The Road to Pemberley (4 page)

Elizabeth walked backward along the trail, teasingly motioning for him to follow. “My family is accustomed to my being late, and Mr. Bingley will not complain about more time with Jane.”

Darcy folded his arms across his chest and gave her his sternest look. “I insist, Elizabeth. Do not play games today.” The controlled cadences of his voice indicated his irritation.

“Games?” Her voice lost its playfulness. “It is not a game, Fitzwilliam. When I wish to share something important with you, it is
not a game. Not an hour ago, you declared that in our life together we would be partners. You asked to know more of me, but at your first chance to do so, you shun the opportunity.”

“I have a responsibility to Bingley, and I gave my word to your father that we would return before the afternoon meal.”

She shook her head, willing his words away. “I absolve you of fault for my tardiness. Return to Longbourn and your appointments. I shall find my own way.”

“Elizabeth, be reasonable,” he pleaded. “I will not leave you alone. A gentleman would never do so.”

She laughed but it was a bitter sound. “Have no worry, Mr. Darcy. As you so eloquently expressed at Rosings, my connections make me inferior. I am not a lady. You have recognized the degradation of your association with me. Of my family obstacles.” Tears stung her eyes. Elizabeth turned on her heel and strode away.

“Be that way!” he shouted to her retreating form. Frustrated, he returned to the waiting carriage. “If she thinks that I will chase after her,” he growled under his breath, “she has another think coming.”

Elizabeth rushed forward, desperate to put space between her and the most infuriating man that she had ever known. Thoughts of him—of his demanding tone—spurred her on. She had expected pangs of anguish, but only annoyance arrived. Ignoring her tears, she broke into a run.

Darcy sat, impatiently waiting for her return.
What if that trail is not a dead end?
he asked himself.
Then I am sitting here, making an even bigger fool of myself
. Reluctantly, he stepped to the ground. Taking a deep breath to regain his composure, he started off at a leisurely
pace along the trail Elizabeth had followed. He would not run after her. Elizabeth was quite capable of handling the uneven terrain and the encroaching foliage, which narrowed the path. But then the path became even narrower.
Is this even passable?
he wondered as he pushed a low-hanging branch aside.

Then he saw her, standing perfectly still. Her back to him. Instantly, he regretted their argument. She had acted impetuously, but that was no reason that they should argue. “Elizabeth,” he said softly, stepping into the small clearing.

She refused to acknowledge him. Her anger, obviously, remained.

“I am sorry that we had words. I was insensitive to what you tried to tell me.” He edged forward. She remained eerily still. Darcy circled to her side. “Please, Elizabeth, can you not forgive me? We should be celebrating our happiness.”

By now, he was in a position to see her profile. Dried tear tracks showed, but something else remained. Fear. Pure fear. Carefully, he examined her whole body. Every nerve was on alert. “What is it, sweetheart?” But her answer never came. Elizabeth did not even breathe. Then he saw it. Darcy swallowed his own fear. “Do not move!” he rasped.

Her right foot rested at an awkward angle in a rabbit's hole. That was a problem, but not the crisis that had sent his blood racing. “Elizabeth,” he whispered, “I will get you out of this.”

She did not respond, but he saw hope flicker in her eyes.

“Sweetheart, without moving your foot, I need for you to loosen your cloak's hook. I cannot chance that your garment will catch one of the snakes against your leg.” She had stepped into a hibernating
nest of adders. He could see three moving slowly about her half boot. Their backs' brown zigzag patterns and their large heads clearly identified their species. “Can you do that for me?”

She barely breathed, but he heard her nevertheless. “I am frightened.”

“I know, love.” He slowly removed his greatcoat, draping it over a nearby branch. “But I cannot do this alone. Together, we are invincible. Unfasten the cloak, and hold it until I tell you to let it drop. Do you understand?”

Elizabeth gave the slightest nod and then slowly lifted her arms. When her hands stilled, Darcy inched forward. “When I tell you to do so, drop the cloak from your shoulders. It will cover the two by the hole's opening.” Darcy inhaled slowly. “I will jerk you free before the one by your boot strikes.” Darcy edged within inches of her. “I love you, Elizabeth,” he whispered. “On three, you will drop the cloak. One. Two. Three.”

Darcy saw it all in slow motion. The dark blue cloak slithered from her shoulders, covering the two smaller adders on her left as he tossed Elizabeth over his shoulder. The snake resting on her boot's toe fell back into the hole, but Darcy had not seen the fourth one hidden under her skirt's hem. When it struck his Hessian boots, the impact surprised him, but he did not pause to inspect the damage. Ignoring the brambles tearing at his jacket, he ran some fifteen meters along the path before he stopped suddenly and clutched Elizabeth to him. “Tell me you are well!” he demanded as his hands traced her face and arms. “Did it strike you? The adder?” he pleaded.

