Chapter One

In the interminable weeks before his long-awaited wedding was to take place, Mr. Darcy found himself wearing a deepening path between Netherfield and Longbourn, usually with Mr. Bingley in tow, sometimes alone. Throughout the course of his engagement he had followed a steady and determined course of extracting his fiancé from the bosom of her family and taking her on long walks, or if the weather proved prohibitive, on long drives.

As much as he valued the importance of Elizabeth's family, he simply knew himself not capable of courting her properly amongst those relations whose constant presence did neither of them justice. He had learnt to bear them with equanimity, but found that Elizabeth could not on his behalf. He was absolutely certain that he had withstood the worst that Mrs. Bennet could deliver, but was painfully aware that Elizabeth was always on the alert for some misdemeanor from any of her family.

Though she denied it vehemently, it was quite obvious that she was less animated and more silent than when they were alone, or in more agreeable company. His constant reassurances that he loved her for herself alone did not seem to penetrate her reason, and she continued to think that any offence by one of her family should immediately change his mind and have him hieing off to Pemberley. Although he admired her greatly for her intelligence, he could not deny that sometimes his fair Elizabeth was completely irrational. The knowledge that he had pursued her relentlessly and without encouragement and then persevered in the face of a very active dislike, seemed to bear no weight. She seemed to allow no latitude either for the fact that since he had met her, he had become less serious and less judgmental of others. In his own mind he had reached a point of understanding some months ago that if Mrs. Bennet chose to be a fool then it would not affect him, nor darken his opinion of Elizabeth.

Still, the fact remained that no progress was to be made whilst they remained in the house; consequently the best solution was to be without. His reward for persistence was that their relationship had developed into one of ease and comfort, supported by a deep and abiding love.

Having endured a long acquaintance with his own feelings, the last months had allowed Elizabeth the opportunity of coming to terms with hers. It had taken a few weeks, but now that she had lost all her self-consciousness of such a new and overwhelming feeling, she fell into her easy playful self, teasing and being generally charming. Darcy had learned to be laughed at, but only at the hands of his fair Elizabeth. The question remained whether Lizzy had learnt to be laughed at in return.

On one bright autumn morning, merely three days before their wedding, Darcy found himself so prompt in his arrival at Longbourn that they departed the house for their regular morning walk before Mrs. Bennet had even descended the stairs. Darcy readily acknowledged that there were singular advantages in rising early besides the natural pleasure of seeing Elizabeth when she was at her liveliest. If he timed his day just so, he found that he could quite often escape the attentions of Mrs. Bennet until dinnertime. Elizabeth's love of outdoor activity was certainly beneficial to his cause and he often wondered if such an inclination had arisen from natural preference or prudent avoidance.

Either way, he chose not to question what was to his advantage. The morning was clear but rather cool, and Elizabeth was in high spirits. Indeed, her liveliness was such that her inclination was to depart before Bingley and Jane were even ready. Knowing Jane had no inclination for cold weather, she did not apologise for leaving them behind. Nor was she backward in acknowledging to Darcy that she was a selfish creature and would much rather have him all to herself for the morning. In demonstrating her determination to be gone, she took hold of his hand, before he could even greet her father, and fairly dragged him out the door. Darcy was not reticent, but nonetheless surprised by her urgency. He had himself that very morning come to a resolution about the day's events, and Elizabeth was providing a perfect opportunity of carrying his resolution to fruition. Naturally he offered no resistance and they set off on the long walk towards Oakham Mount.

Their ramble was conducted in silence for some time for he could sense that Elizabeth was agitated, about what he could not tell. To hazard a guess, with their wedding only days away, no doubt the activity surrounding the event had reached a crescendo.

"Are you well, Elizabeth?" he asked in concern.

"Certainly, why should I not be?" she replied rather sharply.

"No particular reason, but you do seem unusually anxious."

Poor Darcy, she thought as she turned to look at him; his perceptiveness was highly gratifying but at the moment rather misplaced, for in an indirect way it was in fact himself that had caused her present state of agitation.

