Georgiana and I managed to comb the shore rather often in Kent, although the early chill tended to herd us indoors much earlier than we had anticipated. The local businesses continue to improve with every visit, and we managed to find a few gems amongst the local merchants. Georgiana shall be more than happy to show your sister her favorite new pashmina at the next dinner.

Darcy paused in the middle of his letter, pondering the best way to broach the topic he had been commissioned to address. He frowned slightly. He and Richard corresponded often, with the latter often playing the role of a brother to him. As most young men, however, they seldom discussed matters of the heart - leaving the swooning and mooning mostly to Bingley instead.

Darcy steeled himself as he dipped his pen once more.

How fares the party at Hertfordshire? I regret that my various engagements have prevented me from participating in this visit. Has Bingley befriended the whole town yet? I hope the matrons in this Meryton you mention have not fully sunken their claws in his flesh as of yet. He is young, as are you and I, and deserves many more years of exploration before anchoring himself to any particular person, however charming she may fleetingly prove to be.

Darcy sighed, struggling with words for perhaps one of the very few times in his life.

I look forward to our impending reunion.

Your obedient servant,

Fitzwilliam Darcy

The letter was sealed and sent before Darcy could think of mending it once more. And not a week later, Richard surprised him with a reply - in person.

"You have returned." Darcy looked up from his book. His uncle had lingered in bed today, causing Darcy to entertain himself with the family library first before undertaking his next call.

Richard rolled his shoulders. "One can only stay as long as one's host prefers to entertain you."

"Bingley has returned as well?" Darcy frowned. The letter he had received from his friend yesterday had brimmed with praises of Meryton so thorough that Darcy had been half ready to believe that this supposed Netherfield Park would be rechristened Bingley Manor within the year. "I did not expect this news."

Richard smirked, almost sadly, before assuming a seat across from his cousin. "His sisters convinced him that it was not the time."

"The time?"

Richard shuffled awkwardly, as a guilty child would. "The time to be so resolute with his choices just yet."

"I see."

Richard nodded, as if to himself, before he began to toy with the book on the table beside him.

Darcy paused. He closed his book.

"You do not seem to agree," he said carefully.

The halfhearted smirk re-emerged. "Who am I to judge a man who has so generously welcomed me to his country home? Far be it from me to dissuade him when his sisters advised so very adamantly against staying a single day longer."

"What were their reasons?"

"A certain lady - a daughter of a country squire." There was a glint in Richard's eyes that Darcy had never witnessed before. "She was quite the local beauty, although it was her sister that I preferred."

"The lady has caught your heart, has she?"

Richard's responding grin was sheepish at best. "Miss Elizabeth was nothing short of wonderful - intelligent, insightful, and vivacious in the most refreshing way."

The faraway look on Richard's face left no doubt that the earl's concerns had been founded.

"If you had seen her, Darce, you would have approved yourself."

Darcy kept a neutral facade. "Is that so?"

"She is well-versed in the arts. I could hardly keep up with her observations. Yet there was not a hint of facetiousness about her - perhaps the very reason why she and Miss Bingley disliked each other almost from the start."

Darcy could not help joining in with Richard's subsequent chuckle.

"And her family?" Darcy prodded, a moment later. "Are their mountains of gold quite adequate to sustain the son of an earl?"

"Oh, if only it were so." Richard sighed with obvious wistfulness. "She has everything to commend in her person - yet so little to commend in her dowry."

"Ah."

"But I suppose I shall not see her again."

Darcy nodded. Perhaps distance would sever the simple infatuation well enough.

"Not until Easter, at the least," Richard added.

Darcy looked up sharply. "Easter?"

"Her friend married Aunt Catherine's parson Mr. Collins. Miss Elizabeth and Miss Mary Lucas are to visit just when we are."

"I - I see."

Richard's grin - chased away by reality before - returned in full force. "She is a delight, Darce. Surely, you would understand once you gain the favor of her acquaintance."

"I - look forward to the day."

"And how fares your latest quest, dear nephew?" The earl asked without so much as a glance as Darcy entered the study.

The younger man sighed beneath his breath before assuming his seat. He grimaced when he tasted the drink he poured himself. Whenever one's spirits were restless, nearly everything displeased.

"Richard has been level-headed enough to remain in London, at least," Darcy remarked, as he settled in further in his chair. "It helped, I suppose, to have some distance between him and this woman."

"Ah, but still he thinks of her."

"Perhaps." Darcy tried another sip before giving up altogether. "Time and distance has their means in rendering infatuations in a less flattering light."

"You believe it to be a fleeting obsession?"

Darcy thought carefully of Richard's recent moods - the way his face seemed to glow whenever he mentioned this Miss Elizaabeth.

"I certainly hope it is," he replied to his uncle. "Grown men, unlike ladies of society, have little desire to be told what their preferences are. I hope that I shall not need to render any force upon Richard for your sake."

"It is for his sake as much as ours. Surely, you must know that." The earl swung around to face his guest, his slippered feet landing on the floorboards with a soft, deciding thud. "Would you not worry just as much if Georgiana had her eyes set upon an unsavory suitor?"

Darcy winced at the recollection of just how many such unsavory suitors had tried to approach Georgiana in Ramsgate, with only his brotherly presence to scare them away.

Thank God she had returned with him to London. And, if her new companion proved trustworthy, she may at least retreat to Pemberley and its well-guarded walls.

"It is hardly the same, Uncle."

"How is it not?"

"A lady must be pursued - a man determines his own pursuit." Darcy toyed with his glass without tasting from it again. "It is harder to distract a man."

"Is that how tightly she has wound my son around her finger?"

Darcy cocked his head to the side. "I dare not assume. There is hope, however, that he shall not find her quite as favorable in Kent, what with Aunt Catherine there to help point out the flaw in every possible person."

"There is that, I suppose." The earl huffed, clearly unsatisfied.

Darcy pursed his lips grimly.

He wished to help his cousin, and he wished to please his uncle. Truly, no other family has cared for him quite as closely as his mother's family has. Unhappy to be toying with Richard, Darcy repeatedly considered the terms of this rare favor - but more pondering had only resulted in more unease.

"I promise, Uncle, that I shall do everything in my power to act in Richard's best interests," Darcy vowed, stealing a glance at the man who had played the part of his father all these years.

The earl nodded. "I certainly hope so."

"And I shall endeavor to do so while causing a little harm as I could to his person."

His uncle scoffed. "What harm could all this possibly do?"

What harm could it all do indeed?

Darcy used to have reservations regarding his endeavors. He used to feel a slight pang of guilt - or a subtle tug of conscience - whenever he fulfilled his duty and separated a young lover from her, or his, heart's desires.

He had learned to suppress such qualms over the years.

Only Richard seemed capable of unearthing them once more.

"I have other calls to make." Darcy rose abruptly, although his reasons were true. He did have several dealings to address before his and Richard's scheduled departure the following week. "I shall watch over Richard our entire time in Kent."

"I shall hold you to that promise."

A/N: Yes, poor Richard is smitten with Elizabeth. Sorry for those hoping otherwise. But now Darcy has a unique task before him!