by Jane Hunter
“Miss Elizabeth, I thank you. A walk would be most diverting, I thank you. Mrs. Bennet, I bid you good day.” Mrs. Bennet huffed quietly, but Elizabeth seemed not to notice. She turned away from the house and began to walk towards the Longbourn gardens. Startled by her sudden departure, Darcy jogged to catch up with her.
“Miss Elizabeth. I... thank you for agreeing to see me. The last time we met...” Elizabeth ‘s cheeks reddened slightly, and Darcy felt an immediate sense of regret for bringing up that moment.
“The last time we met, Mr. Darcy... I have been trying to forget our conversation.”
“Have you?”
“Indeed. But I find that I cannot erase from my memory all of the things that you said, or the great insult...” Elizabeth walked with purpose towards the small stand of trees just beyond the Longbourn gardens. Darcy found that he was having trouble keeping pace with her, and he cursed himself for his foolishness once more. He should not have come here today.
“Miss Bennet... Eliza...” he called out to her, but Elizabeth straightened her shoulders and kept walking.
“Elizabeth!” She turned quickly, finally staring him fully in the face.
“How dare you! How dare you come to my house and seek me out! How can you think that I would have anything to say to you beyond what good manners command? And in the presence of my mother? Your arrogance knows no limit, Mr. Darcy.”
Darcy paused, taken aback by her words. Had he really overstepped his bounds with her? He had not thought to consider how she would feel about his appearance on her doorstep... he had only thought of his own burning need to be near her.
“Miss Bennet... Elizabeth... I apologize for the harshness of my words... but I find that I cannot take them back no matter how much you might wish me to. But I cannot deny that my feelings for you remain unchanged.” Elizabeth gave him a stunned look, and turned away from him and marched towards the woods once more.
“Dammit, man.” Darcy muttered. He had done it again.
The trees closed around them, shading them from the sun, and Elizabeth paused in the dappled sunlight and looked out over the rolling hills of Hertfordshire and down to the town below.
“You cannot know how your words made me feel, Mr. Darcy... and I find it hard to look at you now, knowing that you despise yourself for loving me... that you claim a weakness for having affection for me.”
“Elizabeth... I...” But Elizabeth was not listening to him.
“You cannot know how your words have wounded me. That I should have even thought to betray everything I feel in my own heart to accept your vain proposal. For I did... I did regret my rejection. Bitterly. And to see you on my doorstep today... I did regret it again. If you were not so proud and...” Unable to bear her words any longer, Darcy reached her with quick strides and spun her into his arms, stopping her words with his lips.
She struggled briefly in his arms, enraged at being caught off guard. He could tell that she was angry with him, that she hated him... but also that she had deep feelings for him. As he pressed his lips to hers, he focused all of his loving need into his kiss. As though he could convince her of his deep love with the touch of his lips.
All at once her lips opened under his, allowing his tongue to dart between her lips and she moaned against his mouth.
Darcy’s passion for her overwhelmed all of his thoughts, and his hands roved over her body. He knew that this was wrong... if they were seen... they would both be ruined.
“Mr. Darcy... I cannot....” It was as if she could hear his thoughts. She was breathless from the urgency of his kisses, but he could not suppress his emotions any longer. He did not care if they were discovered.
“Elizabeth, I cannot deny my feelings for you any longer. I find that I am deeply in love with you, and I cannot accept your refusal again. Any refusal.” His mouth formed the words that had been embroidered into his heart and his voice was thick and husky. “Please... say you will be my wife...”
Elizabeth gasped and her full lips parted as much in passion as surprise. What was he asking of her? Darcy’s head bent and his lips burned a fiery trail along her neck and over her collarbone, and his hands tugged at the neckline of her gown, exposing her shoulders and breasts to the warm air. He could feel his need for her growing, and for once, he did not feel ashamed of his wanting of her.
“Mr. Darcy... William... I...”
“Say yes, Elizabeth, say you will be mine.” His breath was hot against the delicate skin of her throat, and heard her sigh thickly as he pressed the hardness of his manhood against her hip. Elizabeth arched towards him and his mouth found her nipple and he suckled her gently, teasing the rosy peak to firm hardness.
“Elizabeth... please...” She moaned huskily and pressed his head against her breasts.
“Yes... Darcy... William... I will... I will...” With a throaty groan, Darcy pulled Elizabeth to the grass and into his lap, relishing in the feel of the heat of her most intimate parts as she straddled him.
He ground his hardness against her and Elizabeth’s breath come faster against his neck.
He shrugged out of his jacket and her fingers fumbled nervously at the buttons of his fine shirt, pulling it open to reveal the hard planes of his chest. She ran her hands over his exposed flesh and followed her fingers with her mouth and tongue.
Darcy groaned as her lips traveled across his skin, and he pulled her against him. He wanted her. He wanted her completely, no matter how wrong it might be.
