“Is that how you would hit Collins?” Fitz whispered as he leaned forward.
Darcy saw red and the next punch connected with his cousin’s jaw causing him to stumble backward a few steps. The fight began in earnest, though Darcy was unable to land another hit as clear as the first. The Colonel allowed him to spend his emotions and energy, though Fitz was able to get a few good licks in himself, especially once the fight turned into a wrestling match.
“What is the meaning of this?” Lady Catherine’s voice bellowed from the top of the steps leading into the garden. “I have not seen either of you behave in this manner since you were children. Fitzwilliam, I expect such displays from you, but, Darcy, I am ashamed of you!” She brought her cane down so hard to emphasize her point there was fear it might splinter. “Look at you! Rolling about in the dirt like a pair of swine, and on Easter no less. You are unsuited for company. I should send you to your rooms like a pair of delinquent children.”
The men gathered their clothing and climbed the stairs, heads low.
“What would your fathers say?” Her ladyship continued berating them. “I have half a mind to write to my brother and tell him of your behaviour.”
“Forgive us, Lady Catherine,” Fitz said as he bowed deeply before her. “It was simply a spirited argument.”
“Spirited argument, indeed! Over what?”
“Horses,” Darcy replied quickly.
“Horses?” Lady Catherine shook her head and looked at each of them suspiciously. “I was correct. You are behaving like a pair of ill-bred children. Go to your rooms.” She walked away, her cane loudly announcing her steps.
Fitz turned and winked at Darcy before they hurried up the back stairs.
***********
Darcy paced a stretch of the meadow, always keeping the path to the parsonage in sight. Elizabeth had not come Monday or Tuesday morning at daybreak. He had forced himself to wait until he saw the rector ambling up the path to Rosings before he raced from the manor in hopes of finding her here. She told Fitz she intended to visit the Abernathy home to-day. Could Collins have found a way to stop her?
A bird took flight from the direction of Hunsford and Darcy spun about to find her standing there. She still wore that blasted bonnet with the veil, and he wanted to pull it from her head and tear the veil until it was in shreds. Instead, he stood still and waited for her to approach, his control not what he would want it to be.
A smile tugged at the corner of her lips as she approached and raised a hand to brush gently over the bruise upon his cheek. “Did you find this necessary?”
His hand came up to cover hers and he turned his head to place kisses upon the palm of her glove. “It was my cousin’s idea.”
“Anne?” she asked. Her amusement lifted her words and his spirit.
“Were you not aware of her penchant for fisticuffs?” He placed her hand upon his arm and began walking toward the Abernathy home.
“I always suspected there was more to Anne than could be seen.”
Darcy was impatient to arrive at their destination and more so to be alone with her. He had to keep reminding himself to slow his pace and to smile. Finally, they were there, but they then had to entertain the elderly widow until she drifted off to sleep. Her eyes were barely closed when Darcy stood and, taking Elizabeth’s hand in his, escorted her from the room. Genie chuckled behind them but did not follow.
Darcy was already kissing her as the door closed behind them. He removed the bonnet and threw it mindlessly toward the settee. At the full sight of her bruises, areas beginning to turn a sickly yellow-green though the majority remained bluish-purple, he hesitated. Holding her as though she might shatter should he grip too hard, he placed feathery kisses over the discoloured skin.
Neither spoke as they disrobed one another and made their way toward the bed. Darcy entered her gently, holding reign over his passions and whispering apologies for being the cause of her injuries. Elizabeth attempted to reassure him with her body when her words went unheeded. He loved her as thoroughly as he knew how, trying to make her every pain worth the cost and only finding his release when tears of ecstasy flowed from her eyes.
As she fell asleep against him, his mind searched for any possible way to keep her at his side. Absent-mindedly, he stroked her hair as he considered properties he owned where they could hide from the world. Deep in his heart, he knew she would never agree, but the very idea of her returning to Collins was like a knife in his chest. He attempted to argue his point, imagining her responses. Each reason was negated increasing the impotence he felt. She had married to save her family. To leave Collins would undo all she had sacrificed. The hopelessness of their situation finally led him to wake her with soft kisses so that he might show her how passionately he loved her again before they were forced to part.
*CHAPTER FOURTEEN*
Friday morning, Elizabeth’s steps leading to the meadow were not as quick or joyful. This would be their last day together for any certain length of time and, to make matters worse, her mind was filled with thoughts of her sister. Mr. Collins had given her a letter from Jane which she supposed had been received sometime that week. Having done everything she could think to do which would prove her a submissive wife, he had lifted her fast Wednesday morning.
Going without would not have been so terrible, had he not forced her to attend him during dinner so that he might review her activities each day. Though this was a habit he had begun from the day they married, it had been some time since she had thought of how annoying it was, but being forced to account for every minute of her day while he enjoyed some of her favourite meals had brought those feelings back. She began to wonder if he had planned it to be thus, but then remembered it was she who set the menus a week in advance.
