by Mary Balogh
Her face hardened into a gorgon’s mask. “You are the one deceived, Darcy. Deceived by this puny mortal who thinks herself the equal of our noble lineage. She has dared to ask me to make her one of us.”
I could feel Darcy stiffen. “That is a lie.”
“Of course it is!” I said, my voice muffled by his coat. “I don’t know if she intended to convert me, but she wasn’t about to crown me queen of Transylvania!”
Darcy pulled me forward and held me close to his side. “You have made a mistake, Aunt,” he said softly. “Miss Bennet is under my protection.”
Lady Catherine gave a squealing growl of frustration. “Can you not see, Darcy?” she demanded. “Use her if you must, slake your thirst, but do not presume to consider her more than a thing to be used and discarded like any other mortal!”
Darcy’s smile was chilling. “Perhaps you have forgotten that you no longer rule me, Aunt. Nor are you, or those of your persuasion, likely to continue your forcible conversions much longer.”
Lady Catherine had already been pale, but now she was almost transparent. “Your cursed experiments!” she exclaimed. “You will not succeed, Darcy!”
“I believe I will, Aunt. Just as I will find the means to negate the strigoi need for human blood and produce a cure for my sister.”
I looked up into his face, a germ of understanding forming in my mind. How could I ever have thought this man was evil? How could I help but love him?
The few seconds of silence following his declaration didn’t last. With a shriek of rage, Lady Catherine flung herself at Darcy. He tossed me back, ordered me to run and met his aunt’s attack head-on.
Once I’d wondered what it would be like to see a battle between two vampires. I didn’t have to wonder any longer. It was complete, utter, no-holds-barred savagery. Their movements, as graceful and intricate as those of the finest martial artists, were hardly more than a blur to my human eyes. It seemed that Darcy and his aunt were perfectly matched, neither more likely to win than the other. Darcy wasn’t holding back because she was a woman; if he had, she would have destroyed him.
I was forced to stand on the sidelines with the boy toys and the handful of other people in the room. If I’d had any way of interfering, I would have gone after Lady Catherine in a flash. But I couldn’t even get near them.
I thought of the pointed sticks I’d found in my prison. Maybe I wouldn’t have to get near Lacy Catherine to make a difference.
One of the thugs made a halfhearted attempt to stop me as I ran for the door, but he was too absorbed in the fight to chase after me. I blundered down the steps and ran in the direction I thought the guards and I had come from. There was just enough of a moon to help me find my way.
I found the small brick building and, tripping and cursing, felt my way inside and to the rear. The stakes were still there. I gathered up as many as I could carry and ran back the way I had come. No one blocked my way as I dashed into the house.
Both the battling strigoi were beginning to show signs of wear and tear. Lady Catherine’s movements were slowing, her dyed-blond hair falling into her face, and Darcy had begun to breathe heavily. I dropped the pile of stakes to the floor, keeping the longest in my hand. One of the boy toys glanced at me, pretty lips curved in an O of surprise, as I aimed the stake in Lady Catherine’s direction and hurled it.
The first missile missed her by about a foot, the second one by a lot less. I got off the third just before the thugs tackled me. I heard Lady Catherine shriek. From under one thug’s arm I could see her breaking Darcy’s hold. She lunged toward me, scattering the guards, and almost had her hands around my neck when Darcy roared and leaped on her back.
It was as if some avenging fury had taken hold of him, and in seconds he had her pinned to the ground, crouching over her with teeth bared and muscles rigid.
Something happened then, an exchange I couldn’t hear or understand. Darcy stayed where he was a few moments longer and then suddenly sprang to his feet. Lady Catherine didn’t move; her face was slack, her body limp. She’d lost, and she knew it. The battle was over.
Darcy turned his back on her, put his arm around my shoulders and supported me as we walked through the hall and out the front door. As soon as we were outside my knees threatened to give out and I plopped onto the stairs.
“Is it really over?” I whispered.
He sat beside me. “Yes,” he said. “thanks to your courage. Lady Catherine will never trouble you again.”
“Are you…are you hurt?”
