Page 75 of The Widower of Pemberley

Both gentlemen rose, and the colonel yawned theatrically. “I shall retreat to bed, as we have an early morning. Darcy, Mrs. Darcy.” He bowed to them in turn and then left the room.

She looked at Mr. Darcy. He looked at her. She looked away, unable to meet his eyes.

He came and took her hand and led her to sit.

“It has been a day,” he said.

Elizabeth laughed and briefly glanced up at him before looking down once more. “It seems far longer than one day—must you go?”

“I must give Wickham an opportunity to apologise, and—”

Elizabeth looked up at him when he did not continue.

He frowned at his hands. “There is no shame for anyone if we can agree mutually that we do not wish to fight.”

“You feel it keenly, the sense that you will be despised by others if you do not meet him—but do not. Please, please do not risk yourself.”

“My life is not my own. It now belongs to you, amongst others.”

His eyes were soft in the candlelight.

Elizabeth’s stomach twisted.

She subtly moved closer. She could not say what she wished for, but she did hope for it.

He tilted his face towards her, moving slowly, deliberately.

Hand on her cheek.

She leaned into his palm.

He kissed her softly, his lips clinging to hers.

The kiss was endless.

Elizabeth began to lose her sense of place and forget that she was in Longbourn’s drawing room and that her parents slept nearby, along with her sisters.

All that existed was the kiss and the warm feel of Mr. Darcy’s lips, and the taste of his mouth.

When he pulled back, she moaned in unhappiness.

She longed for more.

She wanted to move even closer to him, to press her body against his, to feel more of him. But she did not dare.

He might judge her if she showed too much desire for him. He had every reason to distrust passion in a woman, to fear that it indicated licentiousness.

Elizabeth opened her eyes again and looked into his.

They were dark and intense.

He took a deep breath and pulled her hand up to kiss.

She wanted him to kiss her lips again. She wanted to find out what would happen next.

She did not dare to ask.

And then she remembered that they would go to her bedroom, with its proximity to her father’s room.