Page 86 of Master of Himself

Her eyes flew open in shock.

“Unfortunately, he didn’t warn me about Lydia’s danger.”

“But you and Mr Bingley recovered her.”

“Not precisely. Thanks to your letter, we found her but couldn’t convince her to come away with us. Your father recovered her himself.”

“Without your assistance, Papa would have had no way of finding where they had gone.”

“Perhaps, but I couldn’t bear for you to be harmed by my failure to disclose Wickham’s entire sordid history. My silence was meant to protect Georgiana, but it placed you and your family in grave danger.”

She remained quiet as she considered what she had learned. “And now, you’re Mr Darcy again?”

He nodded. “That happened right after we left your uncle’s house on Wednesday night. Charles and I shook hands on a job well done, and in the next instant, we switched back to our true forms.”

She pursed her lips while studying his face. “If that were true, that would mean that…I dined beside you at every meal at Netherfield,” she said, her focus drifting off. “And I danced with Mr Bingley that night.”

He suspected she was still attempting to make sense of things. “I asked him to apologise for me, because I didn’t want you to have a poor opinion of me.”

“And when you danced with me at the assembly, that was really Mr Bingley,” she said, her eyes still unfocused.

“Yes, he acted on my behalf, and I did the same by dancing twice with your sister. I promised him to dance every set as penance for my rude behaviour at the first assembly.”

When she made no reply, he continued, “I did have the pleasure of dancing one set with you that night, but I appeared to all the world as Charles Bingley.”

She wearily shook her head. “I hardly know what to say.”

He hoped that she had finally accepted his outlandish story. “I felt exactly the same when you walked into the breakfast parlour that morning, splattered with mud and looking like the most bewitching creature I’d ever beheld. I’ve been enchanted ever since that moment.”

A rosy glow suffused her face. “But you couldn’t tell me that the man I thought was Mr Bingley was really you.”

He recalled his mistakes. “I slipped on a few occasions, but Charles and I agreed at the outset that no one should ever learn of our inexplicable dilemma. I still intend to keep it private, but if you are ever to trust me, there can be no secrets between us.”

“And now you want to court me,” she said with a half-smile.

This wasn’t precisely true. “I would prefer to marry you, but since your father withheld his consent, I’ll honour his wishes for a courtship.”

She nodded thoughtfully, then released a great sigh. “You can’t imagine how relieved I am, Mr Darcy. I couldn’t help forming a tendre for Mr Bingley, who saw to my every need and went out of his way to comfort and protect me. I believed myself to be the worst sister in the world, pining for the same charming man that Jane loved.”

His heart leapt with delight. “You pined for me?”

She pressed her hands to her flaming cheeks. “And when Mr Bingley wrote to Jane to beg her pardon for his extended absence, I was happy for her, but…oh, so wretched for myself. Of course, I would never consider supplanting my beloved sister, and resolved then to never marry.”

Charmed by this forthright confession, he reached for her hand. “Will you marry the man who loves you?” he said, kissing her hand. Then added, “When your father allows it, of course.”

“With the greatest pleasure, Mr Darcy,” she said, now beaming brightly.

“Well then, I shall hope that ours will be a brief courtship.”

“You’re quite optimistic to believe that my family’s disgrace can be resolved so quickly.”

Optimism had never been Darcy’s foremost trait, but he now had an abundance of it. “I have every hope that it shall. May I also hope that you will allow me to steal a kiss from you?”

She gazed at him with those dark, beguiling eyes. “If a kiss is allowed, then it can’t be stolen.”

Charmed by her quick wit, he pulled her closer. “I’ll rely on your generosity.”

She offered her lips, and he kissed her like a starving man, yearning for more. “My dearest Elizabeth.” Embracing her tightly, he vowed to never fail her again.