Chapter 5

Darcy kept his gaze steady on the sleeping figure across from him. When his coach arrived after safely stowing Elizabeth inside he had ensured his cousin had enough funds on him to travel comfortably back to Hunsford, then to London and Longbourn. He had been tempted to hold her once again in his arms for the trip, but acknowledged that was a selfish desire. He would take great comfort from holding her, but, in addition to it being improper, Elizabeth might not take the same comfort from the gesture. Having been assaulted by two males, waking up in the arms of another male might cause her unease, especially given her current assessment of him thanks to Wickham.

Darcy grimaced as he remembered the only time Wickham's name had come up between them. He had been angry to have his dance with her marred by mention of Wickham, but had realized that perhaps her anger at him was not such a bad thing. Undoubtedly he had believed that Wickham was unworthy of her compassion and defense, but he had already known that Elizabeth was a compassionate and kind person and that Wickham was consummate deceiver, skilled in utilizing half truths. He had consoled himself after leaving Hertfordshire, that an angry Elizabeth at least would not be hurt by his departure. Now he cursed his folly. Not only had he allowed her mistaken impression to stand, he had left her vulnerable to an accomplished liar. He would have to take steps to not only aquiant her with the truth, but alleviate the distress she would feel for having believed in Wickham. He knew enough about her character to know that she would castigate herself for having believed Wickham, she would likely not even consider the fault lay with him for not speaking out and with Wickham's talent for deception.

Darcy's thoughts drifted towards his time spent in Hertfordshire with her. He had feared at times that he was giving rise to Elizabeth's expectations with his attentions and whenever he had been recalled to this in the autumn, he had been sure to quash them in various ways. He gave the appearance of ignoring Elizabeth the one time they were alone in the library at Netherfield, despite the fact that he had been fully aware of her and the book in his lap was not merely for decoration. It had been used to hide the physical evidence of just how aware of her he was. If they were in company he would attempt to attend to the conversations of others in his party or seek solace in looking out the window. He knew he could safely say that while Miss Bingley might enjoy being offered the position of his wife, she luckily had no expectations that he would ever consider offering for her. He had thought that she made a decent foil to show Elizabeth what type of fashionable woman, with better connections than a tradesman's daughter, was expected of his wife, to discourage her from expectations he could not meet.

Now he considered at how his attempts to not give rise to Elizabeth's expectations may have caused her pain and to believe that he would never offer for her. To have taunted her with an asimilie of the type of tonish wife he was expected to marry felt cruel now. He had felt pained during their dance to believe, even if it was only for a short while, that she preferred Wickham to him. He had told himself that her approbation of Wickham would not last since the man was incapable of keeping friends, but it had still hurt to acknowledge that she had even briefly found another, particularly Wickham, prefferable. And now due to that scoundrel's lies and his own inaction and actions a gulf existed between them that kept him from holding her. He had learned over the winter that he had no interest in any lady of society and that he did not want Elizabeth to be such a lady. The manner he had acted in to quell any expectations was likely what gave rise to her opinion that he was arrogant, conceited and had a selfish disdain for others. And it was that opinion that concerned him. He knew that he could be absolved in the Wickham matter, but how was he to make up for his own poor behavior?

As he pondered this, he noticed Elizabeth start to stir. He locked his muscles against the urge to cross to her, kneel at her side and ask after her welfare. Instead he said gently, "Eliz- Miss Bennet?"

Elizabeth slowly turned her head towards him and blinked her eyes in confusion at him. Then she quickly attempted to sit up, her eyes darting around fearfully.

"You are safe. You are no longer on the post coach. We are in my coach headed to a small holding of mine. You will be able to spend the night there in safety," he assured her.

Elizabeth nodded slowly and then her tongue poked out to lick her dry lips and she worried her bottom lip with her teeth as she considered what to say. Unbeknownst to her, Darcy had to bite back a groan of desire at her action. Her eyes were still sleepy looking and her hair tousled, her form wrapped up in his coat. She looked like a vision from one of his many dreams.

"You rescued me?" Elizabeth finally said slowly.

Darcy nodded tightly, afraid that if he spoke now, his voice would come out hoarse, betraying his desire for her and given her recent experience, scare her. He wanted her to feel safe with him. To never feel like she need cower in fear from him physically. He swallowed and feeling himself under better regulation said, "I did. I am sorry I did not catch up sooner before you were put in the situation you were in when I found you."

"I do believe for the first time in our aquintance I was quite relieved to see you," Elizabeth said faintly. "I never thought I would be grateful that a man had deemed me only toloreable and not handsome enough to tempt him. What brought you to follow the post coach?"

"Lady Catherine's actions were unforgivable. As soon as I found out that she had sent you away on a post chaise unaccompanied, I prepared to retrieve you."

"I thank you, Sir. You have my unswerving gratitude. I, I would rather not reflect on what may have become of me otherwise," she said shakily.

"As would I. May I offer you another blanket for warmth? I had my coachman pick up an overnight valise for you from the parsonage, but I fear stopping at an inn for you to change. I would not wish to expose you to more rummors," Darcy said gently.

"My reputation is ruined. Even if Charlotte could prevail on Mr. Collins to keep my travel alone on a post chaise in confidence, Maria would see no harm in mentioning it to any of my sisters and Lydia is silly enough to tell all of Meryton about what she might concisder as being an exciting adventure," Elizabeth said quietly.

"Miss Bennet, I ask that you trust me, I know I have not given you any reason to with my behavior reccently but I do have a plan to aid your reputation," Darcy said gently. "None of what happened was your fault. Lady Catherine bears the blame for your circumstances and I intend to do everything possible to aid you and met out a degree of justice to her for her unforgivable actions."

