Leenie Brown

CONNECTION BETWEEN STORY AND SONG:

I have been busy editing for the last couple of weeks, but The Tenant’s Guest is finally off to the first reader. Yay! The story has some additions to it that were not part of the original posts here on Thursday’s Three Hundred. One of those additions can be found in this scene…which begins with a kiss.

Just a note: This has not gone to my proofreader, so there are bound to be mistakes. This stage of the editing process is working on story elements. All the mechanics come next. 🙂

EXCERPT FROM The Tenant’s Guest by Leenie Brown:

“You truly wish this? You would have me, arrogant man that I am?”

“I would.”

He tossed his hat on the ground and, taking her face in his hands, bent to kiss her.

The sensation of his lips pressed against hers took Elizabeth by surprise, and without her willing it to do so, her body leaned into him and her arms wound around his waist as if they knew exactly what to do. It was no wonder some ladies found themselves in compromising positions when their senses were so attacked as to be wholly outside their own power, Elizabeth thought as she stood some moments later, wrapped in Darcy’s arms, her head on his chest. Her mind even now knew that standing here, embracing and being embraced, was not proper, but her body was not willing to listen to anything but the beating of his heart, which matched her own rapid pulse. It was with regret that she followed his lead and slowly stepped away from the embrace when finally both hearts had returned to a more normal rhythm.

“I must go on,” said Darcy, “and you must return to Willow Hall.” His hand caressed her cheek, and his smile looked almost sad. “I will call later at a proper time if you are agreeable.”

She nodded. “I would be happy to receive your call, Mr. Darcy.”

“Fitzwilliam.” His voice was soft. “You must call me Fitzwilliam for I intend to call you Elizabeth.” There was a stubbornness to the set of his mouth and eyes as if he were prepared to defend his decision.

She raised an impertinent brow and attempted to keep from smiling but could not. “Will it not seem strange to the Abbots if we address each other so informally?”

He chuckled. “Indeed it would, but I do not intend to call you Elizabeth save when we are alone as we are now. I have referred to you as such in my thoughts for some months now.” He shook his head. “Nay, nearly a year.”

“A year?” She looked at him in question, not only because of the length of time that he had considered her, but because in contradiction to his words of needing to leave, he had tucked her hand into the crook of his arm and was walking with her back toward Willow Hall.

“I do not know exactly when I began to think of you in such familiar terms, but I am fairly certain that it was after your stay at Netherfield.” He smiled sheepishly at her. “You were charming.”

“I was not,” she disagreed. “I was disagreeable.”

He shrugged. “It was most charming.”

She laughed and held his arm more tightly as she stepped towards him as if there was something about his person that drew her to him. “So I have not only promised myself to an arrogant man but one who finds argument and debate to be charming?”

He nodded. “So it would seem.”

She heard him sigh.

“Do you regret your answer?” he asked.

Elizabeth shook her head and then lay it against his shoulder. “Not this time.” The letter in her pocket reminded her of just how fortunate she was to have been given this opportunity to correct her mistake. “I shall never regret it,” she added softly.

~*~*~

The Willow Hall Romance Series

A Pride and Prejudice Prequel ~ Willow Hall Romance, Book 1

Events from the past combined with threats in the present threaten to tear Lucy and Philip apart unless Darcy can help his friends save their blossoming love and rid Lucy of her uncle once and for all.