It was not until after dinner that Darcy managed to be alone with Elizabeth, and even for this he had to rely on his cousin spiriting Georgiana away for a time. The chance could not come too soon for him; Elizabeth’s spirits had been hard for him to ascertain, as she seemed both unusually subdued yet more tranquil than he had seen in some time, and he was worried about the effects of their conflict of the previous day. To his relief, the others had no sooner departed than she looked up at Darcy with a brief but enchanting smile. Without hesitation he moved to sit by her side, and when she modestly did not look over at him, he began to dust slow, light kisses across her cheek, her hair, and her neck.
“Mr. Darcy, have you no shame?” said Elizabeth, with a laugh which showed she was not displeased.
“None whatsoever,” he responded, neatly taking her embroidery from her hands and setting it aside. He took her hands and placed them around his neck. She looked at him with dancing eyes as he pulled her closer. “I find I am in great need of your kisses tonight, my best beloved.”
His lips touched hers lightly, and he nibbled temptingly on her lower lip. She did not hesitate in her response, making evident her pleasure by the way she melted into his arms. Their mouths danced together, giving and receiving pleasure in equal measure.
“Now I am the one who is shameless,” said Elizabeth lightly as they paused for breath, her cheeks flushed from the desire he had succeeded in arousing in her. At moments like this, she could hardly recall why she had ever resisted him, when the touch of his hands on her back and her waist was giving her such exquisite pleasure.
“Pray do not change on my behalf!” said Darcy, who was in danger of revising his decision regarding the value of seduction. The feeling of her warmly compliant body in his arms intoxicated him, and to distract himself from the direction his thoughts were taking, he turned his attention to her mouth again, deepening the kiss to express the urgency of his desire for her.
Elizabeth hesitated for a moment, knowing how quickly her desire could spiral upwards; then, feeling the full pleasure of his possession of her mouth, met him halfway until her entire body seemed to tremble with sensation.
Darcy, feeling his passion beginning to run beyond his control, regretfully released her lips, pulling her head against his shoulder until he felt master of himself once more. He was more certain than ever that his plan to force the issue of marriage was a good one; was she truly so innocent as to believe they could continue to be passionate like this indefinitely without her eventually ending up in his bed?
Elizabeth, who was experiencing a strong response to his proximity, was feeling a disturbingly powerful aching for his touch in the more forbidden parts of her body. I must not allow this to go so far! she thought with a little panic, realizing that her revised thinking about their future seemed to put her at more danger from him. Lest Darcy recognize the jeopardy to her self-control his kisses had wrought, she forced herself to say lightly, “What brings on this sudden great need for my kisses?”
“I will not dignify that question with the obvious answer,” he said teasingly. “Suffice to say that I fear you will be less willing to give them to me after I have said my piece tonight.”
With a look of amused resignation, Elizabeth pulled away and crossed her arms, waiting for the latest iteration in his arguments on marriage. She would hear him out, she decided, and then when he was finished, she would tell him of her decision.
Darcy was reluctant to spoil the playfully flirtatious mood between them, but could see no other choice. “I called at Longbourn this morning when I was out riding,” he said carefully. “We are invited for dinner there tomorrow—you, the Bingleys, and I.”
Elizabeth looked upwards. “Somehow I doubt the invitation actually included me; my mother would be happiest if I never crossed her doorstep again.”
“In fact, I believe you have been restored to your mother’s good graces,” he said tentatively.
Now she did laugh. “And when did this miracle occur?”
Darcy took a deep breath, then with a slightly horrified fascination noticed that his hand was engaged in playing with one of her hairpins, and had in fact worked it most of the way out of her hair. Surely he had not always had these self-destructive urges? “I believe it followed immediately upon your father informing her that I was asking for your hand—at least, that is when the invitation was extended.”
Her smile faded, and he watched the play of emotions across her face, disbelief and anger predominant. She seemed to struggle for self-mastery for a moment, and then finally asked tensely, “Why?”