“I am very well.”
I covered my face with my hands. Now that it was really hitting me, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to stand again.
“I didn’t think you’d come,” I said.
“I will always come for you, Elizabeth.”
“But no one knew. She said she’d…taken care of—” I started up, feeling ill. “My aunt! I have to find her!”
“She is safe, I assure you.” He laid his hand lightly on my back. “We found her not far from here, under guard. Lady Catherine’s minions were quickly dispatched.”
“You didn’t… I mean, they aren’t…”
He removed his hand. “They have been temporarily incapacitated.”
I realized that I’d managed to hurt his feelings, as impossible as that seemed. “I’m sorry,” I sighed. “I know you wouldn’t hurt them.”
He leaned forward to look into my eyes. “Do you?”
I glanced down at his hands, long-fingered and strong and elegant. “Yes. I’m sorry about this. About everything that’s happened. I owe you my life.”
“You owe me nothing,” he said grimly. “It was entirely my fault that Lady Catherine attacked you in the first place.”
He was referring to his proposition at Rosings…one he’d never make again. “It wasn’t anyone’s fault,” I said, feeling those treacherous tears gathering again. “Lady Catherine is obviously crazy.”
“Nevertheless, I knew she was angry that I had… I should have anticipated her reaction when she learned that I—” He broke off, looking away.
Unthinkingly I took his hand. “It’s hard for a sane person to know what a crazy person might do.”
He looked straight into my eyes in that mesmerizing way of his. I was so close to getting sucked in that I started to be afraid. I let go of his hand.
“When George Wickham told me about vampires,” I murmured, “he— Oh, my God. Lydia!” I succeeded in standing this time, but my stomach preferred to remain sitting. I swayed, and Darcy caught me. I could feel his rapid heartbeats, his cheek against my hair.
“George Wickham has her,” I gasped. “I have to get back—”
He picked me up as if I weighed as much as a goose-down pillow and strode away from Lady Catherine’s mansion, walking into the wood and coming out the other side without breaking a sweat.
A pair of cars were parked by the narrow road I’d seen earlier, my rental and another I didn’t recognize. Several people were standing beside them—Aunt Sally, Charles Bingley and—
“Jane!”
CHAPTER 14
DARCY PUT ME DOWN, AND I RAN TO MY SISTER. We hugged until both of us were breathless.
“Lizzy! Are you all right?”
“I’m fine.” I turned to my aunt and hugged her, as well. “Are you all right?”
She smiled, though her face looked a little haggard in the moonlight. “Thanks to Mr. Darcy.”
I looked over my shoulder. Darcy was keeping his distance, the moonlight and shadow turning him into a hero from a romance-novel cover.
“We have much to thank Mr. Darcy for,” Jane said, turning to smile at Charles. He looked back at her adoringly, and I knew that somehow they’d gotten back together.
Jane’s expression grew serious again. “I was so worried when I returned to London and found both of you gone. I hadn’t expected to return from Paris so soon, and all I could learn was that you’d left six days ago….”
“Six days? But that means I was unconscio
us— Oh, my God.”
Jane hugged me again. “Mr. Darcy came to the flat last night,” she said. “He was frantic…. I’ve never seen him look so upset. Charles was with him. Darcy said he had been searching for you for two days, but had finally received some information that had given him an idea as to where you might be. I insisted on coming, of course.”
“But Jane…” I struggled to gather my thoughts. “What about Lydia? All this time—”
“Lydia is fine.” She moved closer to Charles, who put his arm around her. “Charles told me the whole story. The evening after I called, before he knew you were missing, Darcy had his private jet fly him to Los Angeles. I’m not sure how he did it, but he tracked down George and Lydia just before they were about to fly off to South America.”
I could feel the adrenaline draining out of me, leaving me limp as an overcooked noodle. “But…but was Lydia hurt?” I asked. “Was she…”
“No damage was done,” Charles said, an almost dangerous gleam in his eye. “Wickham may have planned to convert her, but he didn’t get around to it.”
“Where is he now?”
