A/N: Thank you for answering my call for help to solve the problem between being period -inappropriate vs. appealing more to contemporary style and taste. Subtlety could be a challenge for those of us who follow 10 stories across multiple fandoms at any one time. I think a word like 'lust' would have gotten the idea across more readily. Even as it is, Miss JA would have been shaking her finger at me: 'physical ardor' indeed!

In case some of you (not Colleen S. of course) have been biting your nails all weekend over the big cliffhanger at the end of the last chapter, I am posting this chapter a few hours early. Oh, there will be more suggestive this and that. Now that you have been warned, you should have no trouble picking them out.

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"Don't go…please."

Mr. Darcy turned around slowly and stared at his love with an inscrutable expression.

Elizabeth, on seeing that Mr. Darcy responded to her entreaty, took two long strides closer, and said with urgency, "A man who has once been refused could never be foolish enough to renew the offer. Is there one among the sex who would not protest against such a weakness as a second proposal to the same woman?"

On seeing Mr. Darcy frowning at this pronouncement, Elizabeth plucked up her courage and continued firmly, "If said woman desires a second proposal, she must disregard the indignity so abhorrent to his feelings and propose herself. Mr. Darcy, will you accept my hand in marriage?"

As soon as she had finished the last syllable of this incredibly audacious offer of marriage, she felt the ridiculousness of it, turned, and tried to flee from his presence. She was stopped, however, before she had taken five steps when first her elbow and then her gloved hand was firmly secured by the gentleman in pursuit. She turned around fully, her hand still in the grip of the gentleman, who was now kneeling on one knee before her with shining eyes and a soft smile on his face.

"Dearest Elizabeth, I accept your hand in marriage with gladness and gratitude. I am, however, hopelessly old-fashioned: I would never allow myself to deprive my bride the pleasure and privilege of being proposed to, properly and with ardent love. Will you accept my hand in marriage, my precious love?"

Elizabeth raised her free hand to her mouth, half weeping and half laughing, got on her knees facing Mr. Darcy and declared, "Yes, yes, yes! Had I known what a man you truly are, I should have said yes the first time you asked."

Now that their faces were so close together, Mr. Darcy could see the prominent dark circles under his love's eyes which were red on account of joyful tears, her pale and puffy face, and the unpinned hair escaping from under her bonnet – and yet, he had never seen anyone or anything more beautiful.

He took out his handkerchief to dab away her tears, then untied her bonnet, and pushed it back to release her untamed hair. He caressed the hair with his fingers, looking at the tangled mess as if it were the eighth wonder of the world. He then turned his eyes back to his love, who had not moved her own gaze from him during this whole time. He cupped her face with both hands and leaned forward to kiss Elizabeth on the lips. It was a short kiss, but both sighed deeply afterwards.

Mr. Darcy helped Elizabeth to stand up, and they stared at each other intently without embarrassment for a long while until Elizabeth lowered her head and started smiling widely.

"What is so amusing, dearest? Are the grass stains on my trousers beyond hope?" Mr. Darcy asked, his heart so light that his smile practically split his face.

"Oh!" Elizabeth stepped back and saw the green wet spot at the right knee of Mr. Darcy's dove-color trousers. She said, "Neither your valet nor my maid will be pleased to see these stains. I am certain my dress has not escaped the same fate."

Seeing that Mr. Darcy was waiting for her answer, Elizabeth said, "I was not so much amused than simply happy. My impertinence knows no bounds! I came here with only one thought: to stop you from leaving because of me. I never could have dreamed that I would be so bold as to propose marriage to you, exactly the man in disposition and talents to most suit me."

Mr. Darcy was noticeably startled by this proclamation. He squeezed Elizabeth's hands, and said feelingly, "Dearest, you cannot know how much what you just said has meant to me. It has affected me in the most wonderful way. I must know, however, what has induced so material a change in what you think of me within so short a time. Three weeks ago, you said that you would never…"

Elizabeth raised her hand quickly and put it on Mr. Darcy's lips to prevent him from speaking further and cried, "Do not repeat what I then said, which could only be called uninformed and ludicrous. I have been most heartily ashamed of it."

