“I am entirely aware of their personal defects – indeed may have discovered a few of which may shockyou. If you had notwithdrawnfrom my company this last week, we might have made sport of them together,” Elizabeth replied, growing a little heated from her exasperation with the man. “And as to pride, sir, you have gratified your own by mortifying mine. I thought I had given you every proper encouragement, every assurance that I held you in high esteem and preferred you above everyone else I have met in London – I have had little of the same in return.”
“I paid you such marked attentions that first week, Miss Elizabeth – your cousin Richard teased me mercilessly for it. I feared to do more would only be folly, a ritual humiliation I find unbearable. You are charming to everyone, and I had no notion of being any different than the rest of your new suitors in your estimation. Surely if our first week of acquaintance made such a significant impression on you, as it has done for me, I would have no occasion to vie for your attentions as you seem to expect.”
“I hardly expect you to duel the marquess at dawn,” Elizabeth cried, jerking her arm away from his. “And as to my other suitors, I care nothing for them, though I must oblige my mother, and I will not be uncivil or churlish, when I know this would only reflect poorly on my beloved sister, and all myrelations. Do you expect me to never speak to anybody but you, while you accost me with your cutting remarks?”
“If this is your opinion of me, I wonder that you should desire anything further of me,” he said in a gravelly tone.
“My opinion of you has in fact been too generous, it would seem,” Elizabeth snapped back at him. “I thought you infinitely superior to any man I had ever met – handsomer and more intelligent, vastly more interesting. When we have not been conversing together, I have always wished we were. If I had no obligations or expectations to satisfy, I might speak only with you whenever we are in company together! How can you not know this, sir? Have I not made my sentiments perfectly clear?”
She could not make out his expression, even in the light of a full moon, but she watched as he ran his hand roughly through his hair, his posture tormented. “I might ask the same question to you, Elizabeth! It is my behavior that has been markedly different with you than any other. You bestow your smiles and your wit on everybody – for all I know, you speak of me amongst your other suitors as satirically as you speak of them to me!”
“I may yet, perhaps,” she snarled. “If you are determined to be so beastly!”
“Beastly? Whenyouhave ridiculed half the gentlemen of the ton?”
“Pardon me for believing you to be in possession of a sense of humor! Apparently, I was entirely mistaken in your character.”
They had continued walking through the Dark Paths, and they passed another young couple as they turned a corner through the hedges. The pair was locked in an amorous embrace, low moans mingled with the sound of kissing. Elizabeth turned to look at them for a moment with a swell ofenvy, for she would have preferred that sort of passion to the vehemence of Mr. Darcy’s idiotic arguments.
Mr. Darcy caught her gawking, cleared his throat, and again linked his arm through hers to lead Elizabeth away. They were silent for a moment; she was still fuming, and she supposed him to be similarly afflicted.
Even so, he drew her a little closer, and she allowed her fingers to dig into his arm with a caress. Finally, he spoke in a strangled voice. “I hope I have not misrepresented my character to you, Miss Elizabeth, however else I have erred. But perhaps I am not really the jolly Will Darcy I pretend to be, but merely dull William….”
“No, I do not accuse you of any duplicity,” she said quickly. He laughed bitterly, but Elizabeth slowed her steps as she laid a hand on his shoulder. “I was very well pleased with jolly Will Darcy, when first we met, though I must admit I am not partial to jealous William. I think you are determined to sink your own ship.”
“And you are determined to willfully misunderstand me. You took to Miss Darrow’s case with such alacrity – but I am not to expect similar understanding?”
“I shall always have compassion for the troubles of my fellow woman,” Elizabeth said stoutly. “But I shall hardly instruct a man on how best to woo me, a gentleman who has lived in the world and seen far more of it than I ever have. You seemed perfectly capable of recommending yourself to me, until others began to do the same, and then you chose to be the author of your own defeat. But if you can give up the chase so easily, perhaps there was little chance of any real affection developing.”
She tried to once again remove her arm from his, but this time Mr. Darcy caught her wrist in his hand. “What would you have me do, Elizabeth?”
Just then, another young couple, laughing merrily as they stumbled into one another, emerged from around a hedge locked in an amorous tangle. Mr. Darcy instinctively pulled Elizabeth toward him, still gripping her wrist with one hand and now her waist with the other. He took a protective stance, as if the lovers might attack them in some passionate frenzy. They perceived that they were not alone – Elizabeth was again watching in fascination – and they quickly fled back the way they came, still cavorting in a drunken clamor.
Elizabeth’s gaze was fixed on the place they had appeared, her head full of how the lady had arched her body against her beau, who had his hands quite full of his lover. She let out a shaky breath and turned sharply back to Mr. Darcy. She craned her neck to peer up at him, fairly panting from the scathing reply she had been poised to deliver in answer to the question that still hung in the air between them.
And he still had his hands on her. His fingertips seared into her. Mr. Darcy tipped his head down, a whisper catching in his throat. It occurred to her that he had spoken her Christian name so informally, so naturally, in the heat of their quarrel. Her lips parted.
Above them, a firework exploded. Elizabeth looked up as trails of vibrant golden light spread out in the night sky, once, twice, and then a third time. In the distance, the crowd cried out in awe and inebriated glee. When she looked back at Mr. Darcy, he was still fixated on her, his head moving ever closer toward her face. His eyes dropped from hers, his gaze washing over her like warm sunlight.
She could feel his breath on her throat, and she let out a soft laugh as she turned her lips toward his ear. “Thisis more like what I had in mind.”
Thrilled by her own sudden boldness, Elizabeth’s eyes widened as she found herself standing up on her toes, bringing her face within an inch of his. She thought to tempt him, to tease him with such proximity – to torment him a little, and discover if he would cross the remaining distance. But there was not an instant of hesitation.
Before Elizabeth could think the better of her brazen invitation, Mr. Darcy had her pressed against the high hedge, his grasp on her tightening as his mouth crushed down on hers. She had never kissed anybody before, but since coming to London she had witnessed several other couples engaged in that alluring act, and Elizabeth acted accordingly. She arched her body against him and rolled her lips over his, letting her hands slide up his chest, about his neck, and up into his thick, dark hair.
His fingers tangled in her curls, his thumb stroked the nape of her neck, and the arm that still encircled her waist now began to lift her off her feet entirely. Elizabeth clung to him, her legs curling up behind her as his kisses traveled along her jawline and down to her neck, tickling at her collarbone.
She glanced up at the fireworks that began to fill the dark sky, feeling as if she had been transported directly to heaven, and let out a low moan. “Oh! Mr. Darcy!”
And then she heard her cousin Rebecca’s voice distinctly cutting through her ecstasy. “I heard her – she is this way.”
Mr. Darcy groaned as he set Elizabeth down on her feet and released her from his embrace, but Elizabeth held onto his arms to steady herself from the abrupt cessation of the pleasantest sensation she had ever experienced. He took her hand in his and brought it to his lips. “Tomorrow, Miss Elizabeth, the flowers you receive shall undoubtedly be from me.” He bowed, and then disappeared around the corner of the hedge.
Elizabeth collected herself in time to appear perfectly innocent when her cousins and sister descended upon her. Jane gave a sigh of relief. “Lizzy! Surely you know better than to wander off by yourself in a place like this. Unsavory things are said to go on, here in the Dark Paths.”
Richard grinned. “But were you alone? I thought I heard you calling out to someone – it sounded as though you were calling Darcy’s name.”
“Were you looking for him, and you did not find him?” Rebecca gave her a devilish smirk, and Elizabeth smiled back.