Charles shrugged. “Gone. And not likely to show his face again, at least not anywhere Darcy can reach him.”
I didn’t ask how Darcy had managed that. “Where is Lydia now?”
“Home with Mom and Dad. She’s not exactly sorry, but Darcy took her aside and talked some sense into her. I don’t think she’ll be running off with another vampire anytime soon.”
I couldn’t believe it. In less than a week, Darcy had saved Lydia and taken care of Wickham, then found and rescued me from a fate possibly worse than death.
“That’s not all, Lizzy,” Jane continued. “We don’t have to worry about Bennet Labs anymore. We just received a huge anonymous grant. BL will have full independence, and all the funding it needs for the next five years at least. Charles is in full agreement.”
“Should have seen it weeks ago,” Charles said, blushing. “BL can do better work just as it is.”
My heart was so filled with happiness that for a minute I couldn’t speak. All Darcy’s doing. I knew he had taken Charles to meet Jane on purpose. He’d given up his determination to keep them apart.
And as for the grant money… Maybe Charles had had something to do with it, but I was pretty sure that the funding had come straight from Darcy.
“Jane,” I said, “I don’t know what to say.”
She laughed. “Poor Lizzy. Not your usual state, is it?” She squeezed Charles’s hand. “I have one more piece of good news. Charles has asked me to marry him.”
I bounced. I couldn’t help myself. “Jane!” I shrieked.
Charles gave a sheepish grin, grabbed Jane and kissed her soundly. I backed away to give them a little privacy. And because there were things I needed to say to a certain gentleman vampire.
I turned to face him. He hadn’t moved an inch. Those few feet between us felt like miles.
“Thank you,” I said around the lump in my throat. “Lydia, Jane, BL… Your compassion and generosity…”
The sadness in his smile was very human. “Your sister should not have confided so much to you.”
“I’m glad she did. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to tell you have grateful we are. Jane, Lydia, my family—”
He sighed. “If you will thank me, let it be for yourself alone. Much as I respect your family, I thought only of you.”
My face felt as hot as a sunburned jalapeño. “I… You must be tired. Do vampires get tired? Maybe you need a little…” I gulped. “I’d be happy to donate, if you—”
“That will not be necessary.”
“But I want to do something for you,” I burst out. “Isn’t there anything—”
“Yes, Elizabeth. There is.” He moved closer, gliding on silent feet. “You are too generous to trifle with me. If you feel the same as you did at Rosings, tell me so at once. My affections have not changed, but I will never mention it again if you say the word.”
My mouth fell open. I shut it again. “Your affections?”
“My pride,” he said with that same sad smile, “did not permit me to confess the fullness of my emotions. Let me do so now. I love you, Elizabeth Bennet.”
My legs had gotten into a bad habit of buckling, which was getting downright embarrassing. Darcy caught me again. His lips were nearly touching mine, but he didn’t kiss me.
“Do you fear me, Elizabeth?” he murmured.
I stared at his mouth. “No.”
“Have I hope?” He shifted his arms so that the whole lengths of our bodies were touching, chest to chest, hip to hip, thigh to thigh. “You need do nothing that discomfits you. I ask only that you consider a life with me. You will have all the freedom you desire; I will not seek to bind you.”
“You mean,” I said, “you won’t bite me?”
“Not unless you desire it.”
“You won’t convert me?”
“Never.” He searched my eyes. “I would ask you to marry me, but—”
“Marry me? You’d do that?”
“If you would have me.”
I stretched my neck a little and kissed him. Still he didn’t kiss me back. He wanted to be sure that I was sure.
And I was. He could do whatever he wanted to me, and I wouldn’t complain. In fact, there were certain things I very badly wanted him to do to me. “I guess vampires aren’t any smarter than humans,” I said. “I’ve loved you ever since Charles told me that your first name was Fitzwilliam.”
“My dearest Elizabeth…”
This time when I kissed him, he most definitely kissed me back.
A LITTLE WHILE LATER—after we’d all returned to Pemberley, Georgiana had been told the whole story, my aunt was in bed and Charles and Jane were…occupied—Darcy and I made ourselves comfortable on one of the more welcoming sofas, my head on his shoulder and his arms wrapped around me as if he were afraid I’d change my mind.