Seeing that Mr. Darcy, who had taken her hand and kissed it, wanted more than just this short answer, she pulled him along to continue their walk before continuing, "Your letter had done most of the work, the chief of which was to make me realize how insufficient my understanding had been. Further events involving Mr. Bingley and Mr. Wickham confirmed that my discernment of people's character and behavior were completely off the mark. Once the scales had fallen from my eyes, I began to see in you an abundance of honesty, justice, and honor – all the qualities in your character that I had refused to recognize, and those same qualities that I admire most in a man, and that answer all my wishes. You …"

Elizabeth was going to say that he could soften and improve his manners but decided that perhaps he was not ready to hear this from his betrothed on the day of their engagement. This was something that she would help him with once she became his wife. Instead, she said, "You were brilliantly competent and decisive during the crises of the past week. I have come to view you…as my safe harbor no matter the tempest."

Elizabeth paused again and lowered her head because she could not look Mr. Darcy in the face when saying this, "I…also noticed how handsome you were in the few unguarded moments when you forgot to be stern. In the library just two days ago, I saw the passion…the fire in your eyes, and I finally saw and understood what you said to me at the parsonage: your ardent love. If I had not run away then, I was afraid that my heart would have beaten all the way out of my chest! It was thundering!" She looked up then at the tender smile on Mr. Darcy's face that also showed some self-satisfaction. She teased, "I must be making your head swell with all my heart-felt praises of your person!"

Mr. Darcy surreptitiously glanced at Elizabeth's chest, which, alas, was covered entirely by her pelisse. He chastised himself, not too seriously, for being so indecorous. He confessed, "I am very glad to receive your present favorable assurances of my character… and person. It will be a long time, if ever, before I grow tired of hearing them, even if you repeat them every day.

"After your rejection of my offer, which I had been persuaded that you were expecting, I was ever fearful that I might be misinterpreting your intent, be it just a simple word or gesture. Could you believe that at Netherfield and then at Rosings over Easter, I deluded myself into thinking that you were flirting with me? Your running away in the library made me assume that your former disgust of me persisted, and I decided to leave Rosings early, or else I would make a laughingstock of myself."

"By proposing a second time? Oh Mr. Darcy…"

"Fitzwilliam, call me by my given name, Fitzwilliam, dearest."

"Oh… Fitzwilliam, all this time I made myself believe that you had seen through what a shallow, nay, vacuous girl I was, and you were glad of your fortunate avoidance of a life of misery being shackled to one with no actual good in her. My cruel and unjust rejection of your offer should have made you hate me. How is it that you love me still?"

Mr. Darcy stopped their progress, and held both of Elizabeth's hands and said feelingly, "Dearest, I love your courage, your passion, your loyalty, your lively mind and spirit, and of course your beauty," he paused and kissed her hand. "I was indeed angry and humiliated for several days. After that, I felt nothing but emptiness. I tried to distance myself when I first saw you again at Rockingham House. It was my abominable pride, or perhaps I was embarrassed. Even then, I had taken your reproof to heart and had already begun analyzing my behavior through our entire acquaintance to see where I had done wrong. My cousin, Colonel Fitzwilliam, reminded me that if I had loved you three days before, I had to love you still regardless of our quarrel. I considered it for a long time and decided that he had the right of it, or else what I felt for you could have only been called an infatuation, and not love. I knew from the depths of my heart that it was love, for I have never loved any woman but you."

"All our misunderstanding could have been avoided if not for my own foolish injured pride," cried Elizabeth.

Darcy was startled, and inquired anxiously, "WasI the one who injured your pride? It cannot be. Since I met you, I have considered you one of the handsomest and most estimable ladies in my acquaintance."

Elizabeth stopped their rambling, turned to Mr. Darcy, and said, "You have to go back to the very beginning – at the assembly. I overheard you telling Mr. Bingley that I was not handsome enough to tempt you for a dance. Since that day, everything you said or did I saw as coming from a conceited and disdainful man with no notion of honor or justice – just because you had slighted me. So, you see, I was a silly girl from the start, and then when I was proven wrong by later events, I began to think that I was not worth your notice."

