“It may well do very for the others,” replied Mr. Bingley, ironically, enjoying his new role of controlling Darcy’s life, “but I am sure it is too much for Kitty.Won’t it, Kitty?”
“If it is acceptable, Mama, I would rather stay home,” Kitty acknowledged.
Darcy offered,“Mrs. Bennet, Oakham Mount sounds interesting.”
Elizabeth could hardly help laughing at so convenient a proposal, but she silently consented. Mrs. Bennet followed her upstairs with epithets about Darcy, which truly vexed her daughter so by the time she started out, Elizabeth’s temper was aroused. At the fork in the road, the couples parted to find their own way and their own privacy. Darcy and Elizabeth took the steeper pathway, both needing the exercise to relieve the tension.They walked along in silence for a quarter of a mile; finally, Darcy caught her hand to stop her progress. She turned back to look at him, and he held her stare; eventually, Elizabeth chuckled at herself, which made himfeel good. Darcy held her there with a look of barely restrained passion.“I know that look,” she teased.
“What look?” he pretended to misunderstand.
“There was a time when I thought with that look you disdained me and found fault with me. Then I saw the same expression on your face in your portrait at Pemberley,” she sashayed closer to him. She placed her hands on Darcy’s chest,“and I wanted nothing more than anything to see you look that way at me again.” Elizabeth went up on her tiptoes to nibble on his lower lip.
“Mrs. Reynolds,” his voice was breathy and ragged, “tells me you find me to be handsome,” he teased her by brushing his lips over hers.
“Did I not tell you so last night?” Her mouth was near his.
“I am a vain, prideful man, as you have so often pointed out.” He smiled down at her face tilted toward him. “I need for you to feed my vanity with your praise.”
“Then you must reciprocate with praise of my good qualities.” Their breathing caused a sudden flush of heat to rise to Elizabeth’s cheeks.
“My dearest Elizabeth, you are so beautiful.”The warmth of his kiss smothered the words. Elizabeth now realized it was a look exclusively reserved for her; she was the one person who brought passion to his being. They parted unwillingly and started their walk again, but now it became more leisurely and more loving.“Georgiana will be so pleased when she hears; if it was not for her, I may have given up my hopes of our reconciliation. She is more intelligent and astute than I once gave her credit for being; I am afraid I spent so much of my time being her guardian I forgot she is my sister.”
“It will be pleasant to have Georgiana as a sister. Losing Jane is something about our future to which I am most dreading; Georgiana and I will be great friends.”
“I dreamed of you at Pemberley so often.”
“I dreamed of it last night,” she stammered. “How will I ever manage to be its mistress? I am frightened; how will I survive?” Anxiety showed in her manner of speaking.
“Elizabeth, there are servants to manage Pemberley. It could run by itself.You will be my wife; you have nothing to fear. If you can win my heart as easily as you did, there is no one at Pemberley you have to fear.” Then he quickly changed the subject, not wanting her to dwell too long on the transition to her new life. “I would ask your father’s consent this evening. How will he react?”
“Papa, I am afraid, will be very surprised. I told him nothing of Hunsford or of Pemberley. I fear my earliest impression of you is the only one of which he knows.”
“Does he dislike me so much?”
“Your refusal of his favorite daughter at the assembly colored his opinion of you, Mr. Darcy,” Elizabeth needled him about his once haughty behavior.
“I believe I still owe you an apology for such bad behavior.” Darcy reached out to caress her face.
“By starting over, My Love, we can get some place else,” she said decidedly, and the beauty and wit of thisremarkablewoman again overwhelmed him.
“Do you have a preference for when to set our wedding date? I suppose we will have to wait until after Charles’s and Miss Bennet’s nuptials.”
“I have a suggestion . . .” She hesitated not knowing how he would react. Darcy waited patiently for her to finish her thoughts. “Jane and I stumbled on an idea last night when I told her of our engagement. At first we thought it to be a lark, and we laughed at it; but, the more it was considered, the more reasonable it sounded.”
“Do you plan on sharing this idea, or must I guess your mind?”
“What say you to a double wedding?”
“You and Miss Bennet and Bingley and I?” He seemed stunned.
“Is it a bad idea?” She was unsure of how to read his reaction.
“Will Bingley agree to this?”
“Jane will ask him today,” she offered. “We would not have to wait so long. You do not want a long engagement do you, Mr. Darcy?”
“I believe we waited long enough to start our life together.” He kissed her with renewed ardor.
“I will tell Mama about our engagement once you secure my father’s consent.” She planned this part of what she would say to him today. Elizabeth feared her mother’s reaction to the news of her daughter’s choice of a husband. Mrs. Bennet was not known to be tactful; one never knew what she would say. “Jane and I will then tell her our plans. Mama’snerveswill only have to go through the planning of one ceremony and one wedding breakfast.” She said no more, but Darcy knew her sentiments. “There is only one thing more of which we should speak before you address my father this evening,” Elizabeth hesitated again.“My father received a letter from Mr. Collins the day Lady Catherine paid her visit. It actually warned me not to accept your proposal. Papa finds anything Mr. Collins writes amusing. He had no idea how I felt about you. When he finished his humorous diversion, I questioned whether you could love me.”
