Since speaking with Lady Catherine, Darcy was given to wonder if indeed a future with Miss Elizabeth Bennet might be possible. Now that the matter with Bingley and her sister had been settled, what possible objections could Miss Elizabeth have to an advantageous alliance of her own? Darcy’s feelings for her had not waned one bit since he last saw her in Kent. This trip to Hertfordshire might give me the opportunity to start anew with her, he considered.
A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts. A servant entered the room and announced Darcy’s visitor. It was Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Eschewing the usual civilities, his relation spoke directly on her purpose in being there.
“You ought to know, Nephew,” she began, “I have recently returned from Hertfordshire.”
Unable to imagine what affairs his aunt had in Hertfordshire, Darcy said nothing, which encouraged her to continue speaking.
“Do you not wish to know the nature of my business in that part of the country?”
“You no doubt wish to tell me, and I am not opposed to listening,” he said. Their last visit had not ended well and had left a bit of ill-feeling toward his aunt on Darcy’s part. However, being the good nephew that he was, he was always willing to lend an ear to whatever she had to say as well as helpful counsel whenever she required it.
“I called on Miss Elizabeth Bennet to discuss the matter of your misguided intention to marry someone other than my Anne.”
Endeavoring to maintain every appearance of composure, Darcy said, “Why would you do such a thing?”
“I told you when I was last in this very room I would leave no stone unturned in my endeavor to discover the identity of the young woman to whom you intend to make an offer of marriage.”
“Why did you single out Miss Elizabeth of all people?” Darcy asked even as he searched his mind to determine what he might have said or done to set his aunt on her course.
“You said the young woman was a mutual acquaintance—someone whom you planned to be reunited with soon. Trust me; the last woman I would have suspected was that impertinent young lady. She is beneath you in every possible way. However, a conversation with your cousin Fitzwilliam compelled me to consider her.”
Darcy brushed his hands across his face. “I wish you had not done that. You had no right.”
“I assure you there was no harm in my going there. Even if you have forgotten what you are about, and even if you did single her out both in Hertfordshire and in Kent, I detected no symptom of affection on her part towards you.”
His aunt’s words caused his chest to tighten. Even though his cousin had informed him as much, hearing the words aloud wounded him deeply.
Lady Catherine said, “That is not to say she would not be mercenary if sufficiently tempted. So long as you remember what you are about when you next meet that young lady, you will be quite safe from her. What is more, I assured her that, should she ever entertain the idea of marrying either of my nephews, I would not look kindly on such a match.”
The time soon came for Darcy to join his friend Bingley in Hertfordshire. Despite Darcy having arrived at Netherfield Park two days earlier than he had originally planned, it seemed as though he and Elizabeth were always missing each other. When they would be in company, either of the two was surrounded by others whose purpose it seemed was to command the greatest share of their attention. That did not stop the gentleman from staring at her. The one exception was during the wedding ceremony when the minister asked if there was anyone who could show just cause as to why the couple standing before him should not be lawfully wed. Elizabeth could not help bestowing Darcy a challenging glare. He, on the other hand, seemed miles away.
While standing with everyone assembled outside the church, waiting for the newlywed Bingleys to get into their carriage and set off for the wedding breakfast, Elizabeth took advantage of the merriment to approach Mr. Darcy.
She curtsied slightly. “Sir, I suspect you will find what I am about to say to you rather impertinent, even untoward, but unless I am mistaken, you can have no doubt why I must insist on a private audience with you before you return to town.”
“Miss Bennet,” he said, bowing. “Would this have anything to do with my aunt’s visit?”
“Indeed it does, sir. As you willingly admit to having knowledge of the visit, you surely will agree that you and I ought to discuss it.”
“Yes,” he said, “in privacy.”
“I can think of no alternative. My neighbors and friends might be diverted by the spectacle of the two of us debating your aunt’s visit, but it would hardly satisfy my purposes.”
“And what purposes would that be, if I might inquire?”
“Why, to understand what your aunt was about.”
“Indeed. I am at your service, Miss Bennet. Pray tell me when and where you would like to meet to discuss my aunt’s visit, and I will happily accommodate you.”
It was then decided that the two of them would meet on the path leading to the gazebo at Netherfield Park shortly after the newlyweds took their leave of the wedding breakfast. Elizabeth was sure everyone else would be much too diverted by all the day’s excitement to notice her absence.
Having observed Miss Elizabeth most attentively whenever the two of them were in company, Darcy had seen no evidence to support his cousin’s assertion that she did not like him. In fact, he observed in her those same pleasing qualities that made him fall in love with her from the start. Even if the lady had not sought him out, he surely would have endeavored to speak with her before returning to town. His aunt’s visit had raised questions in his mind that needed to be settled once and for all.
Upon meeting at the appointed time and place, Elizabeth and Darcy fell into step beside each other as easily as they had always done when they were in Kent. Darcy felt it was incumbent on him to express a sense of regret for his aunt’s officiousness.
“You must allow me to apologize for the manner in which Lady Catherine confronted you, Miss Bennet. I know not whether it resulted in your anger or an expectation of something more.”
“Something more, Mr. Darcy? Do you mind elaborating?” Elizabeth asked, gradually putting some distance between the two of them.
“I am aware that she might have led you to believe I am intent on offering my hand in marriage to someone who is a mutual acquaintance of the two of us—my aunt and me that is to say.”
“Your aunt made it perfectly clear to me that she desired an alliance between you and your cousin Miss Anne de Bourgh. She insisted that she would allow no one to be the means of ruining her favorite wish.”
“I assure you, Miss Bennet, my aunt’s wishes can have no influence on my decision for my future life, if that helps to put your mind at ease.”
