To Conquer Mr. Darcy

sir. She is a delightful young lady.”

He cleared his throat, recalling her siding with Elizabeth against him in the matter of treating his burns, and suspecting that it would not be the only time he would face such an alliance. “We have decided that we prefer to have an immediate wedding, and it is with this that I will need your assistance in making arrangements. I believe that the day after tomorrow will suit admirably.”

She looked at him in some confusion, uncertain how to interpret this information. Finally, she decided that he must not be serious, and smiled. “Is that a jest, sir?”

“Not at all, Mrs. Reynolds. Now, I realize that there are certain arrangements that must be made. I will be away most of tomorrow, and I would like you to consult with Miss Bennet as to…”

“Mr. Darcy,” she interrupted, an obvious measure of her distress. “We cannot possibly manage your wedding on such short notice! What of the guests who must be notified, what of Miss Bennet’s family? And she must have an appropriate gown, and Lord knows what else!”

“We do not plan to invite any guests other than Georgiana, Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner, and possibly my aunt and uncle, if they are available. No trimmings are necessary, and if Miss Bennet is not satisfied with her own apparel, perhaps one of my mother’s gowns could be altered to fit her; her height is much the same, I believe.”

She made one more attempt. “Sir, surely she deserves to have a fine wedding, with her family at her side, rather than a patched-together affair!”

She certainly does, he thought, and it is my fault that she will not have it. He leaned back in his chair, his face unreadable. “Nonetheless, that is the plan.”

Her eyes narrowed as they waged a brief silent battle. There was an obvious shift in her voice from the respectful family servant to the strict disciplinarian of his youth as she asked sharply, “Mr. Darcy, is there some reason why this must occur so quickly that would compensate for all the difficulties involved?”

“The matter is decided. That will be all, Mrs. Reynolds.”

Her voice was filled with suspicion. “Did you compromise the young lady?”

His only response was to look at her with the gaze that had withered the arguments of many a difficult opponent.

“Fitzwilliam Darcy, if you were not too big, I swear I would put you across my knee and give you what you so richly deserve! How could you? What would your mother have said? I can tell you what your father would have said, and you would have had worse than a beating there! You were raised better than that. This is behavior I would have expected from George Wickham, not you! And you call yourself a gentleman—I am most thoroughly ashamed of you!”

He made no response, nor did his face change, apart from a brief wince at the mention of Wickham. She continued to glare at him furiously until he finally closed his eyes in a well understood signal of defeat. She allowed him to suffer for a few more moments before she spoke again, her voice somewhat softened. “Well, there is nothing to be done for it now, I suppose. It will have to wait another day at least, though; the services for the Wheeler children will be the day after tomorrow, and it would be disrespectful to have your wedding the same day. And we must have a reason…” She paused for a moment before continuing, “We will put it about that the Bishop is set upon officiating at your wedding himself, so it has to be done while you can both be at Matlock; that also means that the ceremony will be held at the cathedral, which will draw away any attention from the lack of attendance by Miss Bennet’s family. We can arrange a celebration here as well—yes, I believe that is the best idea. Does that suit, sir?”

“Admirably,” he said quietly.

“I shall consult with Miss Bennet in the morning, then, sir.” She rose to her feet somewhat stiffly.

“Thank you, Mrs. Reynolds. I leave it in your capable hands.” Once she had left, he leaned back in his chair, running his fingers through his hair. Oddly enough, he felt more relief than anything else at their discussion, and was thankful to have handed off the responsibility for planning the event. He had been racking his brain all day in an attempt to invent a reasonable excuse for marrying so soon, and Mrs. Reynolds had solved that dilemma inside a minute.

Feeling more relaxed than he had all day, he returned to the drawing room, in hopes of finding Elizabeth still there. He wished to speak with her privately, to inform her of what had been decided, and that she need not worry about a similar loss of control on his part again. However, when he arrived, he discovered that she had already retired for the night. Disappointed, he joined the Gardiners briefly for conversation, before making his own excuses.

*   *   *

Elizabeth was preparing for bed when a not completely unexpected knock came at the door. She opened it to find Darcy on the other side, and quickly moved to allow him to enter before he could be seen by anyone. She had wondered if he planned to come to her, and had been unable to decide whether she feared or wished for his appearance more, and how she would behave if he did come. Now that it came to the moment, though, a smile came naturally to her face, and she felt breathless, but to her surprise he did no more than touch her face lightly in greeting.

“I have been making arrangements this evening, and I wanted to inform you of them tonight since I plan to ride to Matlock at first light,” he said. This was his opportunity to prove he had mended his ways, that he could be trusted in the most challenging situation possible, and challenges certainly did not come any greater than being alone with her in her room while she was in her nightclothes. He forced his thoughts away from her lovely form, and determinedly focused upon the conversation.

“And what do your arrangements entail?”

“I have spoken to Mrs. Reynolds regarding plans for our wedding, and she has decreed that it is to be in three days’ time, assuming that I have no difficulty arranging matters with the Bishop and obtaining the license. I believe she plans to consult with you regarding it in the morning. I also wanted to mention, in case you were planning to write to anyone in your family, that your uncle agreed that it might be wisest not to inform your family of our plans until we can do so personally, though…” he paused to smile endearingly, “if you are of a different opinion, we can certainly review that decision.”

“Well done, sir,” she replied with a laugh. “For a moment I feared you had forgotten our agreement regarding consulting me.”

He looked slightly uncomfortable. “I am trying to learn, though it may take me some time, but I will point out in my own defense that you did say last night that I could make the decision regarding when we married.”

“True enough, although I could argue that you were taking advantage of me in a defenseless moment,” she retorted cheerfully.

The color drained from his face at her words, and a look of deep guilt came over him. “I know that only too well, Elizabeth, and if I felt that there were anything in the world that I could do to make up for it, I would do so without hesitation, but as it is, all I can do is to say that I recognize my fault, and apologize from the bottom of my heart, and hope that someday you will be able to forgive me.”

The distress in his face pained her deeply. “William, you misunderstand me completely,” she said gently. “My joke, and it was obviously a poor one, was that I offered to let you make the decision on the wedding when I was half asleep, and thus not at my best. I bear you no anger over what happened last night. As I said then, you did nothing that I did not permit, and I take responsibility for my own actions.”

“You may have permitted it, but only after I intentionally did everything within my power to make it difficult for you to refuse,” said Darcy, feeling honor-bound himself to confess the full degree of his fault.

“You may have attempted to persuade, but you did nothing to force me. It may have been poor judgment on both our parts, but I refuse to dwell on what might have been,” she said, less than comfortable with the course of this conversation.

He looked at her in unhappy bafflement, leading Elizabeth to the conclusion that he would prefer to have her rail at him than to refuse to blame him, but she could recognize that his distress would not be alleviated by any amount of reassurance. A smile touched the corners of her lips as she conceived of a suitable revenge for his stubbornness, but she debated whether she had the audacity to follow it through. She could hardly believe she was considering it, though it would certainly relieve some of his anxiety and distress. Impulsively, she stepped up to him and began to untie his cravat.

“Elizabeth, what are you doing?” he asked in a strained voice, looking down at her tempting form, clad only