Page 13

"You have bewitched me, Elizabeth, body and soul. I cannot be around you without acting like an absolute fool, and it is unfair to impose these ridiculous feelings upon you. I thought that if I removed myself from your company, you might at least be spared any further embarrassment on my account."

"And did you never think," she said, choking back a sob, "in that great, stupid brain of yours, did it never once occur to you to ask me how I feel?"

He drew in a short, sharp breath, and his hand tightened around hers. When he spoke, his voice was so low that she felt it rumbling through her.

"How do you feel, Elizabeth?"

"I... I feel everything. When you kissed me, it was as though my whole body came alive, and I could think of nowhere I wanted to be but in your arms. I have always thought you proud and aloof, but you were so kind and gentle and so passionate that I scarcely knew what to make of you. I feel everything all at once. I cannot even begin to say what it is that I feel, but I know there is something between us. I understand that I am so far below you in consequence that you can probably never act upon these feelings, but I could not let you go. I could not let this moment pass without understanding what was in your heart, and perhaps gaining a little more clarity on what is within my own."

Darcy looked at her for a long moment, and then he lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it. He drew her closer, bending to press a kiss to her forehead, then her nose and her cheeks, before finally finding her lips.

It was softer than the first kiss they had shared, somehow more uncertain, but it was achingly sweet and tender. She rose onto her toes, winding her arms around his neck to return the gesture, and inch by inch the kiss deepened. When he ran his tongue over the seam of her lips, she opened to him as though it were the most natural thing in the world. The taste of him made her blood run hot, and she tangled her fingers into his already disordered hair, needing more, needing him closer, as close as two people could possibly be. He groaned in response, gripping her waist and pulling her against him so that she could feel his hard chest pressed firmly against her softer curves.

He murmured her name as he dropped his mouth to her neck, and she felt that even if the whole of Meryton entered the room at that very moment, she could not bear to part her body from his. His lips moved against the sensitive skin below her ear, sending extraordinary sensations through her, and she tipped her head back to allow him better access, aware that she would not deny him anything in that moment.

"Elizabeth," he said again, although this time his voice held a note of warning, and she felt the loss of him keenly when he lifted his head and drew back a little. He was breathing heavily, his face flushed, and she was pleased to see that he looked every bit as disordered as she felt. "My dearest Elizabeth, if we continue in this manner, I fear I shall forget every principle of honourable conduct and disgrace us both."

"How dreadful," she said, although she made no attempt to release her hold upon his neck. "Particularly as I have only just begun to discover just how enjoyable it is when you forget yourself."

He gave a low laugh and rested his forehead against hers, his large hands still about her waist. "You will be the death of me, I am sure of it. I have spent weeks endeavouring to behave as a gentleman in your presence, and you have undone every good intention in the space of an evening." He let out a shaky breath and continued. "But there is something I must tell you plainly. You spoke earlier of being beneath me in consequence, and of my being unable to act upon my feelings for you. I would be dishonest if I told you that I had never considered the difference in our situations. Indeed, there was a time when I dismissed the possibility of an attachment between us on that basis." He smiled ruefully and shook his head. "As you may have gathered, I have not been successful in that endeavour, and I find myself delighting in my failure. I cannot deny what is in my heart any longer, Elizabeth. You are witty and beautiful and intelligent and kind, and you make me happier than I have ever known myself to be. In short, you are everything I need, and everything Pemberley needs, although I was too proud and foolish to recognise it sooner. I am hopelessly in love with you, Elizabeth Bennet, and there is not a thing to be done about it."

She looked up at him, startled by the honesty of his admission. "You are in love with me?"

"Yes." He smiled, looking nervous again. "I love you. I have loved you for some time, although I fear I have done a singularly poor job of demonstrating it. I had not intended to tell you in such circumstances, but there it is. I love you, Elizabeth Bennet, and I should like the opportunity to court you properly, if you will permit me."

Elizabeth felt tears prick her eyes again. Mr Darcy was in love with her! The same Mr Darcy who had once declared her merely tolerable and whom she had spent so much of their acquaintance finding thoroughly disagreeable. And now here he was, telling her that she was everything he wanted in a wife. It was too much to take in. She had come upstairs hoping to discover whether he felt some small measure of affection for her, and instead the man had declared himself hopelessly in love. What on earth was she supposed to do with that?

Well, there was one thing she knew she wanted to do. She wanted to spend more time with him, and to discover whether the man who had kissed her this evening was a man she might come to love with all her heart. She was not ready to make any grand declarations of her own, but she felt already halfway to feeling for him what he felt for her.

"Mr Darcy," she began, squeezing his hands, "I cannot tell you that I love you, at least not yet. I have spent so long believing you to be the most disagreeable man of my acquaintance that discovering quite the opposite has come as a shock, albeit one of the most pleasant kind. I know that I wish to spend more time with you, and I should very much like to discover whether these feelings might grow into something more. So yes, sir, I should be delighted to allow you to court me, although I fear you may have to be patient while I make up my mind about you."

"That is a most sensible response, Miss Bennet," he said, letting out an unexpected bark of laughter that she felt rumble through his chest. He placed his hands on either side of her face and kissed her again.

"I am sorry," he whispered. "I could not resist."

"The lady has no complaints," she said with a wry smile, lifting a hand to cup his dear cheek.

He closed his eyes, revelling in her touch, and opened them slowly, coming back to himself. "Now, my Elizabeth, we have only the small task of sneaking you out of a gentleman's bedchamber and back into the ballroom."

Elizabeth laughed and slipped her arms around his waist. "Well, we had better make a good job of it, Mr Darcy. I have only just agreed to allow you to court me, and I should be most put out if we were discovered and obliged to marry before I have decided whether I can bear your company for the rest of my life."

Darcy laughed and drew her closer. "Then I shall have to make certain you find my company agreeable, Miss Bennet."

"Oh, I think you have made a very promising start, sir," she said, pulling him down for another kiss.

Epilogue

One year later: All Hallows' Eve, Pemberley

Elizabeth sat at her dressing table, running a comb through the tangles in her hair. She had hastily pinned it up that morning after sleeping with it unbraided, and now she was paying the price. She uttered a curse under her breath as the comb caught on a particularly stubborn knot and heard her husband's voice behind her.

"I was looking for my wife, but it appears I have come across a sailor."

"William! My hair is a rat's nest, and shall I tell you why?"

"Please do, dearest," he said, appearing behind her in the glass and placing his hands on her stiff shoulders. He began to rub them, causing her to moan with pleasure and quite lose her train of thought.

"And do not think you can distract me, you dreadful man! You caused me to sleep with it unbraided last night, and I was in such a rush this morning before the autumn celebrations that it has gone from a mess to an utter catastrophe. I have spent half the evening attempting to tame it again. I am beginning to think I should cut the whole lot off."