I moved my hands to my hips, glaring at him. “That easily?”
“Quite that easily,” he said. “If you change your mind, however, I still wish to marry you.”
I looked away. “It’s not that I don’t want to marry you… I want all the things that come along with it.”
“Except the responsibility,” he supplied. He was teasing me.
“Oh, damn you, Will Darcy,” I said.
He tutted. “Hardly a ladylike word, Elizabeth.”
“Apologies,” I muttered.
“I don’t think you object to the responsibility, truly. I think you have never had any freedom,” he said. “So, I wish to assume all the responsibility, all of it. And you are free to do as you like, and I shall make anything you want possible.”
Well, this warmed me. My lips parted as I looked him over, feeling affection rise in me. I wished to touch him, and he said I could have freedom, didn’t he, so… I did it. I put my hand against his chest, right over his heart.
He let out a little noise as I made contact with him.
“It doesn’t seem fair to you,” I whispered softly.
“Let me worry about that,” he said. His voice was soft, too.
I moved closer, my hand still on his chest. I held up my face, offering him my lips.
He looked at my mouth. He looked into my eyes. He looked at my mouth again. He let out a tattered breath.
And then, nothing happened.
Moments passed, and he was still looking at my lips. His voice was barely substantial. “If there’s something you want, Elizabeth, something I can give you, you must let me know. I have just pledged to make anything you want possible, have I not?”
“Oh,” I said, curving my mouth into a smile. “I want to be kissed, Will.”
He reached up and slid one of his large, warm palms against my cheek. His thumb feathered over my cheekbone. “Have you ever been kissed, Elizabeth?”
I shook my head.
“It would be an honor, then,” he breathed, and his mouth dipped down and his lips touched mine, brushing against mine once. The contact tingled all the way through me like the taste of effervescent wine. A pause and then his lips brushed mine again, and it tingled again. I made a noise in the back of my throat.
He made an answering one, and then his lips were on mine harder, and his tongue was warm and wet and slick and sweet against mine, teasing and tasting me, and I was nothing but tingles, all over my body.
I closed my hand at his chest around his clothing, clutching him as he kissed me senseless.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
fitzwilliam
She fit perfectly in my arms, just like I had known she would. She tasted like the sunrise, like the promise of a perfect day dawning as I held her, as I ran my thumb over her cheekbone, as I kissed her.
I had often thought I would wait to do this until after I had secured an engagement, that I would wait until I was sure she was mine. I had thought to spare us both the heartache of too much closeness if we weren’t sure of each other, but I didn’t even live in that world anymore, truth be told.
She wanted my kiss.
I wanted hers.
It was good.
It was sublime.
