The very air felt clearer, the sun brighter, and the grass greener this morning as Darcy emerged into the outdoors. Richard, after some extensive sulking the previous evening, had eventually divulged the events that had occurred in the parsonage - and Darcy, after having offered the prerequisite comfort, had gone to bed a happier man than he had any right to expect to be a mere few days ago.
His feet traced the path towards his usual rendezvous spot with Miss Elizabeth as easily as he would mount a horse. The ground fell easily under his feet, familiar and sweet. He spied her silhouette beside the pond, bathed so prettily in the morning sun, and his steps grew faster of their own accord.
With Miss Elizabeth's rejection of Richard, Darcy's path had cleared at last. There was no more need for hesitation, no necessity for social considerations.
He would court the woman, and he would win her fair and square.
He smiled to himself as he reached her. The edges of her bonnet shifted subtly in the breeze. The soft brightness of her morning dress draped her form in a most pleasing way.
Gently, he reached for her shoulders and settled his hands upon them.
She surprised him, not with the eager embrace he had hoped for, but with a quick twist, a flash of anger, and a harsh, physical shove.
He stepped backwards from the sheer force.
"Miss Elizabeth!"
"How dare you." She growled, all her usual energy focused with a ferocity he did not know she even possessed.
"How dare I?" Darcy muttered aimlessly. He wondered if his bewilderment showed on his face.
Had they not merely reconciled a day ago? Had she not acceded to his embrace but one morning ago, before her declining of Richard's proposal?
"I trusted you," she seethed, her chest rising and falling with clear displeasure. "I offered you my friendship - welcomed you to my thoughts."
He watched, pain in his chest, as her eyes watered.
"Was I nothing more than a task to you - a woman to distract from your cousin?"
For the first time in the last five years of his life, Darcy felt genuine fear.
"I - I never intended for you to think so," he managed to say.
"And yet that is what you did."
"It is - perhaps it - " He closed his eyes, calmed his breath, and reopened his eyes. "It is not my intention."
"But it was."
"It - " He wished to lie to her, to charm her with the easy words that always came to him in the presence of a woman. They had always been so very easy to distract and seduce.
But this woman, this remarkable lady before him, had always been different.
Darcy frowned. "I do not know how you came to think so, Miss Elizabeth, but I swear I have been nothing but honest in all our interactions."
"Do you deny that you often interfere in the ways of courtship between young suitors and their ladies?" She lifted her chin in clear defiance.
Darcy sighed. "I do not."
"Do you deny that you had every intent to draw me away from your cousin?"
"My uncle's charge was to prevent Richard from making unwise alliances. Given your lack of romantic regard for him, I had only hoped to steer him away from heartbreak."
The answer seemed to placate her slightly. Then, another thought appeared to flit into her eyes, and she hardened once more.
"Do you dare deny that you spent time with me only to distract me - after having ruined the happiness of a most beloved sister?"
Darcy's frown hardened. "I do not know why my sister's circumstances should have any part in this conversation."
"Your sister?" Miss Elizabeth scoffed. "I do not know what you have done to her - but I speak only of mine."
"Your sister."
"You counseled Mr. Bingley. You persuaded him to leave Hertfordshire to avoid an alliance with my sister, whom you deem unworthy of his attentions."
"Miss Elizabeth, I have never met your sister at all!"
"And yet that fact did not prevent you from guiding Mr. Bingley according to your preferences."
"I hardly see why my advice to my friends should have any bearing upon us."
"If you but knew me, Mr. Darcy, you would know that the happiness of my sisters means everything to me."
He watched a tear escape her and longed to wipe it with his sleeve.
He felt himself blinking away threatening tears of his own instead.
"I admit that I often counsel my friends regarding the choices in their romantic entanglements, but I have never spoken against a woman I barely know - and that fact has remained consistent with regards to your sister." Darcy straightened, hiding his sigh. "If Bingley had chosen to remove himself from Hertfordshire upon the advice of others, then it would have been solely the influence of his sisters. I had no part in that decision."
For a short, satisfying moment, Darcy watched Miss Elizabeth as she pondered whether or not to believe him.
"I admit, Miss Elizabeth, that I have, in my time, participated in many inconsiderate actions towards young ladies before, often at the explicit request of their family. I acted abominably, toying with emotions and play-acting with words. How often I had mistreated women and their hopes, I would not dare to consider.
"But all of those incidents grew irrelevant the moment I came to know the right woman - a woman so different, so strong, and so outstanding that I was forced to reckon with the abhorrence of my former habits. You have changed me, Elizabeth, and I swear that I have treated you with sincerity alone from the day we shared our first morning walk."
