Darcy bit back the ungentlemanly oaths that were at the tip of his tongue and politely accepted the cup of tea she was handing him. They were in the drawing room with her family. He looked down at her and allowed a half smile. She was lovely in a sprigged lavender muslin gown with dark purple embroidery. He had forgotten how charming she looked in colors. He had not even considered she would not be in black, or even in half mourning dresses, when he saw her next. That was a few days earlier when he first came into the neighborhood. She stunned him then in all her loveliness in a green-hued summer dress. He had been so discomposed that at first he could do no more than bow politely over her hand as his sister made her delighted greetings.Elizabeth smiled in return as he took his cup and saucer from her hands. He was as handsome as ever. When he arrived in Hertfordshire and called on her with Georgiana, she had been temporarily overwhelmed with an enchanting memory from a field of bluebells.
