Page 95 of The Engagement at Longbourn

Elizabeth stared.

"You say nothing."

"There is nothing to say."

"There is pain."

"Which passes."

"You are impossible."

"So I have been told."

She stood. Her eyes had filled unexpectedly.

Darcy's expression changed. "Do not cry."

"Do not order me."

"I did not mean—"

"I know."

Elizabeth looked away, angry with herself.

"When I found you, I thought you were dead."

Darcy went very still.

"For perhaps two seconds. You were not moving. Your leg looked..." She stopped. "Then you opened your eyes and began saying absurd things, and there was no time to be frightened properly."

He came closer.

"Elizabeth."

"I have spent three months teasing you about the proposal because it made the memory ridiculous instead of terrible."

Darcy's face softened with pain entirely unrelated to his leg.

"I did not know."

"Neither did I. Not exactly."

She laughed shakily. "It seems Jane is not the only Bennet who hides feelings behind a convenient expression."

Darcy stood before her.

"May I hold you?"

Elizabeth nodded. He put his arms around her. She pressed her face against his chest. For a while neither spoke. His heart beat beneath her cheek.

Alive.

Steady. Darcy rested his chin lightly against her hair.

"I am sorry."

Elizabeth drew back. "For falling from a horse?"