My eyes slipped closed, and it was a fine thing that his arms were tight around me. Otherwise, I surely would have oozed to the floor. “Oh, very well,” I sighed dreamily. “You are… such a scoundrel.”
“You were the one who asked me to steal something for you. I should say you have no business complaining.”
I toyed with that one big, scrumptious curl that fell over his brow. “Who is complaining?”
He laughed and let his forehead rest against mine. “I am. You have ruined me, Elizabeth Bennet. It is no good. I cannot go back to my sedate, ordinary life now.”
I shook my head. “But we are safe. You switched the statues out, the prince is happy, and no one saw us.”
“Oh, dash the stupid statues. I am talking about you, slowly cutting my heart out of my chest and tucking it neatly into your little palm.Youare the actual thief between the two of us.”
I slipped my hands further up his neck to the back of his head, stopping just short of that row of stitches I’d pricked into his scalp the first day we met. “Well, then, Fitzwilliam Darcy. What do you plan to do about it? Put up the hue and cry? Turn me in to the constable?”
“Wash your hands.”
I squinted. “What?”
He pushed the front of our crate open and took me by the hand. “Come. You’re scratching the devil out of me with that clay all over your hands and arms. What did you do, bathe in the stuff?”
I arched my shoulders and held my chin aloft. “I was improvising. I told you I knew nothing about clay sculpting.”
He slipped an arm around my waist. “Then first, we find a bucket where I will enjoy washing every speck of clay from your satiny skin. Then, I mean to take you back to Darcy House and put my great-great grandmother Darcy’s enormous sapphire ring right…” He lifted my hand to kiss my fourth finger, grimy and everything… “There. And I hope you will leave it on.”
My heart started skipping. He wantedme? Forever? I would have laughed and leaped into his arms to kiss him senseless, but it was more fun to tease him. I forced a contemplative sniff, regarded my hand, and frowned. “I’ll have to see if it fits.”
“Oh, I’ll make sure it fits,” he said in a husky voice.
And then he dipped me backward for a kiss to make all our other indiscretions pale by comparison. So,thatwas what a man’s tongue felt like, dancing with my own. And oh, my gracious, but how did he have enough hands to make me feel themeverywhere?
I could get used to that.
“What do you say, Elizabeth Bennet? Care to give up your life of crime?”
I laughed and wrapped his cravat around my fist to make him keep kissing me. I think I ruined it, but he could probably afford another one. “If you insist.”
Darcy
Richardwasstillatmy townhouse when Elizabeth and I returned. And with him, of course, was George Wickham, who looked to have consumed half a dozen bottles from my cellar. That was probably Richard’s way of preventing Wickham from palming the silverware—keep him sedated. Richard shot to his feet, and Wickham saluted groggily when we walked into the drawing room.
“Miss Elizabeth Bennet of Longbourn, may I present my cousin, Colonel Fitzwilliam?” I said.
The stupid grin Richard got on his face… I swear, the man loves it when he feels he has discovered my secrets. The whiff of a suspicion that I had fallen for some Hertfordshire lady had nearly driven him to distraction for the last few days. He bowed gallantly over Elizabeth’s hand. “I am delighted to make your acquaintance, Miss Bennet.”
When Richard straightened and shot me a smug look, I met his gaze and flicked my head toward Wickham, who was still clambering to his feet. Richard nodded in understanding. “Ah, Miss Bennet, has Darcy ever told you about the magnificent library he has?”
Elizabeth laughed. “Colonel, there are many things I am still learning about Mr. Darcy.”
“Well, come! Let me show you one of them. You don’t mind, old boy, do you?” He turned back to Elizabeth and firmly attached her hand to his forearm. “He doesn’t mind. Darcy is ridiculously proud of his library and secretly delights when someone else shows it off for him. Away with us, Miss Bennet!”
Elizabeth chuckled and gave me that arch look of hers as Richard led her out of the room.
“Just be careful not to betoocharming, Richard,” I called as they passed through the door. “I am hoping she will still want to marry me after meeting you.”
Richard guffawed and patted her hand just before they disappeared into the hall. “I knew it! Oh, Miss Bennet, we are going to be fine friends.”
I sighed and turned my attention back to George Wickham. He had given up the attempt at standing and was merely grinning at me from the sofa. With a glass of expensive claret in his hand. “Cheers, Darcy.” Only it came out sounding like, “Sheeres, dasheee.”
I examined my pocket watch, then put it away. “How was your journey into Kent?”