He could feel her hands tugging at the waistline of his breeches, and he struggled to assist her, pulling aside the fabric to release his manhood. Elizabeth gasped at the size of it, and she reached down tentatively to take it between her hands, rubbing at it gently as Darcy groaned like a man possessed. The feel of her hands against the root of his manhood drove him wild with passion and he fought to keep his wits about him as she teased and explored him.
As she worked her hands feverishly along his silken length, he pulled her dress up over her thighs, revealing her creamy flesh and exposing her most intimate parts. She gasped aloud as his long fingers brushed against her secret wetness, and then slipped over the delicate flesh with singular purpose.
“Elizabeth...” Inflamed by her touch and the sight and feel of her delicious flesh, Darcy’s voice was shuddering and deep. He could hold back no longer. With a quick motion he grabbed her hips and pulled her close.
As if their bodies were made to be joined as one, he angled his hips upwards and felt the the thick head of his manhood pressing against the heated wetness of her womanly portals and relished her cry of pleasure as his length slipped slowly inside her until it was buried to the hilt in her wetness.
Darcy hugged her close to his chest as they both shuddered with sensations unlike anything they had never known. He waited for her to relax against him as his hardness throbbed within her moist depths.
Slowly, he moved within her, and they rocked together sensuously in the sweet grass, her cries were as soft and yielding as her flesh and Darcy held her gently, marveling at the motions of their bodies and the emotions and sensations that coursed through his own frame.
Darcy held his love gently, moving with her as her soft moans became cries of joy and ecstasy and he could feel his own climax building.
His breath became ragged against her neck as he helped her ride his hard length. Under her dress, his hands molded her buttocks and pulled her against him, as he plunged deeply within her. She clung to his shoulders as the speed and depth of his thrusts increased, and the small sting of her nails digging into his flesh drove him wild with passion.
With a guttural groan he impaled her deeply with his member and held her tightly, shuddering with release as her hot depths pulsated around him and he emptied his seed within her.
They collapsed together in the grass, and Elizabeth nestled her head against his heaving chest. Darcy could feel his heart pounding heavily, and he wondered if Elizabeth’s heart was beating in time with his.
&
nbsp; Darcy kissed her brow gently and rubbed his hand over her shoulder. He looked down into her face and Elizabeth smiled up at him and stroked his cheek gently. He could not fathom the emotions that coursed through him. The woman laying across his chest, he wanted her in every way. Wanted to possess her in every way. And now... now she was his.
“Miss Bennet... Elizabeth... I do not know what came over me. All I knew was that seeing you standing there, facing me in all of your anger and indignation. I could not deny my longing for you. I needed to possess you fully. I needed to make you mine.” Elizabeth smiled at him gently and ran her fingertips lightly over his lips.
“William... you have possessed me in all ways except once since the first time I saw you, and now that you have captured that last piece of me...” Overcome, Darcy covered her mouth with his and rolled her over in the grass. He could feel his member growing hard within her again and she moaned against his lips, she was as eager as he to feel his hardness exploring her feminine depths once more.
Encouraged by her response, Darcy’s hands pushed her skirts eagerly up over her hips and Elizabeth met his thrusts with raised hips. Her sighs as he lifted her stockinged legs over his shoulders drove him to the bring and her cries of ecstasy as he drove his hardness deeper and deeper inside her were almost more than he could bear.
Darcy’s passion overtook him and his hips bucked against her. Elizabeth wound her fingers through his dark hair and opened her mouth wantonly against his, crying out her ecstasy against his lips as her body shuddered under his. It was more than he could ever have imagined. His most shameful fantasies come to life as the woman he loved writhed beneath him.
She was his wife in all but name now, and their tryst in the woods had served as a second proposal... and her eager acceptance of it. As they walked back towards Longbourn together, burning to touch each other, but not daring to let their secret be discovered, Darcy could not help but wonder if Bingley and the watchful Caroline would be able to sense the change in him... that he now wore the mantle of a man completely fulfilled.
Would they be able to know that he had finally been able to claim Elizabeth Bennet as his own? Would they be able to tell that he had given in to his basest lust, and that Elizabeth had followed him willingly down the path to sin?
As they walked down the path towards Longbourn, Darcy ached to hold Elizabeth close to his side. To entwine her fingers with his, anything to show the world that, despite all odds, they had claimed each other in the name of love.
Elizabeth lingered on the path behind him, and it was as though he could hear her thoughts echoing his own. As he looked at her, he knew for certain that until their wedding night, he would ache to hold her again. That every moment in her company that he could not touch her skin would be an eternity... and that the sweetness he had tasted in the woods above Longbourn would never be enough to satisfy his lust for Elizabeth Bennet...
* * *
… to be continued
Also by Jane Hunter
Pemberley Promises
Elizabeth’s Awakening (Books 1-6)
Elizabeth’s Awakening (Books 7 - 12)
An Unexpected Honeymoon
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With Petra Belmonte
Elizabeth’s Folly