“What made you decide to ask me again?” I asked. “I wasn’t exactly polite about refusing you at Rosings.”
“I hardly acted the gentleman,” he said, brushing my hair with his lips. “My behavior was unpardonable. No better, in fact, than Wickham’s.”
I bolted upright. “Don’t ever say that! You’re exactly the opposite of what he told me.”
“Your belief in my virtues is gratifying, but not entirely accurate. As a boy, I took my wealth and status too much for granted. When I was converted—”
“Against your will, right? George lied about that, too. You never wanted to be a vampire.”
He nodded. “When my aunt took my life from me—and from her own daughter—my distress was such that my pride and conceit only increased. I was ashamed of my needs and how I was compelled to acquire nourishment. It was many years before I was able to permit myself human company again. Even then I remained proud and arrogant, as your dealings with me so amply illustrated.”
“You never doubted that I’d accept your offer at Rosings.”
“Never. By you I was properly humbled.”
“You’re making me blush.”
“I intend to make you do far more than blush, dearest Elizabeth.”
I snuggled into him again. “Everyone’s asleep. We could go upstairs and—”
“After we are married.”
“Do you have to be so blasted old-fashioned?”
“Even after two hundred years, certain habits persist.”
I leaned back to better see his face. “When did you decide you loved me?”
“I was in the middle before I knew I had begun.”
“I guess you were sick of those groupies who fling themselves at everything with fangs.” I looked at him sideways. “Speaking of groupies… I saw you with those women outside Rosings.”
Yes, vampires could definitely blush. “As I said, I am not proud of what has been necessary to keep myself alive, but for Georgiana’s sake—”
I pressed my finger to his lips. “You d
id what you have to do, and I know you did it as gently as you could. But I’m afraid I’m not going to be able to live with a harem.”
His eyes widened. “Elizabeth, I swear to you—”
“Just promise you’ll tell me if you…have to see someone else. I’ll understand.”
Copper tinged his deep blue eyes. “They meant nothing to me, Elizabeth. I have already made arrangements to find nonhuman sources of blood, and my research—”
“It’s all right, Darcy. I know you can’t live on me alone. I won’t be jealous.” I pouted. “Well, maybe just a little.”
He hugged me until I cried uncle. “You will never have the slightest cause.”
“Humph.” I smiled to show him I wasn’t angry and began playing with his fingers. “So what did make you ask me again after I was so nasty to you?”
“It is difficult to explain. Your manner at Pemberley…your friendliness toward my sister gave me hope.”
“Your letter made me question everything I’d believed,” I said. “When I met your sister, and saw the binders with all the thank-you letters, I knew I’d been wrong.”
He shook his head with a wry smile. “When one has lived two centuries and possesses such considerable assets, generosity is easy.”
“But you’ve used those assets for good.” I sat up to face him, loving the strong lines of his face, the black hair that fell into his eyes, the sensuality of his lips. “You’ve given so much to medicine, to children.”
He ran a strand of my hair through his fingers. “It was not entirely unselfish. For two hundred years, Georgiana has suffered malaise and weakness so severe that she is seldom able to leave Pemberley. I have sought a cure since medical progress has made such exploration possible. It is why I have acquired interests in so many biological research companies, including Charles’s. I had already been encouraged by the discovery of a certain drug that could break the bond between a strigoi patron and his protégé.”
“That’s why Lady Catherine couldn’t control you. Georgiana took the drug, too?”
“Yes.”
“And Wickham?”
“He would not have known of it. I would not be surprised if he found a way to kill his patron, which is another way of breaking the bond.” He shook his head. “As for my obsession with acquiring Bennet Laboratories… I knew that your researchers had created and utilized innovative techniques and protocols that many larger companies would not have ventured to. I had hoped that one day, with my guidance, BL might have found the cure for Georgiana and perhaps even produced a blood product of sufficient efficacy to remove strigoi reliance on human donors.”