“I had not expected to feel such reluctance to leave,” she murmured to Darcy, who carried his own regret. “When we arrived, the city seemed so foreign, so impossibly different from everything we knew. Yet now…”
“Now it feels like we are leaving a friend behind,” he said, his gaze fixed on the shore where their new acquaintances were undoubtedly beginning their own day.
“Aylin and her family were delightful.”
He reached for her hand and brought it up to his lips. “What of us? What is your impression of how you and I are managing together since Gibraltar?”
Elizabeth considered the cultural challenges they had navigated. Hesitantly, she began, “We seem to work well together when faced with the unfamiliar. You listen when I offer suggestions. I trust your judgment when firmness is required. We seem to complement each other’s strengths.” The truth of it was undeniable. This journey had been filled with positive interactions between them.
“Indeed, we do,” Darcy replied. “I look forward to facing other challenges together in the future.”
The future.The words hung between them like a promise.
Meanwhile, theMary Catherine’ssails caught the wind, beginning her journey toward Egypt and the final stage of their quest.
That evening,the sea stretched endlessly as the sun began its descent toward the western horizon. Elizabeth stood alone at the bow, savoring the refreshing spray and the gentle warmth of the evening breeze. The evening watch had just changed, and most of her companions were below.
“Might I join you?”
Elizabeth welcomed Darcy. Since leaving Rome, the warmth of the Mediterranean sunshine had made it impossible for the gentlemen to wear their coats during the day. Seeing him with his sleeves rolled up and his shirt open at the throat…well, her inner temperature rose by at least ten degrees.
“Strange how familiar the sea has become, hownatural this life feels,” he commented as he stepped beside her.
She studied his profile in the golden light. “Do you miss the life you led terribly?” It was something she had wondered?how could a man so tied to his ancestral estate bear to be away from it for months?
Darcy considered her question. “For a certainty, I miss my sister. You will love her, Elizabeth. She has a quiet way about her, a very gentle nature. When she was little, she would bring every small creature she could carry to show our father and me. Each time, we would explain the need to keep it in its own environment. She never understood how they could be happy outside of Pemberley when she was happy on the inside.”
Elizabeth smiled as her heart melted a little. “And what of Pemberley itself?”
“I expected to miss it greatly,” he admitted. “Since my adulthood, other than during the Season when I was required to be in Town, I resented being away from Pemberley for more than a few weeks at a time. As I was growing up, my father impressed upon me that the estate was not merely my inheritance, but my responsibility…that generations of Darcys had lived and died for that land, and I owed my ancestors my complete dedication.”
“And now?”
“I ask myself whether devotion to a place becomes a prison when it prevents us from experiencing the larger world.” From the tone of his voice, he surprised himself with the admission. “This journey is revealing aspects of life I never knew existed. Not only the places we have seen, but the person I am becoming when I do not define myself by my role as master of Pemberley.”
Warmth unfurled inside of Elizabeth. “How do you see yourself now?”
Darcy turned to face her more fully, his emotions exposed. “Someone less rigid, I hope. Less concerned with maintaining rules and more interested in discovering the truth. Someone who can laugh at his own mistakes instead of hiding behind propriety.” A slight smile touched his lips. “Someone worthy of a woman who walked three miles through mud to care for her sister.”
The reference to that long-ago morning at Netherfield made Elizabeth chuckle. “You have made mention of that more than once.”
“I cherish the memory, Elizabeth,” Darcy said. “As I said before and will say again, I thought you were the most beautiful creature I had ever seen.”
“Because I was disheveled?”
“Because you acted on what mattered most to you without consideration for what others might think. Before then, I had never considered that true elegance has nothing to do with perfect appearance.”
“I fear you give me too much credit. I was simply doing what any sister would do.”
“That is precisely what made it memorable. Caring for those you love comes as naturally to you as breathing. You do not even recognize it as a virtue. It is simply who you are.”
The conversation had ventured into territory more intimate than their courtship had previously explored. Elizabeth chose to continue, skirting around safer topics. “Would you tell me about your childhood? What influenced you the most?”
Darcy grew even more thoughtful, his gaze turning toward the horizon as he gathered memories. “Duty,” he said. “Every lesson, every conversation, every expectation was filtered through my future responsibilities. A Darcy must be above reproach. Our name carried weight that was not to be diminished by careless behavior.”
“That sounds lonely.” Elizabeth’s heart broke for him a little.
“It was, though I did not recognize it as such until recently.” Darcy was quiet for a moment. “My father was a good man, but he was raised with the same expectations, the same rigid set of rules. Love was expressed through preparation for duty, not affection.
