Page 66 of Her Whole Heart
“Would you walk in the garden with me?”
She had not ever known Mr. Darcy to blurt anything out before, and he appeared startled by it himself, pressing his lips together as if attempting to keep any further communications under his strict control.
Elizabeth glanced out the windows to the large gardens behind the house. “I . . .”
“It is not the season for walking in gardens, of course, but I enjoy being out in the air and thought that perhaps you might as well.”
“I do,” she concurred. “Allow me to fetch my coat.”
When she explained to the butler that Mr. Darcy had come to call, he sent word to Lady Carlisle and had Laramie accompany her at a discreet distance. Elizabeth was surprised that the footman could be spared from Amelia for such a task, but then, Amelia was safely upstairs with Jane as they worked on their music.
The air was sharp, but she hardly felt it under her thick wool coat and scarf. She breathed deeply. “It is a relief to escape the house for a moment. Thank you, Mr. Darcy.”
Mr. Darcy smiled. “The past few weeks have been . . . challenging.”
“I must thank you, I think, for your support of me. It would have been a simple thing to allow me to reap the consequences of my own actions . . .”
“Not for a gentleman,” he said, one side of his face curling up in distaste. She knew him well enough now that she understood the disdain was for the notion of such behaviour and not for her. “You were in harm’s way to protect my sister, and I am the one who caused the stir with my actions. What sort of man leaves a woman such as that to face consequences of any but the most positive kind?”
Elizabeth met his gaze. “Many men, I am afraid. Not all of them possess your sense of honour, sir.”
“Thank you,” he said softly. “You cannot know what it means to me to hear you say so, given my behaviour at our first meeting.”
She made to protest, and he lifted his hands. “I will not mention it again.”
A chill breeze tickled the bare branches of the trees, and Elizabeth lifted her face to glory in the fresh air, cold and sharp but away from stuffy parlours and crowded ballrooms. “The more I come to know you, the more I understand that you are a very good man.”
“I must confess,” he said, “my own feelings have undergone a similar transformation. The more I come to know you, the more I find to admire.” He trailed off and lifted his gaze, his eyes meeting hers. “May I . . . may I call on you?”
Elizabeth blinked. “Formally?”
He nodded, his jaw tight.
Her heart lifted as though in song. She had considered it, of course she had, but she had also done a very good job convincing herself that he was grateful but saw her only as Georgiana’s friend. He was older and more experienced in the world, he was strong and commanding, and though hecouldbe rude, he was more often kind and thoughtful. And just now, he was rather adorably flustered as he awaited her response.
“I would like that, Mr. Darcy,” she told him. She felt a flutter of excitement in her chest as she considered Mr. Darcy’s request. That he wished to call specifically to see her—it was a significant step, one that she knew the careful, sombre Mr. Darcy would never take without a serious goal in mind.
As they continued their walk through the garden, where everything lay fallow, she found herself stealing glances at Mr. Darcy, allowing herself atlast to catalogue all his handsome features. He was a very good-looking man, but not in the soft, aristocratic way—and she appreciated that more than she could say. With the knowledge of his growing affection for her, he was even more appealing.
If that was vain, so be it. She would be vain.
“I never dared to hope that you might see me as any more than your sister’s friend,” she said softly.
Mr. Darcy stopped walking and turned to face her, his expression earnest. “MissElizabeth,” he said, the emphasis on her Christian name sending a lovely shock through her, “I have come to admire and respect you more than any woman I have ever met.” He cleared his throat and looked over her shoulder. “I am not certain Ieversaw you only as my sister’s friend.”
“At first you saw me as a terribly impertinent chit, I am sure. But people have a way of surprising.”
“Indeed. I thought I knew everything, which ought to have been a sign that I knew very little. For a wise man is aware that he knows little and understands even less.”
Elizabeth chuckled. “While I like to think myself a good judge of character, I have been wrong often enough. And sometimes I am right only to have the person change.” She smiled at him impishly. “It has been known to happen.”
He reached out to take her gloved hand in his, the warmth of his skin warming hers even through the fabric and bestowed a kiss upon her wrist between the hem of her glove and her sleeve.
Her heart thrummed at the sensation of his lips upon her bare skin.
“Thank you for allowing me to call, Miss Elizabeth. I ought to return you to the house before Mr. Laramie insists. I would not like to face his wrath.”
“Nor I,” Elizabeth said with a little laugh. “He is quite formidable.”