She inclined her head slightly towards the ground, her breath slower yet clearly still agitated.
Darcy waited for her to express forgiveness - to apologize for her explosive greeting today.
None came.
He sighed, humbled.
"I was not previously aware of your sister's disappointment," he said softly.
"She loved him - your friend, Mr. Bingley." Elizabeth sniffed. "And he left without a word, without so much as a notice. It hurt my sister deeply."
"I express my deepest condolences regarding her grief."
It took a few moments, but she nodded slightly after the lull.
"I hope, Miss Elizabeth, that you believe me when I swear that I have had nothing but the highest and most genuine regard for you."
She blinked rapidly, her lips pursed.
And Darcy, for the first time in his young life, truly, truly regretted how he had chosen to spend his years before meeting her.
"I wish you nothing but the best." He bowed deeply, in reluctant parting.
Her wordless curtsy gave him leave to go.
He departed Kent the very next day, his own dark feelings a perfect mirror to Richard's rather sunken face across the carriage seat.
"Darcy, my boy, I applaud you most heartily for a job well done!" The earl raised his glass, a bright grin on his face, as Darcy trudged into the opulent study.
It had been months since his last visit - and, in so many ways, Darcy felt as if he had become a different man altogether.
Perhaps that was what women tended to do to men.
It was simply a minor miracle that he had never experienced the life-altering consequences of his constant brushes with the ladies before this particular encounter.
"Richard appeared rather forlorn, of course," the earl spoke loudly, spiritedly, his hand constantly waving his half-empty glass in the air. Darcy helped himself somberly to a glass of the finest wine at hand. "But he seemed altogether cured, even mentioned that you had warned him. You, dear nephew, are my pride and joy."
Darcy bristled slightly at the compliment. He channeled his grimace into a smirk. "You are too kind."
"Ah, but you deserve every praise." His uncle laughed, and Darcy felt haunted once more by the fire in Miss Elizabeth's eyes on the last day he saw her.
Slowly, he lowered himself on to his usual seat, equidistant between the fireplace and the Earl of Matlock.
"Tell me, now, how long did she resist?" The earl laughed, clearly enjoying the conversation as generals would a discussion of their latest victory. "Did it take long to distract her?"
Darcy frowned before swallowing the mouthful he had allowed to linger on his tongue. "This was one - different."
"Ah, gave you a challenge, didn't she?"
"One could say that." Darcy gazed momentarily out the window.
"Did you have to flaunt your wealth, or tour her on the premises? I suppose a girl from a backwards town in Hertfordshire could hardly be counted upon to recognize you by name."
"That - she did not."
"And yet you conquered her."
Darcy raised his glass halfheartedly to mirror his companion's. The earl took a heavy draught; Darcy barely sipped his drink.
"I can claim little credit in this particular situation, I'm afraid." Darcy tilted his head in soft reminiscence. "It was she who declined Richard's proposal herself."
"My boy proposed?"
"Yes."
The earl scoffed slightly. "Well, I suppose the girl had more sense than he."
Darcy's half smile was genuine. "Indeed, she does."
"What sort is she - this Miss Elizabeth? Sounds rather unlike your average debutante."
Darcy breathed deeply, relishing yet scorning the opportunity before him.
"She is a woman of sense - of wit, of heart, and of plenty of other desirable traits. Her head is not swayed by the mention of riches, nor her attention captured by the latest dandy to enter the room." Darcy closed his eyes briefly before reopening them. His beverage warmed away in his hand. "Her kindness and education extend beyond her station, though her awareness of her own limits are hardly questionable. If she had been an heiress, Richard would have done well in choosing her."
The earl nodded thoughtfully, as if pleasantly surprised.
"I suppose - there is little need to ruminate upon such facts now that the matter has been concluded."
Darcy regarded his uncle for a long, measured moment.
"Perhaps you shall meet her one day," he stated quietly.
"Who - this Bennet woman?"
"Miss Elizabeth - yes."
The earl smirked. "And why on earth would I have any business meeting her?"
Darcy responded with a smirk of his own. "I suppose I shall have to see to that - shan't I?"
His uncle sported a look that was half parts amusement and half parts concern. "I hardly understand you."
"Perhaps you do not have to this time, sir." Darcy slid his glass, still hopelessly full, on the table beside him. He spoke as he stood. "Now, if you'll excuse me, dear uncle, I believe I have a call to make to my good friend Bingley."
A/N: Okay, so sort of another set down. I really, really forget what I've written. My memory is horrible!