She looked up at him and he said, “You have the most beautiful eyes.”
“They are a simple brown.Yours are a remarkable shade of blue.Like the sky after a storm has cleared out all the clouds.”
“Yours are the perfect shade of brown.Brown like Scotch whisky, and they make me equally lightheaded.”
She smiled.“You say the most delightful things sometimes, Mr.Darcy.”
He smiled roguishly and pulled her deeper into the garden, looking for a bench he remembered seeing there.Finally, he found it beneath a willow in the back corner and pulled Elizabeth down to his lap.
She gasped as she landed on his thighs, then settled her weight more comfortably and leaned against him.He loved the way she sank into him so easily, so filled with trust.He could not believe she was his—after all the longing and the denial and the difficulty, she was happily sitting on his lap in the garden.
Her neck was in a perfect position to be kissed and he could not resist.She let out a little sigh of contentment and whispered his name.He could hold back no longer.
“Elizabeth, my love, my heart, marry me.Please marry me and be my wife.”He kissed her cheek and then her mouth, slowly, sweetly.“I love you so, my darling.”He kissed her lips.“Marry me.”He kissed her again.“Marry me.”His lips dragged back along her neck.“Marry me, my love.”He suckled gently at the place where her shoulder met her neck, causing her to gasp in pleasure.“Marry me and let me love you always.”
She sighed, her heart light and happy.“Fitzwilliam, yes, I will marry you.Yes, my love.”
He continued kissing her neck and worked his way back to her mouth where he kissed her deeply before pulling back and looking straight into her eyes.“You did say yes?”
She nodded.
“I did not imagine it?”
She shook her head with a dreamy grin.
“You will marry me?”he asked again, a tentative joy overtaking his features.
She smiled brightly now.“Yes.I will marry you!”
He crushed her to him so swiftly she nearly lost her breath.“My love.I will make you so happy, I promise.You will not regret it.”
She smiled and rested her forehead against his, a feeling of contentment settling over her.“I’m certain I will not, my dear.”
“Elizabeth, I have not the words to tell you how happy you have made me.”He sighed, a surge of emotion threatening to bowl him over.
She stroked his cheek, saying softly, “I love you so, Fitzwilliam.I cannot wait to marry you.”
He sat up straight, nearly unseating Elizabeth in the process.“What did you say?”
“I said I cannot wait to marry you.”
“Before that.”
“Oh.”She smiled shyly.“I said I love you so, Fitzwilliam.”
He smiled more broadly than she had ever seen him do.“My very heart.”
“Darcy, I have excellent news!You must congratulate me.”
Darcy looked up as Colonel Fitzwilliam burst into his study late Monday night.
“What is it, Fitz?”He sounded disinterested and uncaring, but he could not be bothered about that.He could only think of Elizabeth.The smell of her hair, the feel of her lips on his face, the touch of her fingers on his chest.
“Darcy!”
“What?”
“I called your name half a dozen times.”
