The innkeeper nodded and led them up a staircase while Darcy exhaled in relief at her quick thinking.
All the rooms were arranged around the exterior corridor. Their chamber was regular in shape, twice the size of the cell they had been in, and not cluttered at all. Darcy assured Mr Skillman they needed nothing but a candle, apologised for interrupting his sleep, and then sent him away and locked the door.
There was a curious kind of anxiety attending to not currently having anything to threaten their well-being. Elizabeth slowly removed her outer clothes and walked into the room, turning in a complete circle, as though not believing where she now found herself. In the dim light of one candle, he could not clearly see her expression.
“Will Colonel Fitzwilliam come for us?” she asked as she tossed her pelisse over a chair.
“I will send a message at dawn. If he does not arrive by noon, then we leave a message here for him and go. We should put as much distance as we can between us and Markle’s gang, and we do not know if Steamer is injured or on his way.”
Elizabeth gave him a long look. “We have little money, not enough to hire a coach on a Sunday. We shall have to walk.”
“And hope that Markle is late to arrive in Gravesend to meet his nephew.”
She nodded and stripped off her gloves, murmuring, “Poor boy.”
As he took off his own things, he asked, “Why did you not take off your gloves when we came inside? You look like Lady Macbeth,” he added lightly.
She gave a rueful smile and took them off. “True, but we would attract a different type of notice if ‘Mrs Gardiner’ took them off.”
She held up her left hand and waved a finger. It took him a moment, but he comprehended her concern.
“Oh.” Darcy removed from his pocket the box that Lady Catherine had given to him Wednesday. It had been easier to ignore it in his pocket than resign himself to keeping the dreaded emblem. “This might suit the purpose.” He brought the box near enough for her to see. “The band is thin, and the stones do not sit very high. You can turn it round whenever anyone comes in and it will look like a wedding band.”
“You typically go for a morning walk with a diamond and sapphire in your pocket?”
He pursed his lips, not wanting to talk about it. However, not sharing the truth with Elizabeth felt worse. “I was trying to forget all about it. My mother designed it after a ring Bonaparte made for his first wife. My aunt gave it to me to give it to Anne as an engagement gift.”
Elizabeth had been running her fingertips over the two stones, but she dropped them.
“Lady Catherine had it for a long time,” he said hurriedly. “She gave it to me a few days ago, and I left it in my pocket, wanting to ignore it. She was trying to convince me to…”
He did not know why he felt awkward. Elizabeth knew he had no desire to marry Anne. Perhaps it was because she had a few days ago said she did not want to marry him, but her actionsthese past few days hinted she might now give him a different answer.
“What will you do with the ring, since you will not use it the way your mother intended?”
“I hate to sell it since she did commission it. I suppose I shall give it to Georgiana.”
“Thank you for letting me borrow it.”
She held out her hand, and he was about to take the ring out of the box and slip it on for her, but the motion was too like a wedding ceremony. If he ever put a ring on Elizabeth’s finger, it would be one of his own choosing, not the one his mother intended him to give to another woman. Darcy thrust the box into her hand.
“We ought to get a few hours of sleep. I will find someone to ride to Hunsford as soon as the sun is up.”
Silently, they readied themselves for bed. While he took off everything but his trousers and shirt, he could hear Elizabeth untying her gown and lifting it over her head. He absolutely refused to turn around. Before, she had slept in everything but her shoes and pelisse. Darcy snuffed the lone candle. He did not think he could stand to see her in only stays and a chemise without the promise of ever seeing more.
He wanted to kiss her until he made all of her fear and pain disappear, until she knew how urgently he still loved her.
They climbed into the bed at the same time. How often had he thought of their joy in going to bed together, in finally giving way to that urgency of desire? He shook his head to himself as he fell onto the pillow. Over the past two days, he had thought of such things nearly as often as the phrase “now is not the time” crossed his mind.
Still, it no longer felt inappropriate or an unfortunate necessity to sleep next to Elizabeth. It was both welcome and comforting. What would it feel like to him tomorrow eveningwhen they were in their separate homes, and there would not be a single reason in the world to share a bed?
“I have been wearing and sleeping in the same clothes for two days,” she said through a wide yawn as she curled onto her side, facing away from him. “I cannot wait to wash them and wear anything else.”
“Would it be wasteful of me to give away this entire suit of clothes because I can no longer stand the feel of them?”
“I think in this instance the rich can be forgiven their foibles.”
“Then these trousers and shirt might go into the fire as soon as I get to town.”
