Lizzy was anxious at what Darcy planned in retribution. He tried to conceal his wrath but she knew him too intimately. In the end, he skirted the truth by confessing his overwhelming need to confront Orman and exact physical vengeance by satisfyingly smashing in his nose, but then he would wield his considerable power and influence to have the cur lawfully punished. Lizzy was no fool and perceived that he was evading, but she wisely ruled it was his right to protect his wife as he saw fit.
Of course, she had no suspicion of what he planned.
The next morning, one hour after dawn, Fitzwilliam Darcy of Pemberley confidently stood several feet across from the Marquis of Orman on an open field at Lord Matlock’s estate, Rivallain.
After Lizzy’s violent resistance and escape into the woods, Orman had driven home rapidly. In part, this haste was due to the significant gash over his left cheekbone, which was bleeding profusely and ultimately required eight stitches to repair, yet largely due to the sober rationality restored along with the whack from Lizzy’s bucket.
Orman was a relatively brave man, tough when the situation called, but also a dandy, foolhardy and brash. Elizabeth was not the first woman to receive unwanted advances from the Marquis; however, generally he was wiser in his choices and had, therefore, managed to avoid severe unpleasantries. Electing Elizabeth as the object of his seduction was no doubt primarily prompted by his hatred of Darcy, rather than an overwhelming attraction to her. Darcy’s and Orman’s mutual discord was not based on any particular incident but was merely one of those loathing-at-first-sight relationships strengthened over time by further revelations of their widely divergent characters and morals.
Orman may have been foolhardy, but he was not a complete imbecile. Sober rationality told him that, without the slightest doubt, Darcy would exact revenge for this recent impropriety. Therefore, as soon as his wound was treated, he departed with alacrity to a friend’s manor in Nottingham. When he received the news that Mrs. Darcy had suffered an accident, he trembled in fear.
His spies kept close watch on the situation and although information was nearly impossible to ferret out of the tight-lipped, loyal staff of Pemberley, it soon became clear that, for reasons unknown, Orman’s name was not associated with the event. With a false sense of security and atrociously poor timing, the Marquis brazenly returned to his Derbyshire manor the very day that Lizzy’s memory was reinstituted.
Thus, when Darcy, along with Col. Fitzwilliam and Lord Matlock, rode up to his house and ordered the butler to summon his master, Orman was utterly unprepared. Nonetheless, when Lord Matlock coldly intoned the charges and Darcy imperiously issued the challenge, Orman bristled and the miniscule amount of honor he possessed impelled him pridefully to accept.
As the challenger, Darcy had set the rules: duel with short swords to incapacitation, at Lord Matlock’s estate one hour after dawn on the morrow, and seconds as appointed by each party. So, here they now stood. Their swords had been inspected by their seconds—Col. Fitzwilliam and Mr. Gerald Vernor in Darcy’s case, the rules and charges had been reiterated, the ground canvassed for hazards, and coats removed.
Lord Matlock announced the onset of the duel with a loud, “Allez.” The combatants studied each other, circling slowly with their swords forward on point. Darcy had well buried his burning rage. He was calm, heart beating normally, and absolutely focused with emotions tightly controlled.
“So, Darcy,” Orman taunted, “your foolish wife loses herself in the forest, nearly dies, and you must trump charges against me! Such pride. Darcy of Pemberley would never admit to choosing poorly in the country bumpkin of Hertfordshire!”
Darcy did not flinch, although Col. Fitzwilliam swore, detained by his father from personally running Orman through.
“Esteem her quite highly, do you not, old friend?” Orman sneered, “Favor her so beautiful that all men will fall at her feet? Whom else will you accuse…” He lunged abruptly, sword aimed straight for Darcy’s heart.
Darcy had expected this tactic. Not swayed one iota by Orman’s blustering, Darcy parried easily, knocking Orman’s sword to the left and then nimbly pivoting to the right and rapidly raising his sword upwards. He sunk the edge deeply into Orman’s left arm just below the shoulder and then stepped away, sword instantly again at the ready.