Her mother had decided last night that with only three days until the wedding she and Jane should be forced to sit through a highly displeasurable and not at all informative narrative on the duties of a wife. Working off her own experience rather than any sort of textual reference, it merely served to give the two girls an unwanted insight into the workings of their parents’ not altogether successful marriage. Elizabeth found herself none the wiser, Jane was plainly confused, and both had found themselves awake most of the night trying to make sense of their mothers conflicting lessons.

Elizabeth's sole consolation from the lecture was that with this example of maternal instruction before her, she was greatly relieved that their mother had never attempted tutelage on weightier subjects. For if Mrs Bennet could not grasp the basics of wifedom and motherhood after twenty-three years and five children, she would certainly have struggled with reading and writing.

When the sisters had discussed it between themselves later in the night, they could reach no reasonable conclusion about their wifely duties. Their consolation was that in three days time all would be clear and they would be free of such vexatious grievances. Elizabeth’s advice to Jane was that common sense and intuition would probably serve better than trying to accommodate some of their mother's mystifying instructions, most of which she had never seen fit to apply herself.

The one point that had alternately amused and vexed Elizabeth beyond belief was her lesson on not exposing one's husband, or the servants to 'fits of womanly temperament'. According to her instruction, if one was feeling nervy or upset, then it was best to retire to your room for the duration so as not to cause alarm or discord throughout the house, nor give the servants fodder for gossip. Elizabeth had suffered a severe attack of coughing that would have done Kitty proud, for she could not recall a single occasion when her mother had retired quietly to her room in such a circumstance. The general result of her own not infrequent nervous attacks was that the house was thrown into uproar, her father forced to flee to his library for quiet, and the servants disrupted by her never-ending calls for attention. Personally, Elizabeth disagreed totally with the idea of not informing your husband when you were upset by something, and if she knew anything of Darcy, he was always solicitous as to the state of her feelings. Still, she must not be disrespectful to her mother and so resolved to hold her tongue.

They continued on in silence for some time. The lady herself knew she was agitated but had resolved to walk it out. Her mind was still busy with ill thoughts and her partner was offering little relief. Maybe her last answer had frightened him off and he dared not speak? No that was ridiculous, Mr. Darcy was not afraid of her. In fact he was probably the one man in the world who could talk her out of a snit, and a good solid exercise of her wit was what she felt like right now.

In this aspect their characters were entirely complementary, for as much as she tried to best her fiancé with witty repartee, the steadiness of his mind meant that he always had an answer, no matter how outrageous her words. Jane had always blushed and laughed over her silliness, she could not expect Mr. Darcy to do either, nor would she wish him to. Whether this was good or bad was a matter of conjecture, for his humouring her quite often led them down previously unexplored paths of silliness. She was not unaware that there were times when he cosseted her humour, but she fancied that he did not find the experience displeasurable.

Her unhappy thoughts were interrupted a moment later by the solicitations of her companion.

"Is there anything I can do for you, Elizabeth, would you care to go via the inn for some tea?"

"Mr. Darcy, I assure you I am well, and I suggest that you not press me further lest you get an answer that you do not wish to hear. Suffice it to say that I stand before you a very unhappy woman, but remain supported by the fact that in three days time I shall be your wife and shall be instantly transformed into the happiest woman in the world." She sighed and smiled wanly at him "In the interim I must endure."

Darcy knew enough of Elizabeth's personality not to take offence at her tone or the import of her words. He knew from experience that her frustrations were more often than not expended by some agile exercise of the mind. Distraction was the key, and he was game to provide the exercise. Before he had a chance to introduce some conversation however, the lady did it herself.

"Forgive my mood, Mr. Darcy, as you see, I am subjected to trials and vexations at home which have left me more than a little frustrated."

"I am not offended, forthwith your grievances are mine, and I will promise you to at least attempt to feel them as heavily as you do."

"Indeed," she turned to look at him in surprise. "Shall you be grieved that the lace on the hem of my dress is half an inch too short? Or that there is not a piece of fish to be got in Meryton? Or being a man of the land you may be more interested to know that the chickens have become agitated by the activity in the house and have universally stopped laying."