While breaking their fast that Friday, and just before he excused himself to ready for his time with Lady Catherine, Mr. Collins withdrew a sealed missive from his pocket and set it before her. “You see? The Lord recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings thou are come to trust.”
Tentatively, she had reached out a hand toward it, but he covered it with his own as his brow rose in expectation. Elizabeth searched her mind, knowing he had quoted Ruth but not remembering the passage. Finally, the verse came to her and she replied. “Let me find favour in thy sight, my lord.”
A smirk lifted the corner of his lips and he removed his hand from the treasured letter. He placed a kiss upon her cheek, gathered his tea, and left the room. Elizabeth had removed to her parlour where she hoped to read Jane’s letter in peace. Unfortunately, her sister’s tone only brought more distress. Jane clearly remained heart-broken.
As she stepped into the meadow, Elizabeth removed her bonnet and lifted her face to feel the warmth of the sun. She was unsurprised when she felt Darcy’s arms encircle her and his lips press against hers. She lost herself in him until he drew away and smiled down at her.
“I have missed you,” he murmured as he leaned forward and placed soft kisses over her cheeks.
“No less than I missed you.” She lifted her lips for him to claim them once more.
At last, they broke apart and he placed her hand on his arm so that they could continue on their way. They walked in silence, Elizabeth’s thoughts once more travelling to poor Jane.
Darcy’s hand covered hers. “You are deep in thought to-day, my love. I beg you not to think of this being our last day together. I have every intention of returning as often as I dare.”
“It is not that,” she smiled, “not completely. I have heard from Jane.”
She did not miss his frown, but he said nothing.
“She has now returned to Longbourn. I am certain Mama has begun lamenting Mr. Bingley’s continued absence which only adds to dear Jane’s unhappiness.”
“And she continues to hold him in esteem?” His voice was thick, as though he were attempting to hide some deep emotion.
Elizabeth watched him closer. “
Yes.”
Abernathy House came into view and Darcy’s pace increased. Elizabeth could tell he was leaving something unsaid and she slowed, pulling upon his arm.
“There is something you know.” The realization struck her, and her mind turned to that bitter period after she had arrived in Hunsford when she was certain Bingley’s friend had been in league with his sisters to separate him from Jane. She pulled her hand from his arm. “You … I was right?”
“Elizabeth, please,” Darcy began, but she backed away from him.
“How could you? What gave you the right to come between them?” She wanted to scream at him or strike out.
His eyes darted about just before he grasped her hand in his and pulled her toward the house. “Can we not discuss this inside?”
She tried to pull her hand from his, but he was far stronger and more determined to avoid attention. Elizabeth found she no longer cared if any should see them. “Why? Will you not tell me why you wished to hurt her?”
This stopped him and he released her hand only to grab her arms and pull her toward him. “You think me capable of such a thing? I thought you knew me better.” He released one arm but held the other as he pulled her toward the widow’s home.
“Release me,” Elizabeth hissed. His mannerisms were too like Mr. Collins, always leading her and demanding this or the other.
“Not until you see sense,” he muttered as they climbed the stairs to the front door.
Genie opened the door, her eyes wide.
“Forgive us, Genie, there is much we must discuss.” Darcy pushed past the woman, dragging Elizabeth behind him though she struggled. When they reached the stairs, he bent and lifted her over his shoulder before continuing directly to the bedroom they had used before. With the door closed and locked behind them, he lowered her to the settee.
“How dare …”
“You gave me no choice, Elizabeth.” He sat beside her, stretching an arm in front of her to grasp the side of the seat so that she could not stand. “Will you see reason and hear what I have to say?”
She could tell her face was red. Her arms were crossed before her and she could almost hear Jane rebuking her for losing her temper. With great effort, she lowered her arms and nodded once.
Darcy’s expression showed his doubt, but he moved his hand. He seemed about to speak, but then jumped up and paced the width of the room before coming to a stop before her.
“Before I begin, I must explain something of my friend which you might find distasteful.”
Elizabeth’s frown deepened and worry niggled at her resolve.
“I have often seen him in love before. Since the first we met, he has had a tendency to fall for one young lady or another, most of whom resembled your sister in some way. It was during the ball at Netherfield that I became aware of … certain expectations which were rising in the neighbourhood. After you left, I was approached by Sir William who complimented our dancing and spoke of witnessing it again when a certain desirable event would take place, upon which he glanced meaningfully toward your sister and my friend.
“From that moment I observed my friend’s behaviour attentively; and I could then perceive that his partiality for Miss Bennet was beyond what I had ever witnessed in him. Your sister I also watched. Her look and manners were open, cheerful, and engaging as ever, but without any symptom of peculiar regard, and I remained convinced from the evening’s scrutiny, that though she received his attentions with pleasure, she did not invite them by any participation of sentiment.”
Unable to remain silent, Elizabeth cried out against him. “So, you would divide them, based upon your own limited observations, exposing one to the censure of the world for caprice and instability, and the other to its derision for disappointed hopes, and involving them both in misery of the acutest kind.”
