“I know you find it distasteful. Consider the ton a battlefield, and you will feel more at home.”
Darcy rubbed the back of his neck. “Please tell me you are joking. Is every dance to be a skirmish? Can we not simply retire to Pemberley and begin the war next year?”
“It is wiser to take the offensive. Do not give them an entire year to plan, to either recruit or attack you.” Fitzwilliam warmed his hands by the fire. “Nearly every man will wish to examine you to discover whether you are a threat to him. Nearly every woman, married or not, will wish to bed you to discover if you might be an asset. You have ten thousand a year, Darcy. That makes you as wealthy as many earls. Wealthier than some.”
“We each have five thousand a year,” Darcy replied stubbornly. “More if we can improve our yield and make good investments.”
“Yes, well, I have not agreed to that. We shall discuss it later.”
“It is already done, Richard.” There. He had said it. They had been boys together, one a spare, the other a son of a London barrister who did not want to spend his life in the Inns of Court. He would not allow his cousin to beg off now over the matter of a few pounds.
“What do you mean?” Fitzwilliam inquired warily.
“I mean, you are legally bound to our partnership. I could not divide the estate itself, but when you work Pemberley with me, you earn half the income.”
“How am I legally bound?” Fitzwilliam asked, genuinely confused.
“You signed many documents last week when we saw Conners in London.”
“As a witness to your signature!”
Darcy grinned. “As the son of a barrister, I will offer you some advice. You should always read the documents you are signing. We are now partners.”
His cousin stared at him in disbelief. “I will not take your money. You have no idea the power you will have with ten thousand pounds, Darcy.”
“I do not want it.”
“You may need it, and I will eventually become an imposition.”
Darcy groaned. “You and your infernal pride. No oneneedsten thousand pounds per annum.” Fitzwilliam pulled a face, and Darcy threw up his hands. “Help me double our income, then.”
Fitzwilliam glared at him. When Darcy did not flinch, he frowned and said, “You are determined, I see.”
“We visited my great-uncle’s estate more than once as boys, Fitzwilliam,” Darcy said, pressing his advantage as he felt his cousin weakening. “Even then my great-uncle included you in his invitations, for it was clear we would not be separated.”
Fitzwilliam chuckled. “You were a pest.”
“I believed you invincible. I was wrong.”
His cousin sighed. “I simply do not feel I have earned this, Darcy. It is your family’s legacy, and I am not a Darcy.”
“You may not be a Darcy, but are we not brothers?”
“Not in the legal sense,” Fitzwilliam replied teasingly.
“Do me this honour. You have seen Pemberley. You are aware how large it is. We could each live in our own wing, marry, raise a family of ten children, and never see one another except at meals. Whatever would I do, rambling about that great house all alone?”
“I can think of a dozen things . . .”
Darcy grunted. “Fitzwilliam.” He hesitated, but then said, “Your own father has said that Fane is neither cautious nor reliable. One day you might very well be the earl. If you work Pemberley with me now, you will be far better prepared should that ever come to pass.”
His cousin stared at him for a moment, then laughed. “You are a singular man, Will Darcy. I know of no one else who would share such a bounty with a brother of his blood, much less a cousin.”
“It is not through some greatness of heart that I make this offer, Fitzwilliam,” Darcy protested. “I need you. I would be lost trying to tackle this on my own.”
“I would have helped you regardless, Darcy. You need not pay me for it.” Fitzwilliam sat back and crossed his arms over his chest.
“Iknowthat.”