Darcy released her reluctantly, stepping back to put proper distance between them. His hands burned to hold her again. He clasped them behind his back. “Am I forgiven?” His voice came out rougher than he intended.
Miss Elizabeth blinked, as though returning from some distant place. “Yes. Yes, you are,” she whispered.
They stared at each other, the air between them charged with possibilities and dangers.
“Lizzy, tell him what he needs to do,” said Miss Mary, her voice an intrusion.
“Mr. Darcy,” Miss Elizabeth said, her voice quiet, “if you wish to help, there is a necessary task you have the power to perform.”
Darcy forced himself to focus on the practical matter at hand. “Name it.”
Miss Elizabeth had regained some of her poise, though her color remained high. “Before I tell you what I hope to acquire, you must know that there are two reasons I cannot marry Mr. Collins. The first is that I do not respect him and could never love him. We would make each other miserable.”
“A perfectly sound reason,” Darcy agreed.
“The second is perhaps more important. Mary cares for him.”
Darcy turned to Miss Mary in surprise.
The middle Bennet daughter colored but met his regard. “It is true. Mr. Collins and I share similar dispositions and interests. We have had several conversationsabout theology and music that I found most stimulating. I believe we would suit each other well.”
“And yet your father has decreed that your sister must marry him,” Darcy said, understanding dawning.
“My mother’s influence, no doubt,” Miss Elizabeth said bitterly. “She believes I am too particular, that I will never accept any man, and so she has convinced my father to force my hand. But if I were not here—if I were removed from the situation—she would turn her attention to Mary. And Mr. Collins, I suspect, would be amenable to the change.”
He turned to the younger sister. “I beg your pardon, but I need to ask. Are you satisfied with not being his first choice?”
Miss Mary scoffed. “I often find that decorative, gilded tooling on a book will catch my eye, only to discover a perfect fit amongst the more practical covers. I cannot condemn Mr. Collins for doing the same when it comes to a bride.”
“I admire your pragmatism, Miss Mary.”
She accepted his compliment with a tip of her head.
Turning to Miss Elizabeth, he asked, “Then what do you suggest?”
“Help me get away.”
The three stood in silence, the enormity of what she suggested hung in the air between them. Darcy saw in both sisters a courage that matched his own.
“If you run away,” Darcy said slowly, “Where will you go? What will you do?”
“I have a little money saved. I will go to my uncle in London. Perhaps I could find a position as a governess ora companion to some elderly lady. Anything would be preferable to marriage to Mr. Collins.”
“No.” The word came out more forcefully than Darcy intended, and both sisters startled. “That is not a viable solution. A young woman alone, without references or connections? You would be vulnerable to every kind of danger.”
“Then what wouldyousuggest?” she echoed his words.
Her eyes flashing and her chin raised in defiance, Darcy knew what he must do. He had hesitated for weeks, letting his pride and his concerns about propriety guide his actions. But there came a time when a man must act, hang the consequences.
“Marry me instead.”
He was standing in a room he had not intended to enter, saying words he had not intended to say, and meaning every syllable with a ferocity that frightened him considerably. Never in his life had he so badly wanted to take back a sentence—not because he did not mean it, but because he meant it entirely, and she gave him nothing but the sound of his own heartbeat.
2
Miss Elizabeth stared at him as though he had begun speaking in tongues. “I beg your pardon?”
“Marry me,” Darcy repeated, his voice stronger now. “You need to escape this situation. I can provide that escape. More than that, I can offer you a life of comfort and security, a position of respect in society, and…” Complete honesty was required. “And the companionship of a man who has come to admire you greatly.”
