Page 48 of Saved By Mr. Darcy
“London.”
“You left no word.”
“There was no time.”
“No time even for a goodbye?”
“I have returned. There was no need for a goodbye. I was not leaving you.”
“You were not?”
“No.”
“Where were you?”
He knelt beside her, grasping her hands and gathering them in his own. She flinched, the contact unexpected. He looked up at her, smiling softly before beginning his tale.
“Your uncle wrote to me of Miss Lydia’s transgression, the letter arriving at dawn on the day I left - along with the letter for you, which I am afraid I took the liberty of opening in case it contained more information. He asked for my assistance, knowing from your sister that I was acquainted with Mr Wickham. He was right to do so. I rode straight to your uncle’s home to join his search. I found them easily enough.”
“Are they married?”
“Yes.”
Lizzy shook her head in disbelief; she was certain that her sister had been tricked. Could it be that Wickham had been respectable enough to marry her as soon as they had absconded? It was little comfort, for the damage had been done, but perhaps there was something salvageable about the despicable man.
“I was sure that he was not honest in his intentions. They were married when you found them?”
Darcy’s face was cold, his brow furrowed. She knew that talking of Wickham was unbearably difficult, a thorn in his side that seemed impossible to be rid of. She was only sorry it was her own family that had brought the man back into Darcy and Georgiana’s lives.
“I would not lie to you, Elizabeth. They were not, and when I found them in lodgings together no arrangements had been made. There was a suggestion – no, not suggestion, for that would imply some doubt. I could see for certain that he wasbehaving as though they were married already. I was happy to correct Wickham’s oversight and arrange the marriage myself.
“At what cost?” Lizzy asked.
“There would be no cost too great if it meant protecting your family from more scandal.”
“What did you give him? How could he be tempted to marry a girl such as Lydia? He held no true affection for her, I know that. She is a flirt, one without a considerable dowry, and certainly not made to be a wife.”
“Wickham is no husband. A pair indeed! The marriage is done. That is all that matters. And now, Wickham travels north, his new wife accompanying him, for a commission in Newcastle.”
“You bought him a commission?”
“I settled money upon him and gave him this commission in the hope that he would give your sister some semblance of a respectable life. I am a hypocrite. I am no better than him.”
“You are ten times the man he is!”
“The liberties I took were unforgivable,” Darcy muttered. “That night before I left.”
“I am no possession, Mr Darcy. You took nothing that I did not give willingly. I was as eager as you, sir. Do not undermine my affection for you by tainting what we have with comparison.”
“What do we have, Miss Elizabeth? Tell me.”
“You asked me to marry you, have you forgotten? Orhave you changed your mind? Perhaps you are questioning what use is there in marrying me now, for in your eyes I am surely dam-”
Her words were halted by the urgent, eager press of his lips against hers. She gasped, hands rising and threading through his hair, keeping him close. He kissed her furiously, his tongue sweeping against hers and his hands cradling her face. She threaded her fingers through his hair, his lower lip catching between her teeth. He groaned against her - and as suddenly as he had come upon her, he pulled back. He was breathing heavily, and when Lizzy’s eyes drifted down, she immediately snapped her eyes back up towards his face, a blush on her cheeks.
“Wait! Your sister.”
Lizzy shook her head, eager to resume that delicious kiss.
