She shook her head, disbelieving that so clever a man could be so foolish. “I will not cross them. It is madness to think we could get away.”
“You got away once when I attacked him.”
“I got a handful of steps before the man with the pipe grabbed hold of me again.”
Mr Darcy came near, all energy and animation. “That was when I was fighting the other man, and they outnumbered us. If there is a time, like now, when there is only one, we have to overpower him and escape.”
“I shall do no such thing!” she cried. “At the slightest provocation, that man pulls a knife.” Elizabeth pointed to her neck, and Darcy winced. “And Steamer is a heartbeat away from stabbingyou; he has made that very clear.” Mr Darcy opened his mouth, but she spoke first. “What will he do in retribution if we fail? No, no, I shall do nothing to anger them.”
“I tell you, we have to escape.” He grasped her hand, startling her with his warmth, but she did not pull away. “You are right; these men are dangerous and won’t hesitate to kill me. And we cannot assume that they would return you unharmed if the ransom is paid.”
“I have a better chance of being unharmed if I do not cross them.”
He dropped her hand and walked a few steps, shaking his head. “I am all astonishment! You mean to say you will not plan a way to escape? That if an opportunity comes, you will not take it?”
“We won’t have a good enough opportunity that I would risk my life over. You may do as you please”—she sat on the edge of the bed—“but I intend to be compliant and give them no reason to stab me.”
Mr Darcy gave her a pitying look. “They might kill you regardless, and I am certain killing me is likely. For whatever reason, it is Anne de Bourgh they want, not me.”
She could see there was a greater threat to his life than hers, but it still did not warrant taking a heedless risk. As though theycould get away from armed men determined to detain them. “But they did take you and admitted you might be useful. We will comply,” she said firmly, “and stay alive, and then we will be returned.”
Mr Darcy swore under his breath, quietly and harshly. She ought to have been shocked by it, but it made him likeable. He was typically so reserved it was a relief to see emotion from him, however little she agreed with his plan.
“I cannot understand why a sensible woman such as yourself cannot see the danger we are in.”
“He said he would cut out your tongue!” she cried, standing. “He threatened to have the other man put a bullet in your head. I do understand the danger we are in. Do you think I want to watch you die, especially over some foolish desire to protect me?”
“You will have a scar on your neck from his knife. What else might you or I suffer? That is all the more reason to escape.”
She shook her head, and Darcy swore again. “I am afraid to cross them,” she admitted in a whisper. “Too afraid of what they will do to me and to you. I could not get away before. I tried, and he caught up to me and held a knife to me.” She felt hot tears in her eyes and used her sleeve to dash them away.
There was no sense in crying now, hours after it happened. Mr Darcy gave her a compassionate look. For a moment, she thought he was going to put his arms around her, but he only put a hand atop hers, gave it a quick squeeze, and then let go.
It was foolish of her to want an embrace from a man she had told mere hours ago that he was the last man in the world she could be prevailed on to marry. Wanting comfort was just from the strain of being abducted, and Mr Darcy was the only one here. “Besides,” she added, as though she had not stopped speaking, “I doubt we will have a chance to flee. I will comply with them, and you can do as you like.”
He threw her a dark look. “You know very well I won’t escape alone and leave you behind.” He seemed to gather his patience. “Please, Miss Bennet, I shall ask one final time: will you attempt an escape if we can get out of the house?”
“Do you think I want to be responsible for your death if we fail?” Elizabeth wiped her eyes and tried to conquer her fear. “And if they recaptured us, it would likely be my fault. You are stronger and faster than I am, and you would come back for me if they captured me again. And then it would be my fault if they punished you for it.”
“No, this is not your fault,” he said quickly. “Nothing thattheydo isyourfault. They do not even have the right woman.”
“Do you think that would make me feel less guilty if they killed you before my eyes?”
She saw him stifle his feelings, whatever they were, and sigh. “Very well, we shall comply with our captors.” He sat back down on the box next to the bed, crossing his arms over his chest. “Little though I like it,” he added.
She remembered Colonel Fitzwilliam talking about how his cousin liked to have his own way. It made her angry on Jane’s behalf all over again. She did not want to see harm come to Mr Darcy, but that did not mean she forgave him for all he had done to her friends. Mr Darcy must enjoy surrounding himself with tractable creatures.
It was unfortunate, then, that their being kidnapped together forced him into her company.
“How trying for you not to do as you like,” she said, struggling to keep her patience. “You want to direct everything and everyone to your own liking, even your own kidnapping.”
“I would choose us to not be stabbed or shot,” he said sharply. “But I suspect that is not what you mean. Do you have more to say on the subjects you raised last evening?”
It was irritating that he had so easily understood her. Elizabeth shifted on the edge of the bed to better glare at him. “I do. I suspected you had been concerned in the measures taken to separate Mr Bingley and Jane, but I had attributed to Miss Bingley the principal design of them. Now I know it was all your doing.”
Mr Darcy scoffed. “You can think on the separation of two young persons while kidnapped? While you are mistaken for another woman and your life threatened?”
He sounded incredulous. A heartless man like Mr Darcy would not understand how much easier it was to think on Jane and Bingley and other normal things while they held her in this small, cluttered room, after they had abducted her at knifepoint. There was no one to console her, no one to assure her all would be well, and it was better to distract herself by any means necessary.
