Page 66 of Bitten By Mr. Darcy
Elizabeth laughed into his chest. “You know, you keep assuming I want someone to father children on me.”
“Well, it’s the only way to get children.”
“You keep assuming I want children.”
“Ah,” he said, stroking her back. “Do you not?”
“I am not certain,” she said. “It’s something I always assumed I would do. Everyone does, after all. I had never had the notion of not having children presented to me, really.”
“I sometimes feel a pang about it,” he said. “I missed it all entirely, after all, and there is nothing that can be done about it. I suppose it is one of the reasons I cherish my relationship with Georgiana.”
“Certainly,” she said. “But I think, if I am to become a vampire, I should rather not have children at all. I think it will be painful enough watching everyone I know now waste away and die, while I stay young and unchanged. I could not bear watching that happen to my own children, I don’t think. It would be awful.”
“Yes,” he agreed.
“And I have been thinking a lot about it, about letting you turn me,” she said, tracing patterns on his chest.
He tightened his grip on her. “Well, I don’t wish to sway you, but I have been thinking about it, too. I have long been a solitary vampire, and I have found that every time I am in the company of other vampires, they wear on me, but then I leave them and I find I am quite painfully lonely, and I often wish for a companion. I think… perhaps I’ve been waiting for you.”
She lifted her head from his chest to look down at him.
“I don’t mean to pressure you—”
“That is not pressure, Ty, it is reassurance,” she said to him. “It is the first thing you’ve said to me that made me feel you might truly want me for yourself, not against your will or good sense.”
“Ah,” he said, tracing the outline of her jaw, affectionate. “Well, I am perhaps too cautious, my love. You are breaking me of that habit, in the most wondrous of ways. You are very good for me. If I could have you and never give you up, I should be the happiest of men.”
She smiled down at him. “There. This, you see, is why I do not care very much at all about Colonel Fitzwilliam.”
He chuckled. “Well, then, good. I would not see my Lizzy saddened by anyone. If he hurt you, I would—”
“You would do nothing at all,” she scoffed.
“Oh, you don’t know that. I can be frightening and terrifying, I’ll have you know. I’m a vampire.”
She giggled, settling her head back down on his chest. “I only worry he isn’t as serious about Jane as she is about him. As long as he wants her, too, they both have my blessing.”
“Well, time will tell that, I think,” said Mr. Darcy. “We must see if he calls upon her again.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
AND INDEED, THEnext day, the colonel did call upon Jane. This time he was the only suitor present. No one else had called that day. The colonel and Jane spoke together, only to each other, for three quarters of an hour, while Elizabeth sat in the room as a chaperone and paid attention chiefly to her book. She felt as if this was a good sign, but it wasn’t conclusive.
Time would tell.
Time would tell everything.
But she didn’t feel nearly as anxious about the outcomes, she supposed. She was beginning to suspect that perhaps everything would work out.
And then, Mr. Wickham appeared.
It was right after the colonel had left. Another caller was announced, and Elizabeth said to show him in, and then she heard the name, and she was stunned.
Mr. Wickham was wearing the remnants of his uniform for the regiment, but it was unbuttoned and torn and covered in smudges of dirt. There was a smear of mud on his forehead. His eyes were wild.
“I came to you because you have married him,” said Wickham. “I thought you’d have more resources. Also, I suppose I reckon your father will be angry.”
“What are you talking about?” said Elizabeth, crossing the room to him.
