Chapter 6

Disclaimer: As usual, I do not own anything except my love of these characters :-)

As Elizabeth pulled away from The Colonel's kiss, she opened her eyes to see his reaction, and was quite surprised. Instead of pleasure, in his eyes she thought she could see pain. "Colonel, are you feeling well? What is the matter?" she asked, worry evident in her voice.

"You mistake me, my dear. I'm quite well, indeed. I don't believe I've felt so wonderful in such a long time. No, the look you saw was caused by my acute happiness. You see that I had quite given up hope for the two of us. I'm a practical man, and knowing how my cousin felt, I couldn't see you refusing him. He is a catch indeed: vast estates, titles, money, and the Darcy Charm. I saw the two of you married by the end of this year. But then he told me of your refusal, and I couldn't quite believe my ears. You say you are attracted to him, but not in love. I thank the Angels in Heaven for that, my dear. You cannot know how much you mean to me, and to finally be able to express myself, and to hear you say you will marry me, it's almost too much joy."

"Oh Fitz William, if only you had told me sooner!" Elizabeth exclaimed. "Indeed I am attracted to Mister Darcy; I fear I always will be. But in truth, I feel that marriage should be based on something more than attraction, do you not agree? That is not to say that I am not attracted to you, for I am, but I also feel safe when I am with you. I know that if we fight, there is no danger of us physically harming one another. And although I may not love you, I feel that given time, I can learn to love you. You have all of the qualities I admire in a gentleman. You're kind, warm, free-spirited, humorous, and well-liked by all. Any woman would be lucky to have you as her husband."

"Thank you, my dear. I am just lucky that I have the one woman that I truly want. Do you have a date in mind, or do you want to wait a bit to decide?" he asked, excitement shining in his eyes.

"As quickly as you can arrange it, darling. There is no reason for us to wait is there? As soon as you can talk to my father and get the banns posted, I will be ready" Elizabeth replied, trying and failing not to look too eager. In her mind, the sooner she was married, the sooner Mister Darcy would cease to be a threat to her.

The Colonel, however, saw her eagerness endearing, as if she could not bear to be away from him. He loved her so greatly, he could not even begin to think that she might be marrying him for her own selfish, prideful reasons. "Very good, my love. I will leave directly to call upon your father. Do you think he should object? I may not be as wealthy as my cousin, but I am no pauper by any means. And I will strive my hardest to make you happy. Anything you desire will be yours. Kiss me so that I may leave to see him, dearest" The colonel said passionately.

Elizabeth complied, anxious for him to be off to see her father. When he had left, she stood on the grounds of Pemberly and marveled at how quickly life could change if given the chance. Just a short while ago she had been traveling here to sell herself to Mr. Darcy for the sake of her family, and now she was about to become a member of his family.

As she started walking down the vast lawn of Pemberly toward Lambton, she thought about and planned her upcoming wedding. She wondered briefly at what Mr. Darcy's reaction would be. Not pretty, she'd bet. She was so lost in thought that she didn't hear the horse galloping closeby, or hear the rider dismount and come up behind her. So when a gloved hand rested upon her arm, she did the natural thing any lady would do in that situation: she panicked. She pulled her arm away, and swung her other arm around to try and hit her supposed attacker. Unfortunately for Elizabeth, her pursuer was quicker than she and had both of her arms in a vice-like grip in a matter of seconds, leaving her prisoner to. . . Mr. Darcy?

"GOOD GRIEF WOMAN, CALM YOURSELF AT ONCE!" he demanded, irritated and hurt. She had kicked him on the shin, and it was stinging. She kicked harder than he would have given her credit for. As Elizabeth realized that she was in no danger, she relaxed her arms and stopped struggling.

"Well if you hadn't snuck up on me, I might not have kicked you, sir. And what are you following me for, anyway? Did I forget something at Pemberly? Or do you just make it a habit to follow poor unsuspecting females around, hoping to scare the life out of them? No, do not answer that question. I do not really want to know the answer. Well, what is it then?"

