Disclaimer: I do not, in any way, own Castle.
A
ardent (adj.) - enthusiastic or passionate
He finds it on her nightstand during one of those rare mornings when he wakes up before her.
He cherishes these moments, loves watching her sleep, loves soaking in the sight of her – the feel of her – but today he happened to look over at the nightstand and there it was.
Pride and Prejudice.
The copy is old and worn – clearly a book that has been through many readings. He absently wonders if she is solely responsible for the wear and tear or if the book is a hand-me-down, but regardless, she's undoubtedly been reading it recently as he finds a bookmark about halfway through.
He flips through the pages absentmindedly, thinking about the first time he read the novel while he was in high school. It hadn't made an impression on him then – he'd been bored with Austen's seemingly dry writing style – but years later, when he'd read it again, he felt as though he got it. Something in it spoke to him that second time, particularly with Darcy's character – the way the man held himself apart from other people, not because he was truly arrogant at heart, but because he needed a mask to help hide his loneliness. Castle felt like that sometimes – the key word being "felt" because he never feels like that anymore.
Not with Kate.
She stirs, half draped on top of him, as the sleep begins to recede and alertness starts to spread into her features. When he sees her eyes slowly open, he speaks.
"You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you."
He feels her body tense as she quickly snaps her head up to look at him, suddenly very awake. "What?"
"Page one hundred sixty-two." He holds up the book for her to see. "You're a Jane Austen fan." It's a statement; not a question.
"Oh. Yeah," she says, settling back down against him. "Been rereading that."
"One of your favorites?"
"Mm, you could say that." She shifts slightly. "I read it three times in high school. Fell in love with it right from the start."
"That happen often?"
She's silent for a long moment before she says, "No. I can only think of one other time."
"And which book was that?" he asks.
She unhurriedly tilts her head until her eyes are on his. "In a Hail of Bullets."
He feels his heart jump into his throat. "Yeah?"
"Mm, don't let it go to your head, Castle."
"No promises," he says, shrugging, before she reaches up to tweak his ear. "Ow, okay!" He chuckles and (probably stupidly) decides to ask, "So why are you rereading this and not my literary masterpiece?"
Oh, yep. There's that what-did-I-just-tell-you look. But it melts off her face in a second and she's trying to hide a smirk against his chest instead.
"It just seemed appropriate," she murmurs, "considering the circumstances."
"The circumstances?"
He feels her smile stretch against his skin. "An average woman meets a rich and well known man who she originally can't stand because she finds him to be ridiculously arrogant, despite the fact that he is almost immediately enamored with her."
"Enamored, huh?" he laughs. "And you're far from average."
She hums and presses a kiss to his shoulder. "Let me finish. Fate pushes the two of them together, and after a while the woman realizes that the man isn't exactly what he seems." She lifts her eyes to meet his. "And then she falls for him."
Castle can't help the smile that immediately tugs on his lips. "You saying you fell for me, detective?"
Her eyes get that all-too-familiar teasing glint in them. "What I'm saying is that Jane Austen knew how to craft a great love story."
"Yeah, that's just what you want me to think," he says. "But I see right through you, sweetheart."
She lifts her hand like she's going to grab his ear again but he quickly raises his in defeat. "Okay! Okay! I get it! No pet names!" he exclaims, causing her to laugh and change the path of her nimble fingers until she's brushing back the hair off his forehead.
"Jane Austen did get one thing right though," he says.
"Mm, what's that?" She's still staring down at him with that look on her face – the one that says that she ardently admires and loves him – and his heart swells with confidence.
"A man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife."
She stiffens and her eyes cloud over for a moment, but then she's raising an eyebrow at him. "You speaking from experience, Castle?" Her voice wavers ever so slightly.
"Well I can't exactly say no," he murmurs, then hesitates. "But the first two times didn't go so well did they?"
The way that her entire face softens – her expression so incredibly tender – is just . . . wow. He can barely breathe.
And she takes his breath away entirely when she leans down to kiss him, the touch of her fingers at his jaw making his vision go hazy.
"I told you, Castle." she whispers against his lips. "Third time's the charm."
A/N: I've been wanting to do a series of one-shots like this for a while and finally got around to starting it. I'll try to update as quickly as I can (school will probably get in the way at some point) but in order to do that, I will also need a bit of your help. If anyone has any words that they would like me to center a one-shot around during this series, please feel free to leave a review and drop it in there. It doesn't even necessarily have to be the next letter (although I will publish in order), just a letter I haven't done yet. If your word gives me an idea (unfortunately, this is not likely to happen with all of them, so I will not be able to do EVERY request), I'll write a one-shot about it. And if two or more words for the same letter give me really good ideas, I'm completely open to writing more than one story for each letter, so hit me with whatever you've got. :)
And please review, review, review!