Page 79 of Without Pride and Prejudice

Speaking of Tony, I noticed he was doing his best to stay clear of us. Fine by me. I still couldn’t believe he’d embezzled funds from his own family. No wonder his mom had been so upset. They were seriously the nicest folks. Well, his days of hurting people were numbered. Fitz and I would make sure of it.

“My dearest Monroe,” Lady Catherine trilled while she swept in, interrupting my time with Macey. “I was telling His Grace that we would love it if you two would take your roles back for the wedding and be our Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy.” What an awful thing to say in front of Macey.

“No, thank you,” I said while looking at Macey, hoping Lady Catherine’s callous words hadn’t hurt her. Macey smiled at me gratefully.

“Well,” Lady Catherine said, taken aback. “I just thought it would be fitting.”

I reached for Fitz, and he took my hand. “We don’t want to pretend. This is the real deal.”

“All right, then.” She marched off, clearly unhappy.

“I’d better go get ready to reenact the last scene.” Macey beamed.

“Good luck.” I waved before turning back to Fitz. “I have something to tell you.” I whispered in his ear what Macey had just relayed to me about Tony and Winnifred.

Fitz stiffened, clenching his fists, but he remained calm.

“What should we do?” I asked, once I finished my tale.

“For now we will remain discreet, given we are in public.” He was treading carefully, trying to not crush my spirit. For that, I loved him.

“Fitz, I hope you know that I realize I will have to make some changes too. This isn’t all on you. Relationships are about compromising. And maybe I don’t want to rescue Winnifred right away.” I impishly grinned. Oh, don’t worry, I would talk to her before the night was over—discreetly, of course. The last thing I wanted was another picture in theDaily Mail.

Fitz rested a hand on my cheek. “You are incredible.”

“You’re not so bad yourself.”

Fitz offered me his arm, and I gladly took it.

“Are you sad that you missed out on this week?” he asked.

I looked around the beautiful ballroom draped in delicate garlands made of greenery and flowers. The altar up front was surrounded by even more flowers. While it was wonderful, I felt as if this week had given me something better: confidence in myself and my person, Fitz. While make-believe was important, it could never supersede reality. The best love stories are those we get to live, as messy as they are, with no guarantees of happy endings. “No.” I peered into Fitz’s broody eyes, which gazed at me adoringly. “I didn’t miss out on anything.”

Fitz leaned in and pressed his lips to mine.

“You’re going to get us in trouble for engaging in a romantic pursuit,” I mumbled against his lips.

“I intend to pursue you for the rest of my life,” Fitz said, low and sexy.

“Mr. Darcy has nothing on you.” I grabbed his jacket and laid one on him. Well, it was more of a church kiss. We were kind of in church. Regardless, he reached the depths of my being, just from the gentle touch of his soft lips moving over mine. He was that good. “We’d better find our seats,” I said as people started pouring in. Many of their eyes landed on us. I was going to have to get used to that.

Fitz guided us to the second row, where we took our seats behind the Bennets for the double wedding. It looked like some staff members had filled in for Jane and Mr. Bingley.

As they set up for the scene, it got me to thinking that maybe someday soon I would plan another wedding and honeymoon. Who would have known that both honeymoons would be with Fitz? I wondered what we could do to top this experience, including me not spending most of it in the hospital.

“Fitz,” I whispered, “where should we go on our next honeymoon?”

He looked around the sizable crowd before he faced me, his gaze intense but tender. “Somewhere with the just the two of us.”

“Just the two of us.”

That sounded perfect.

“She had never seen a place for which nature had done more, or where natural beauty had been so little counteracted by an awkward taste. They were all of them warm in their admiration; and at that moment she felt that to be mistress of Pemberley might be something!”

FITZ

I GLANCED OVER AT MONROE, who was gazing out the window as we drove through the security gate leading to Blackhaven—home. I smiled, thinking of waltzing with her last night. Agatha threw a fit about it. But there was no way I was going to do some country dance where we barely touched each other. I needed Monroe up close and personal. She had been a vision last night. I don’t think she has any idea how she lights up a room. And did she ever light up the room last night. In typical Monroe fashion, she tried to warn Winnifred about Tony; to her credit, she’d tried to be discreet. However, she didn’t realize how much attention she was getting, and someone overheard her. That led to, well ...

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