"I just wanted to give you my congratulations. I didn't know you and my cousin are on such good terms. But you must be to go about kissing him like that on my front steps! Then to hear from his own lips that the two of you are to be married soon. And to think that only this afternoon, it was a completely different man embracing you, as well as engaging in...other things in my front parlor. How interesting, indeed. Do you think he would like to know about that, 'Angel'? " Mr. Darcy said, an incredulous look on his face as he looked into her eyes, waiting for her response.

" Well then, it seems that you do not know everything, do you? And if I were you, I wouldn't even think about telling Fitz anything about this afternoon. You'll regret it. I assure you. You haven't the right to threaten me, Mr. Darcy. And an empty threat at that! I know for a fact that you would never tell anyone, you already told me you wouldn't, so please do not try to play that card, sir."

"It is not I playing the game, my dear. Kissing one man one minute, then becoming engaged to the man's cousin, the next? Only, tell me why, Elizabeth. If you are so anxious to be married, why turn down my proposal, only to accept Fitz William's, a man lesser in status? You say you do not love me, but he told me you also do not love him! What have I done to make you loathe my company so much? You go to such great lengths to tell me you want nothing to do with me, and then you go and betrothe yourself to my cousin for God's sake! Elizabeth, please. Please explain so I understand why I am so unworthy of your love."

At that last sentence, Elizabeth, who had been looking at her feet, glanced up to look at Mister Darcy's face, and was shocked to see that she had driven him to tears. They were flooding down his face, and he was doing nothing to stop them. He was so focused on her face it seemed that he didn't even notice.

"Mister Darcy, please stop crying. I didn't intend for you to take the news this way. Please stop, do! I cannot bear it. I am not marrying him to be cruel to you, nor to prove a point. He is good for me, and can help me better myself in ways you cannot! When I am with you, all we do is fight and argue, or end up doing things we should not. With Fitz, he calms me. He helps me be a better woman. Please understand, Mister Darcy. Please?"

"My love, I will never understand why we cannot be together, so please do not ask me to try. I will never be able to stand the thought of you with any other man except myself. We fight, we argue, we embrace, yes that is all true. But have you ever stopped to think why? Truly think about the reason we are the way we are with each other. Maybe it's because we just cannot get along like you say. Or maybe it's because we suit so well, and are so passionate about one another that we cannot be mild when together. If you want me to stop crying, then tell me you love me, tell me that you'll break your engagement with Fitz William, and you'll marry me. Tell me you don't love him, please."

"I do not love him, sir, nor have I said I do. But I am marrying him. You will never convince me that I should not. I believe that you and I simply do not suit, and cannot get along. It will never change, I'm afraid. Nor will I ever change. If you truly love me, you will let me go. You will let me marry Fitz, and you will never speak of this again. Please, for my sake, let me go" she said, her own eyes starting to fill, her legs shaking at the emotions on his face. It was almost unbearable. Almost. There was no other way around it, though. If she was to marry his cousin, she must bear it. They both must.

"It is not that easy. I will let you go, for now. But do not think that this is the end of our discussion. I am not about to give you up because you are too proud to admit we could be happy together. Please allow me to escort you into Lambton. And for once, do not argue. Just get on the horse and let me escort you!"

"Very well, no need to shout. I wasn't going to argue. Apparently, I'm going to need to save my arguing skills for later" she said, drying her eyes on her sleeve. She stopped when he thrust a handkerchief in her hand, picked her up and set her on the horse, then mounted the horse behind her.

Elizabeth, exhausted, fell asleep after a little while, so that when they arrived at the inn, Mister Darcy carried her up the stairs and into her room, setting her on the bed. Not trusting himself to undress her, he placed a blanket on her and kissed her forehead. "I love you Elizabeth" he breathed. "I love you too, William" she murmured sleepily.