He did not pretend to misunderstand her. “I have decided to make my intentions towards you public; and it seemed only politic to speak to your father about it first,” he said. Seeing the lines of her face tighten, he added cajolingly, “We have been stalemated, and we cannot continue as we are, so I decided to remove your reason for refusing me. Now any damage that may happen is already done, or will be soon enough, and by my own hand, not yours—anyone who would think ill of me for marrying you will condemn me for courting you in the first place. Since I have been unable to convince you that you mean more to me than what others think of me, this is my proof. The only thing which remains to be seen is whether you will make me a laughingstock as well by refusing me publicly.” He looked at her hopefully.
Elizabeth was filled with anger, that he should go behind her back like this and involve her family, but she also felt some relief that the decision had been taken out of her hands. She had been expecting something like this sooner or later, though she had not imagined this stratagem—she had thought some effort to compromise her to be the most likely route in forcing her to marry him. She had been doing nothing to prevent that either, allowing him to kiss her freely in the public rooms of the house. It was ironic, though, that he should force the issue just when she was finally ready to concede; and now, since she disliked being coerced, she was vexed with him for it.
“May I ask a question?” Her voice was sharper than she had intended.
“Of course, always,” he said, worried by her tone.
“Why did you visit me so often last summer at Longbourn, when I was engaged to Mr. Covington?”
He blinked in surprise. If he had not known what her question would be, he certainly had not expected this, nor could he see its relevance to their current discussion. Still, clearly it was important to her. “I do not have an easy answer for that, since my motivations did not always seem sensible even to me then. At first, I believe, it was because I wanted to gauge whether or not you loved him, thinking it would be easier to forget you if I knew you loved another, but I think very quickly it transmuted itself to being because I simply could not stay away. The idea of you married to another man was more than I could bear, and the only relief I felt was when I was with you, and could pretend nothing had changed, and that you were still free.” He looked at her anxiously. “I know it does not make a great deal of sense; I was not in a very sensible place at the time.”
She looked down for a moment as she considered this. “And what did you want from me?” she asked seriously.
“Your companionship, your liveliness, your smiles.”
Turning to him, she looked deep into his eyes. “Were you hoping I would fall in love with you?”
She had startled him yet again, and with a question he did not particularly want to consider, much less answer. “I do not believe I ever thought of it in those terms,” he said slowly, “but I suppose I did, though I am ashamed to admit it. I am, as you have noted before, quite selfish at times.”
She reflected that she probably would not have believed him had he denied it. “I see,” she said quietly.
Still uncertain of what this turn of the conversation portended, he said, “I expect you are angry with me.”
“Angry? That you tried to subvert my affections, or that you spoke to my parents?” As soon as she said it, she knew it was a pointless discussion—she must try to put as good a face on it as possible for both their sakes. Even if she wished to refuse him, he had left her with no choice. “But it does not matter; I accept, in any case.”
“You will marry me?”
She sighed. This conversation had not gone at all as she had hoped. “Yes, I will marry you—you have won.”
To her surprise, he showed no triumph or even pleasure in her statement. He said steadily, “You are the only arbiter of whether I have won or lost, for without your love this victory is a hollow one. I can understand why you would be angry, and my punishment is in your hands—all you need do is withhold your affection.”
“Yet you took that risk,” she said, some of her earlier anger at his cavalier behaviour returning to her.
He took her hand in his, and was relieved to see she did not resist. He looked down at their joined hands and said, “Yes—I decided to have faith in you, and to believe that your affection for me could not be so easily diminished.”
She was beginning to recover from the shock now, and able to recognize that regardless of his reasoning for taking this action, the outcome had not been truly affected by it. Nothing had changed, in truth, except that he had been more cunning than she had anticipated. He was still the man she loved, despite his faults, and she did not want to quarrel with him. She smiled at him, not failing to note his look of profound relief at her reaction. “Your timing is fortunate, then, sir; for I have been coming to a similar conclusion myself today, and was prepared to accept you tonight in any case,” she said, “even without this pretty piece of blackmail you have concocted.”
His eyes lit with feeling. “Do you mean that? Or are you merely saying it to make me more comfortable, since I left you little choice?”
