At the change in him her smile dampened and pressed her lips together tightly before she managed a gentle laugh.

❝ Well it seems not even my humor can distract you from your duties, I suppose I have no choice then ❞ The Lade de Bourgh may have been a hag of a woman in her opinion but he wished her respect so his wife complied, biting down the various irritations that the woman would no doubt raise in her before the visit was over.

❝ I’ll just have you make up for her transgressions against me once she’s set on her way home. ❞ Her smile quirked once more as she attempted to salvage the situation from her misdirected disrespect.

Upon their marriage, he had tried very hard to become a
man that his wife could be proud to call hers. That he still
struggled with his pride, with his inability to stray from the
cold countenance he so often exhibited, showed only that
he was a fool. Her hand was quickly took up and he stood
so to better lift it to his lips in apology. Actions, he found,
were better suited to his needs and he pleaded with his eyes.

“ Elizabeth, ” he murmured against the sharp press of her
knuckles at his mouth. Her implications were not so ignored,
however, as the pull of his wife was ever present for him.
And she would tease him so! She knew, by now, her hold
on him, how he absolutely desired her. He coloured. “ Is
that so, Mrs. Darcy? I do hope she will be supremely
vicious this evening, if that is the case. ” And he grinned.