Mr. Darcy looked obligingly grave as her responded, "These are heavy misfortunes indeed. I had not expected you would burden me so, but please continue, my back is strong and the more load I carry, the less that must rest on your shoulders."

Elizabeth laughed and began to feel more herself again. "That is a singularly attractive picture that you sketch. I had not considered you as a beast of burden, but the idea is not without its merits. Do you hire yourself out for labour or am I the only one able to pull your reins?"

"I think you know the answer to that already, Elizabeth, that privilege shall be reserved for you alone," he replied with a smile of genuine amusement.

Indeed! I should very much like to have such a beast at my command," she replied with an arch look. "I think I shall like being married to you very much, Mr. Darcy."

Darcy was momentarily lost for words as he attempted to comprehend just what she had in mind. Nothing rational entered his brain and he resolved that a change of subject was probably in order.

"Do you know what intrigues me most about you, Elizabeth? You always say what is least expected."

Elizabeth looked at him in surprise.

"You admire my unpredictability then. I would not have thought that of you, Mr. Darcy. I have been used to thinking that you give more credit for steadiness of character."

"I believe it is more the element of surprise that I find admirable. Unpredictability can certainly have its detractions but it at least has the benefit of making life more interesting," he replied a little uncertainly.

"So am I to presume by this speech, Mr. Darcy, that you are taking me as your wife so that I might make your life chaotic or just interesting?" she asked teasingly.

Darcy did not respond immediately, for he was amused by the rapidity with which her thoughts had fixed on an idea and led her to a far from accurate conclusion. He was not taking her as a wife for any such purpose but there were times when her intelligence and wit wreaked havoc on his penchant for steadiness and order. Surprisingly enough he did not find it unpleasant.

"Elizabeth, you have a singular talent for purposely misconstruing my meaning and attempting to make me confess to an opinion which you know is not entirely correct," he replied, smiling.

Elizabeth, caught by the amused expression on his face, could not help but reply in the same manner.

"You well know that it is a favourite habit of mine and as you so cherish it, I shall forthwith concentrate my efforts on misrepresenting your opinions as much as I can. That at least shall make my life more interesting and rather challenging I should think."

"So you envisage that your life shall become dull with me as your husband?" he asked with genuine concern.

"Not at all, with such a subject before me how can I become dull. It will be my singular pleasure to surprise all of your friends and family by having you confess to opinions which are not your own. Lady Catherine, I am sure, will be highly gratified by my influence," she replied, laughing.

He looked at her askance for a moment. She seemed to have worked her way out of her black mood and now was as good a time as any to consider the implementation of his plan. He was enough acquainted with Elizabeth's habits to know that unchallenged she would continue her frivolity until he conceded some sort of surrender. Today he had something a little different in mind, a more deceptive challenge that would hopefully result in the execution of his plan.

Turning towards her, he took her hands between his own and with a slight smile determinedly fixed his eyes on her own very fine ones, now becomingly alight with amusement.

"Let us understand clearly one opinion that I readily confess to. I love you dearly, Elizabeth, with all your little habits and relative opinions, but I declare that you will drive me to distraction with your conversation."

Taking her hands from his, she laughed and feigned affront and continued walking. "Do I detect a hint of regret in your tone? Do I talk too much for your liking? Forgive me, I had forgotten that you preferred silence to idle conversation."

"Not at all. I would take your conversation over silence any day, it is the irrational logic of your thoughts that frightens me," he replied with a slight smile.

"I see your point now, if you fear my irrational logic then you have deduced that I may one day inherit a command of conversation much like my mother's."

"This is exactly what I am talking about. I deduced no such thing and you know it. Your mind leaps from one idea to another, settling on whichever one may shock me the most," he replied, laughing. "As for your mother, I should not wish to consider your intellect in comparison to hers, for I fear their is no common ground to work from and the exercise should reflect no credit on either your mother or myself, and is more like to give offense to you."

"You are too good, sir," she could not help but smile at this diplomatic but rather convoluted reply.

