Her breath came fast. “You expect me to—”
“Yes,” he said shortly. “Out.”
Elizabeth’steethchatteredasthey stepped inside.
The common room was dimly lit, the walls stained with tobacco smoke and splattered ale. A few patrons sat at rough wooden tables, hunched over their drinks, casting furtive glances at the newcomers.
Darcy paid them no mind. He strode toward the counter, where a bored-looking innkeeper wiped a tankard with a rag that looked dirtier than the floorboards.
Elizabeth wrapped her cloak more tightly around herself.
This was indecent.
This was unacceptable.
“I need a room,” Darcy said, tossing a coin onto the counter.
The innkeeper squinted at it, then at Darcy… then at her. “One?”
Darcy exhaled slowly. “One.”
Elizabeth’s head snapped toward him.
“One?“ she hissed in horrified disbelief.
Darcy turned to her, his jaw tight. “Yes,” he said shortly.
The innkeeper dropped a key on the counter and pointed. “Upstairs. Second door.”
Mr. Darcy sighed and took the key. “Thank you.”
Elizabeth’s face burned. “You cannot mean to—”
He placed a firm hand against the small of her back and steered her toward the stairs.
She bristled. “Do not put your hands on me!”
“I assure you, my lady,” he muttered darkly, “it is not my preference, either.”
She gasped in fresh outrage.
There was no kindly maid waiting with a lantern, no polite footman to guide them. Just a narrow, uneven staircase, a creaking banister, and Darcy push-dragging her up the steps before she could gather herself enough to scream.
The room was small, cold, and utterly wretched. A narrow bed, a rickety table, a single window with a threadbare curtain. It smelled of old wood, damp wool, and the ghost of tobacco smoke.
Elizabeth whirled toward him, seething. “You mean to leave me herealone?”
Darcy closed the door behind them, exhaling heavily and bolting the door. “No.”
She reeled back. “Then—”
Darcy shrugged off his overcoat.
Elizabeth’s heart dropped into her feet, and her back pressed against the wall.“What,”she demanded, voice high and sharp, “are youdoing?”
Darcy tossed the coat onto the back of the chair, utterly ignoring her distress.
Elizabeth’s heart pounded.
