He stepped closer to her, and her instinct was to back up, but then she noticed that he was looking at her lips.
Oh, Lord save me, he’s going to kiss me!
And this thought made her root herself to the spot, going absolutely still as he closed the distance between them entirely.
His hand went around her body, his palm thick and urgent on her back, and he pressed her close, so that they were touching, chest to chest, and then his lips were on hers, and it was dizzying, even though it was just one moment, just the softness of his supple mouth against her mouth, and then he was done and he pulled away.
When he let go of her, she had to hold onto the back ofthe nearby couch for balance.
She could not say why the kiss had affected her in that way. It had been brief, so brief, but… it was the way he moved, she thought, the confidence and surety of his body, his girth engulfing her, his hand urging her close, his obvious gratification when he gazed at her now.
Her fingers fluttered up to touch her lips.
He let out a breath. “Would you object to a short engagement?”
“No,” she said immediately. “No, indeed.”
His stormy gray eyes shone out in triumph. “Very good.”
WHEN ELIZABETH EMERGEDfrom the drawing room with Mr. Darcy, it was clear that her mother had made Mr. Collins aware of what would transpire, and that Mr. Collins was doing his best to take the news without insult.
Mr. Darcy sought out Elizabeth’s father, and Elizabeth stood by as Mrs. Bennet began to extol the virtues of Mary, her third eldest daughter. Perhaps she might have succeeded in this venture, for Mr. Collins seemed to have no particular attachment to Elizabeth herself, simply that she was the eldest unmarried daughter attached to the property he was about to inherit.
However, just then, Charlotte Lucas arrived to spend the day with them at Longbourn, and Mr. Collins went to her like a shot.
Oh, dear,thought Elizabeth,Caroline and I have made that match too well, have we not?
She attempted to intervene only at one point, when she spirited Charlotte away from the man for a few moments simply to assure that she need not feel as if she must do anything. “If you don’t wish to accept him, don’t,” said Elizabeth.
“But what if I do wish it?” said Charlotte.
“Why?” said Elizabeth, shaking her head at her. Here shewas, marrying Mr. Darcy to escape from the specter of that awful man, and here Charlotte was, acting as if Mr. Collins was her savior. She could not understand it, she had to admit.
But she was fairly certain that it would come to pass that Charlotte would marry Mr. Collins and would become the mistress of Longbourn.
Mrs. Bennet would not be pleased.
Around this time, the door opened to her father’s study. Elizabeth expected Mr. Darcy to emerge, but it was her father who came out alone, saying he’d instructed Mr. Darcy to stay within and that Mr. Bennet would return momentarily to speak with the man.
He motioned with his head for Elizabeth to come with him.
Elizabeth joined her father. “Papa?”
“Lizzy,” said her father, more serious than he usually was. Her father was not entirely a serious man, in all truth. “I am a bit flummoxed at this, I must say. There’s no reason not to give my blessing, and I shall own that he is, by a number of metrics, a very good catch for a girl such as yourself. But it doesn’t seem to me that these are the sorts of things that are important to my Lizzy.”
She gave him a funny look. “What do you think would be important to me?”
“I should think you would want someone who could match your wit, most certainly, and who would be, well, a bit of an adventurer. He seems rather… staid. Buttoned-up. Grave. My Lizzy loves to laugh. Are you doing this because of Mr. Collins?”
She shook her head.
“I would not force you to marry that man, Lizzy, that very ridiculous man. You know I would not.”
“Well, Mama, she is—”
“Who cares what your mother thinks?” said her father.
She licked her lips. “Papa, if I don’t marry Mr. Collins, and I don’t marry Mr. Darcy, then what becomes of Mama, and of me, and the other girls—”
