“Want to play outside for a while?” he asked, sporting perhaps the first sly grin she’d ever seen him wear.
Pemberley’s sprawling lawn was made for many things, an impromptu soccer game among them. Its beach had even more attractions. They walked, they splashed, and they determined to take outYankee Girl. Elizabeth collected shells and sea glass while Darcy collected memories and photos.
They walked hand in hand through the gardens, and she let herfingers drift over the wildflowers as they neared the thick bushes of lavender. His great-grandmother, he told her, was the gardener responsible for the wild, haphazardly planted blooms. He smiled while telling stories about her. “Nature should not be tamed,” she’d say, before winking and wetting her hand to slick down a child’s cowlick. She used to sew the lavender into bits of cloth scraps and present the children with calming sleep pillows and drawer sachets. He and his male cousins, he confessed, had preferred to use them for archery practice. Elizabeth laughed and admitted that, after her May visit, she’d bought lavender-scented drawer liners for her dresser. Darcy suggested she take some blooms back with her so her apartment would smell like Pemberley.
He couldn’t tear his eyes away from her. “When I found you here that day, I couldn’t think. I couldn’t stop staring at your legs, and your eyes, and these…” His fingers lightly touched her nose. “I never imagined freckles,” he said, wearing a shy expression Elizabeth knew was reserved for her.
The thoughtful smile she returned matched his pensive tone. “As ifIcould think straight, running into the proper Mr. Darcy all sweaty and slathered in grease.”
“And stuttering.” He rolled his eyes. “I must have sounded like such a fool.”
She laughed. “‘Love makes fools of us all…’”
“‘Big and little.’” He looked at her, eyes shining. “I’m sorry, I’d forgotten. Your degree is in English.”
A few months earlier, Elizabeth would have haughtily reminded him that her degree was earned at the University of Meryton rather than at a “hoity-toity” Ivy League school. Instead, she took his arm and led him into the lavender. “And I have a particular affection for the sly wit of Thackeray and Austen.”
“Ah, so that’s where you learned it.” He pulled her close and kissed her in the late afternoon breeze. The lavender brushed against their legs.
Her fingers crept under his shirt, and her lips moved to his jaw. Nothing disturbed them until Elizabeth heard a familiar buzzing. “Bee!” she cried.
“Are you allergic?” he asked, still a tad woozy from her kisses. “To bee stings? Elizabeth?”
“No, no,” she quickly reassured him. “I just hate getting stung. Let’s go.”
Darcy trotted up to the house for refreshments while Elizabeth stretched out on a beach towel on the sand. He threw a few bottles of juice and water, some grapes, and a sleeve of crackers into a basket and headed out the back door.
“Darcy! Youarehere! Why the hell don’t you answer your phone?”
He froze.Oh, fuck. Itold Sara I was out of touch this weekend. Does the man never listen?He could just see Elizabeth in the distance. He took a deep breath, turned around, and glared at his cousin. He hoped he was blocking Rich’s view of her in that bikini.
“Rich,” he said, trying to keep an even tone. “What are you doing here?”
His cousin crossed his arms and leaned against the built-in grill. “Happy to see you too. What’s your problem? Weather too beautiful for you here at the beach?”
“No, I just didn’t expect you.”
“I’m heading to Matlock for the weekend. You have to rescue me from my parents. Come to dinner at the house.”
Darcy stood stock still as his cousin kept talking. He desperately wanted to turn around and check on Elizabeth, but worried that Rich would notice.
“They’re furious with Annabella. Apparently, she was arrested last week, and it got hushed up, but she’s turning it into some kind of First Amendment drama. You have to talk to them.”
“I can’t.”
“Why not?” Rich stared at him. “Ah…it was you, right? You got the charges dismissed? Can you use your legal eagle magic and clamp down on Annabella? Or scare the hell out of her? She just laughs at me.”
“I’ll touch base with them next week.”
Rich took his sunglasses off his head and wiped them on his shirt. “Fine, then I’m staying here. I do not want to be under my parents’ roof tonight.”
“No, sorry. We’re full up here.”
“What the hell are you talking about? You’ve got nine bedrooms.” Rich’s eyes suddenly settled on the basket in Darcy’s hand. He took a calculating look, and glanced up at his cousin. Then he looked past him to the beach. “You’re not here by yourself? You actually have company?”
Darcy nodded. “Yes, um, Elizabeth is here. We came up this morning.”
“Oh. Wow.” Rich straightened up and broke into a smile. “That’s fantastic.” He slapped Darcy on the shoulder and craned his neck to see around the taller man. “She on the beach?”
