“Which do you prefer?”
“I do not know.Lizzy was the name of my childhood, so it is only natural for those who knew me as a child to employ it.When I came out, everyone began calling me Eliza.”
“Do you dislike it?”
“No,” she said thoughtfully, “I do not dislike it, but neither do I love it.”
“And what of Elizabeth?”
“I like it very well.”She would not say that she particularly liked the way he said it, in his deep voice and the slight elongation of the second syllable.
“Then I shall call you Elizabeth.”
She raised a brow.“I do not believe I gave you permission to address me by my given name, Mr.Darcy.”
His brow raised to match hers.He wished to tease her in return, but he could think of nothing clever to say.“Is it too familiar?”
“Not at all, but a lady does like to be asked.”
Ah.“Miss Bennet, might I have permission to address you more informally?”
“You may, Mr.Darcy.”
He leaned a little closer to her, and she instinctively stepped back, forgetting that the ledge of the fountain was behind her.She bumped the edge with her knees and lost her balance, prepared to fall into the fountain or gracelessly beside it in a desperate attempt to avoid a dunking, when Mr.Darcy’s strong arms came about her waist and pulled her flush against him.
All her breath whooshed out of her in one long exhale as she fell into him, feeling him pressed to her from her chest to her ankles.Her wide eyes raised to meet his and she felt something she could not identify pass between them.
“Are you well?”he asked, his voice rough.
“Quite well.You?”
“Perfectly well.”
They stood beside the fountain, holding one another indecorously close, until Elizabeth laughed nervously and peeled herself from him.
“I should go back to the house.Charlotte will wonder what has become of me.”
He nodded and offered his arm, and they returned to the house in silence.
Wednesdays Are for Subterfuge
“Iknewyouwerestupid, but I did not think you entirely devoid of sense.”
“What are you on about now, Fitz?”
“You took her to the rose garden?At Rosings?Are you daft?”
Darcy looked toward the window with his lips pressed in a hard line.“Where did you hear that?”
“It is all over the house!I heard two servants speaking of it in the corridor.Apparently a gardener saw you embracing her.Really, Darcy!I thought you had more sense.”
“Lady Catherine was not at home, and she came to call on our cousin with Mrs.Collins.Anne had the energy for only one guest, so I offered to show Elizabeth the garden.Nothing untoward occurred.”
“So you did not embrace her by the fountain?”
“Well, I,” he stumbled over his words and finally said in a rush, “she stepped back against the edge of the fountain and nearly tumbled in.I merely saved her from a dunking.”
Colonel Fitzwilliam looked at him with suspicion.“Because young ladies accustomed to vigorous walks are often falling into fountains.”
