Mr Darcy said, “Obviously, I would be more than willing to marry Miss Elizabeth under any circumstance, but if rumours spread and she does not wish to marry me, I believe that she could pretend to break off the engagement without too much harm to her reputation.”
“People will not call her a jilt?” Georgiana asked softly.
“They probably would,” Elizabeth opined.
“Miss Elizabeth, I am as certain that you would not wish to feel forced into marriage as I am that the sun will come up tomorrow, but I promise you that, if there are rumours and unpleasantnesses, we will work together to alleviate the problems in the manner of your choosing. However, it may be that there will be no rumours, and it may even be that I will be able to convince you that you wish to marry me. Please, let us not worry overmuch about that. However….”
Elizabeth’s eyes bore into his, and he hated what he had to say next, “I am anxious that the duke will come to Pemberley in search of you. I should not wish to urge our separation be extended by even one minute…but the duke does not know where to find you other than Pemberley, so I feel that you should not return here, after your Lake District tour, if you do not wish to marry me.”
Tears welled up in Elizabeth’s beautiful eyes, which sparkled more than ever. Darcy wished to never upset her, but his words had made her cry. He hurried to remind her, “And, as I said before, it is my fondest wish that you choose to be my wife.”
Gardiner asked, “Darcy, I gather you consider some danger from the duke, not merely an uncomfortable visit?”
Darcy thought deeply on the question and finally said, “I believe I am being a bit over-careful, but I cannot take the chance that anything else will be under-careful. I assume you wish to stick to your plans for now, taking the next steps of your itinerary. While you are gone, I will have my valet organise trusted servants to listen for rumours spreading in Derbyshire, and I will hire a very discreet man I have used in the past for information gathering, to see if he can report activities and movements by the duke. My investigator in London can keep track of any gossip there or in newspapers.”
Gardiner nodded and said, “Very well. That is most generous of you to go through trouble and expense to keep track of gossip.”
“I could write a report to you for your north-most stop, so you will know what, if anything, has occurred before you turn back south.”
“Again, that sounds well. I will send you an express when we know which route southward we will take.”
Darcy turned his gaze back to Elizabeth. There were no tears in her eyes, now, and she looked determined. He wished he knew the answer to his inevitable question:Determined to do what?
Six
After dinner Elizabethasked her uncle for permission for her and Darcy to speak somewhat privately. They sat down on two chairs at the far end of the room, and he turned to her with both trepidation and hope.
“Mr Darcy, I am not certain if I ever apologised to you for embroiling you in my lie to the duke. I know you have said several times that you wish to marry me, but now that you have come to know me better—and to see that I am apparently apt to lie without compunction—I must ask you if your wishes truly do remain the same, that you wish me to be your wife.”
“Miss Elizabeth, believe me when I say that my wishes not only remain the same, but my feelings are a thousand times deeper. I…I do not merely wish for you to accept my proposal, Ilongfor you to do so. But only if you truly wish to. Do not allow my longing, nor the duke’s frightening attentions, nor the fear of whispers compel you to say ‘yes.’”
She nodded and stared into Darcy’s eyes much as she had earlier that day. Then she said, “This week I have seen you in a variety of different situations, Mr Darcy, and I can honestly say that I do wish to say ‘yes.’ However, when I explained thisto my aunt, she warned me that the vulnerability I felt when the duke approached me makes my feelings a bit suspect. She is positive I should travel with them to the Lake District before firmly deciding—and certainly before announcing. However, I am already positive, because I felt this way before we saw the duke.”
Darcy felt as if his smile encompassed his whole body. A part of him wanted to jump up and dance a jig, but of course that would take him farther from Elizabeth than if he remained in his chair, so he did the staid thing, saying, “Oh, my dearest, that makes me so happy. But I suppose I must continue on without taking liberties, as per your aunt’s guidance.”
Elizabeth nodded and said, “I suppose. But I wanted to say that, despite what that debauched duke said, I imagine that you do, in fact, have an idea of what to do with a woman.”
Darcy felt a blush rise up his cheeks; he shook his head repressively but also chuckled in appreciation. He said, “Miss Elizabeth, forgive me, but I have so many feelings about that little speech. What can you mean by it?”
She laughed and said, “Part of what I mean is that I hope you did not feel humiliated that I heard that awful man insult you. Another part of what I mean is that I am aware of the differences in how our society treatsexperiencefor men and women. And I acknowledge what I have always been taught: you will have had some experience. The reason I bring it up, despite the fact that it will cause us to blush quite as vividly as we have ever done in our lives, is because I am hopeful that you will not have had very much experience, and that I will not forever be running into women….”
Darcy was not chuckling anymore, but the heat he felt from her first, somewhat cryptic statement was as nothing compared to what he felt with her ongoing explanation. She, too, was blushing brightly.
Keeping her eyes lowered, she finished with a whisper: “I thought I would be bold, but I no longer know how to finish. But…you will keep your marriage vows, sir, will you not?”
“I will keep my vows; you may be certain of that. As to my past, I have never had a mistress, I have never courted a woman nor proposed to a woman until you, and I have not lain with a woman for years. You will never run into a woman I have been with in that way; it was just three courtesans at the most distinguished houses near Cambridge.”
“Ohh…that is about as positive as I could have hoped,” she responded. She still did not look up at him, and her cheeks were still rosy with embarrassment.
He said, “I also agree that the mandate that menmusthave experience and that women mustnotmakes an inherent inequity, which I cannot like. However, I believe our marriage will have every chance for felicity.”
She looked up at him with the most beautiful expression of hope.
“Also, I thank you for your confidence in me,” he murmured. “I assure you that I do know what to do with the most beautiful woman who has ever lived; it is a multiple-step process, and the step we now stand on is for me to make every attempt to please a woman worthy of being pleased.”
“You have pleased me so much this very evening, Mr Darcy.”
“When you are back from the Lake District, and we are officially engaged, I hope you will call me Darcy. Or, if you like, Fitzwilliam, William, or Will.”
