Re: Ashley & Mr Darcy
When she mentioned that he'd been soaking wet, he gave her a slightly exasperated look and she even managed to get a soft chuckle from him. "Yes, very well, I may have been ever so slightly damp after... falling in the lake, thank you Miss Sully," he smirked at her.
Ah, and then her cousin called her Ashley, and there was the compliment and the kiss on the cheek.... of course. He was being a fool, it was entirely possible that she was already promised to the young sergeant. Maybe they were just close, loving relations, but he wasn't naive. He of all people knew how these arrangements were often set up. Keep the money in the family. Or, good grief, the lack of it in this case.