“My enemies! He is one of them, Miss Bennet. I had not thought you such a fool!”
She closed her eyes. “A fool. Yes, I am, but I am not dishonest.”
“No?” He snorted in disgust. “There is not an honest person left in the world, Miss Bennet.”
She flinched and looked down, then dared another glance at his face. “Does that include even Georgiana?”
“Donot!” he snarled. “Do not dare speak so intimately of my sister! You have no business here, Miss Bennet. Leave me!”
She did not move, but her hand gradually slid down the length of the trunk. Surely, he did not mean it.
“Leave me!” he thundered. He pushed against the tree and landed before her on the ground, causing her to leap away and stumble. He advanced, towering threateningly over her and forcing her back. “Go!I wish never to see your face again!”
She backed away, her hands flailing behind herself in fear of falling. Tears had already started in her eyes. He spun away, raising his fists to clench them in his hair and let out a cry of fury. His shoulders were bunched, his body quivering, and he continued in a broken voice. “Just… leave me….”
Elizabeth stepped back into one of the large rocks, and she grasped it to keep her on her feet.William…. She was blinded now by her torment, and desperate sobs stole her breath. No, it could not end like this!Oh, William.She bowed her head over the rock, slicking it with her tears and clinging to it for strength. He could not send her away, not without hearing her—not without knowing how she loved him, that he was her heart and her life.William!
The world had gone still. Elizabeth gulped down another tremour of anguish. Somehow, she must explain, must speak something he would hear! She lifted her head from the rock, intending to beseech him with contrite words and honest confessions.
He had turned back to her, his hands dropping slowly. His brow clouded, and he tilted his head, his breath panting in his chest. “What… what did you say?”
She glanced to the side, wondering exactly what shehadsaid. “I did not speak, sir.”
“Yes, you did,” he insisted. His shoulders were leaning forward now, as if to walk toward her, but his feet remained rooted. “You said… please, say it again.”
What could he have heard? She swallowed. What had she been crying out in her soul? Her lips formed his name, a mere breath, and she watched him gasp, then nod faintly. More bravely now, she murmured it. “William. I—I must have said William.”
His eyes kindled, a warmth flickering in his expression, but then it was darkened again by suspicion. “Why?” he demanded.
She left her rock behind, taking two hesitant steps in his direction and halting. “I do not know. It is long since you have been anything else to me.”
His eyes dropped to the ground, then flew eagerly back to her face. “Tell me.”
She moved slowly again, her steps as soft as if she were trying not to frighten a deer. “After I thought you lost. You were gone forever, so I believed, but I could not let you go. I saw you—so many times I saw you, and spoke with you as we are speaking now.”
“You… you thought of me?”
“I could not cease thinking of you!” She was ten paces away now, and he had not yet withdrawn. “I would close my eyes, and there you were.”
His chin dipped slightly, almost a nod of agreement. “I… I thought of you as well,” he confessed. His gaze bored into her and his voice grew raspy. “You were with me in the darkness.”
Her eyes widened. Five paces. “In the darkness?” she repeated, stalling for another moment.Had he not told her that once?
He seemed to inspect the ground now, perhaps finding the rocks fascinating. He would not meet her eyes again, even when she had closed the distance between them. Elizabeth turned her face up to him, at last surveying the changes wrought by his captivity. His hair, still damp from the night’s rainfall, curled haphazardly round his crown. It was much longer than she remembered, and just at his temples shot two fine threads of silver.
Her eyes traveled down his jaw to the unkempt beard framing his face. How different he looked from the Meryton Assembly! His dark beard did not curl as the rest of his hair did, but lay coarse and straight, save where it tangled from his sleepless night. He was still avoiding her gaze, and she let her eyes fall to his shoulders and gasped aloud. The light suit coat he wore was a poor disguise for how thin his torso had grown, and the fact that he was shivering.Oh, William, she sighed in pity.
His eyes flashed suddenly to hers, and he stared until she grew uncomfortable and looked down. His hand hung slack before her, its former rage spent, and her gaze fixed upon it. Did she dare? Cautiously, she extended two gentle fingers to graze the back of it.
He drew a sharp breath, but his hand had softened even more at her touch. Elizabeth glanced to his face, and found him still staring, with that silent intensity of former days—except now, she knew something of his thoughts. Holding his eyes, she slipped her fingers into his.
He clasped her hand at once, and a shudder seemed to pass through him. His eyes crinkled with feeling. “Elizabeth!” he breathed.
She tightened her fingers, and he slowly raised their linked hands before his face. His other hand hesitantly joined them, tracing the curve of her fingers and then cupping over them. “Elizabeth,” he whispered, “tell me I am not dreaming this time.”
She shook her head, too affected to speak. He bent low over their hands, bringing them almost to his lips. Elizabeth lifted her other hand and then her fingers touched his cheek, threading through his beard.
He began to shake, his shoulders trembling violently as his grip tightened until it was almost painful. She trailed gently over his jaw, soothing away the dishevelment and seeking again the man she knew beneath the layers. “William,” she stroked her fingers, enticing him still lower until his forehead touched hers. “William, will you trust in me?”