Mr. Darcy brought her hands to his lips one at a time, and said, "My precious love, I told you in the hallway of Rockingham House that my upbringing encouraged me to be inconsiderate of others' feelings. I must apologize for such an ungentlemanly act, and especially when there was no truth in it. I think even in that first meeting, I was attracted to you, or else I would not have uttered such a condemnable diatribe to convince myself that you should have been beneath my notice, even though I obviously noticed you probably a little too much."

Elizabeth's spirits soon rose to playfulness again, which when Mr. Darcy was not particularly agitated, was one of the traits of his love that he treasured. She said gleefully, "I am an heiress of sorts now, thanks to Anne's generosity or insanity. As an heiress worth thirty-two thousand pounds, I deserve some notice even from you."

Mr. Darcy answered equally light-heartedly, "I am glad that I had offered my hand in marriage before this happened. You cannot accuse me of being mercenary."

Elizabeth answered without missing a beat, "I offered for you this time, remember? No, you are definitely not a fortune-hunter. Rather, I submit myself gladly to be hunted by you."

Elizabeth could not have guessed the kind of ardor aroused in Mr. Darcy by such enticing talk. He, however, could put himself under much better regulation now that the prize had been won. Besides, they were upon an open lane of the park and had to mind their decorum.

Now that things were settled between them, Elizabeth felt she could ask her betrothed the question that had been burning in her since the evening before, "Tell me, sir, without any inclination to spare my feelings, what you thought of me when I blatantly suggested that you come to the grove this morning. This could have easily been construed as an assignation!"

Mr. Darcy contemplated for a long while before answering, "I was conflicted. On the one hand, I was anxious to have a last meeting with you before we would part ways, perhaps forever; on the other hand, I was deathly afraid that you would hand me a letter reiterating all the reasons why you would never have me ‒ I was still the last man whom you could ever be prevailed on to marry. I barely slept at all."

Elizabeth could not help herself but stand on tiptoe to give Mr. Darcy a peck on the cheek despite walking out on the open lane. She said feelingly, "When you got here, after having endured so much anguish all night, you encountered a girl, not even properly dressed and spewing flippant nonsense about saying goodbyes to trees! No wonder you turned and wanted to be away from such a …"

Mr. Darcy interjected without letting Elizabeth disparage herself, "Goddess! Enchantress! Sublime beauty! Once we are married, I shall be able to explain to you why I had to leave you so abruptly to run away, but not now."

Usually Elizabeth, with her insatiable curiosity, hated being put off by vague answers. This time, she somehow instinctively knew that she should not persist on the topic. Instead, they wandered around the park talking about everything and nothing.

Since it was expected that Mr. Bennet should be in Hunsford soon for the unfortunate but inevitable event of Mr. Collins's funeral, they thought perhaps Mr. Darcy should wait till then to ask for his permission and blessing to wed his daughter. At the moment, however, neither could bear the notion of being separated. Since Elizabeth would be of age in five weeks, they did not fear Mr. Bennet objecting to the union, a real possibility as his daughter might have been too free with her own disdain toward the master of Pemberley and had given her father the impression that she despised the man. To their close family members at Rosings, the glad tidings would be shared as soon as possible, for it would be quite impossible to conceal their happiness with those so dear to them. They hoped to be married from Longbourn after Elizabeth's twenty-first birthday.

Just then, a footman and John the stablemaster were driving the phaeton around the park in search of Miss Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy. They encountered the happy couple and told them that the mistress and her guests were anxious to know their whereabouts. Mr. Darcy helped Elizabeth into the phaeton and took over the driving.

"Ah, dearest sir," exclaimed Elizabeth joyfully and without embarrassment for the endearment, "a ride in this phaeton was where our current happiness began. It truly has been the means of uniting us."

Mr. Darcy squeezed her hand that sat on his arm, and said with a very pleased countenance, "I must beg Anne to sell me the phaeton so that we shall drive it always at Pemberley."