She answered him in the currency she knew he would accept, pulling his face down to hers and kissing him tenderly. He was not slow in accepting her overture, and expanding upon it. Elizabeth, feeling a new freedom with their changed status, lost herself in the fulfillment of being in his arms as he kissed her face, her neck, her shoulders before returning again to drink deeply of her lips, expressing a pleasure he could not have put into words. She could not have enough of his touch as his hands roamed through her hair, down her back, and around the curves of her waist. When he finally lifted his head, she was conscious only of a wish that he had not stopped.
He looked at her, his eyes dark with passion. “Can you forgive me, best beloved?”
“I suppose I must, though you are altogether too clever for your own good, my dear; I shall have to remember to be careful of you,” she teased.
Darcy, having reversed his previous course, was allowing his fingers to play in her hair, for the simple reason that if he did not find some way to occupy them, they would soon be engaged in discovering how to remove Elizabeth’s clothing. Quite intoxicated by having won her, he said unguardedly, “It was better than the other plans I had for convincing you that you must marry me.”
She laughed. “Oh? And what were your other ideas?”
To her surprise, his cheeks covered with the deepest blush, and instead of responding to her question, he began to kiss her once more. Before his effect on her could grow too great, she freed herself and said good-naturedly, “You are trying to distract me, sir! I am beginning to grow suspicious.”
Without quite meeting her eyes, he murmured something about being caught in a compromising position, and began to place light kisses along the delicate veins of her neck.
“Deceit does not become you,” she accused him impertinently.
He suddenly seemed quite absorbed in stroking her hair, which was by now in grave danger of coming down. After a moment, though, he met her eyes with rueful embarrassment, then nibbled on her ear. He whispered, “Very well, you minx, if you must know, my other plan was to seduce you.”
A wave of heat rushed through Elizabeth at his words, and she became conscious once more of how much she ached for him. The idea of him thinking about her in that way was both embarrassing and arousing at the same time. The fact that he had turned to kissing her slowly and enticingly as soon as he had said his piece did not help, nor did the sensation of his fingers against the back of her head as he disposed of her hairpins. She felt a lurch deep within her as she felt her hair falling loose upon her shoulders, and he wound his hand into the thick mass of it. His kisses became more probing as his finger traced lightly along the neckline of her dress, drifting across the top of her breasts in a manner which seemed to create a sensation of heat in her most secret places.
She felt a moan rising from her lips, and quickly transmuted it into speech. “Is this meant as a demonstration? Because if it is, I can assure you that I understand the meaning of the word ‘seduce’ perfectly well.” Her body craved the return of his hand to her breast with an alarming ferocity. Her fingers, seemingly of their own accord, slipped inside his frock coat to discover a delicious warmth.
He nipped her lip. “Perhaps I am simply enjoying knowing you have agreed to be mine,” he said softly before returning to stake his claim to her mouth. In truth, Darcy was in even worse condition than Elizabeth—merely having admitted he had thought about seducing her had taken him beyond the limits of his self-control, and by this point, he had no wish to stop. The feral, insatiable Darcy from his dreams was making the decisions now, and Elizabeth’s responsiveness did not help his state. He was far closer than he would ever care to admit to carrying her off to his bed. He longed to make the intimacy implied by her disheveled appearance a reality, and the sooner, the better. Intoxicated with her, he slipped his fingers under the edge of her dress to explore the nakedness of her shoulder. God, but he wanted her as he had never wanted any other woman!
He could hardly believe he had gone this far—if anyone came upon them now, there could be no denying what had happened. This thought, instead of bringing him to his senses, led him only to free himself long enough to extinguish the lamp beside them before returning to gather her back into his arms and finally, finally allow himself to gently cup the softness of her breast.
Elizabeth felt weak from the waves of desire emanating from the spot where his hand rested. His touch simultaneously relieved her and made her yearn for more. Disturbed by the depth of her own longings and fearing discovery, she spoke his name, but it came out sounding more like a plea for more than a request to desist.
“Yes, Elizabeth?” he said, drawing back just enough to see her eyes.
