Page 78 of Stuck

“Oh, sorry!”

“It’s fine, I⁠—”

Darcy stopped in front of us. “Elizabeth.”

That was all he said—my name—but it did things to me. I sucked in a breath. “Um, Fiona? Can you give me a minute?”

She looked between us a few times then nodded. “Uh-huh. Sure.” She disappeared inside.

“Hi,” I whispered. I didn’t mean to whisper, but that’s all that came out.

Darcy exhaled audibly. “Can we go somewhere to talk? Somewhere private?”

I nodded. “Where?”

“Anywhere. We can just walk if you like. Or find another pub that isn’t full of Hydro Crops employees.”

“How about your flat?” Heat immediately erupted over my face, and I gaped at him in horror, unable to believe I’d suggested it. “Not for… I didn’t mean that to sound like… I just thought no one else would be there, but if you don’t want… We could…” I stopped babbling when he took my hand—my good one—in his and started walking, bringing me with him.

“My flat it is.”

Trent saved me from my mortification, appearing in front of me on the pavement, holding open the door to a car I hadn’t even noticed was parked just outside the pub. “Good evening, Miss Bennet.”

“Berkeley Square, please,” Darcy said, handing me inside and climbing in after me. He turned on a dim overhead light and waited patiently while I typed a quick message to Fiona to let her know where I was going. As soon as I put my phone away, he reached for my left hand, turning it over gently to inspect it. “How is it? Fiona didn’t pull on the stitches, did she?”

“No, I had them taken out this morning.” I couldn’t take my eyes away from the sight of our joined hands, couldn’t get over how delicate mine looked in his, how warm his palms were, the way his fingers caressed my thumb around the dressing.

“Did you have someone with you?” He sounded worried, and when I looked up, it was to find him looking worried too. It ignited a very warm feeling in me.

“Jane came with me. I still nearly threw up. You’ve ruined all other hand-holders for me.”

His gaze grew startlingly intense. “Good. I’ll make sure to be available for all future hand-holding occasions.”

It was more than a little disconcerting that my immediate thought was of us having babies together. I coughed and laughed all at once and decided that for my own sanity, I needed to regain some control of the situation. I wasn’t used to being this skittish. “When did you get back?”

“About half an hour ago. I came straight here from the airport. I had to see you.”

“Oh.” Well, that threw my courage right back out of the window. This man certainly knew how to knock the air out of a girl’s sails.

He tightened his grip on my hands ever so slightly, as though he was frightened I’d slip away from him. I got the impression he wanted to pull me closer but was holding himself in check. “Elizabeth, I can’t apologise enough for the things I said, everything I accused you of.”

“It’s all right⁠—”

“No, it’s not,” he said firmly. “I should have known you’d never do anything like that.”

I felt a pang of guilt. “Perhaps you would have known, if I hadn’t lied to you. But I did lie, and none of this would have happened if I hadn’t. I hope you know how much I regret it.”

He shook his head. “Don’t let me off the hook—we both know I behaved appallingly.”

“No, what George did was appalling. What you did was… Well, let’s just say I can see why you jumped to the conclusions you did. Most of them anyway.”

He winced regretfully. “Neither what Wickham did nor what Bingley asked you to do can excuse the fact that I questioned your integrity. Not when I’ve had the privilege of seeing how much you care. Your compassion for your father and your passion for your work are two of the things I’ve come to admire the most about you—in a very long list of things that I admire.”

He smiled at my sharp intake of breath. Or perhaps he was smiling at the erratic racing of my heart, because there was no way he couldn’t hear it. Trent could probably hear it in the front seat.

“You admire things about me?”

He let out a quiet, rueful chuckle. “You have no idea, Elizabeth. This month has been pure torture for me. I’ve fallen for you a little more every moment of every day since I first set eyes on you—and I’ve hated myself for it, because I thought you were with my closest friend. It was maddening, wanting you so much and not being able to act on it. I tried everything I could to get you out of my head—until I realised that wasn’t going to be possible and gave up trying.”