Elizabeth’s mouth went dry. With an attempt at control, she said with a degree of desperation, “I believe you may feel quite secure in your welcome, but we do face a problem, sir, in that everyone aware of our need for chaperonage is presently in London.”
He smiled meaningfully. “Yes, I am quite aware of that; as I called on the Gardiners yesterday when I was in town.”
“Ah. I must assume you are very brave, then, to dare to approach me,” she said lightly, her heart pounding so fiercely she felt sure he must be able to hear it.
“Hardly brave, my dearest. Remember that, having already lost my heart to you, I have nothing left to lose.” He touched her cheek lightly with his fingertips, then moved them lightly along her hairline and down the sensitive skin of her neck. “After all, the worst I could face would be your father, who would demand that I marry you immediately, to which I would say…” he paused, his eyes fixed on his fingers as they continued to trace their way agonizingly slowly along the line of her exposed collarbone, “…would tomorrow be soon enough, because if not…” His lips found their way to a delicate caress of her neck. “…I am quite at leisure this afternoon.”
Aroused to the point of distraction by his touch, she gave a small, inarticulate moan, and put her hands to his shoulders to steady herself. Stirred even further by this encouragement, Darcy continued his exploration of her arched neck and the crevices of her shoulders with his lips until, unable to withstand his need any longer, he sought her mouth with his own.
The delicate control Darcy had shown in touching her earlier dissolved in the increasing urgency of his kisses. She shivered as his hand stroked down her back, and, arching her body against his, surrendered to the demands of his mouth. Her hands crept up around his neck, then buried themselves in his hair. He held her tightly, inflamed by the depth of her response. The passion her touch evoked in him went beyond his furthest imaginings.
As he turned the attention of his lips to her face, Elizabeth could not stop herself from whispering his name with the deepest of longing. Feeling completely undone by the passion he had awakened in her, she could only abandon herself to the pleasure his touch induced in her with no thought for the future.
With a groan, Darcy lifted his lips and pulled her head against his shoulder. Burying his face in her hair, he whispered, “You are everything I have ever dreamed of.”
Elizabeth, trembling, found herself leaning against him for support as she sought, with no great success, to collect herself.
Within the security of Darcy’s arms, Elizabeth struggled to recover from the uncontrollable feelings his kisses had aroused in her. She was all too aware it was only his self-restraint that had prevented the situation from going any further beyond the bounds of propriety than it already had. With some discomfiture, she said, “Well, Mr. Darcy, we seem to have obtained evidence which suggests that any inadequacies in your self-control have been greatly overrated.”
“I endeavor to keep surprising you,” he said, a slight unsteadiness in his voice betraying the battle he was fighting. “I hope that I did not… alarm you with my attentions.”
“I am far more embarrassed than alarmed, and I certainly do not hold you responsible for that,” she said. She had never allowed him just to hold her before, and she was astonished by the contentment she felt in his arms.
He kissed her hair. “My dearest Elizabeth, if you only knew how very gratifying and reassuring your behavior is to me, you might feel less embarrassed—you might even look upon it as a charitable effort on your part.”
“An excellent idea!” Elizabeth laughed, looking up at him, but making no move to leave his arms. “Having failed at my studies of patience and self-control, I should begin work on a new virtue, and charity—at least by your definition of it!—seems to be something I manage to practice whether I intend to or not.”
“You may practice on me to your heart’s content, Miss Bennet, so long as you wait until my self-control is at least slightly more in evidence than it is at this moment.”
She smiled. “I may play with fire, sir, but I try to steer clear of bonfires.” Some of his earlier words came back to her. “But I would hope you do not stand in any particular need of charitable reassurance from me.”
He was silent for a moment, but she could feel his tension. “Elizabeth, please recall that only a few months ago you considered me the last man of your acquaintance you could be prevailed upon to marry. While evidence indicates your opinion of me has improved—I would hope that by now I would rate above, say, Mr. Collins as a marital partner—reassurance is always welcome, and often needed.”
“Must you remember so well everything I said that awful day?” Elizabeth asked with chagrin.
He allowed his hands to caress her for a moment. “Please do not distress yourself over the past, my dearest; some of your words have proved quite memorable, but I seem to recall saying more than my share of such words!”
“Then I must strive for even more memorable ones to suit the present situation.”
He gave the slight smile which always tugged at her heart. “I am all ears, my sweetest Elizabeth.”
She pulled away from him just far enough that she could look into his eyes. “Is this sufficiently memorable?” she said, her heart beating rapidly. “Mr. Darcy, I would be delighted and most honored to become your wife.”
His first reaction was disbelief, for since his overconfidence in Kent, he had never allowed himself to fully believe he would ever earn her consent. This was followed immediately by a feeling of heartfelt delight such as he had never before felt. She will be mine! he thought. She will make me complete again. He swallowed hard as an image from his dreams came to him—Elizabeth, her eyes full of passion, in his bed and in his arms—merging with the sensation of the very real woman he held in his arms. He said unsteadily, “I believe the traditional response is to tell you that you have made me the happiest of men, but even those words cannot do justice to how very, very happy you have made me.”
“Well, let us not defy tradition, although, were we to be strictly traditional, I should have waited to be asked before supplying my answer!”
Taking her face between his hands, he kissed her deeply and possessively, the kind of kiss that claims a bond rather than overwhelms with passion. “Elizabeth, my own, so long as you never leave me, I will say anything you wish, but I believe you are well aware of my hopes and wishes.”
“There is nothing you need to say, Fitzwilliam,” she said softly, allowing herself the pleasure of touching his cheek lightly.
His eyes ignited with a familiar look, and she could see the battle he was fighting with himself. “There is one more thing…” he began, then faltered as Elizabeth, smiling provocatively, slid her arms around his neck, “…which we can discuss later,” he concluded in a somewhat strangled voice as he responded in the only possible way.
Had Elizabeth thought his passion would be in some way more controlled with his better understanding of her regard for him, she would have had to revise that opinion quite rapidly as his fiery kisses burned her lips with unrestrained ardor. She found that what had begun with an affectionate and intimate gesture on her part rapidly turned into a conflagration in which her passion rose to meet his. She felt lost in a flood of sensation as he explored her mouth, and, as he moved his attention to her face and her neck, she found herself arching her head back to allow further liberties.
Darcy, having unwisely allowed himself to imagine his nights with Elizabeth, found those thoughts had wrought havoc with his self-restraint. He felt all resolve melt as Elizabeth gave into the temptation to allow her fingers to roam through his hair and over the exposed skin of his neck. His lips fully occupied with investigating the hollows over her collarbone, he found his hands seeking to explore the gentle curves of her spine.