Elizabeth sobbed, but other than a few scratches on her face, he saw no wounds. “Your legs?” he begged. “Did the adder strike your legs?” he ground out the words.

“No,” she wept. “You saved me.” Elizabeth collapsed against him, and Darcy gulped for air.

“My God!” His hands shook as he stroked her back. “I could have lost you.”

“I am sorry,” she moaned. “I was silly. Oh, God, Fitzwilliam, I am sorry.”

Darcy wiped her tears away with his thumbs. “As long as you are unhurt.” He kissed her forehead and cuddled her again. After a few minutes, Darcy moved a bit away from her. “Stay here. Let me retrieve my coat and your wrap.”

“Leave the cloak.” Elizabeth looked warily down the trail, as if she expected an army of snakes to have followed them.

Darcy examined her face closely. “Are you sure?”

“I cannot bear it, Fitzwilliam. I would feel as if the snakes crawled on me.” She shivered.

Darcy nodded. “I will retrieve the cloak, and you can donate it to someone in need. I will buy you a new one as a wedding gift.” He strode away. Seconds later, he returned, placing his coat over her shoulders. “Can you walk?”

“I am not sure. I turned my ankle.”

Before scooping her into his arms, Darcy draped the cloak over a bush. “You will allow me to tend to my future wife,” he announced as he carried Elizabeth along the trail.

She laced her arms about his neck and kissed Darcy's cheek. “I could become accustomed to such luxuries, Mr. Darcy.”

“If this is what it takes to keep you safe, then I will gladly persevere.” He lifted her into the curricle's seat. “May I have a kiss for my efforts?” He cupped her chin in his large palm.

“If that is what it takes to keep you happy, then I will gladly persevere.” She leaned forward to touch his waiting lips with hers.

Darcy winked at her. “That it is, my love.” Then he disappeared into the underbrush to retrieve her cloak, which he folded carefully
and stuffed in the small trunk under the curricle's seat. “Let me take you home.”

“You were lucky,” Charles Bingley observed as he examined the mark on Darcy's boot. “It did not penetrate the leather.” They had called on the local vicar to make arrangements for their separate ceremonies. Now, they relaxed together in Bingley's study.

Charles and Jane Bennet were both part of Mr. Pinncatch's congregation. The man would call their banns two more times before their ceremony. “Mrs. Bennet must be beside herself to have three daughters married within such a short time,” the vicar had observed as he recorded Darcy's information in his official records.

“I imagine the lady is quite content.” Darcy would tolerate Mrs. Bennet for Elizabeth's sake, but he held little respect for the woman—even less so now that he had seen firsthand how the lady slighted her middle daughters, especially Elizabeth.

“You will request the banns called in your home parish, Mr. Darcy?” Pinncatch inquired.

Darcy brought their business to a close. “I will inform Mr. Bradford, but I will purchase a common license. I do not expect to return to Derbyshire before the date Miss Elizabeth has chosen for our joining. It may be difficult to provide the necessary paperwork for your records before the ceremony.”

“Either way is acceptable, sir. I cannot imagine anyone would object to your marrying Miss Elizabeth.” Darcy could think of several: Charles's sister, Caroline Bingley, and Darcy's aunt, Lady Catherine, were among them.

“Of course,” he assured the vicar. “Miss Elizabeth is above reproach.” But even as he said the words, something had nagged at him.

“Miss Elizabeth must have been terribly frightened.”

Bingley's words brought Darcy back to their conversation. “I will have to teach my young bride about the consequences of impetuous actions,” he observed.

Bingley's surprise showed. “Surely, Darcy, you do not place the blame of today's near disaster on Miss Elizabeth's shoulders?”

Darcy looked at Bingley narrowly as he sipped his brandy. “And why should I not? Despite my insistence that we had given our word to return to Longbourn, Elizabeth set off on her own. She is fortunate that I refused her demand to leave her to her own devices.”

Bingley swirled the brandy in his glass. “I would not have denied her in the first place.”

“Really?” Darcy's eyebrow rose. He longed to share Pemberley with Elizabeth, but he would not allow her to control him.

Bingley smiled calmly. “Really. Miss Elizabeth is young, and maybe a bit unpredictable, but she possesses what you most require. You need an heir, and the lady is young enough to bear you healthy children. And instead of saying that she acts before she thinks, I, personally, prefer to think of Miss Jane Bennet's sister as a young woman with a zest for life. Is not her energy what attracted you to the lady originally?”

Darcy paused before answering. “I am not sure what attraction the lady held.”