Page 56 of Elizabeth Bennet Says Yes to Mr. Darcy

“Free of all necessity.”

“And certain?”

“If you ask me a third time, I might take offense.”

He rose and drew me against him.

His embrace was different from our kisses in the pavilion. It did not seek desire first. He buried his face in my hair and held me with a contained strength, as if he had been holding back this gesture since Hunsford.

I wrapped my arms around his waist.

“You’re trembling,” I murmured.

“It’s your fault.”

“You’ll forgive me.”

“Never.”

I laughed against his shoulder.

When he raised his head, he did not ask permission to kiss me. He read it in my gaze.

His mouth settled on mine with a tenderness that gradually deepened. I had believed desire was born of the forbidden. I discovered it could be more powerful still when nothing threatened to separate us. His hands slid down my back, drawing me closer. Mine rose to his neck.

He pulled himself from my lips with difficulty.

“We must rejoin the others.”

“We are engaged.”

“Which does not make a deserted library any less dangerous.”

“You lack a spirit of adventure.”

“I possess too much imagination to lack one.”

I blushed at what his voice suggested.

“What are you thinking?”

He rested his forehead against mine.

“About our wedding.”

“Only the wedding?”

His gaze darkened.

“About the night that follows.”

Heat spread beneath my skin.

He kissed me one last time, more briefly, then put a proper distance between us.

“Come,” he said. “Before Bingley comes looking for us and discovers I'm less honorable than he believes.”

“I don't believe Mr. Bingley would presume to judge a man who lingers in the library to kiss his fiancée.”