As she opened her mouth to speak, he drew his thumb lightly across her nipple, and all words failed her as a shock of pleasure ran through her. Darcy smiled slightly, pleased by what he saw in her face, and repeated his action. “You see,” he said conversationally, “that plan had its merits as well.” He began to move his thumb in small circles.
“William, someone could walk in!” she protested, more weakly.
His dark eyes probed hers. He no longer cared about his loss of self-control; nothing mattered, so long as he could keep touching her. “You think we should stop? If you wish; on one condition.” He paused, leaving Elizabeth with wild imaginings of what his condition might be. His voice was low when he continued. “Tell me you want me.” He moved to rolling her nipple between his fingers.
“Shall I tell you the sun rises in the east as well?” Her voice was shaky as tremors of feeling she had never imagined possessed her. “Very well—I want you, William,” she gasped as he intensified his pleasuring of her.
It was fortunate, she reflected, that he chose to keep his word and released her, all but the hand playing in her hair, since saying those words seemed to cause her own resistance to vanish. She closed her eyes, trying to regain her self-possession. After a few deep breaths, she said, her eyes still closed, “I will have to remember in future the danger you have mentioned in feeding tigers.”
Darcy was silent as he wrestled with his own demons. He had never intended it to go so far; he knew full well that he would have taken her if she had not asked him to stop. His toying with her responses at the end, provoking her and demanding a verbal submission to replace the physical one he craved, revealed an uncontrolled part of himself he had always harshly repressed. But, by God, it had been gratifying to hear her say she wanted him, and to see her helplessly entangled in the pleasure he was giving her. There was, he thought, less of the gentleman and more of the predatory tiger in him than he cared to admit, and he was deeply mortified by it.
His voice was reserved when he finally spoke. “I told you once before that I was not a barbarian; it appears I was incorrect. Thank you for stopping me.”
She heard the self-loathing in his voice, and it brought her back to herself quickly as she looked at him in concern. “We are to be married, my dear; and you did stop when I asked,” she said gently, a part of her still marvelling that the first part of her statement was true.
His hand tightened in her hair. “Yes, we certainly are to be married,” he said, his voice unreadable. “I appreciate your forgiving nature. But you are quite right; someone could walk in. Perhaps I should let you go to deal with some of the damage before that happens.” Slowly he loosened his fingers and released her.
“Very well,” she said, trying to convey with her voice that she did not blame him in any way. “I will see you soon, then.”
She received the briefest of smiles for her effort. As she stood, she leaned towards him and said, “And if I come back to a grim visage, I will take advantage of my new position as the future Mistress of Pemberley and set the tigers on you.”
He gave a startled laugh, then caught her hand and kissed it quickly before she left.
***
After all that had occurred, Elizabeth found herself unable to sleep that night, and so was propped up in her bed reading long after midnight when she heard a light rapping at the door of her room. Thinking it must be the maid, she called out to her to enter, and was thus quite surprised when Darcy slipped quietly in and closed the door behind him, clad in his shirtsleeves. Her heart gave a little lurch at the intimacy of his being in her bedroom, and what it might portend, and she clutched her book as if it were a talisman.
“This is indeed a surprise,” she said quietly, not wanting to be overheard by anyone passing by.
He came over to stand beside her bed. Looking down at her, he said, “I was taking advantage of the fine weather and walking the grounds, and as I returned, I saw the light in your window, and realized you must still be awake as well.”
Her pulses fluttering, she said, “And so I am.”
He smiled a little. “You need not worry, my love—I did not come to finish what we started this afternoon; I was merely lonely for your company.” He was making a distinct effort to look directly at her face, and not to let his eyes wander down to her nightdress.
She relaxed a little, though conscious there was a part of her that was oddly disappointed. It was uncomfortable having him tower over her, so she shifted to the side of the bed, taking care her bedclothes did not slip. With a warm look, he took her implied invitation and sat facing her, keeping a safe distance between them. She said, “I am always happy to see you.”
“Are you?” he asked, then, without allowing her the opportunity to answer, he added, “It has been an important day for us, and there are so many things I did not have the chance earlier to tell you—such as how very happy you have made me by agreeing to be my wife. It has been a long time since I have been able to imagine my life without you by my side, and it is a great relief to know that you will actually be there.”
