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“That is enough from you, Mr. Darcy,” Elizabeth said with mock exasperation. “I should love to see Jane, but I believe Fitz has adapted very well from the life of a colonel to that of a landed gentleman.”
William nodded. “That is because Fitz has always been a gentleman in the ways that truly matter.”
Elizabeth put her arms around his waist. “Just as you have always been principled in every way that matters.”
“Thank you, my dear,” her husband murmured.
She had embarrassed him. Elizabeth sighed. “I have thought on it a good deal, you know.”
“What is that?” William asked, holding her a little closer.
“A gentleman’s honor.”
“Really?” he asked, a bit of surprise in the question. “And what have you determined?”
“When I arrived in London,” she began to say but stopped when William’s arms stiffened. “Are you well?”
“Must we speak of that day, Elizabeth?”
She heard William’s pain and tightened her hold on his hand before lacing her fingers through his. “You did not act as a gentleman of honor would, my dear.”
“I beg your pardon?” he asked abruptly.
She laughed lightly. “You know you did not, dearest, but this is not a rebuke.”
He relaxed somewhat at her reassurance. “You are telling me I am not honorable. Am I meant to take that as praise?”
“Allow me to finish, please.”
William complied.
“A gentleman’s honor required that you assist me. That you send for a physician, send for my father or uncle, do what was needed to see me safe and then see me gone. It requires that all the proprieties are followed to the letter because that is what it takes to satisfy one’s honor. But in the end, it would have been your safety that was assured and your reputation that was protected—not mine.”
Now there was guilt. “Perhaps, but I ought to have included Mrs. Spencer from the first.”
“You did not know how she would respond,” Elizabeth replied gently.
William shook his head. “You give me too much credit, Elizabeth. It was unconsciously done. It took your father and Sir William thinking up a dozen possible matches for you before I could admit that I loved you. I was rather blind to it all.”
Elizabeth smiled impishly. “Well, of course you were,” she said cheerfully. “You do not care for disorder, and there is nothing so disorderly as falling in love.”
“And I did fall, as you say. Long before I realized it.” He turned to her. “Did you know that I was in love with you?”
She had felt her own love but had not been sure of his. “Well, of course,” she said airily. “After all, you did clear away my chamber pot.”
William barked out a laugh. “I would make a horrible servant. I had no idea what to do with it.”
Elizabeth hummed happily. He was focused on her now and not last autumn. “Perhaps our London staff deserves a raise.”
“Already done, my dear,” William replied.
Elizabeth gazed directly into his eyes and returned to her point. “You are not merely an honorable gentleman, William. You are a great deal more.” She lifted a hand to his cheek. “You acted, always, in what you believed to be my best interests, even when they were not your own. That is true honor, not the ridiculous kind that expects men to fight duels over trifles.”
“I suppose,” he said, glancing out the window at the late spring sunshine before returning his gaze to her. “But thinking on it now, I may have kept you close because I could not bear to let you go. I wanted you bound to me. I wanted a way to marry you without denying my parents’ expectations. That was not honorable.”
Elizabeth looked up into her husband’s face. He had done that, it was true. But William had also acted to preserve her reputation and thus her ability to choose. He might tell himself he would have bound her to him, but Elizabeth never doubted that had she wished it, William would have let her go. She could have declined his proposal. She laughed at herself. She could have, but she never would.
“For most men, honor is a very shallow thing,” Elizabeth said, reaching up to touch his cheek. “I far prefer love.”
William’s eyes met hers with a gaze so intense that she began to tremble.
“As do I,” he said, and gathered her into his arms.
The End
