mind very much if I remove my coat? I will attempt a rescue but know from past experience a tight coat can be quite constrictive during such an activity. I know it is improper. Would you be offended?”
“Mr. Darcy, we are engaged; and you forget I have already seen you in far less.”
“Oh, God. I had forgotten. Thank you for reminding me, though. One needs a good dose of humiliation now and then.”
“You must not feel humiliated, sir. I quite enjoyed seeing you less formally attired.”
Darcy smirked and considered teasing her about ‘handsome barbarians’, but he was curious. “What really was your first impression during that encounter?”
He passed her the discarded coat, limbered up, and hefted himself onto the most easily accessible branch. The kitten stared down at him in alarm for a moment and then climbed up another level. Lizzy admired her future husband’s obvious strength as he effortlessly pulled himself higher and higher.
“Here kitty, kitty. Come on, kitty. Come here, sweetheart,” he cooed.
Elizabeth was glad Kitty was not present and also thought herself quite ridiculous for being jealous of his calling an animal ‘sweetheart’.
“I am still waiting, my love. Please answer the question about your first impression of me,” he called down.
She was mollified by the endearment. “Well, I remember thinking you were a buffoon.”
Darcy nearly lost his balance as he twisted around to glare down at his beloved tormentor. “Miss Elizabeth Bennet! I cannot believe you thought of me as an ass!”
Because she had been ogling a particular part of his anatomy as he climbed, the young lady lowered her gaze and blushed at being caught. When asked if his second appearance improved her opinion, she spoke honestly. “Yes. I distinctly remember admiring your rich brown hair and brazenly wondering how it would feel to run my fingers through it.”
Darcy briefly closed his eyes and imagined how it would feel. “Elizabeth, please. I am trying to concentrate on my rather precarious position here. You, my dear, are proving to be quite a distraction.”
“Speaking of precarious, Fitzwilliam, I may be going out on a limb, but I do not think it wise for you to venture onto that particular one. The branch does not seem sturdy enough to support your bulk.”
“I assure you I have rescued injured birds and stranded cats from trees more times than you could shake a stick. I certainly know what I am doing.”
“Uh, speaking of shaking a stick, the branch you are currently on is quivering in an alarming manner, sir. Please come down and allow me. I am much lighter and am also an expert tree climber.”
“Certainly not, madam! If the confounded feline would just cease climbing higher each time I ascend … here, kitty, kitty!”
CRACK!!!
“Good Lord, Fitzwilliam! Back up and get down immediately before you fall and break your neck.”
“You sound like my mother, but perhaps you are correct. This branch does not seem able to support my weight. Can you really climb trees?”
Instead of answering, the intrepid Lizzy Bennet glanced around, saw no one in their immediate vicinity, hiked up her skirt, and gracefully scaled the oak as effortlessly as had Darcy. When she reached his level, she sat on the branch beside him and met his incredulous stare with an impertinent one of her own. The sassy smirk was instantly wiped from Elizabeth’s face by the sudden, impetuous brush of his warm lips against hers. It was a quick and chaste kiss; nevertheless it left them both breathless, although Lizzy was already somewhat in that state from her ascent. Darcy pulled away to look into her face, hoping for approbation instead of apprehension. Her cheeks were rosy and her eyes still closed. When she opened them, they were filled with affection and warmth. The couple ignored the mew from above and was about to kiss again; unfortunately, they could not ignore the unexpected singsong taunt from below.
“Lizzy and Darcy, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G …”
Jane admonished, “Lydia, stop that! Lizzy, Mr. Darcy, I am sorry. I thought you heard our approach; perhaps you were preoccupied. What on earth are you doing up there in that tree? Whatever your reason, I strongly suggest you come back down before Baines and Miss Edwards arrive here with Kitty. They were not far behind us.”
Colonel Fitzwilliam was enormously delighted to discover his fastidious, impeccable cousin in another pickle, especially since he had just managed to get Jane and himself out of one. Fitz considered a little white lie was merely a-version of the truth, and he had charmingly explained to Miss Edwards that they only veered off the main path because he wanted to present Jane with tulips and had not realized those particular flowers were out of season. The military man had, of course, successfully plucked the only two lips he truly sought. As the soldier watched Darcy and Miss Elizabeth both go red in the face, he gloated over having enough fodder in his haystack to needle Darcy for a month of Sundays.
Darcy’s haughty mask was in place, and he huffily said, “I will have you know that Miss Elizabeth and I are on a bona fide rescue mission up here. So, Richard, if you were about to say something derogatory, you would most certainly be barking up the wrong tree. Unfortunately, our little rescuee is a tad reluctant and has a most ungrateful cattitude.” He frowned up at the ginger ball of fluff crouched several branches away.
The Colonel volunteered some advice. “One of you needs to climb another level higher, reach up, grab onto the kitten’s limb … I mean pull down the branch, while the other one cat-ches the little fur ball.”
Lizzy protested, “But, Colonel Fitzwilliam, if the person holding down the branch loses their grip, it will spring back; and the kitten will indubitably be cat-apulted into Kent. Your suggestion has the potential to be quite a cat- astrophe, sir.”
Darcy agreed. “Elizabeth is right, Fitz. But I am curious. Do you have any other purr-fectly brilliant ideas in your military catalog of strategy for rescuing a cat on a log?”
“Ah … no. You shall just have to purr-severe, Darce; and here’s a word of warning about curiosity. They say it killed the cat, and they were not kitten.”
“Ha, bloody ha. I think … Elizabeth!!! What on earth do you think you are you doing, madam?” As Lizzy disappeared onto the branch overhead, Darcy was horrified his cousin might catch a glimpse of her ankles, calves, thighs, or … “Richard, turn around at once; and do not even glance up here again. Elizabeth!!!”
Lizzy peered down at him. “Mr. Darcy, before the others arrive we either need to abandon our mission or accomplish it. I have chosen the latter. So when I latch onto Ginger, I will gingerly pass the kitten down to you. Since you are so vastly experienced at this animal rescue business, you can carry the contrary clawed critter to the ground.”
“
Elizabeth glanced down at her fiancé and said, “I did not realize Ginger was to actually become someone’s pet; and by all means, he does deserve a more distinguished name and a home. Be that as it may, just whose household do you intend to grace with his presence? Mama and Papa have never permitted us to have animals in our residence. Hmm, I wonder whether they are concerned about household pets taking over the world. Why the puzzled look, Mr. Darcy? Have you never heard of reigning cats and dogs?”
Lydia squealed and pointed. “Never mind, Mr. Darcy and Lizzy! The kitten has jumped down and is now running along the path. Here, kitty, kitty, here kitty!”
“I am here, Lydia. There is no need to call out in that ridiculous manner.”
Catherine Bennet gasped as she caught sight of her second eldest sister and the normally sophisticated Mr. Darcy in the oak tree. Her attention was instantly sidetracked by the arrival of Miss Edwards and Baines. One and all were amazed to witness the gangly footman as he gently cradled the little orange ball of fluff in his arms.
Darcy called down, “Baines, there is a proverb that goes, ‘You will always be lucky if you know how to make friends with strange cats.’ It appears you have been favoured with the friendship of Cato, the Philosofur.”
Lydia asked, “But why did the cat suddenly jump down and run from the tree?”
“Perhaps it was afraid of the bark,” suggested Colonel Fitzwilliam.
Darcy alit from the tree and gently caught Lizzy as she leapt from a lower branch. He reluctantly released his hold on her waist, turned to his cousin, and said, “Fitz, punsters such as you deserve to be drawn and
