Page 73 of Bitten By Mr. Darcy
“You’re safe now, Miss Bennet,” said the colonel. “If I have anything to say about it, you’ll never be in danger from any of them ever again. I wonder… you and I, we have been in a bit of a, erm, situation today, and much of it was not entirely properin the strictest of senses, going off in a carriage together alone after Mr. Darcy, or… well, even now, we have been left alone here together—though, I suppose I did not have to stay, it is only…” He ran a hand through his hair. “Perhaps it doesn’t matter. If it’s a question of your reputation, it’s hardly known. And obviously, we have conducted ourselves with decorum. And I also know you are highly pursued by all manner of suitors, and that you might not be very interested in what I could offer you.” There was a long pause.
Jane shook her head at him. She did not know what he was going on about. She was still reeling from the information about vampires being real, and he was talking about it being improper for them to be alone together and she was thinking about having Mr. Bingley’s teeth in her neck, and—
“Anyway, there’s likely a better time and a better place, and I suppose, now that I go over and over it, there is no real obligation on your part, so, perhaps it’s foolish. Perhaps I shall wait and see how this progresses.” He let out a breath and nodded.
She regarded him, still quite confused, still sorting through all of it. Then she sat up very straight. “Colonel Fitzwilliam!”
“Yes?”
“You were speaking of asking for my hand, were you not?”
“I was,” he said. “Was that not clear?”
“Not even the slightest bit clear,” she said.
“Ah, so that explains why you were gazing at me with a very puzzled expression on your face that seemed to grow ever more puzzled the longer I spoke,” he said. “I thought you were…” He cleared his throat. “Can I take this to mean that you do not think the idea is entirely preposterous?”
She let out a happy laugh. “It is what I have been hoping for, in fact. I would quite like to marry you, in all truth. I have been hoping it would come to pass.”
“Oh,” he said in a different voice, smiling widely at her. “Well, then. Good.”
She was still laughing.
“This is likely the worst marriage proposal of all time,” he said, shaking his head.
“We have been through quite a lot today,” said Jane. “So perhaps you must not chide yourself so.”
“Perhaps,” he said. “And since you have been through so much, I would not press you for anything further. We are engaged, but there is no need to seal it in a kiss or anything of that nature.”
“Perhaps a kiss is exactly what we both need after the horrors we witnessed, however,” said Jane, feeling as if she were bubbling over with joy. This had been quite an awful day, but now she would always remember it for this part, this wondrous part.
“Oh, I do see your point, Miss Bennet,” said the colonel.
“Yes, indeed, it is a good point,” she said. “And I have never been kissed, you know.” Because having three vampires biting her at once wasnotthe same thing.
The colonel nodded, his expression growing serious. “Well, I shall need to take care to give you the best first kiss I can manage, then.”
“Do,” she said, lifting her chin.
He snatched at it with his forefinger and thumb. “Has anyone told you how impossibly lovely you are, Miss Bennet?”
She was blushing.
“I shall be the luckiest man alive to call you my wife,” he said, and then his mouth was on hers, and it was like a sugary confection all through her. It was better than a vampire bite. She shut her eyes against its sheer goodness, and she felt as if she were soaring.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
IT WAS NOTthe last they saw of Mr. Wickham, unfortunately.
He attempted to get Lydia to elope with him in truth. But Lydia was not having it, not now that she had quite a hefty dowry. She had set her sights a great deal higher than Mr. Wickham.
Wickham had been so sure of himself that he had already sent off a letter to Mr. Darcy, saying that he had his wife’s sister and that he would not release her unless Mr. Darcy made Mr. Wickham a vampire.
But when the letter from Wickham arrived, they were actually dining with the Bennet family, including Lydia, who were staying in London for the late winter and spring, so that the newly dowered Bennet sisters could enjoy balls and socializing. So, it was very obvious that Mr. Wickham did not, in fact, have any Bennet sister with him at all.
Mr. Darcy idly wondered if he should be doing something about Wickham. “He seems to be predisposed to cause all manner of mischief, does he not?”
“What would you do?” said Elizabeth to him.
