Page 38 of Courting Elizabeth

My throat closed on a response I couldn’t find.

“Tonight,” he said.

“Is that a promise?”

“It’s a hope.”

“You’re becoming cautious.”

“You make me cautious.”

He brought my hand to his lips, then walked away toward his study.

I remained alone in the gallery, the ribbon tied too tightly around my neck, every part of me impatient for evening to come.

Chapter 10

DARCY

I spent the day avoiding my wife.

My resolution required patience, discipline, and constant attention. It had not prepared me for hunger.

Every time I thought of the gallery, I heard her voice asking me to continue. I saw her tempting mouth lifted toward mine, the confidence mixed with defiance in her eyes, the quick rise and fall of her chest beneath the fichu I had retied. I had waited months for that kiss. Now that she had asked for it, I feared I would not know how to stop.

I locked myself in my study with the estate accounts.

The figures blurred.

I met with the steward, answered two letters, examined a repair proposal for a bridge, and discovered at the end of the meeting that I had retained only one word in three.

I took the estate register, turned to the back, and opened to the last page, which had remained blank for eight years.

I wrote down what I knew of her.

That she walked every morning in all weather and returned with mud up to her ankles without anyone daring to scold her for it. That she took her tea too strong. That she read two books at once and left them open, face down on the furniture, which damaged the bindings—something I decided never to mention. That she laughed more readily with Mrs. Reynolds than with the ladies of the neighborhood. That she had asked three times where the estate school was.

I reread the page.

A reasonable man would have seen only the list of a stranger’s habits.

I saw a way to remember what mattered to her.

I closed the register just as the door opened.

At four o’clock, Georgiana entered without knocking.

“You have been here since luncheon.”

“I have work to do.”

She looked at the pile of untouched documents to my right.

“Mrs. Darcy is waiting for you in the library.”

My eyes lifted too quickly.

Georgiana smiled.