“Excuse me, I’ve lost my appetite.”Elizabeth rose and dropped her napkin on the table, then immediately left the room.
Darcy watched her turn into a small corridor and heard a door open and close.She had gone outside.Very well.So would he.
It only took him a few minutes to find her.She was walking briskly through a little wilderness on the west side of the house, her movements jerky and agitated.“Miss Elizabeth,” he called, “forgive me for baiting you.It was badly done.”
She stood ten feet away from him with her arms wrapped around her middle, glaring at him.
“May I be direct?”
She studied him for a moment before slowly nodding.“You may.”
“I heard you in the garden, when you were speaking to your sister of dreams.”He hesitated.“Dreams of me.”
She closed her eyes.
“At first, I thought it was a ploy to trap me into marriage.Or to at least gain your sister’s assistance.”
“How would having a dream about someone trap them into marrying you?”she asked incredulously.
“I admit that conclusion was not my greatest feat of logic.”
Her lip twitched up on one side.
“I could not understand why you would say such things.It was especially upsetting because I had begun to have dreams as well.”
Her head snapped up.“What kind of dreams?”
“It began last August.I was…distressed, and I dreamt of a woman comforting me.She was kind.Warm.”
Elizabeth’s heart beat faster.“Do you remember what day in August?”
“I do.”
Her voice was barely audible.“Was it the eighth, by any chance?”
Darcy sucked in a breath.“Yes.”She could hardly hear him, but she saw the recognition in his eyes.
“I am sorry for your pain,” she said softly.
He closed his eyes, her voice sounding achingly familiar when she spoke like that.
“Are you…better now?”
“Better, though not fully recovered.Let us save that story for another time.”
She nodded.Somehow, they had come to an understanding of sorts.Mr.Darcy appeared to believe her.Or at least he did not think she was insane.“I suppose you wish to ask me some questions.”
His eyes lit up.“I do.A great many questions.But first among them is this.May I call on you?”
Her brows shot up.“You surprise me, Mr.Darcy.”
“And you intrigue me, Miss Elizabeth.”Somehow, he had closed the distance between them and now stood just in front of her.
“I do?”she asked, her voice tremulous.
“Yes, you do.I would like to know you better.”
“You would?”
