Page 22 of The Earl’s Second Chance

Darcy closed his eyes.

“How long?”

“Several weeks.”

“And you did not tell me?”

“I believed—”

“You believed last year that she did not care for me. Did you speak to her?”

“No.”

“Did Caroline?”

Darcy’s silence answered.

Bingley stood so abruptly his chair overturned. “You persuaded me to abandon Netherfield. Caroline swore Jane had never called.”

“I thought I protected you.”

“From what? A woman with insufficient rank? That difficulty appears to have repaired itself to your satisfaction.”

Darcy flinched.

“Do not,” Bingley said. “Do not ask me to pity you.”

He presented himself at Grosvenor Square the following morning.

Jane received him with Elizabeth and Lady Susan present. He looked almost exactly as she remembered: fair, open, anxious, and eager to be forgiven.

“Lady Jane, I had no idea you were in London. I have only just learned of your father’s succession. I beg you to believe that had I known—”

Jane’s expression changed.

“Had you known I was the daughter of an earl?”

“No! That is— I meant had I known you were here.”

He took a breath and began again. “I left Netherfield because Darcy believed your regard slight. Caroline agreed. I thought I had mistaken your kindness for affection.”

“Did you think to ask me?”

“I feared pressing you.”

“You feared one uncomfortable conversation more than you desired certainty.”

Bingley’s face fell. “Yes.”

Jane looked at the man she had once imagined as the centre of her happiness. She felt tenderness for him, regret, and a distant version of love. She did not feel trust.

“I cared for you,” she said. “Very much. Your departure wounded me.”

Hope flashed in his face.

“But I know you no longer. Perhaps I never did. We delighted in one another, but delight is not knowledge.”

“Allow me to know you now.”