... if Marianne had not been, for all intents and purposes, poor? Had she still lived at Norland, would he have even considered trying to take such liberties? We know that he behaved the same way with Eliza, who seemed to be unprotected, unfortunately unbeknownst to Col. Brandon. Did Willoughby always go for women who had no one to protect them?

These thoughts hadn't occured to me before reading this thread, but I wouldn't put anything past the dastardly Willoughby, though! If you haven't already seen it, take a look at Barbara's post "Worse than a cad," earlier in this GR, or linked, below. It's a perfect description!