Page 67 of Without Pride and Prejudice
Mr. Darcy strode my way, carefully but forcefully. It was pretty dang sexy.
“This is Miss Elizabeth Bennet. I am a gentleman, and she is a gentleman’s daughter,” Mr. Darcy answered.
I think this meant I had done it. I was not only an Elizabeth, I wastheElizabeth.
Lady Catherine tsked in disgust and bustled out of the room.
I wasn’t sad to see her go.
“Miss Elizabeth, I apologize for my aunt’s incivility.” He stepped closer and took my hand.
My hand was covered by a glove, so it wasn’t quite as intimate as it could have been, but I wasn’t complaining. My heart certainly pitter-pattered.
Mr. Darcy drew me closer to him with the most intense gaze. “In vain I have struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.” Hespoke Darcyreally well.
Say what? Was this really happening? Where had he been? What had changed?
I opened my mouth to speak, but Mr. Darcy wasn’t through.
“Despite your lack of connections, your mother’s irreverence, and your meddlesome ways, I cannot deny my feelings for you. Behaving in a forward manner at times, pushing your sisters into the spotlight, orchestrating your friends’ matches, and knowing things you should not are all considerations I must overlook in the face of my attachment to you.” He pulled me to him, and without warning, his soft lips pressed against mine and moved over them with such intensity, I almost forgot for a moment what he’d just said. All I could think was,Mr. Darcy is kissing me, and he loves me.I leaned into him and grabbed his lapels—I was totally going for it. How often do you get to kiss Mr. Darcy? Not even Elizabeth had such pleasure in the book.
Scandalously, Mr. Darcy deepened the kiss while the back of his hand gently caressed my cheek. A soft tingling sensation spread throughout my body, like a trail of electric sparks. Wow. I was the best Elizabeth ever. Except ... I wasn’t Elizabeth. I pulled away from Mr. Darcy, allowing his words to sink into my heart and soul, helping me return to myself even though I knew it would ruin the story.
He swallowed hard. “Forgive me for being so forward, my dearest Elizabeth.”
“I am not Elizabeth. And I do not want to be loved despite who I am.” I didn’t think she did either. Wasn’t she willing to walk away from Mr. Darcy knowing the consequences? She was true to herself, and that’s what I wanted to be. “I want to be loved for who I am.”
“Who are you?” he asked, confused.
It took me a moment to remember, but remember I did. “I am Monroe,” I cried. “I just realized that she is all I ever wanted to be. I want to be loved for my imperfections and crazy, try-to-fix-everything-only-to-fail ways.I just want to be Monroe.
“Health,good humour, and cheerfulness began to reappear.”
FITZ
“I JUST WANT TO BE Monroe. I just want to be Monroe. I just want to be Monroe,” Monroe cried in her sleep in a spot-on British accent.
Startled that she’d spoken, I jumped up from my chair, only to sit on the bed and take her gorgeous face in my hands. “Monroe.”
“I don’t want to be loved despite who I am. I want to be loved for who I am,” she mumbled, still speaking in an accent that wasn’t hers. Had her fall caused one of those rare conditions that made people speak in a different accent?
“Monroe, I love you. Please wake up.”
Her eyes flew open. She looked positively bewildered. I feared she didn’t recognize me.
“Mr. Darcy, you love me?” She reached up with her hand connected to the IV and skimmed my cheeks with her fingers. “Your cheeks are stubbly.” She blinked, obviously confused, and tore her hand away. “I shouldn’t have touched you. I’m not wearing gloves. But you just kissed me with your tongue.” She rubbed her head.
She was making no sense, yet I couldn’t help but chuckle. “Monroe.” I took her hand. “Do you remember falling off the horse?”
Monroe thought for a moment, looking at her hand with the IV and then touching the cannula in her nose. “I’m back,” she cried. “Wait. Where am I?” Her American accent suddenly returned.
Before I could answer, Dr. Taylor rushed in with two nurses—nurses who may get fired if I found they were guilty of letting Tony in here, but I would deal with that later. All I cared about now was that Monroe was awake and talking, even if she seemed confused.
The doctor and nurses moved me out of the way to examine her. I stood and moved to the end of the bed, refusing to take my eyes off her.
Her eyes darted between me and the medical personnel.
“Ms. Wilde, I’m Dr. Taylor. You gave us quite a scare. You’ve been asleep for over twelve hours now.”