“It has indeed been a day of great changes, and one change to which I will need to accustom myself is to allow myself to be free to say those things I have worked so hard not to say until now,” said Elizabeth softly. “But I am very happy that we are to be married; I have tried to deny my regard for you for so long, but I hope you know that there is no one I would rather be with than you.” A little embarrassed by her seriousness, she added teasingly, “There—are you feeling less lonely now?”
“Much less lonely,” he said, his eyes glittering in the darkness. “I am embarrassed to say I even went so far as to concoct an excuse as to why I needed to speak to you tonight, when the truth was that I was finding it hard to believe that you had actually accepted me, and wanted your reassurance you had not changed your mind.”
“I have not changed my mind,” she said with affectionate humour. “I will marry you, you may depend upon it—especially after having been so unwise as to let you into my bedroom at night!”
“I am not complaining,” he replied. Finding his self-control still intact despite the circumstances, he allowed himself to take her hand. “You can always tell me to leave.”
She raised an eyebrow. “What, and not hear the excuse you worked so hard to create?”
He laughed. “Very well; I am not averse to having a reason to stay. My excuse was that I realized we had not talked about how to announce our engagement, nor about wedding plans.”
“We did not talk much at all,” she said archly.
His smile was even more devastating than usual in the half shadows of her room. “Be careful, or I may think you are trying to tempt me.”
“You come to my room in the middle of the night in your shirtsleeves, and claim I am trying to tempt you?”
“Minx,” he said, rewarding her impudence with a slow kiss which made her question his stated intentions, as well as her ability to resist him. “Much better—I am very partial to the way you look when I have just kissed you.”
She gave him an eloquent look. “And how would you like to announce our engagement?” she asked pointedly.
He accepted her redirection graciously. “Whatever pleases you, my dearest—we could tell everyone here in the morning, if you like, and then your family when we go to Longbourn for dinner.”
“It would be wisest to mention it before we get in the door, given my mother’s likely reaction,” she said lightly. “Will your sister be surprised?”
“I have no idea,” he replied. “I cannot tell what she thinks anymore; I do not know if she has noticed my interest in you. I think she will be pleased, though.”
“I hope she will be. Well, we have concluded the announcement; what shall we do about the wedding?”
He smiled again, and placed a kiss in the palm of her hand. “I favour a short engagement.”
She laughed. “I had taken that as a given, my dear. Fortunately for you, I see no reason to wait; I have already left home, and I think a quiet wedding is most suitable under the circumstances in any case.”
“I will obtain a license, then we need not wait any longer than you require to make the preparations,” he said, looking at her seriously.
She looked at him with some amusement. “I can hardly argue with that,” she said.
“Would a week be long enough?” he asked. It cannot be soon enough for me! he thought, becoming increasingly aware of her state of undress.
“A week!” exclaimed Elizabeth. “That is a very short time. There are farewells I must say—perhaps not as many as there would have been a year ago, but still some—and I must prepare a little at least to leave home! Perhaps… a fortnight?” she offered tentatively, aware that even this represented a rather indecent haste.
Their eyes met for a long moment, then his began to drift downwards. Elizabeth coloured as she realized he was eyeing her nightdress. When he looked up again, only the slightest trace of guilt on his face, he said, “A fortnight. I suppose I can wait that long—if you insist.”
She cocked her head. “I thought you said you had not come here to take advantage of me,” she said mischievously.
“It is true,” he said with mock austerity, “although if you had suggested a six-months’ engagement, I might have rethought my position.” He had begun to relax his guard a little, now that he had demonstrated his ability to control himself in this most difficult of settings. The sudden increase in the tension between them thus took him by surprise, and he found himself all too aware of how little stood between them.
“You are very certain of yourself, sir,” she teased.
Now, he thought. Now is the time to leave. But her lovely eyes were shining in the light of the lamp, and she wore that impertinent look that always tempted him to kiss her until she forgot everything but him; and he did not leave. “Have I reason to be certain of myself?” he found himself asking.
