President Darcy

“It’s my pleasure, Deena,” he replied.

Deena’s eyes darted toward the Memorial. “However, before we start talking about global warming, we have someone here who wanted to address a different topic.”

What? Darcy frowned at Deena and then shot a glare at Hilliard. This wasn’t part of the script; Hilliard should stop the filming immediately. Thank God it wasn’t being broadcast live. Darcy opened his mouth to object, but Hilliard made a rolling motion with his finger, encouraging him to continue. What the hell? Darcy’s eyes followed Deena’s gaze.

When he saw who was exiting the Memorial, all thoughts of objecting evaporated.

Elizabeth, wearing a pale pink sun dress, strode toward hi

m. Her hair cascaded in a glorious tumble of dark waves around her shoulders and blew a little in the breeze. Her mouth curved in a fragile, tentative smile, and her eyes were darkly intent—fixed on Darcy’s face. Stiffness in her gait betrayed her nervousness.

Darcy’s eyes eagerly devoured the glorious sight. Starved of her presence for too long, he felt she might disappear if he glanced away. His fingers twitched with the need to touch her and… Oh God, in a moment she’d be close enough to hear her voice. No doubt he was grinning like a fool, and he didn’t care. He had no idea why she was there; he could only soak up her presence.

Other people emerged from the Memorial, far behind Elizabeth—Bing, Jane…Georgiana? What were they doing here? And why the hell were they smiling so knowingly?

“Will.” The husky way Elizabeth said his voice made Darcy’s knees weak. Two last steps brought her to stand by his side; only then did Darcy realize that Deena was observing them from the side of the blond producer. Now Will recognized him as the guy having coffee with Elizabeth in the pictures on the Internet. However, she wasn’t paying him the least bit of attention, and he appeared to be intent solely on filming them.

I’m definitely getting punked in some way. But he didn’t care. With Elizabeth there, everything was right with the world. He said the first thing that came into his mind. “You’re not in Indonesia.” Duh.

“No.” She watched him through the screen of her lashes. “I’m…not planning to go back.”

Reeeallly? Excitement bubbled up inside him like carbonation. Still, this was too good, too fortuitous. It was beginning to play out like some great dream that fulfilled all his wishes. Was she really there? When he took her hand in his, their fingers curled together, deliciously warm. Yeah, she was real.

For a long moment each basked in the glow of the other’s presence. Darcy could have stared into her vibrant, mossy green eyes for the rest of the day and never grown bored. But eventually Elizabeth’s smile developed an anxious edge, and her brows tangled together. “Uh…Will…?”

Darcy’s nerves spiked, and his breath hitched in his chest when he spoke. “Eliz-Elizabeth, what are you doing here? Why are you—? What’s going on?”

Elizabeth reached out to grasp his other hand in hers so they faced each other like a couple at an altar. Her hands trembled nervously in his. When he gave her a reassuring squeeze, she returned a faint smile.

It dawned on him—finally—why he had been brought to the Tidal Basin. “There isn’t any interview, is there?” he asked.

“No.” Her cheeks reddened as she stared down at her sandaled feet. “I needed a way to talk to you.”

“You could have called me.” All around them the crowd laughed. Darcy couldn’t imagine what they needed to discuss in such a public forum, but Elizabeth, Bing, and Fitz wouldn’t have arranged all this without a damn good reason. “Okay.” He laughed nervously. “Talk.”

She took a deep breath. “Will, when I first met you, I didn’t think I would like you.” Another ripple of laughter from the onlookers. “In fact, we irritated each other, but eventually I realized our mutual irritation concealed a very powerful attraction. The truth is that I’ve never met someone who I have found so easy to talk to. So at home with. So instantly a part of me. When w-we br-broke up”—her voice cracked—“I realized that you had become a vital part of my world, even after such a short time. Without you, a big chunk of my soul was suddenly missing.”

Darcy couldn’t breathe; he knew that sensation exactly.

The onlookers were absolutely still, but Darcy heard several sighs. Elizabeth continued, blinking back tears. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the past six months, it’s that without you in my life I’m not actually living….I’m just existing, going through the motions. And I don’t want that anymore. I want to be with you.”

Her voice was thick with emotion, and she swallowed, never taking her eyes from his. “I know you think it’s impossible to date while in office, so I’m not going suggest that.”

Darcy’s heart gave a funny twist. She doesn’t want to date? But, but… He opened his mouth to object.

“Instead I would like to suggest…” Her eyes sought and held his as if she could see all the way into his soul. “I would like to ask…if you, William Darcy, will marry me?”

Several onlookers gasped, and it sounded like a few were crying. Behind Elizabeth, Georgiana, Bing, Jane, and Fitz were smiling so widely that their faces might crack. Georgiana mouthed “say yes” to her brother.

Darcy blinked rapidly, reminding himself this was not a dream, even though it seemed to fulfill every fantasy he hadn’t allowed himself to indulge over the past six months.

It took a full second for her words to sink in and then another second for Darcy to reassure himself that he had heard them correctly. For another second, he could only stare at her, slack-jawed.

She resumed talking, perhaps because his silence worried her. “As you said, presidents don’t usually date in office, but of course, most of them were married when they were elected. So I thought maybe marriage would…” Her words petered out, and she bit her lip as if she’d said too much.

He was stunned into speechlessness. I should say something. I should respond.

Her expression morphed from hopeful to worried. “But if you don’t want—”