B00CO8L910 EBOK by KaraLynne Mackrory

performed to strangers by displaying their feelings openly. This new understanding only caused him greater discomfort.
    “You need not thank me. As much as I respect your family, I thought only of Miss Elizabeth and yourself and how you might be of comfort to one another.”
    Mr. Darcy’s kind words struck both ladies powerfully — one lady decidedly more than the other. Jane, unable to hide her feelings any longer, thanked him again profusely and turned her head into the shoulder of her sister. A tearful Elizabeth looked at him over her sister’s shoulder as she tried to make sense of his tender, warm consolation. That he could do this for me . . . ? It was something she could not understand. She stared deeply into his eyes, and she was greatly moved by the tenderness she saw there. Who is this man?
    Their gaze held until the sounds of a carriage on the gravel caused Mr. Darcy to look out the window, expecting to see his own coach returning. He was momentarily relieved to see that it did not belong to him as he found himself suddenly wishing to stay longer. His relief was fleeting when, with alarm, he recognized the conveyance.
    * * *
    “Mr. Bingley?” Mrs. Bennet was all astonishment. Darcy’s head turned abruptly towards the woman, having only just noticed her in the room. It surprised him that he had not seen or, more amazingly, heard the woman before then. Looking at her now, he could see that she was noticeably restrained from her customary behavior, and the transformation was vast. Even her abrupt notice of Mr. Bingley was comported in a genteel fashion, conveying surprise more than impropriety. She was sitting next to a fashionably dressed, younger lady. He wondered briefly at the lady’s identity before he again remembered the situation and turned towards his friend with a face of obvious confusion.
    Mr. Bingley studiously ignored the eyes of his friend as he walked directly to Mrs. Bennet and offered his sincere condolences before explaining to the assembled group at large that, as soon as he had heard about their tragic loss, he set out to offer his services and sympathy in person.
    Mr. Darcy considered briefly whether he was imagining the scene before him as he watched Mrs. Bennet thank him politely and offer none of her usual matchmaking vocalizations that Mr. Bingley attend her eldest daughter. It was Bingley, himself, who ventured over to Miss Bennet to speak discretely to her.
    Darcy turned towards his friend and said with veiled significance, “Bingley, I did not know you were planning on coming to Hertfordshire.”
    Bingley barely acknowledged his friend’s words but responded with a terse, “Yes.” Evidently wishing to say no more to Darcy, he again turned towards Miss Bennet to reaffirm his sympathies, effectively cutting him from further enquiry and soundly warning the gentleman that he was less than pleased.
    A moment later, the fashionably dressed lady who had been seated by Mrs. Bennet, crossed the room on the arm of an equally well-appointed gentleman towards where Darcy sat next to Elizabeth.
    He listened as the gentleman addressed her. “Elizabeth, would you do me the honor of introducing your friend?”
    Elizabeth hid a small smile that Darcy did not comprehend as she turned and said, “Mr. Darcy, it is my pleasure to introduce to you my aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. Edward Gardiner from Town. Aunt, Uncle, may I present Mr. Darcy of Pemberley in Derbyshire.”
    Darcy stood to bow properly over Mrs. Gardiner’s hand and to shake Mr. Gardiner’s. He was able to conceal his surprise that these were relations of hers and realized once again another aspect of his ill-judged perception.
    “It is a pleasure, though I would wish it were under more happy circumstances, Mr. Darcy.”
    “Thank you, Mrs. Gardiner. I would wish that as well.”
    “Thank you for bringing Lizzy home to us. When we left town with Jane a few days ago we did not anticipate such a sad conclusion to Lydia’s injuries