“Jane,youslything!”cried Kitty when Jane entered their shared room.
Jane flushed a deep red and Elizabeth asked, “He came to the point at last, did he not?”
Jane could not keep the smile from taking over her face.“He did.We will marry this month.”
Her sisters embraced her, squealing and congratulating her.“I knew he could not resist you in that gown!”
“Kitty!”Jane flushed crimson as her sisters laughed uproariously.
“We had best hurry and change.Dinner will be served soon,” said Elizabeth.
Once their hair was arranged, Elizabeth held up the gown she was to wear that night.It was a lovely pink color, one of Mrs.Hurst’s, and it would look well on her.But the one set aside for Kitty was a warm green and cut a little lower in the back.“Do you mind if I wear the green and you wear the pink, Kitty?”
“Not at all.You know I prefer pink, but I thought you did not like the green?”
“I think it will bring out my eyes.”
Kitty shrugged, preoccupied with her petticoat.“As you like, Lizzy.”
Elizabeth slipped into the gown and Jane did up her buttons.“Lizzy, do you mind—”
Elizabeth cut her off.“It is fine, Jane.”
“Very well.”Jane looked at her suspiciously but said nothing more.
Elizabeth usually took pains to cover her mark.She did not want to discuss it and she thought of it as a private part of her.But tonight, she wished to tease Mr.Darcy.The mark was far from showing completely, but the gown was cut low enough that two thirds of the house at the top of her mark was showing, as well as some treetops to the far left.
Mr.Darcy was curious, and she felt like tempting him.She refused to examine her motives beyond that.
Elizabeth walked into dinner with her head held high and a stomach full of nerves.She had felt confident in her room, but now that she was here, and blatantly flirting with a man far above her in consequence and unmarked besides, she felt her own foolishness.
She had allowed two large curls to hang down her back, just over her mark, so she was provided with a little cover, but it was still odd to feel her hair swishing against bare skin as it was doing.
They arrived in the drawing room just before the butler entered to say dinner was served.Elizabeth was prepared to walk in with her younger sister, but to her surprise, Mr.Darcy appeared at her elbow.
“Allow me, Miss Elizabeth.”
She automatically twined her arm through his, seeing Miss Bingley glare at her from Mr.Hurst’s arm just ahead of them.
“May I say you look lovely this evening?Borrowed gowns suit you.”
She smiled.“I did not know you had a gift for flattery, Mr.Darcy.”
“I speak only the truth, Miss Elizabeth.”
She smirked but said nothing, allowing him to lead her to the seat next to his in the dining room.She was surprised he dared to upset Miss Bingley, but then Mr.Darcy struck her as the kind of man who did not allow others to dictate his actions.Darcy pulled out her chair and she sat down, murmuring a quiet thanks as he pushed her chair in.
She heard his sharp intake of breath and supposed he had just seen her mark.Well, he had been curious.Now he knew.
Why was it so warm in the dining room?Darcy resisted the urge to tug at his cravat.Really, someone should tamp down the fire.
Elizabeth sat next to him, sipping her soup like she had not just turned his world on its head.Her mark—he knew it intimately.He would know it even if it were not the same one that graced his right arm, for it was Pemberley.As seen from his favorite clearing on a rise a little off the estate road.He knew the tree that had their initials carved into it.He had climbed it countless times as a boy with his cousins.There was currently no swing hanging from it, and no initials either, but he had always presumed those things would come once he had met the lady.
Now here she was, sitting beside him, and completely unaffected, while Darcy felt like the world had just spun off its axis.Conversation drifted past him, but he was lost to everything.All he could think about was that he had found her.His soulmate.She was sitting right beside him at this very moment.
And she was perfect.
Why had he ever doubted Fate?He had raged and argued and felt sorry for himself, and for what?For being granted the most perfect wife he could have ever imagined?For having a soulmate by his side who would intrigue him, entice him, and challenge him in the most delightful ways?
