Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

T he next morning, Darcy arrived at Matlock House with two horses in tow. One was ridden by a groom who would accompany the pair, and one was riderless, already saddled with the side-saddle Elizabeth would need to use while in town. Nearly as soon as he knocked, the door opened, and he saw Elizabeth walking toward him, pulling her gloves onto her hands as she walked.

“Good morning, William,” she said cheerfully.

“Good morning, Elizabeth,” he replied. “Are you ready for a bracing ride?”

“Ha,” she scoffed. “I cannot go on a bracing ride in town, and you well know it. I cannot ride like I do at Pemberley because I am forced to ride side-saddle in town. Between that and this ridiculous skirt, the horse would likely spook if I attempted to make her go beyond a canter.”

Darcy grinned at her. “Perhaps you are correct. Then I will go for a bracing ride and return to you to tell you about it. How does that sound? ”

She scowled at him in return and swatted his shoulder. “Silly man. You cannot do that as you must accompany me. Therefore, you must keep to my pace and remain near me the entire time. You will have to take me to Pemberley if you want a bracing ride.”

“I would adore that, my dear Elizabeth,” Darcy replied, his voice deeper than usual. He cleared his throat. “That will have to wait until the summer for I have been assured that I must remain in London at least until June. After the Derby, we will be allowed to depart, and I will plead with the Gardiners to come with me this year. I have invited your family the last two summers as well, but your uncle was forced to decline the invitations.”

Elizabeth sighed. “I know. I was able to escape town for a few days last summer, but it was not the same as being at Pemberley. I already told you about the horses my uncle managed to hire for us that were not nearly of the same quality as the horses you keep at your estate.”

“Well, yes, Pemberley’s horses have been bred carefully to ensure both stamina and strength. We have an excellent stable and stablemaster.”

She laughed at that. “I recall. He thought it nothing less than shameful that I had never been taught to ride at the ‘advanced’ age of fourteen.”

Darcy laughed, as Elizabeth had known he would. That a lass from the country had not been taught to ride as an infant had shocked the old Scot. “Aye, and a shame it is,” he had said to the pair when they had gone to the stables to find a gentle mount for Elizabeth. “Such a bonnie wee thing as you should ha’ been on a pony from the time ye could walk.”

“Allow me to assist you,” Darcy said after a moment, and quickly grasped Elizabeth by the waist to help her onto her mount. She gasped in surprise at his sudden action, one he had done many times before, but never before had it felt so intimate. Elizabeth’s cheeks reddened as she put her own hands on his shoulders to steady her, feeling his closeness acutely .

Their eyes met, and for a brief moment, as it had the night they danced, the world around them seemed to fade away. Darcy’s touch was firm yet gentle, and Elizabeth could not help but notice the warmth and strength in his hands. Her heart raced, and she struggled to compose herself when his hands moved away.

“Thank you, William,” Elizabeth breathed, her voice and breathing both unsteady.

Darcy stepped back, his own emotions equally unsettled. He attempted to calm his racing heart as he spoke: “It was my pleasure, Elizabeth. Shall we begin our ride now?”

As they rode side by side, the memory of his touch lingered. Darcy’s presence was both comfortable and strange, and Elizabeth found herself stealing glances at him. They were both quiet, his expression unreadable. However, there was a softness in his eyes that made her heart flutter. Typical for them, they rode in comfortable silence. They had ridden together many times in the past, most often in the countryside surrounding Pemberley. While each was aware of the other, they did not let the strangeness of this encounter affect them, and after some time, they began to speak as they had in the past.

“Do you remember when we stumbled upon that old ruin near Pemberley?” Elizabeth asked with a hint of a smile. “You tried to convince me it was haunted.”

Darcy laughed, easing the tension between them a little more. “You were so easily convinced! In fact, I believe you encouraged the notion. When you told Father what we had found, he glared at me first and then told you it was all a lie.”

“I was so disappointed. We had such a grand time making up stories about what could have been haunting it. You were not as good at coming up with ideas as I was, but once I had given you the notion, you were able to carry them much further than I. ”

“You have always had a better imagination, but I had the knack for storytelling,” Darcy replied, his tone warm. “Despite my age, you still managed to make even the most mundane outings feel like grand adventures.”

They continued to reminisce as they rode through Hyde Park. Soon, any earlier awkwardness dissipated as they slipped back into the easy camaraderie they had always shared at Pemberley. The conversation flowed effortlessly, filled with light-hearted banter and genuine laughter.

When they finally returned to Matlock House, Darcy dismounted first and swiftly moved to help Elizabeth. This time, she was prepared for his touch, but the same intimate feeling coursed through her as he guided her down.

“I have enjoyed our ride this morning, William. When will we be able to repeat it?” Elizabeth asked.

Darcy took a moment to respond. He would like to repeat the activity every morning, but after his conversation with his uncle yesterday, thought it wise to limit it to a few times a week. “Day after tomorrow?” he suggested. “We have a dinner to attend tonight and will return home quite late.” Elizabeth agreed and looked forward to their time together.

This pattern continued over the next two months. Darcy tried to avoid early morning rides after attending events that kept them out late, though the pace of the season did not seem to affect Elizabeth as much as it did her sponsor. He even discovered that he enjoyed the season far more when he was escorting Elizabeth, partly because her presence calmed him and made it easier for him to be sociable.