“Would a gentleman ask such a question?” she responded instantly, her eyes daring him.
A provocative smile grew on his face. “Would a lady be wishing me to do this?” Holding her eyes with his, he reached over and ran his finger slowly under the neckline of her nightdress, then poised his hand on the tie of it. At that moment, he realized he had not come to her tonight to prove his self-control as he had thought, but to look for an excuse to let loose the tiger—and this understanding had come to him just a little too late.
Elizabeth’s heart was pounding under the influence of his daring actions and the desire in his eyes. She was not sure to what extent he might be teasing, since his hand had not moved again, and she was equally unsure of what she wanted him to do. Licking her dry lips to moisten them, she said lightly, “I am, of course, quite ignorant in these matters—I have no idea what a lady should wish for in such circumstances.”
His eyes flared, and his fingers moved. As the tie gave way, he slid his hand inside to discover the silken skin of her breast. Involuntarily, Elizabeth arched to meet him as his touch sent a rush of heat through her. “William,” she said, her voice just above a gasp.
“Just a taste, my love, of what awaits us,” he said unsteadily, his fingers finally caressing the flesh he had so often dreamed of.
She reached her hand up to stroke his neck, and tried to pull his head towards hers. He shook his head, not yet ready to satisfy her with his kisses. No, he wanted to leave her wanting more of him. “Not yet, my loveliest and most tempting Elizabeth; not yet.”
“Am I leading you into temptation?” she asked lightly, as if she were not becoming increasingly desirous of more of his touch. The shocking feeling of his hand lightly stroking her breast was exquisite, but she felt a deep need for him to move inward to touch her as he had earlier through her dress. If he did not, if he stopped at this, she did not know how she would bear it.
She need not have worried; as Darcy saw the sultry look of desire take over her face, he bent his head to kiss her neck with tantalizing lightness, gradually moving his lips downward until he reached the edge of her nightdress. Gently he pushed it aside to reveal her breast to his hungry eyes, the touch of his mouth filling her with a surge of excitement deep within. Beyond the point of speech, she bit her lip to prevent a moan from emerging as his lips traced a circle on her breast, then finally came to rest as he ran his tongue along her nipple. She could no longer help herself; a whimper of combined pleasure and desire escaped her.
He looked up for a moment, and said softly, “Am I pleasing you, best beloved?” At her speechless nod of acknowledgement, he turned himself hungrily back to her breast. Savouring the moment he had imagined so often, he slowly drew her nipple into his mouth and began to suckle it, first gently, so as not to frighten her, then stimulating her more potently as he felt the tension of response build in her body.
She could not have imagined the exquisite pulses of pleasure she began to feel as he teased her with his tongue and his lips. She could not control it; she was riding the waves of desire now and ached for more. The fulfillment he was giving her only made her need his touch more elsewhere, wanting him in ways she did not understand.
Darcy knew he had her where he wanted her—moaning with pleasure and beginning to writhe in response to the touch of his mouth. Despite everything, there was still a part of him that was planning to stop before it was too late—but not until he knew he had as thoroughly roused her passion as she did his. The sensation of giving her pleasure was exhilarating beyond belief, and he allowed himself to feel every bit of the gratification of it.
When he was certain he had her in the power of his touch, he released her nipple, and raised his head to look at her face. The sight of the heat of uncontrolled desire in it only raised his own arousal.
As soon as he had stopped, Elizabeth felt a near desperation for him to touch her again. She caught his face and kissed him, not the gentle kisses of their earlier days, but needy, demanding kisses, which he returned with redoubled zeal. It did not remove the ache in her body, but it helped a little. When he stopped again, breathless, he looked into her eyes, his face showing just how much he wanted her. “So,” he whispered, “did you like your taste?”
She could see his satisfaction in having gained a response from her, and her lips curved mischievously as, instead of answering him in words, she took a cue from the desires of her body, and pulled her nightdress aside to bare her other breast. She looked at him steadily, knowing he would understand her wordless request.
His eyes grew darker, and a smile of approval grew on his face. “Elizabeth—there is no woman in the world like you,” he said as he lowered his head to her breast.
