Lizzy sat contemplating her fate all the while aware of the male figure quickly nearing the carriage door. Lizzy closed her eyes wishing she could be anywhere else in the world.
Suddenly Mr. Darcy appeared, sitting across from her in his carriage, he silently positioned himself for the short ride.
Lizzy looked at him but refused to be the first to speak, and as she observed Mr. Darcy also was not in any haste to form a cease-fire.
Just as her mother declared him to be, Mr. Darcy the constant gentlemen, breached the silence first.
"Miss Bennet I do hope you are feeling well, I fear that you were acting so out of character back at the church that I daresay I did not recognize you." Darcy continued. "I assured your father that this respite from walking would set your spirits right again." Darcy stopped and looked away praying that her response would not be another dagger to the heart.
"I must disagree Mr. Darcy, I find myself to be in excellent spirits." Lizzy continued. "I am so happy for my sister that she has found a husband so good, so honourable and so much in love with her."
Darcy felt his heart ache. How he wished that today could have been his happiness, his wedding, his bride sitting across from him.
"Miss Bennet I must convey to you my sister's deepest wish for you two to meet again, she hopes that you will accompany the new Mr. and Mrs. Bingley to Pemberley for Christmas."
"Please sir, thank your sister for her most gracious invitation but I do not believe that I will be able to fulfil her wish.""
"Miss Bennet, I must ask why, with so little an explanation, you refuse such an invitation." Darcy continued. "I should elaborate that it is not just my sister's wish by mine as well that you should return to Pemberley." Darcy began to inch up on his seat bridging the gap between Lizzy and himself.
"Sir I do believe you know my reasons for keeping my distance."
"No! I do not know your reasons Miss Bennet, please enlighten me." Darcy demanded.
"Mr. Darcy you know exactly why I cannot visit you and your sister at Pemberley." Lizzy fuming with frustration continued. "I refuse to sit by and watch you pretend like you know nothing of your own plans and wishes, and I must communicate to you Mr. Darcy that I will never submit to your desires! I am a gentleman's daughter and no matter what good deeds you have done for my family I will not lower myself to you!"
"My wishes, my desires? I have not kept them hidden from you Miss Bennet. You know what my wishes are. I have been an open book to you for the last several months. It is you who has closed yourself off to me. Everything I have done I have done for you. All the actions surrounding your sisters I have carried out to soothe your heart and mind." Darcy continued to bridge the gap between himself and Lizzy, and now he was just inches from her face. "Miss Bennet I have longed to make you mine, to make you my wife!"
Lizzy sat glaring at Mr. Darcy, she could feel the heat generating off his face, and she swore she could hear both their hearts pounding.
"Mr. Darcy I question your scruples in this matter! I do not believe that your plans are as they seem. I have it on good authority that you do not mean to make me your wife but make me your mistress instead." There thought Lizzy she finally said it aloud, the pain that had been hidden inside her was now free and she could look at the blaggard sitting in front of her.
With Lizzy's last words Mr. Darcy began to sink back into his seat, thus creating a distance between Lizzy that both could feel. Lizzy looked at Mr. Darcy hoping to see a rogue who's scheme had been unearthed but instead she saw a man you looked deeply pained.
"So, this is what you think of me." The light that had been in Darcy's eyes all day had seemed to be extinguished in an instant. "You believe that I have done all I have in an effort to secure you as my mistress, and who pray tell will be my wife in this scenario that you have no doubt created under false pretences!"
Lizzy felt uneasy now, looking at Mr. Darcy her usually strong demeanour was shaken. She did not think that she could speak her truth to him, and she was now growing fearful that her previous perception was wrong.
"Miss Bennet, you will tell me who perjured me in such a way. I deserve to know who has ruined my image in your mind!" Darcy pounded his first down on the seat next to him.
Knowing that she must divulge her sources Lizzy began her story.
"Mr. Darcy you must know first that it pains me to tell this story, but since you demand it I will." Lizzy continued. "Some time after my sister Lydia and Mr. Wickham were married I learned that you were responsible. Then later when Jane and Mr. Bingley were engaged I learned again that you had intervened. I knew instantly that you were not just intervening for their happiness but for mine as well." Blushing Lizzy continued. "I found myself falling quit in love with you Mr. Darcy, and I hoped that it would only be a matter of days before you came to Longbourn to make me yours."
Stopping to breath Lizzy looked up at Mr. Darcy.
"Regrettably, it was not you but your aunt, Lady Catherine who visited Longbourn. There in the parlour she told me after a long battle with you she had secured her daughter Anne's happiness as your intended. She included in her speech that you refused to give me up, but after acknowledging your family responsibility agreed to keep me as your mistress. A small token she said for upholding the family honour."
Holding her composeure Lizzy continued. "I did not want to believe it Mr. Darcy. My heart ached for you to come and correct the allegations, but you did not come, and before you had a chance a letter arrived for me. This letter was from my most cherished and trusted friend, Mrs. Collins. In her letter Mrs. Collins urged me to be weary of you. She said that at a dinner at Rosings Park you had arrived unannounced and demanded an audience with the great lady. In the other room Mrs. Collins overheard you telling your aunt how you aimed to make me your mistress. My dear friend had the ghastly task of relaying the information to me. I had no other choice but to believe her and in doing so believe your aunt and loose forever my dreams of happiness."
With tears forming in her eyes Lizzy concluded her sad tale to Mr. Darcy.
"Miss Bennet I must tell you that what my aunt told you was a falsehood. I never agreed to take Anne as my wife and I never let go of my hope of happiness with you. I am shaken that you could not see my true character and refuse to believe the lies that were thrown at your door. I am pained beyond words, and I feel that the trust we could have had is forever broken."
Nearing Longbourn the carriage began to slow its pace.
"On the count of Mrs. Collins, what she confided to you was the truth." Darcy declared looking at Lizzy.
Pulling up to the front of the wedding celebration the carriage came to a final stop.
"I will leave you with this thought Miss Bennet. What I told my aunt was true I aimed to make you my mistress, not just of my bed, but of the whole of Pemberley." Darcy rose from his seat all the while never breaking his eye contact with Lizzy. "
With that Mr. Darcy descended the carriage and closed the door behind him, leaving Lizzy behind to think over his last words.