Toward the end of May, before the Derby that marked the point that Lady Matlock would allow Darcy to return to Pemberley, he asked Elizabeth Gardiner for a courtship which her uncle quickly approved. The family celebrated this announcement along with Elizabeth’s eighteenth birthday.

Shortly after the first ball, Darcy invited the Gardiners to spend the months of July and August at Pemberley and offering a second carriage to convey the children on the journey. Darcy himself would leave for Pemberley earlier, in mid-June, but he hoped the Gardiners would not be far behind them. He had already decided he would propose to Elizabeth when they were all at Pemberley that summer.

Gardiner accepted the invitation, suggesting that he send his wife, Elizabeth, and the children with Darcy when he headed north,. He would follow in mid-July since he could not be away from his business for so long. With these plans in place, Darcy began to plan for his proposal to Elizabeth, and their frequent rides in Hyde Park, along with their reminiscences of the past, had given Darcy an idea how to make the proposal special.

Not long after Mr. Gardiner arrived at Pemberley, Darcy put his plans into place. That morning, he would take Elizabeth on a ride to the ridgeline with a perfect view of the estate. Now that Elizabeth was out, a groom customarily accompanied them, but in this instance, he had her uncle’s permission to take her out alone. If Elizabeth noticed his absence, she did not mention it, and the two rode in companionable silence until they reached their destination.

Darcy dismounted and moved toward Elizabeth’s side to help her dismount. She allowed him to assist her, smiling gently at him as she stood a beat longer than necessary in his almost embrace, revelling in the feeling. This happened every time they touched, yet Elizabeth never tired of it.

“Elizabeth, come, I have something to show you,” Darcy said, taking Elizabeth’s hand in his, leading her toward the ridge. A blanket and a small picnic were awaiting them which surprised her given the early hour. Darcy led her toward it and helped her sit before taking the seat next to her. He opened the basket and pulled out a flask of tea and several scones, accompanied by clotted cream and strawberry jam, Elizabeth’s favourite.

“This is lovely, William,” Elizabeth exclaimed. “How very thoughtful of you to arrange all this.”

“I wanted to do something special for you this morning, my dear Elizabeth,” he said, before pouring her a cup of tea and handing her a plate with a scone that he had cut in half so she could top it with jam and cream. The two ate in silence, though Elizabeth noticed that Darcy appeared slightly anxious.

“Is something troubling you this morning?” she asked after she had finished eating. Darcy was still fiddling with his own food, which was unlike him.

“No,” he said abruptly, surprising Elizabeth with his terseness which he must have noticed from her expression for he immediately apologised. “Forgive me, my dear, I did not mean to be short with you. There is something that I did wish to say, and I am having trouble finding the best way to do so.”

Elizabeth furrowed her brow, looking at him in concern. “Tell me, William. What is bothering you?”

He smiled and reached out to pick her hand up in his. “We have been courting now for several months, have we not? And I have cared for you nearly since we first met and you stood up to that vile reprobate, and then again to my father and myself. We became friends that first summer and deepened our friendship the following summer.

“Then we did not see each other for the next two years. We exchanged letters, but did not see one another for all that time. When I saw you again in London this spring, you were different; you looked different from the girl who had been my friend and supported me when my father died. It took a moment to reconcile those two people in my mind, but it did not take long before I realised that I was falling in love with the woman you had become. You were still the girl who had been my friend, but those feelings grew deeper the more time we spent together.”

During this, he had been staring at her hand, but now, he lifted his head to look her in the eye as he made his final confession. “I am in love with you, Elizabeth. What I brought you out here today to ask is—” he paused, shifting once again to take both her hands in his, “—Elizabeth, will you do me the honour of granting me your hand in marriage? Since the day we met, despite the circumstances of that day, I have felt at ease when I was with you. My father told me after we met that you would be the perfect wife for me, but you were too young, and I was too young, at the time. However, I think I always knew you would one day be my wife. Now, before I make an even greater fool of myself, what is your answer? Will you marry me?”

His eyes had dropped once again after he had asked the question and continued speaking, and when he looked up, he saw that tears had pooled in Elizabeth’s eyes. “Elizabeth, darling, what is wrong? Have I offended you in some way with my request? Forgive me …”

“No,” Elizabeth’s voice cut him off, and he stopped completely, uncertain what to say next. “You did not offend me, and nothing is wrong, William.” She paused to wipe her eyes and regain her composure. “Yes, I would be honoured to marry you. I love you, too, William. These tears are happy tears for while I hoped you would ask, I was uncertain if that was your intent this morning. I was a little afraid that you were bringing me here to tell me you viewed me as too much of a sister.”

Scrambling to his feet, Darcy pulled up Elizabeth behind him and immediately into his arms. “Not a sister, Elizabeth. Not familial at all, unless as a wife. You will be my wife?” he asked again, hesitating a little, still not quite believing that she had accepted him.

Elizabeth laughed. “Yes, dear William, I will be your wife. Now let us seal our promise with a kiss, or I will have to be angry with you, and that would not bode well for our marriage.”

Smiling fondly at her, Darcy shook his head even as he dipped down to bring his lips to hers. Their lips touched briefly before pulling away only for a moment. Her eyes were still closed, so Darcy brought his lips to hers once more, lingering longer this time.