Orman was taken by surprise but, to his credit, recovered immediately, sword again on point as the adversaries stalked with eyes locked. Blood soaked his sleeve but he ignored it, face no longer mocking.
The cat and mouse games were finished. Darcy lunged next, deflected by Orman with ease, initiating a round of furious thrusts, parries, and rapid ripostes. They tested each other’s strengths and weaknesses, having never fenced together in the past. Darcy scored again with a glancing cut to Orman’s neck, promptly followed with another superficial graze across his chest.
Orman howled in fury; Darcy baring his teeth in a snarl, the only show of emotion thus far. Orman attacked with rage, normally not a wise tactic and one that would have proven to be his ultimate undoing, as Darcy was primed. Unfortunately, as he stepped to the left, Darcy’s foot landed hard on a sharp stone and he faltered. Orman’s sword was averted poorly and, although not reaching its intended location, sunk completely into the flesh along the edge of Darcy’s right side, neatly gliding all the way through and exiting the back.
Darcy grunted and grimaced in pain, staggering as he jerked backward with his arm pressed tightly to the bleeding wound. Amazingly, he still somehow managed to score a penetrating stab into Orman’s right shoulder. Both men staggered backward a few paces, eyeing each other with rabid hatred and panting harshly.
“Is she honestly worth it, Darcy? A woman?”
“Vermin such as you, Orman, would never comprehend.”
“True love, is it? How touching. Never would have suspected you to be the romantic type. Perhaps her gracing me with her lovely smiles was more than you could bear?”
Darcy merely smiled, a chilling smile without humor that unsettled the Marquis, who frowned. His attempts to rouse Darcy’s anger and ruffle his composure were failing miserably. Orman began to sweat. He knew Darcy’s reputation as a superb fencer and had dwelt on little else all night, in fact. Orman was stouter than Darcy, muscular and potent. However, Darcy had the advantage of height with subsequently longer legs and greater reach. Orman could likely outlast Darcy in a contest requiring endurance, but his skill level with swords did not near Darcy’s and he knew it. He must alter his stratagem.
With a plan in mind, he engaged and another round of vicious thrusts and parries ensued. Darcy received a gash across his chest, not terribly deep, but a scar would remain to match the two on his waist. Orman pressed with a steady barrage, driving Darcy back. He applied no particular finesse, trusting to sheer brute force and stamina to wear his opponent down. Darcy landed three more superficial blows, leaving Orman bleeding from several sites.
Despite the fury of his assault, Orman was unable to connect with the nimble Darcy. Both men suffered from loss of blood and pain, but Darcy was a man vastly more familiar with the rigors of hard labor and the trial of persevering with injury after years of training horses. His breathing was only mildly labored and a light sheen of perspiration covered his brow. Orman, on the other hand, was wheezing and sweating liberally.
After a wild thrust, which Darcy parried with his free hand, earning a shallow slice to his palm, he was successful in piercing Orman’s thigh scant inches below his groin and less than a fingerbreadth from his femoral vein. Orman screamed and pitched forward, the duelists grabbing each other’s sword arms at the wrist, clinched tenaciously nearly nose to nose. They grappled together in a back-and-forth dance of engagement. All of a sudden, Darcy vehemently twisted his right arm free, aggressively smashing his elbow squarely onto Orman’s nose, feeling and hearing the satisfying crunch he had promised Elizabeth, followed by a gush of blood and lusty bellow.
In a fit of raging blood lust, Darcy intended to end it there, and would
have, but Orman had one last trick up his sleeve. With blood streaming down his face and tears of pain obscuring his vision, he nonetheless had the presence of mind to sweep out with his uninjured leg, knocking Darcy completely off his feet. He landed hard on his back, air escaping his lungs in a loud whoosh. He lay there for a second, stunned and gasping, but saw Orman closing in with an overhand stroke with one purpose only: to kill. Dimly he heard Richard yell a warning.
