Something in his voice caught at her heart.
"You unsettled me almost from the first moment we met. I thought you impossible and provoking. And the most beautiful woman of my acquaintance."
Elizabeth's lips trembled. "A promising beginning."
"The most promising of my life."
"I tried to resist what I felt. I told myself that I had known you only a few days, that the force of it could not be trusted and that I ought to be sensible. But every hour I spent with you made that impossible. Before long, the life I had been perfectly content to lead no longer seemed sufficient unless you were part of it."
Elizabeth's eyes stung as Darcy’s fingers tightened gently around hers.
"I love you, Elizabeth. I love your mind and your courage, but more than that, I love the woman you are when no one is watching. I love the kindness you try to conceal beneath your wit. I love the way every room becomes brighter simply because you have entered it."
The words left her unable to speak. She had imagined declarations in the foolish privacy of the night, but none hadsounded like this. None had made her heart feel it might burst with happiness.
Darcy released one of her hands and reached inside his coat. "I went to Pemberley today because there was something there I wished you to have."
When he opened his palm, a ring rested against his skin. A deep blue stone set within a circle of small diamonds. "It belonged to my mother."
Elizabeth looked from the ring to his face and understood at last why he had left her on the lawn, why he had ridden away without explanation and why her father had seemed so knowing during their dance.
"I spoke to your father early this morning," Darcy continued. "He gave me his permission to ask you, though he warned me that your answer would remain entirely your own."
"Very sensible of him," Elizabeth said.
Mr Bennet's voice came warmly from the edge of the floor. "I have learned not to make promises on Lizzy's behalf."
The laughter which followed was gentle, but Elizabeth scarcely heard it. Darcy was still looking at her, and she saw then that beneath all his certainty, he was afraid. He lowered himself onto one knee and a collective sigh passed through the ballroom.Elizabeth's breath caught, and her fingers closed around his in an attempt to steady them both.
"Elizabeth Bennet," he said, "I came here believing my life was already decided. You have shown me how empty that life would be without you in it. I do not wish to return to Pemberley alone and remember this week as the brief time in which I was happiest. I want you beside me for every day that follows."
His voice softened. "Will you marry me?"
For once, Elizabeth had no ready reply. She could only look down at him, at the proud and private man who had crossed Derbyshire for his mother's ring and now knelt before an entire ballroom with nothing hidden.
"Yes," she said.
The word was soft, and for one suspended moment Darcy did not move.
Elizabeth smiled through the tears gathering in her eyes and tightened her hand around his. "Yes, Fitzwilliam. I will marry you."
The change in his face was almost more than she could bear. Relief broke through first, followed by such happiness that he looked younger and entirely unguarded. He rose, still holding her hand, and slipped the ring onto her finger. It fitted perfectly. Darcy looked at it only briefly before raising her hand to his lips.
The room erupted around them. Jane reached Elizabeth first and embraced her tightly, laughing and crying at once, while Colonel Fitzwilliam clasped Darcy by the shoulder with enough force to rumple his immaculate coat. Congratulations came from every direction, and somewhere beyond them Thomas Hadley began calling for champagne.
Lady Hortensia struck her cane against the floor until the company quieted sufficiently for her to be heard. Her eyes shone as she looked from Elizabeth to Darcy. "Another match for Chaffley Hall," she declared. "Mr Pritchard, I trust you are keeping count."
Mr Pritchard opened the Challenge ledger upon the table before him. "I never stopped, my lady."
Epilogue
One Year Later – Pemberley, Derbyshire
Elizabeth woke slowly beneath the warmth of Darcy's hand at her waist. Sometime during the night, her hair had come loose and spread across the pillows in a dark auburn tangle. Darcy had gathered part of it over one shoulder and was pressing a line of soft kisses along the curve of her neck, each one lingering just long enough to draw her further from sleep.
She smiled before opening her eyes. "You are taking liberties, sir."
"Guilty, my love."
