Pemberley Ranch

Will stared at their intertwined hands and then searched her face. “Beth Bennet, I want things to be clear between us. I love you.”

“And I love you, Will Darcy.”

Beth was almost ashamed of how Darcy’s face lit up in incandescent happiness, knowing how she had hurt him months before. Another moment and her painful recollections vanished, for she was swept up in Darcy’s strong arms. She buried her face in his vest as he kissed the top of her head, murmuring sweet nothings.

But just as swiftly as it had begun, the joyful interlude ended. Darcy took her gently by the shoulders and held her at arm’s length. Beth was confused at the anguished expression marring Darcy’s masculine beauty. He looked deeply into her eyes, his mouth in a hard line.

Darcy’s voice trembled. “This is not out of gratitude for what I did for Lily, is it?”

Beth blinked. “What do you mean? Of course, I’m grateful for what you did! Why are you unhappy?” To her astonishment, William’s face nearly crumbled.

“Oh, Beth, if you’re accepting me out of gratitude, well… well, I just couldn’t stand it!”

Beth was incredulous at William’s stubborn inability to grasp what was so clear. Couldn’t the fool see that she loved him body and soul? Only one way to clarify things came to mind. With a look of determination, she reached up and lightly kissed him on the cheek. As she drew back slightly, she said to his amazed face, “That’s for Lily!” and in a softer tone, she added, “And this is for me.” This time her lips firmly met his with a scalding kiss.

Beth was starting to become concerned over William’s lack of response, but then she felt his strong hands on her shoulders gently pull her closer as he deepened their kiss. Beth was relieved and thrilled, and it was pleasant to learn that Will’s lips felt very soft against her mouth. Her arms moved by their own volition to twine around his neck as her body arched against his. They seemed to become one. Her moans of delight were a counterpoint to his. An intoxicating dizziness overtook her senses. She felt she could remain thus occupied for the rest of her days.

“What the devil is this!?”

The two were startled by Mr. Bennet’s cry and jumped apart as if the other were on fire. Beth could feel the heat of mortification replace the warmth of desire on her face. Mr. Bennet glowered from the doorway of the study, his mouth working soundlessly in his righteous anger. Darcy was the first to break out of his shocked stupor and begin a rambling apology. This seemed to accomplish nothing but to unlock Bennet’s tongue.

“Keep your mealymouthed assurances to yourself. I’ve no time for your perfidy,” he growled in a low tone, his desire not to alert the entire household evident. “You return my youngest from that bastard Whitehead, I turn my back on you, and you reward me by treating her elder sister in exactly the same manner!”

“No, Father, please. Don’t blame Will. This is my fault,” Beth claimed.

“Your fault!” Bennet laughed incredulously. “I suppose you threw yourself at him!”

Before Beth could assure her father that that was exactly what she had done, Darcy cut in. “Mr. Bennet, sir, this is my fault. I pledge to you that my intentions are honorable. I respect you and Miss Beth, but… I’m ashamed to give you reason to doubt me. I beg to explain myself.”

Bennet thought it over for a moment. “Beth, leave us.”

Beth looked between her father and her lover and clenched her teeth. She would not let these two men—whom she loved most in the world—decide her fate without her attendance. Instead of obeying her dismissal, she defiantly moved closer to Will and took one of his hands in both of hers. “No, Father, as this concerns me, I’ll remain.”

Darcy turned, his face registering his concern. “Beth, are you certain—”

Beth returned his look with a glint of steel. “I’ll stay by your side. There’s nowhere else I want to be.”

A relieved grin stole across Darcy’s face. He nodded and faced their inquisitor. “Mr. Bennet, I’ll tell you straight up that I’ve admired Miss Beth for some time—since our first meeting, I’d say. The plain truth is that I love her. Tonight, I’ve learned that she returns those sentiments, and well… I let things get out of hand in expressing my happiness.”

Bennet eyed the young man closely. “You say you love my daughter?” At Darcy’s confirmation, he asked, “And would I be wrong to think that she is your motivation for your involvement in my family’s concerns?”

Darcy sensed dangerous ground, but answered truthfully. “You wouldn’t be wrong, sir.”

“No,” Bennet declared. “No. No, sir! You ask far more than I can pay.”

“What?”

“Elizabeth will not be the price of your benevolence!”

Darcy was dismayed. “But… but she isn’t!”

“Father,” Beth injected, “you wrong him—and me!”

“How?” he shot back. “Don’t you feel gratitude for his actions?”

“Of course, I do! But my feelings for Will have roots before tonight!”

“Indeed, sir,” Darcy agreed. “I asked her that very question before I asked her to marry me.”

Bennet turned to Beth. “And have you accepted him?”

Beth wasn’t sure that she understood that there was an actual second proposal in William’s earlier words, but apparently he thought so, and she was willing to concede to his thinking. Besides, it would give her enormous ammunition to tease him for the next twenty years.

“Father, Will has proposed to me, and I’ve accepted,” she stated with a small smile at Darcy.

Bennet was unhappy with Beth’s declaration and took it out on Darcy. “I have to question your sense of timing, Darcy, if you think that the situation in which we find ourselves is one that compels you to propose to Beth tonight.”

Darcy’s expression showed he agreed with Bennet’s observation, at least to some extent. “I can’t argue with that, sir.”

Bennet’s anger cooled a bit, but he had one last shot for his soon-to-be son-in-law. “And I don’t take too kindly to a young man making love to my daughter in my own house.”

Darcy hung his head. “I plead nothing but my undying love for her as my excuse.” He was very unhappy, but Beth was not. She knew her father well enough to know that he was well on the way to forgiving them, if he had not already. The gleam in Bennet’s eye, missed by Darcy, proved that Beth was not far wrong.

Bennet sighed. “Darcy, I want to talk to Beth alone.”

Darcy nodded and smiled a farewell to Beth. She, on the other hand, wanted to prove something to both of them, and kissed her fiancé on the cheek. Bennet’s look darkened as Darcy’s lightened, and he had a relatively light step out the house.

“Well, Father?” Beth crossed her arms, her look a clear challenge.

Bennet sighed again. “Perhaps you did throw yourself at him.” Beth said not a word, but her upraised eyebrows told the tale. Bennet groaned. “Are you witless, girl? Didn’t you tell me you couldn’t stand the man?”

Beth bit her lip. “I did, but I changed my mind.”

“Changed your mind? You’re going to spend a lifetime with him based on changing your mind?”

“Have you no objection but that?”

Bennet crossed to his chair and sat down. “Beth, you know I didn’t hold the same poor opinion of the boy that you did. I always thought you were too hard on him. It now seems he may be an even better man than I thought.”

“He’s the best man I’ve ever known. I’m sorry if that hurts you, but that’s the truth.”

Bennet flinched at Beth’s words but recovered quickly. “If I was to lose your company, I always hoped it’d be to a better man than me. But are you sure about this? He’s a very serious sort of fellow. I like him, but will you be happy with a man like that?”

“Father, if you knew what I know…” She paused and realized she would have to tell him everything. She gave her father a brief history of her acquaintance with Darcy and their unorthodox courtship. She left out most of the details of their late-night clearing of the air in the Burroughses’ library and the shocking discovery of Darcy’s old injuries, but enough was said to amuse the older man.

“My, my, you’ve had quite the time of it, haven’t you, my girl,” he laughed. “Turned him down! I’d have paid money to see that!” He sobered. “And yet, he didn’t throw you over.”

Beth bit her lip again. “No, he didn’t. I don’t deserve that kind of devotion.”