Placing his hand over hers on his arm, he patted it gently in a deliberately condescending manner. "If in future however, your conversation should ever make that subtle shift from character dissection to outlandish gossip have no doubt that I will inform you. You have offered up your better qualities for my protection, and I fully intend to hold you to that promise."

Elizabeth laughed delightedly, for this playfulness of Darcy's was something he was only beginning to show. "Well, sir, you had best develop a method of silencing me then for just such an occasion."

"Yes, I have considered that," he replied with a subtle smile. Elizabeth looked alarmed but made no reply

"You are surprised, Miss Bennet."

"I confess I am, for your answer implies premeditation. I know I should admire your good character that always plans ahead for all necessary eventualities, but I am a little affronted that this flaw in mine has bothered you enough that you have dedicated hours to considering it." She replied in half laughing alarm.

Darcy smiled at her mortification before squeezing her hand. "There is nothing so sinister, I assure you. My plan was formed only in the last five minutes of conversation."

She considered his reply in silence for several minutes, for she could not allow her pride to be so easily massaged into supplication, but curiosity dictated that she give him the benefit of the doubt.

"Very well, I shall accept that answer if you will let me hear this plan, and I might tell you if I think it shall be effective."

To her further surprise and mortification his reply was in the negative.

"I think not. As you know I prefer to keep my cards a little closer to my chest, that way the element of surprise is also mine."

She looked at him askance and they continued on in silence for some moments. This was not like Darcy at all. Was he teasing her or was he serious about her talking too much? Either way she was not entirely sure that she liked being at his mercy like this.

"I have silenced you then Elizabeth, believe me that was not my intention," he said mischievously.

"Puzzling me was not your idea of keeping me silent, then?"

"No indeed, I had wished to keep you talking so that I may at least have the opportunity of trying my plan and seeing its effectiveness."

There was enough of a smile on his face to show her that he most likely was teasing her. She didn't like it, but her curiosity was peaked and she was not spiteful enough to disappoint them both.

"Very well, I shall talk of the weather until you find yourself sufficiently bored with my conversation. That is one subject at least on which I can talk endlessly and that will bring your plan to fruition quickly, for I prefer not to remain in suspense on such things. Shall I relate the vagaries of Hertfordshire rainfall to you? Or would you prefer a comparison of the seasonal temperature averages?" She turned to him, raising a brow in challenge.

Darcy did not reply, for he did not, never would have, any interest in the weather in Hertfordshire. Thus she had offered him the perfect opportunity.

Taking her face in his hands, he lifted it gently upwards so that he might easily kiss those lips he sought to silence. She offered no resistance when their lips met, and he silently congratulated himself on the singular logic that had delivered two very satisfactory results with one pleasurable action. For apart from wanting to silence her, he had for the past two weeks been trying to think of a way in which he might steal a kiss without frightening his fiancé with the strength of his admiration.

After some moments he reluctantly broke the kiss and stepped back. As pleasurable as the sensation was for himself, he was anxious to see how it was received. His heart skipped a beat on observing the look in her fine eyes, one he had not had the pleasure of seeing before. The darkened glow of what he dared hope might be passion was an unexpected benefit he had not foreseen, and his own countenance reflected his satisfaction at the success of his plan.

For her part, Elizabeth was pleasantly surprised by this sudden display of affection. She had been wondering for some time whether he would attempt anything beyond holding her hand and, shameful though it was to admit it, she was gratified that he finally had.

But the self-satisfied look that followed this not so spontaneous act did not go unnoticed, nor was it appreciated. Aroused passion aside, this would not do. Of all things, Elizabeth despised smugness, and here it was writ all over her beloved's face! Humph. And she had always thought Darcy above such things.

As she considered his reaction, the reason for such a display suddenly became painfully clear. He had bested her in their verbal wordplay and launched a deceptive attack on her personality in a feeble attempt to steal a kiss. What was worse, she had fallen for it completely!

On the other hand, she could not completely dismiss the positive aspects of the exchange. It was highly gratifying to think that so much thought had gone into the execution of that kiss. It had been so long in coming, and actually rather pleasant despite its brevity, and she really did not want to discourage him from further attempts.