It seemed even more intense this time when he began to suck on her, and she did not know whether it was because she was anticipating it this time, or because he held her other breast in his hand, toying with the nipple. She only knew that she wanted more, and did not know how to get enough to satisfy her.
He took his time pleasing her, and when he finally looked up again, he replaced his mouth with his other hand, and rolled both nipples steadily. “Well, my beloved, what shall it be?” he said, his voice unsteady. “Do I stay, or do I go?”
She knew intuitively what he was asking, but she could not think for the sensation he was arousing in her. “It is not fair to ask… me that when you are doing… such things… to me,” she said as coherently as she could.
Regretfully, he ceased his actions and sat back, never taking his eyes from her for a moment. She looked at him, her mind still clouded by the pleasure he had given her, uncertain of what she wanted. If he had not stopped to ask her, she knew she would have willingly given way to anything he wanted of her; but he had stopped. An echo of his voice from earlier came back to her: I did not come to finish what we started this afternoon, and he had said it as if he meant it. No, if there was uncertainty, they should wait. She closed her eyes for a moment, trying to silence the clamoring of her body for his touch. Finally, she said, “I do not think we are ready yet, William; as you said, it is only two weeks.”
She saw the regret in his eyes, but also that he was not seriously disappointed. In fact, although the feral part of him wanted more, part of him was satisfied. He knew he could have had her, and that was enough for now. He acknowledged her with a nod of his head, then said, “Just let me hold you then for a moment, my own.”
He retied her nightdress before taking her in his arms. He could feel the racing of her heart, and knew his was not far behind, but he also felt a deep tenderness when she rested her head upon his shoulder as if exhausted. Finally he released her and kissed her lightly on the lips. “Until tomorrow, then,” he said.
She smiled. “Until tomorrow.”
He rose to leave, but a bit of him would not be silenced, and he turned to her one last time with an enticing look. “By the way, I very much enjoyed our taste.”
“Incorrigible,” retorted Elizabeth affectionately.
He wished he were not leaving, but at the same time took pleasure in knowing he had left Elizabeth in the throes of desire. He was so intoxicated with the gratification of having taught her new ways to want him that he was less careful than he might have been as he left her room. He was only a few steps beyond her door when he heard from behind him Georgiana’s voice saying in surprise, “William! What are you doing here!”
He spun around, his mind completely blank as he faced his sister. Had she seen him come from Elizabeth’s room? He cursed himself for his carelessness, and the recklessness which had led him there in the first place. “Georgiana,” he said, “are you having difficulty sleeping still?” He realized how weak this sounded.
“I was hungry, and went down to the kitchens for something to eat,” she said hesitantly, glancing from him to Elizabeth’s door and back. “You are awake late as well.”
“Yes, I was about to retire,” he said lamely.
There was a moment’s silence while Georgiana examined the floor around her feet. Darcy could see her distress in the frozen look on her face, and cursed silently. Apparently she had indeed seen him.
He decided in favour of taking the initiative. “Well, since you are still awake, there is something I would like to tell you,” he said, striving to sound calm. “My sitting room would be comfortable; shall we go there?”
She nodded silently and followed him, still not looking at him. When they reached his rooms, she sat with her hands folded, looking down, for all the world like a child waiting to be chastised.
“I was planning to tell you this in the morning, but since the opportunity has arisen, I wanted you to be the first to know that Miss Bennet has consented to be my wife,” he said, feeling distinctly awkward.
“Your wife?” She seemed hesitant to credit the idea, then, in a small voice, she added, “Congratulations. I hope you will be very happy.”
“Thank you. I hope she will be a sister to you as well, and that you will grow to care for her as I do.”
“I am sure I will—she is very amiable,” said Georgiana woodenly.
There was a pause, and he said, “I imagine you are aware that she has no fortune or connections as the world sees these matters, but her value to me is beyond any of that. This is a marriage of affection, not of practicality. I do not imagine our family will approve.”
“William,” she said, her voice revealing her distress as she spoke his name, but then her face seemed to close down, and all emotion vanished. “Thank you for telling me. Good night.” She bolted from the room.