“My mind, sir? Let me assure you whatever decisions you make for your future life do not affect my ease of mind in the slightest bit.”
“I know how much you enjoy professing opinions that are not always your own. I suspect this is just another such instance.”
“I beg your pardon, sir?”
“My aunt went away with the belief that your feelings for me were inconsequential; however, she does not know you so well as I do.”
“Sir, I know you have a tendency to think rather too highly of yourself.”
“On the contrary. If you were utterly decided against me why did you not make your position clear when you spoke with my aunt?”
“As I informed Lady Catherine, I do not owe her any such assurances, nor do I owe such assurances to anyone who is so wholly unconnected to me.”
“Are you certain that is the true reason?”
“What are you suggesting, sir, that I had an ulterior motive?”
Staring at her pointedly, he arched his brow.
“And what might that be?” Elizabeth exclaimed with energy.
Darcy shrugged a little. “Your sister has made a most advantageous match in marrying my friend Bingley. Perhaps you secretly wish for such a promising alliance as well.”
“What sensible young lady does not aspire to an advantageous alliance, sir? However, if you suppose for a moment that I ever once entertained notions of such a prospect with you then you are quite mistaken.”
“There is no accounting for sensibility, for what woman whose prospects are, shall I say, as diminished as yours would not entertain notions of an alliance such as one with someone of my stature affords? You and I are not strangers. It is not as though there has never been any form of intimacy between us that might have aroused your curiosity. I do not mind confessing that I have given the matter a great deal of consideration.”
Elizabeth’s astonishment was beyond expression. Had he voiced sentiments akin to those of his aunt? Had this been the basis for Lady Catherine’s suspicions of an attachment between the two of them? She said nothing.
Sufficiently encouraged by Elizabeth’s silence, Darcy continued. “Indeed. I will further concede that, were it merely my heart that needed to be consulted, I would have suffered no hesitation at all in telling you it was not long after I met you that I began to feel the danger of my attraction to you. Seeing you again in Kent forced me to admit, albeit reluctantly and certainly against my better judgment, that I had fallen in love with you.
“You cannot know how many times I wanted to tell you of my feelings, despite the degradation I was certain would follow as a consequence of the inferiority of your birth and the lack of standing of your family in comparison with my own. Had I followed my heart instead of my head and offered my hand to you—”
Elizabeth felt as though she was listening to Lady Catherine! Having heard enough, she took a determined step towards the gentleman. Her ire she did not repress. “It is indeed a good thing you did think better of offering me your hand for you have spared me the trouble of refusing you!”
“From speaking to the colonel, I understand you were angry as a consequence of what you supposed was officiousness on my part, and your anger might have led you to act against your best interest, which is precisely why I decided not to offer my hand to you. You must have known the colonel would have told me how the knowledge of my involvement in separating your sister and my friend had affected you. Certainly you must know, or at least suspect, that I did everything in my power to right the wrong done to your sister upon my return to London by advising Bingley that she was in town.”
“Are you suggesting I ought to be grateful to you for remedying an injury against my sister that you inflicted, sir?”
“No—that is not what I am suggesting. However, I would expect that you would not act against your own best interest now that you are aware of my true feelings for you.”
“What I know is you have told me you fell in love with me against your better judgment—a sentiment that means little to me, if I am to be honest, for the fact is I do not even like you, sir. Indeed, it is a dislike not formed solely on the basis of your treatment of Jane, but rather your selfish disdain of the feelings of others, most particularly those of Mr. Wickham.”
Coloring with dismay, Darcy eased a step closer to Elizabeth. “Mr. Wickham,” he said. “This is not the first time you have made reference to my supposed ill-treatment of that gentleman,” he added in a less than tranquil tone. Taking another step closer to her and then another, he stood within inches of Elizabeth.
Not one to be intimidated, she drew closer too. Now they were standing as close as two people could be. Growing angrier by the second, yet striving to maintain every appearance of composure, she asked, “Do you deny you withheld the advantages that were designed for him, and in so doing you have condemned him to his present state of poverty?” Her neck arched, their faces were mere inches apart. “All this you have done for your own selfish purposes and yet you regard him with contempt.”
His eyes locked with hers; his tone troubled and deeply affected, Darcy said, “Is this truly your opinion of me?” Never had he been so bewitched by any woman, so irresistibly drawn to any woman. This woman owned his heart, despite her biting words, and they were standing so close. Her scent filled him. He wanted only to take her in his arms as he had longed to do so many times before. The heat radiating from their bodies rendering it beyond his power to resist the taunting temptation she posed, he reached out his hand and slowly traced his fingers along her cheek. She did not protest, nor did she retreat. Her eyes challenging and full of fire, her lips parted. He leaned closer and closer. Moistening her lips, Elizabeth followed suit. And then they kissed. Their heated debate seemingly forgotten, now evidencing itself in their locked lips, Darcy and Elizabeth fell easily into each other’s embrace.
A sound he wished to hear every day for the rest of his life escaped her—a soft, sweet moan.
Elizabeth’s reason warred with her body. Am I out of my senses to be kissing this man? She knew not what she was about, and she did not care. Her thoughts beckoned. This is the man whom I at once supposed was the last man in the world whom I could ever be prevailed on to marry. The man whose actions caused my dearest sister such pain. This man ruined Mr. Wickham!
She pulled away. Whether angry with Mr. Darcy or with herself she could not say, but she was angry, and she meant to show it. “How dare you, sir? And you would look down on Mr. Wickham—a true gentleman in whose company I have spent sufficient time to trust he would never behave in such a manner towards a young woman.”
The energy of their passion-filled kiss still lingering in the air, purposely wiping her hand against her mouth, Elizabeth turned and hurried away. Nothing mattered more at that moment than freeing herself of Mr. Darcy’s presence.