A Continued Affection

Part 33

I certainly do not mean to let you go again.

Darcy bit his lip, annoyed with himself for speaking so freely. Their words were dancing as nimbly as their feet. Confidence to comedy and back again. And he had tripped over his words, never managing to be as eloquent in speaking as he wished. He dropped his gaze, scrambling to think up some humorous comment that might detract from the embarrassing intimacy of the words when Elizabeth's one-word answer reached his ears.

"Good."

He snapped his gaze up, fixing his eyes on her as they were parted once more by the steps of their dance. She did not look at him, but he fancied it took her effort not to, and when they were brought close enough to speak again he noticed a pretty pink colour stained her cheeks that had nothing to do with the exertion of their dance.

The last steps brought them close enough to speak again, and she looked up at him at last, her eyes sparkling with happiness and hope.

"Mr Darcy." She dipped in a curtsey to match his stiff bow, and spoke again as she rose. "I am a little overheated. Forgive me, I think I will take some air."

"Allow me to accompany you." He had offered her his arm before speaking the words, and it felt as if he floated on air as they walked, too slowly, towards the door.

The noise of the assembly faded behind them as they fought their way out into the courtyard that was bustling with guests, walking or sitting in pairs and small groups, their conversations muted.

Darcy glanced behind them, realising at once the wisdom of Lizzy's orchestration. Now they might speak as freely as they wished to without fear of being overheard, or looked on, by their family and friends. He laughed, enjoying his first taste of freedom in what seemed like forever. Elizabeth smiled too, looking more like her old self than he could remember seeing since their startling reunion in Meryton.

"So, we are agreed, Elizabeth?" he asked, eschewing her title for once and for all. "We shall try again?"

Elizabeth nodded, her smile growing a little shy, now that they were far enough from the crowds to feel alone.

"And we shall allow our friends and family to take credit for reuniting us."

Darcy groaned, already imagining the crowing he would face from both Richard and Georgiana.

"Very well," he said. "Our family and friends, yes. But I certainly do not intend on crediting Wickham with anything other than destruction."

Elizabeth said nothing but snuggled a little closer into his side as they walked. He relished the feel of her there, recognising, for perhaps the first time, how much he had felt her absence. Still, the question he wished to ask persisted, and he was forced to ask it.

"Do you truly think Wickham repentant?" He watched her carefully, knowing now how much he could read of Elizabeth moods in her features, and how he loved to look upon the animation that danced across her face as she thought.

"I do not know him well enough," she began, before sighing. "But he seemed so to me. He did not try to excuse his shortcomings. I do not see why he would do such a thing, except if prompted to seek real change."

Darcy sighed. Real change. Was Wickham even capable of such a thing? He had claimed to turn over enough new leaves to stock a library, but Darcy had seen little enough evidence of his old foe ever making good on his word.

"You are the third person to whom he has made such a claim." He sighed. "I still do not know whether I should believe it or not. It matters little. I am unlikely to see him again or interact with him in future. When last we met..." He paused, recalling the smug, laughing Wickham he had pried away from Georgiana, at great cost. "I assured him it would be the last time I would willingly intervene on his behalf. I have stood by my word."

"Indeed, all Meryton can vouch for that."

He glanced back at Elizabeth but saw compassion in her eyes, not judgment.

"It was almost too much to bear, seeing him again," he confessed, tracing the line of her jaw with his thumb. "When I was already so discomposed after seeing you."

Her eyes were wide, fixed on his, so that he could not be sure who instigated the moment. All he knew was that one moment they were looking at one another, sharing more by looks than words ever could, and the next, their lips touched, and all that was not said, could not be said, was settled in a kiss.