An Unexpected Ally

Part 3

A/N - Just wanted to apologise for the delay in updating - I had major problems even accessing Wattpad let alone posting. Hopefully it was a glitch that's fixed now. Here goes... *Crosses Fingers*

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"You are sure your parents expect you home today?"

Fitzwilliam Darcy had asked the question already but he still did not feel entirely satisfied by Mary Bennet's mute nod, as the carriage they both occupied trundled slowly towards Hertfordshire.

"And they know that I am accompanying you?"

"I thought you wrote," Mary remarked, looking up from the book that she had been bent over for the duration of the journey thus far. "To tell them as much."

"Quite so." Darcy nodded. "I did."

Still, his nerves would not settle. It was not making such a journey in near silence, for silence rarely if ever troubled him. It was not even sharing such close quarters with Mary Bennet, for since witnessing the growing friendship between her and Georgiana he had found himself thinking of her as almost a second sister. Georgiana's company with them, indeed, might have elevated the short journey from tolerable to enjoyable, but Darcy had been bound and determined to prevent that. He would not risk Georgiana's coming to Hertfordshire, to be once more in such close proximity to George Wickham. How he would endeavour to keep her from it once news of their cousin's approaching wedding reached her, he didn't know.

The wedding.

He leaned one elbow against the door, resting his chin in his palm and allowing his eyes to close. He had never conceived of such a thing. How could he, when he still found it strangeness itself that of all the regiments in England his cousin Richard should find himself in charge of the one based at Meryton? Stranger still, that he should meet and lose his heart to Jane Bennet in so short and swift a time frame.

I cannot blame him entirely for that, he conceded. Had Charles Bingley's heart not been lost just as swiftly and completely? Was not my own?

Not to Jane Bennet, of course, and he might have concealed the matter quite successfully from his friends, but to himself, Darcy was no stranger. He had lost his heart to Elizabeth Bennet the first moment he laid eyes on her, much as Charles had done with her sister. Regardless of any pointed dismissal he had offered Charles Bingley, and despite his most ardent of hopes, the development seemed to have ben permanent. His visit to Longbourn was, on the face of it, a gentleman's duty to escort a young woman of his acquaintance safely home. That he might subsequently discover the truth of the rumours about Jane Bennet's engagement - his cousin's engagement, if this was indeed the case, for Richard had certainly not sent word by his own pen - was an errand he undertook for his friend. But his motivation for travelling back to Hertfordshire, when he had once planned never to set foot there again, was the chance to see Elizabeth Bennet again.

Fool. What had his separation from her taught him if not that love did nought but cause trouble? Charles was a wreck of a man at the thought that Jane Bennet had formed an attachment to someone else. Richard was destined for heartbreak, for Darcy thought it highly likely that Jane would jilt him for Bingley given even the slightest indication he still cared. And he, Darcy, was somehow caught between his oldest friend and his cousin! There could be no easy resolution.

So I would do well to guard my own heart against any further entanglement with the Bennet family, he reminded himself, knowing full well that his heart was too foolish to listen. He had once prided himself on the degree of self-control he possessed but that was being tested every hour and found wanting. Perhaps it was not self-will Darcy was endowed with but merely a lack of suitable temptation.

"Mr Darcy?"

Mary's voice was slight, raised just enough that he might hear it over the clatter of carriage wheels, and he lifted his head, surprised to find her sharp eyes fixed on him.

"Is something the matter, Miss Mary?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing." She closed her book, hugging it close to her chest and allowing her chin to rest on its edge. "You seem troubled."

"No," Darcy said, shortly, tempering his gruffness only when he saw her features fall. "I am quite well." He paused. "Thank you." He turned away, watching the scenery surrounding them change as they took the now-familiar road to Longbourn. What mercy! He would be spared any further consideration by the bird-like Miss Mary who was a great deal more insightful than he had ever credited her with being.

"Here we are," he remarked, praying his delight at being spared a long journey was not too obvious. "You are home, Miss Mary."

She tore her eyes away from him, at last, to peer out of the window, nodding in a quiet acknowledgement as they slowed to a stop.

"You are not pleased?" He could not help but notice the shadow that settled on her pale features and was not easily shaken off.

"Of course I am." Her words were mechanical, lacking the lilting music that came to her voice in the hundred conversations he had witnessed her have with Georgiana in the past few days.

Curious, yet disinclined to press her, Darcy climbed out, determined to escort her to the door whilst the driver brought her cases. Mary seemed to shrink with every step they took towards Longbourn's looming frontage, but before Darcy could consider the matter in any greater detail, the door flew open.

"Miss Mary!"

Their housekeeper, at least, was delighted to see her, and Mary brightened considerably at this, setting Darcy a little more at ease. He poised to leave, hesitating a moment too long before going, as a movement inside the house caught his eyes and the one woman in all England he could never keep from his thoughts for long stepped out of a small room and into the corridor, directly into his line of sight.

"Miss Elizabeth!" He had called her name almost before he was aware of it, raising one arm in an awkward wave. "Good day."

"Mr Darcy." Her voice was clipped, but he thought he detected the slightest of smiles on her face as she turned to look at him. "Do you intend on coming in to take tea? Or would you prefer we bring it to you in the doorway?"