Darcy ignored his cousin. “I did not set out to lie to you—” He reached out to touch Elizabeth’s arm, but she yanked it out of reach, and he let his hand fall again. “It simply happened…”
“During a week of traveling together, you could never spare a minute to tell me the truth?” Her eyes filled with tears. Darcy had thought Elizabeth’s angry accusations at Hunsford Parsonage had destroyed all his hopes, but the naked pain on her face tore at his soul.
“I needed your trust so I could keep you safe,” Darcy said, realizing how paltry his words sounded even as he said them. “I only had your best interests at heart.”
She pressed her lips together until they turned white. “You have a strange idea of what my ‘best interests’ are.” Her fists clenched at her sides as if she could hold herself together by sheer force of will.
“Elizabeth—”
She averted her eyes from Darcy’s face and turned toward Richard. “Colonel, could you possibly assist me in returning to England?”
Me. Not us. It left a bitter taste in Darcy’s mouth.
Richard looked uncertainly from her to Darcy. “I believe so. When the tide turns, the smugglers’ boats will depart. The captain of the galley I crewed most likely could be convinced to take two additional passengers for a fee.”
“Good.” Elizabeth did not so much as glance in Darcy’s direction. “Might you know of a place I could rest until then?”
Darcy reached out to take her arm. “Elizabeth, may we at least talk—?” She jerked her arm from his reach.
Richard watched them warily before nodding to Elizabeth. “I rented a tent for the night. You are certainly welcome to use it now.”
Elizabeth took Richard’s arm, and he led her back to a tent at the end of a long row of similar tents, with Darcy trailing disconsolately behind them.
The small shelter contained a serviceable cot, a stool, and a table with a washbasin. “I apologize for the meager accommodations,” Richard said to Elizabeth, “but I hope it will allow you to sleep for a couple hours.”
“I thank you.” The bleak expression on her face made Darcy’s heart ache. He had protected her for a week from the many dangers in France, but he could do nothing to ameliorate the pain from a wound he himself had inflicted. If I could at least explain to her why…
“Elizabeth—” His voice was weak and pleading even to his own ears.
“No.” She did not glance in his direction as she lowered herself to the cot.
Richard pulled Darcy’s arm, gesturing toward the entrance. He was loath to leave her, but Elizabeth rolled without hesitation, turning her back to both men.
He allowed his cousin to pull him from the tent, blinking in the sudden brightness. “Let us go over to that tree.” Richard pointed to an oak with wide-spreading branches. “We will be able to watch over the tent and speak in peace.”
Feeling as though he were leaving his heart behind in the tent, Darcy followed his cousin. Once they were a sufficient distance away, Richard rounded on Darcy. “You brought that woman back from the dead! What could you possibly have done to make her so angry with you?”
Darcy suppressed the retort on the tip of his tongue. “I told her we were married,” he said with a sigh, dropping to a patch of soft grass beneath the tree.
Richard’s jaw fell open. “What—?”
“She was rescued by a doctor and his wife, but they did not know her identity. She was unconscious. They were suspicious of leaving me with her, so I said she was my wife. The word came from my mouth without any forethought. I suppose it might have been wishful thinking; I was so shocked to find her alive. Then when she awakened and could not remember anything about her life…the falsehood persisted.”
Richard sank into a cross-legged position on the ground. “And she did not realize the truth until now?”
Darcy removed his hat and ran one hand through his damp curls. “Her memory has been returning bit by bit. The last missing piece was this past year. Apparently seeing you triggered the remaining memories. Or perhaps it was when you called her Miss Bennet.”
“I am sorry.”
Darcy shrugged. “My falsehoods are not your responsibility.”
One of Richard’s eyebrows lifted. “You resurrect the woman you love from the dead and keep her safe in a hostile country only to alienate her a few days later. That takes some talent.”
Darcy snorted at his cousin’s sarcasm. “I will be fortunate if she ever deigns to speak another word to me.”
“You will be the man who rescued her from France. Surely you have earned some gratitude.”
“Gratitude! No doubt I will have that, but what I want is her love.” Darcy plucked a blade of grass and proceeded to shred it.