“Immediately, Sir.”
“Is my husband in his room?” Elizabeth now felt the anticipation of finding Darcy and of assuring herself that he was well.
The man looked about for a servant to retrieve their baggage.“I do not believe so, Ma’am. Mr. Darcy walked through the village earlier today, and then he took a light meal in the private dining Anglo-Saxon Chronicles as the site that saw the beginning of the Viking Age. We take our heritage very seriously. St. Cuthbert’s body was once entombed on Lindisfarne Island, and we do not forget it.”
Colonel Fitzwilliam looked amused. He turned his head to the side to whisper in her ear, “Did he just use the words enjoy and assembly hall in the same sentence with Darcy’s name?”
Elizabeth laughed lightly. “They seem incongruous terms,” she said without moving her lips.
“It appears, Cousin, that we will be attending an assembly in the good village of Stanwick.”The colonel brought her gloved hand to his lips. “I hope, my dear, that we have something appropriate to wear. I will meet you here as soon as you freshen your clothing.”
“I suppose we will simply have to attend the dance ourselves to determine my husband’s motives.” Elizabeth reached for his arm.
The colonel patted her hand.“Let us be about it, Mrs. Darcy.We did not travel this far to falter now.”
Elizabeth rushed after the boy toting her baggage to Darcy’s room. She shook out one of the clean gowns, working the wrinkles free. In less than thirty minutes, she rejoined the colonel in the inn’s entranceway.“Do you suppose Mr. Darcy will be surprised by our appearance?” For some reason, Elizabeth’s courage wavered.
“If Darcy is surprised by the fact that the woman who loves him traveled halfway across England to find him, I am sure it will be pleasantly so.”The colonel placed her hand on his arm.“To the next adventure, Mrs. Darcy.”
They walked the quarter mile to the village assembly hall. Light filtered through every window, and the sound of instruments, sometimes poorly played, filled the chilly night air.
“Do you see him?” Elizabeth stood on tiptoes, hoping to spy Darcy.
Although the colonel was not as tall as her husband, he still cut a fine figure. “I have a better idea. In a crush like this, we could him find us.”
“Will it work? I do not see Wickham either, although he can change his appearance. I could be looking right at him and not know it to be him.” Elizabeth took the colonel’s proffered arm.
“If not, we will try something else,” he guaranteed.
The music changed suddenly to a waltz, and Elizabeth looked about in surprise.“A waltz? At a country assembly?”
“Maybe the Scottish are more progressive than we Brits—even northern England must be a bit less censorious,” he teased. “Will you still honor me with a dance, Elizabeth?”
“My wife waltzes only with me, Cousin.” Darcy stood in his usual haughty stance, waiting for the colonel to relinquish Elizabeth’s hand.
The colonel chuckled.“You always claimed the pretty ones for yourself, Darcy. Where am I to find another partner who knows how to waltz?”
“I fear I do not care, oh cousin of mine.” He took Elizabeth’s hand and led her around the edge of the floor and brought her close, resting his hand on the small of her back.
When the music began, only six couples dared the dance; however, all eyes remained on the Darcys. Darcy held Elizabeth next to him, but she arched her back so she could see his eyes, and then they stepped into the dance, and magic happened. They were in each other’s arms once more.“I missed you,” he murmured close to her ear as they swirled around the floor’s corner.
“I feared I had lost you.” Elizabeth’s eyes drank in the face she craved.
“You are mine, Elizabeth Bennet Darcy.” He spoke softly, but there was no doubting his words.“When you waltz, you waltz with me; and when you love, you love only me.”
Elizabeth’s face lit up. She let her hand inch up to his shoulder, where she could play with the hair at the nape of his neck. “I will waltz only with you, my Husband, and our love binds us across
The coach jostled her awake. Elizabeth shot a quick glance at her husband’s cousin. Although he pretended to sleep also, Damon Fitzwilliam scrunched his eyes shut; it was not the relaxed face of someone truly asleep. She realized she had spoken the words of her dream aloud, and the colonel had heard her declaration of love, but he pretended ignorance of it. Such speech should embarrass her, but Elizabeth was beyond denying her love.
Elizabeth had waited three hours for the wheel’s repair, but not before she had tried to let or even buy a horse of her own.Without an alternative, she reluctantly yielded to the only choice available.
Ignoring the colonel’s pretense, Elizabeth asked, “When shall we reach Stanwick?”
The man sat up immediately, overlooking how they had both chosen not to speak to her discomforting intimacy. “I estimate it will be several hours after dark. Peter is a skilled coachman and will get us there safely, but even he will need to exercise more caution on unfamiliar roads after nightfall.”
“Will Fitzwilliam be there?”Again, Elizabeth bit her bottom lip in distress.
The colonel wanted to lighten her mood by telling Elizabeth that her dreams always came true, but his earlier deception precluded it. “I am incontestable in my belief of my cousin’s speedy arrival in Stanwick; yet I cannot warrant his safety in doing so.”
Elizabeth looked out the window at the passing countryside. “This land has a savageness about it—not necessarily sinister—but definitely a harsh, unbroken fierceness.”
“Aye, it does. It is as if a person steps back in time to when life itself was ruthless.” Fearing he had said too much, he tapped on the carriage’s roof to tell Peter to pull up.“I think I will spell Peter for awhile; I want him well rested for the last part of the trip.”
Wickham patiently watched at the village inn throughout the day, but there was no sign of reinforcements on Darcy’s behalf. Darkness had surrounded the village for at least two hours, and no one any longer traveled the roads. Feeling more secure, he sauntered off towards his house. Evidently, Darcy had told the truth about Elizabeth Bennet’s withdrawal of her affection. Wickham had once thought that impossible, and had even considered how he might kill the two of them together. Now his only problem was how to dispose of Fitzwilliam Darcy. Wickham did not want to allow Darcy to become a vampire, because Wickham did not want to continue the struggle between them. He preferred to rule the kingdom alone.That meant killing Darcy the traditional way, without the benefit of feeding. Of course, that also meant he must keep the others away from his prisoner.
A little after nine o’clock, the Darcy carriage rolled into the courtyard of the Blue Dragon in Stanwick.With the stops and the darkness, the seven or eight hours they had estimated had turned into nearly ten.“I will see to the room,” Colonel Fitzwilliam muttered as he helped the rumpled-looking Elizabeth from the coach.
“If Fitzwilliam has a room, I will be staying with my husband.” The colonel recoiled, as if slapped.
As they had on several occasions during this trip, they both pretended not to notice the exchange. “Ah, I no longer need to sleep on a pallet.”
Elizabeth blushed, although with the darkness, no one saw. Impulsively, she caressed his cheek. “I am sorry, Damon. I will forever be grateful for your interference and your gentlemanly concern. Although it was a bit awkward the first evening, I truly took comfort in knowing you were so close. I will never be able to repay you for your kindness.”