Page 26 of A Promise Made

There were no words for what he felt, nor for how she responded.

At some point, tongues got involved, and even the gentlest pressure from teeth. He jolted with excitement when Elizabeth sucked on his tongue, and she moaned when his hand pulled her up slightly so that her body rubbed across his painfully stiff member.

“Lizzy…” he breathed, “you are far too tempting for any mere mortal.”

Eventually, he pulled away from her. Darcy’s eyes widened. “I—uh, I apologise, but I believe that your hair and lips will never look the same.”

He bent and gathered hairpins, and he apologised again as she laughed. After some time, Elizabeth declared that she had re-pinned her hair sufficiently and that he had fluffed and smoothed his cravat into submission.

“We are ready, then?” he asked. “I suggest that we find your sister and my friend.”

Darcy wondered briefly if Bingley and Miss Bennet would also be happily betrothed.

At Netherfield, Darcy had been subjected to daily monologues of the growing love his friend felt for Miss Bennet, although if Bingley’s sisters heard a syllable of such talk, they argued against him marrying any “country chit.”

When Darcy and Elizabeth finally caught up to Bingley and Miss Bennet, who were heading towards Longbourn, it was obvious that they were neither betrothed nor happy.

Elizabeth said, tentatively, “Jane? Are you well?”

Miss Bennet turned towards them. She looked solemn but not weepy, and she said, “Lizzy! I am well, but I would like to speak to you before we get home.”

“Of course!” Lizzy said. She sent a warm smile to Darcy, mouthing the word later, and she took her sister’s arm as they strode away.

Bingley looked more confused than melancholy, and Darcy said, “Let us go to the bench, and you can tell me what has happened.”

When they were seated on the garden seat, which was artfully placed amongst the last of the blooming asters, Darcy asked simply, “Well?”

Bingley said, “She does not love me.”

Darcy said, “And does that mean that she no longer wishes you to call on her?”

“Yes. I was considering asking her to marry me, today, but I truly thought it might be too early in our acquaintanceship, and before I had decided one way or another, she started saying that we did not suit.”

“I am very sorry to hear that, Bingley.”

“I am very astonished to hear it!” his friend said. He truly looked bewildered.

“Did she explain herself? Did she say what she wished for, what was lacking…?”

“Miss Bennet said that she cannot see any evidence that I know how to work hard. I explained how hard I had to work to pass the classes at Cambridge, and she said that the particulars I related proved to her that I went to university without the requisite knowledge I ought to have had if I were a serious scholar!”

“And how did you respond?”

“ I told her that I had a large enough fortune to purchase a successful estate, and that I would be able to support her and any children we might be blessed with—and our home and life would be far more luxurious than Longbourn.”

“Ahh…” Darcy had a feeling that his friend’s assurance probably set Miss Bennet even more firmly against him.

“And then…she said….” Bingley looked quite despondent. “She said that she wished to marry someone serious about his responsibilities, someone she highly respected.”

“I imagine that you two were a bit too different, then. Bingley, there are many things about you that a reasonable person would respect. And given the fact that Miss Bennet is reasonable, I am positive that she respects those traits in you. But her statement shows that there are other traits that are more important to her in a husband.”

“I suppose.”

“There are at least a hundred women you could love who would adore marrying you. It is, truly, best for you both if a lady marries you for the right reasons rather than the wrong ones.”

Thankfully, he noted that Bingley’s natural optimism rose, and his blue-green eyes lit up. “You are correct, Darcy! I am very grateful that Miss Bennet was honest with me. And…I suppose it must have been difficult for her to let me know….”

Darcy guided his friend to walk towards Longbourn again, and his friend bubbled with plans—hosting a shooting party soon, then attending a house party in another county, after all, and holding a house party of his own, after that; Christmastide in London, to take advantage of the holiday balls; and more shooting parties and perhaps a foxhunt in January….