Darcy felt a twinge of relief that it was not something far worse, then set his mind to her problem.
“Elizabeth, you don’t have to do this,” he told her with calm certainty.
Elizabeth looked at him, surprised by his reaction, and tears welled up in her eyes. “Will, I have to,” she breathed. “I don’t want to. Now that I know what he is, I could very happily live the rest of my life without ever seeing George again. I hate the very idea, but I don’t have a choice. If I cancel, how will I explain it? What will I tell everyone? I can’t reveal Georgie’s secret. We would lose all that money and de Bourgh would fire us so fast. It would be the end of our careers.”
“If you really don’t want to, you don’t have to.” He sat up and took her into his arms. “If it’s a question of money, I will take care of that.”
Elizabeth looked at him sadly. “I can’t ask you to do that.”
Darcy smiled, taking a moment to regard the face he adored. “Of course you can, Elizabeth.” His smile faded as he continued. “I know it’s not really about the money, but I need you to know that, at least, that is not a problem.”
Elizabeth felt relief that this was going so well. She had feared he would grow angry or not understand. They were so new, so fragile. They could hurt each other so easily. She looked at him questioningly. “You are taking this much better than I expected.”
He sighed heavily and leaned against her. “That’s because I have to tell you something, and I know you are not going to like it.” She looked at him, waiting. “It’s about De Bourgh and what happened at the VMAs.”
“Oh, we were surprised about that. We figured Anne was going to terminate our contract for sure.”
Darcy nodded. “She almost did. The only reason she didn’t is that while you were performing, I was on the phone with Lady Catherine, asking her not to.”
“You were?”
Darcy nodded sadly. “Elizabeth, the moment you walked out of the theater during rehearsal I felt guilty for what I had done. And then when Jane started to sing, I knew exactly what you were saying. We all did. But I couldn’t let you destroy your career over my acting like an idiot.”
“I don’t understand. What did you do?”
“I promised Lady Catherine she wouldn’t lose money over you.”
“Did you buy our contract?” She looked suddenly uncomfortable.
“No, no,” he assured her. “We guaranteed it, like an insurance policy. So that if you were a flop, we would cover all of De Bourgh’s losses.”
“We?”
“Charles, Richard, and I all signed the deal.” He looked miserable. “I know you hate anyone interfering in your career, especially me, but you were destroying yourselves over something I did, and I had to try to stop it.”
Elizabeth looked away. “It wasn’t just what you did,” she said numbly.
“I know. I know, and that is why we all signed the deal. But I can’t speak for the others. I can only speak for myself, and I did it because I love you, Elizabeth. Please understand.”
Elizabeth laid her head down on his shoulder. She was shocked by what he said, but she still reached instinctively to him for comfort.
“Lizzy?” he said tentatively as he stroked her hair. “Tell me what you are feeling.”
Elizabeth smiled at his question. “Mostly surprised. I had no idea you were so generous, or so caring. But I guess I should have seen it all before.”
Darcy kissed her head desperately. “Are you mad?”
“No,” she shook her head. “I’m just very lucky I have you.” She lifted her face to him. “Hold me,” she breathed and he pulled her tight, settling her in his lap as he covered her with kisses and soft words.
She was stunned by what he had told her. She never realized that someone could care so much for her, protect her the way he did. She felt something new inside of herself, a sense of belonging, of safety she hadn’t felt before. Even as she was warmed by it, she was appalled at the same time at her own stupidity. How could she have misjudged him so?
After a minute, she pulled herself together. “Are you sure you want to love someone who is so blind?” she asked him archly.
Darcy smiled. “Are you sure you want to love someone who brings nothing but trouble to you?”
They kissed and held each other tightly, until a knock came at the door. Darcy put on his robe and answered it, returning a moment later. “Georgie’s home.”
“Then I guess we had better get cleaned up and have some—” she looked at the clock and was surprised at how late it was, “oh, lunch.”
Darcy smiled and led her to the bathroom. Elizabeth stopped dead in her tracks as she examined the room. “Fitzwilliam, there is a swimming pool in your bathroom!”
Darcy handed her a toothbrush. “Don’t be silly. The pool is outside. That’s just the spa.” He kissed her lightly on the nose and started brushing his teeth as Elizabeth moved closer to the spa. It was either very large for a spa or small for a pool. It had been built into the floor, with steps going down into it and rough stonework along the outside wall. “You like it?” Darcy asked.
“It’s beautiful!”
“My parents’ nicknames for each other were ‘Water’ and ‘Stone.’”
Elizabeth flashed him a doubtful look and he shrugged. “It was the eighties, they were rich New Agers, whatever. Anyway, they used the element of water or glass and stone throughout the design of the house. The spa was custom built for them and from hints my relatives have dropped, I think I was conceived in there.”
Elizabeth’s eyebrows shot up. “Oh really!”
He smiled at her around his toothbrush and nodded, then moved away to the sink.
Elizabeth gave the spa an appraising “hmm” and moved to the sink as well.
They spent a quiet afternoon with each other, returning to Tanglewood to see Mary again, hear the two o’clock concert, and then pick up Elizabeth’s luggage. Darcy found his attention wandered constantly to Elizabeth. His eyes could not get enough of her. She was dressed in a simple red tank dress that complemented her coloring and her delicious curves. And while he would have normally been mortified by his inattentiveness to the others, he found he couldn’t stop himself when Elizabeth met his eyes and stared back at him so often.
Elizabeth left Mary with a loving hug and traveled with the Darcys back to Pemberley. As soon as they got in, Georgiana announced her intention to spend the evening with her girlfriend. Darcy stopped her and the two shared a brief conversation. Darcy questioned her motives and Georgiana assured him that she was all right. Elizabeth politely pretended not to hear them.
When Georgiana had left, Darcy handed Elizabeth a cordless phone and kissed her. “Call your parents. I don’t want them to worry.” Elizabeth blushed and looked away, still not comfortable with the idea of Darcy and her parents.
“Wait,” Darcy countermanded. “What’s wrong?”
“Oh, I just know you don’t like my family. Not that I don’t understand,” she quickly assured him, “I know we can be overwhelming at first.”
Darcy took the phone from her hand, led her to the couch, and made her sit with him. “Tell me why you think I don’t like your family,” he said with an expression of disbelief.
Elizabeth wished she had never said anything. “It’s okay. You don’t have to hide it. I could see by the way you acted at my house you disliked them.”
Darcy sighed and rubbed his forehead. “Dearest, I don’t dislike your family.” He frowned, clearly impatient with himself. “I’m sorry. I’m not really comfortable around new people, and it comes off as my being arrogant and not liking them.”
Elizabeth’s expression turned uneasy as she recognized her own initial reaction to him.
“Elizabeth, the truth is, I like your family very much.” He smiled slightly. “If anything, I’m envious of how close you all are.”
Elizabeth felt horrible. “Oh, I’m so sorry. I totally misunderstood.” She wrapped her arms around him and he kissed her. “I feel kinda stupid now.”
“You’re not stupid, Elizabeth. I’m sorry I acted like such a jerk.”