Darcy bowed his head. “Your superior knowledge of your sister requires that I was wrong in my estimation of her. But I shall not scruple to assert, that the serenity of your sister’s countenance and air was such as might have given the most acute observer a conviction that, however amiable her temper, her heart was not likely to be easily touched.”
Her eyes narrowed as she watched him nervously pace before her once more. “You wished her to be indifferent!”
“I will not deny it.” Darcy sat beside her, but she quickly stood and took his place moving about the room. “I am certain I did not believe her to be indifferent because I wished it; I believed it on impartial conviction, as truly as I wished it in reason.”
“Why?” She stood before him, her hands upon her hips as she glared at him.
“Elizabeth, please,” he begged, but she would not relent. His shoulders slouched as he submitted to her will. “It pains me to offend you, but I have already mentioned your family’s objectionable situation. This was nothing in comparison to that total want of propriety so frequently, so almost uniformly betrayed by your mother, by your three younger sisters, and occasionally even by your father.”
She shook her head, anger the only thing keeping her tears at bay. “You must congratulate yourself, sir, that I was already married when you could no longer resist my temptation. How well it worked for you that I come from such lowly stock that I would agree to such a despicable relationship.”
Turning on her heel, she moved toward the door but had not taken more than three steps before he had captured her in his arms and pressed her back to his chest. “You and Miss Bennet have never done anything to diminish you in my eyes. I have not entered into this arrangement to belittle you, Elizabeth.” She struggled but he held her tighter. “You begged me to tell you why and I have. I do not hold to those ideas which drove my actions then. I wrote to Bingley and told him Miss Bennet was in town, but Miss Bingley was reluctant to reveal the direction and by the time she did, your sister was no longer there.”
“You wrote to him?” Elizabeth ceased her struggles.
“Yes. I had intended on waiting until I returned to London, but Fitz was insistent that I allow them to find their own way.” He turned her to face him. “I plan to visit Bingley. I will explain my actions and beg him for his forgiveness. Elizabeth, I swear I will do everything within my power to restore him to your sister’s side, should that still be his wish.”
The tears she had suppressed flooded her eyes and she threw her arms about his neck. “You were trying to reunite them?”
“I did not wish to increase your expectations for fear their feelings had changed.”
Elizabeth leaned back to look him in the eye. “But why?”
“First, to undo a wrong. I should never have interfered. But, most importantly, it was what you desired.”
A lump formed in Elizabeth’s throat and she sobbed. “You love me.”
“Most ardently.” Darcy leaned forward and claimed her lips with his own. He picked her up, not breaking their connection, and carried her to the bed.
***********
A smile danced about the corners of Anne’s mouth as she snapped the ribbons and the horses pulled away from the parsonage. “I received a letter from Darcy.” She held out the paper and Elizabeth snatched it from her hand causing her to laugh. “I fear he has had to leave London.”
No longer intent on the conversation, Elizabeth unfolded the sheet and savoured his words. Though the letter was addressed to his cousin, she could tell what was directed to her. The fact that Anne had been willing to assist them in this manner meant more than she could ever express. The beginning was typical of a letter to a dear cousin, passing along family well-being and wishes for continued health. It was what came next which caused her heart to beat a little faster.
“Though I wish to be with you, I find I must leave London for a time. I will journey to Hertfordshire again with Mr. Bingley. He has decided to make another attempt at being a landowner, and I have agreed to accompany him that I might set right what I muddled miserably the first time in the vicinity.”
A laugh escaped her, and she read further. “I have
assured him of our welcome, though I fear being proven wrong. Perhaps you could ask your friend to send word that the natives might be persuaded to lower their weapons upon sight of us. But I fear she might take some pleasure in a comeuppance which is probably overdue for both Bingley and myself.”
Another giggle broke forth and she turned toward her friend. “Please assure Darcy that I will write to Jane and my father, but I fear they will have already arrived before the missives announcing their approach are received.”
Anne nodded, and they continued on while Elizabeth finished reading.
“I will end now as I must see to a few business matters before we can depart. May I simply say that I miss you dearly and count the days until we will be in company again. Your faithful servant, William.”
Carefully, she refolded the letter and returned it to Anne. “He did not say when they will leave.”
“No, but knowing Darcy as I do, it will not be long. Should you wish, I will post the letters to your sister and father.” Anne slowed the horses as they rounded the bend near Abernathy House. “I believe you are correct in your estimation. Should you allow Mr. Collins to post them, Darcy might have been and returned from Hertfordshire before they are received.”
Elizabeth had long suspected Mr. Collins of managing her mail in some manner. When she found an unsent letter she had written the week before Darcy left for London, her fears were confirmed. Since then, Anne had agreed to help her send out her correspondence. She still left missives for the rector to post, but they contained nothing of great importance.
“If you do not mind, I will write the letters while you and Genie visit.”
“Of course. I will post them after dropping you at the parsonage, before I return to Rosings.”
The lad whom Genie employed stepped out from the side of the house and took the reins from Anne before helping the ladies to climb down from the phaeton. Their hostess was already standing at the front door when they climbed the steps.
Mrs Collins' Lover Page 18