She frowned as she considered her position. How was she to remove such smugness in his success, for such wanton hubris must not go unpunished, whilst at the same time encouraging a repetition of the intimate embrace that had been so long in coming? It was an incongruous challenge, but she was not afraid, and whatever her vanity required must be satisfied.

In her most stern voice she addressed him, but the effect was not quite as she desired, for to her own ears her voice was more husky than she would have liked, and she was not entirely certain that her lips did not twitch up in a smile.

"Mr. Darcy, your plan is a good one, but it is not sound. It may temporarily silence me but in the long term it is more likely to have the opposite effect."

"How so, Elizabeth?" he replied, smiling.

"If such behaviour as this is to be my punishment for assaulting your ears with verbosity, then I can honestly say it is more likely to encourage me to talk more. For I will gladly suffer my penance, and I would hazard a guess that you would have no displeasure in inflicting it."

"Certainly not."

"Then you see the fault of your logic. Even a child knows that one can never use pleasure as a punishment. It only serves as encouragement and neither of us shall be deterred. Whenever you tire of my rambles you may silence me effectively without giving offence, alternatively if I shall be in need of affection I simply need talk of the weather. It will not work," she said earnestly, looking up at him.

On seeing the smug smile disappear from his face, she was gratified to see it replaced by something a little less self-assured, though not entirely despairing. Although her words had not directly refuted his advances, her manner had been quite serious, and he suddenly found himself at a loss to interpret her reaction.

Turning away, she made to continue their walk, not noticing the subtle fall in her companion’s shoulders as he reluctantly fell into step beside her in silence. Thus she had no idea that he had in fact been hoping for some further sign of affection, or an indication that his advances were welcome at the very least. He was frustrated and more than a little annoyed, for the heightened passion he had detected in her eye had given him reason to suspect that she did not find his embrace intolerable. But the consequent, thorough rejection of the merits of his plan however, left him feeling more than a little deflated. For having made this first step with Elizabeth, he did not intend to rest on his laurels. For his own part he had found the softness of her lips rather inviting and the warmth of her embrace anything but intolerable.

After some moments of walking in silence, his frustrated thoughts were interrupted by Elizabeth's introduction of a new subject. He was now in no mood for light banter or idle chatter and found it a chore to attend to her conversation. So disconsolate was he that it took some moments before he perceived the subject.

"Did I mention to you, Mr. Darcy, that we had a full three inches of rain last month? My father was quite surprised for the time of year. Indeed it is highly irregular, one or two inches is all that we normally expect, but I suppose the temperature has been particularly warm and that may have had some effect. Do you care to venture an opinion on this or shall I repeat some other observations I have made?"

"Miss Bennet," he said so sternly that she stopped walking and turned to look him in the face.

"Yes, Mr. Darcy," she replied somewhat uncertainly, the possibility that she had gone too far very real in her mind.

"You really do talk too much sometimes."

Having once proved the effectiveness of his plan and been denied the glory of it, he then proceeded to kiss her with an intensity designed to deliver a more lasting silence and prove beyond doubt that he was in fact correct. His lesson was long and thorough and by way of its being extremely pleasurable maybe a little too effective. When Elizabeth finally withdrew from his embrace, vanity aside, she had to concede his plan was a good one; for had her lungs not been starved for breath, the state of her faculties alone made her incapable of stringing two words together.

Mr. Darcy, for his part, rejoiced in his success, but began to feel the danger of paying Elizabeth too much attention. Real superiority of mind notwithstanding, he had suddenly learnt that in the course of rendering such pleasurable punishment, there are in fact times when it is impossible for a gentleman to keep his 'pride' under good regulation.

Both felt the necessity for a long walk in the cool morning air before returning to Longbourn, and at the risk of Elizabeth's virtue, neither felt secure enough to hazard further attempts at conversation. Thus they walked on in companionable silence, satisfied that vexations had been exercised and that neither was able to claim a total victory. By way of cooling their ardour, their respective attentions were focused on more mundane subjects. Elizabeth pondered the fact that she would never be able to discuss the weather again in mixed company. Darcy was gratified at least, that of this conversation, Lady Catherine would have no share.