Elizabeth thought about what she knew of him, and despite Wickham's experience at Darcy's hand, he had saved her from a terrifying experience so she found herself inclined to trust him. She briefly wondered if perhaps Jane was correct and their was some mistake or misunderstanding. After all he had sought out the post coach his aunt had placed her, someone he disliked, on because it was the right thing to do and he offered his assurance he would help her. She would have never believed he would seek her out to assist her when his own aunt had wronged her. "I will trust you in this, Sir," she said as she struggled to keep her eyes open.

Darcy seeing her fighting against fatigue said, "Sleep some more. I suspect my aunt gave you a sedative like she keeps on hand for her daughter's maladies, though a much stronger dose then usual, or perhaps your tolerance for it is much lower. You will be safe with me and my cousin will see to alerting your family of your safety and location." Elizabeth gave a brief nod before allowing her eyes to drift close and her breathing became that of one resting. Darcy disliked the subterfuge of not simply telling Elizabeth his plan, but telling her, would require her agreement to be engaged to marry him until they reached Scotland and she had given her word to not become engaged to him.

Darcy knew that Lady Catherine would pay the price in way that would vex her. He would no longer recognize her as family and would cease his efforts on her behalf, including supplementing her income when needed. He was tempted to take things further and actively purchase up any debt she had and demand repayment. He did not want to do anything though that would further damage Elizabeth's reputation and actively persecuting Lady Catherine might. If Lady Catherine accepted her defeat and did nothing further he would stay his hand. But if she attempted to malign Elizabeth or presume on her previous relationship with him as his aunt, he would be act accordingly.

His mind briefly wondered what Elizabeth had meant by her comment that she was relieved a man had deemed her only tolerable and not tempting. Any man to do so would have to be blind, she was the most tempting thing he had ever seen. Her position had shifted after her brief spell awake and it was taking all his considerable will power not to glance towards where his coat, that still drapped her form, had gapped open as she slept now. Not only would looking be ungentlemanly and a violation of her privacy, he did not need anything to further fuel his fantasies of Elizabeth. He could barley close his eyes without envisioning her with him as it was. Even watching her sleep left him slightly aroused as he imagined her sleeping in his bed as his wife. If she awoke and he was fully aroused due to his thoughts and she noticed, she would have every right to be terrified given how her day had been, Darcy thought grimly.

…

Knowing that they would likely soon be coming to an inn, Darcy knocked on the coaches roof to signal his driver to halt and leaned toward Elizabeth and softly called, "Miss Bennet," to wake her. He had thought about it further and decided that perhaps they could stop prior to the next town and she could perhaps change in the coach if he vacated it. That would then make it possible for them to stop for refreshments and handle other necessities without anyone seeing her disheveled state and torn dress. When she stirred and opened her eyes and sleepily smiled at him, his mind went completely blank and he simply stared at her.

Elizabeth blinked sleepily, wondering why she was looking at Darcy's face. Remembrance of her current circumstances shot through her and she gasped, blushing and sitting up straight, pulling the loose coat tightly around her.

Her actions recalled Darcy to his purpose and with a quick swallow he said, "I thought, perhaps. Sorry, Eliz- Miss Bennet. We are approaching an inn I believe. I thought perhaps if I vacated the coach you could perhaps change into something the maid from the parsonage sent along and we could then stop at the inn for use of its facilities and to have a brief meal, if you are feeling up to it. I can retrieve something for you to eat in the coach later if you would prefer to keep resting. It is your decision, obviously. My property I intend us to reach tonight is still hours away and, well I thought that you might, well-"

Interrupting what sounded suspiciously like nervous rambling to Elizabeth, rather then his usual tones of disdain, she said with a laugh, "An excellent thought, Sir. Anything Molly sent would likely be better for my modesty then my current attire." Unable to help herself, she added impishly, "I apologize for once agian offending your sensibilities with my mode of dress."

"Offending my sensibilities?" Darcy asked in confusion.

"Yes, my petticoats were no less than six inches deep in mud, at Netherfield and I am afraid that I quite scandalized Miss Bingley, Mrs. Hurst and yourself, " Elizabeth said with a grin.

"Your attire has never offended me, quite the opposite," Darcy said honestly before he stepped out of the coach to retrive her small bag of belongings. He presented it to her and closing the door to the carriage wandered a small distance away determined to not think about the fact that she was currently undressing and changing clothing in his coach. After what felt like an agonizingly long amount of time out of Elizabeth's presence, he heard her voice calling his name. He whirled to face his coach and was surprised to see her framed in the doorway, blushing becomingly.

"Mr. Darcy, " Elizabeth said again, blushing profusely. "Molly has unfortunately packed one of the few dresses that I require some assistance with. I could not reach all the buttons at the back. Could you. I was hoping that, perhaps, you could assist me," she finished in a rush her face turning even redder as she completed her request.

Darcy strode toward her and said huskily, "Yes." Then he cleared his throat and said, "I would be most willing to assit you."

Elizabeth turned around exposing her back to him and with a trembling hand he reached out to help with the first button. He attempted to regulate his breathing but he was certain that she had to be aware of his irregular harsh breaths. He dimly registered her own nervous quick pants. All to soon his fingers closed the last button and he had no excuse to linger as much as he wished to. He stepped back quickly and when she glanced back over her shoulder at him he gave her a nod, not trusting his voice to speak. Someday he vowed Elizabeth would welcome his affections and he would not have to step back. He would show her she had no cause to fear him. His cousin had said to woo his bride and then seduce his wife, Darcy only hoped that he could survive until he was successful.