Page 159 of Mr. Darcy Comes to Town

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Caroline looked toward an opening door as she crossed the well-lit entrance hall at Netherfield. The door led to the rear of the house. She spied Douglas closing the door and stopped to smile at him. Her smile turned to a worried frown, and her heart leapt into her throat.

“What is this?” she demanded, taking a few steps in his direction. “What has occurred to give you that bruise?”

The colonel placed his bicorn under his arm, tugged off his gloves, and gingerly touched his chin and cheek with his bare hand. “Is it horrid? It feels like the devil.”

“You need a cold compress on that,” Caroline said, breathing deeply a few times in an attempt to calm her racing heart. “Your uniform is dirty as well. Did your assailant knock you down?”

“He did,” the colonel admitted. His lips twisted into an odd grin. “I confess, I wished him to do just that.”

Caroline placed her hands on her hips and glared fiercely at him. “Who did you wish to hit you?”

He raised his eyebrow in a rakish manner and said, “Wickham,” with relish.

“Wickham?”

“He ought not to strike a superior officer, you know,” he said, chuckling and then hissing a little in response to the discomfort his humor caused him.

“I have no patience with your pain,” Caroline said, shaking her head. “Go upstairs and get Laman to doctor you.”

Douglas unexpectedly took hold of her upper arm in a gentle grip and leaned down to whisper in her ear, “I would much prefer to be nursed by you, Caroline.”

His warm breath stirred the hairs on the nape of her neck, producing delightful shivers over her shoulders. She sighed in pleasure.

“You forget yourself, sir,” Caroline whispered. His knowing chuckle made her feel dizzy. She struggled to regain the even tone of her mind. “Uh…you have dirt on your clothes.”

“Indeed,” he murmured. Before pulling away, Douglas pressed his cheek against hers. “I love you, Caroline. Will you marry me?”

With knees suddenly gone weak, Caroline pulled back a little and baldly asked, “Why?”

He appeared puzzled, his brows pulling together. “Why?”

“Why do you love me?”

He lost his frown and took hold of both her hands. “Caroline, you are an intelligent, beautiful woman, who knows her own mind.”

“Some people might believe me incapable of loving anyone,” she replied, smarting inside at this truth.

“That is patently untrue,” he asserted. Then he kissed the back of her hands. “You love your family, and you love Basile. Every time you speak of your maid, I hear the affection you have for her.” He rubbed his thumbs over the back of her hands. “I hope…nay…I pray… you will find it in you to love me.”

Caroline bit her lip and gently tugged her hands out of his. Douglas glanced around the entrance hall and cursed beneath his breath.

“I have chosen a damnable place to declare myself, have I not?” He took her elbow and drew her across the hall and through the open door into the small receiving room with the botanical tree paintings. No lamps had been it in here, so he left her to retrieve a lamp from the side table in in the entrance hall. He brought it to the mantel and lit four new candles from it. Douglas led her to stand beside the unlit fireplace so they could see each other within the glow of the candles and lamp.

He clasped both hands again. “Caroline, I know I am not a grand person, or a wealthy man, but I have ambition. I will not deny that I wish to use your inheritance to back my political career, but I promise you I will not squander it. Though my income does not match yours, it will keep us in relative comfort should my political aspirations come to naught. I promise to love you, always, in whatever circumstance.”

Caroline steeled herself and asked the difficult question weighing down her heart. “If I had no money, would you still love me?”

Douglas’ lips descended and touched hers. “Yes, my darling,” he whispered against her lips before he kissed her.

She never dreamed a proper kiss between a man and woman would feel like this. Just as she began to properly respond, Douglas pulled back. He pressed his forehead to hers as he breathed raggedly.

“Goodness,” she whispered. “I am relieved. And, your face…did that hurt?”

Douglas grinned and winced. “Not as much as smiling.”

Caroline, not known for her reserve, took one of his hands in both of hers and declared herself. “Douglas, I do love you. I will marry you. We will do great things together.”