Page 90 of What Change Entails

“I hope so.”

The answer emerged too honestly.

Elizabeth caressed the book in her hands. “I begin to suspect,” she admitted, “that I understood very little about you before coming to Derbyshire.”

Darcy stared toward the fire rather than at her.

Hearing it spoken aloud still made him want to look anywhere but at her.

“You understood enough.”

“No.”

The single word came quickly.

Elizabeth crossed back toward the hearth, still holding the book loosely against her waist. “You were proud,” she continued. “You were disagreeable often enough to deserve annoyance. But I…” She exhaled. “I believed the worst of you very easily.”

Darcy’s jaw clenched slightly. “Miss Bennet—”

“No. Allow me honesty at least once.”

He fell silent.

Elizabeth stood near the fire now, close enough that candlelight warmed one side of her face while shadow softened the other.

“I wanted to dislike you,” she admitted. “It became convenient. You offended me at the assembly, and afterward every disagreement confirmed my opinion beautifully. Then Mr. Wickham arrived with his dreadful stories, and I accepted them because…” She shook her head once. “Because it pleased my vanity to think myself perceptive.”

Darcy stared into the flames.

Outside, wind moved through the trees with a low restless sound.

“You were hardly alone in disliking me,” he said finally.

Elizabeth gave a short laugh lacking humor. “That is true. Yet most people did not pride themselves upon discernment while doing so.”

Her expression held no flirtation now, merely uncomfortable sincerity. “I was unjust to you,” she said.

The apology affected him deeply, especially after everything already passed between them.

Darcy crossed slowly toward the mantel. “You were not altogether wrong.”

“Oh, I think I managed quite a remarkable degree of wrongness.”

“I behaved abominably in Kent.”

Elizabeth’s eyes widened slightly.

“There is no benefit now in pretending otherwise,” Darcy continued. “I spoke arrogantly. I insulted your family repeatedly. I made an offer no woman of spirit ought to have accepted graciously.”

Color rose rapidly in her face.

Darcy regretted the bluntness instantly.

But retreat proved impossible once spoken.

Elizabeth stared directly into the fire several seconds before answering.

“You speak of it very calmly.”