world, all the time you need. But to know that you love me, that one day all shall be right in the world again….”

She pressed her body against his as she stood up on her toes and kissed his face where she had smushed the strawberry confection. For a moment she enjoyed the sweet taste on his skin before realising she had begun to run her tongue up his cheek. She gave a giddy laugh, and he stifled a groan that did little to deter her.

Captain Darcy wrapped his arms around her and grazed the skin of her neck with his lips before moving his mouth over a smear of lemon jelly on her earlobe, which he had begun to gently suckle. She bit her lips to avoid crying out, and then she saucily shoved him away. Her hands lingered on his chest once again, her fingers sliding inside his coat. “You shall have to woo me properly this time, sir,” she breathed.

“I wish nothing more than to woo you until the end of my days, Elizabeth.” He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it.

Elizabeth giggled again. “See that you do.” And then she turned and went into her room, leaning back against the door once it was safely between them. She was equally appalled and exhilarated by how close she had come to exercising some very poor judgement, and such thoughts occupied her amorous mind until late into the night.