Drawing from a reserve of strength of unknown origin, he gambled and rolled toward his attacker, lashing out with the sword miraculously still clenched in his hand, and cleanly sliced though the posterior muscles above Orman’s left knee. Orman screamed in agony, sword falling from suddenly nerveless fingers as he collapsed in a heap, clutching a now useless, hamstringed leg.
With renewed vigor, Darcy was on top of Orman in a millisecond, knee pressed painfully into his abdomen and left hand choking his throat while the sword point punctured the skin over his erratically pounding heart. Orman’s shrieks were cut short by a sharp clench of Darcy’s fingers, and he met his victor’s blazing eyes with raw fear. The spectators had drawn near.
“Shall I render mercy, Orman?” Darcy inquired frigidly as if merely asking the time of day, “Or should I kill as justice demands? Tell me the truth, swine, and be swift as I judge you have precious minutes before you bleed to death. Did you lay hands on my wife?”
“Yes, but…”
“Did you assault her with the design of enforcing intimacy?” Darcy’s sword penetrated through the skin, grazing a rib. Orman writhed but Darcy strengthened the pressure to his belly, twisted the sword minutely, and repeated, “Did you?”
“Yes! I—” gasp “—never meant her harm! Forgive me! Mercy, please!”
Placing the edge of the blade against Orman’s throat, Darcy leaned down until he was virtually nose to nose. In a deadly voice he pronounced, “Marquis of Orman, you have been vanquished in a test of honor and have confessed before these witnesses. By tomorrow all of Derbyshire, and then beyond, will know your transgressions. The choice is yours. To live, maimed and a coward, and forsake this region for the rest of your natural life, or to die by my sword. Which will it be?”
“Live,” he whispered.
“So be it. Remember your choice, Orman, for I swear that I will offer no mercy in the future.”
Lizzy woke that morning some two hours after dawn to an empty bed and fear clutching her heart.
Darcy had effectively evaded her queries the previous night by touching and kissing in all the places and ways that drove her wild with passion. Their lovemaking had been as rapturous and blissful as always, leaving her satiated and sleepy. She fell into a deep slumber immediately with her head on his chest and body nestled snuggly in his arms. If for Darcy their union had been tinged with a vague trepidation and mild nostalgia elicited by the potential for a negative outcome at the duel, it was offset by the exhilaration and overwhelming love he felt for her and the certainty that righteousness was on his side.
Now she sat in their sitting room, attempting unsuccessfully to eat some toast. Nausea and anxiety warred for dominance rendering her appetite nil. Samuel had assisted Marguerite in walking Elizabeth, but all he knew was that his master had left at dawn with Col. Fitzwilliam. It was logical to assume they were simply riding, yet she felt otherwise.
By nine-thirty when Richard knocked at the door, Elizabeth was in a near panic. She stood without thinking, swaying at the sudden pressure to her ankle. He was by her side in an instant.
“Richard! Where is William?”
“Calm down, Elizabeth; he is fine. Here, sit…”
“No! Take me to him now!” She clutched his arm tighter and took a step toward the door.
“Elizabeth, are you insane? If I allow you to walk all the way to the study, your husband will skin me alive. He sent me to assure you he is well and will be up as soon as he…”
“Listen to me, Richard Fitzwilliam,” she said in a voice of steel, glaring through narrowed eyes, “I am certain you two were up to no good today. I do not know what, although I imagine it has something to do with Orman. You will take me to him this second.”
Richard laughed and shook his head. “You two are quite a pair. Never have I seen two more stubborn people.”
“Richard!”
“Alright, I concede. I fear you must submit to my carrying you, cousin. I am not brave enough to face the wrath of two Darcys in one morning.”
When Lizzy entered her husband’s study, it was to find him sitting shirtless on his desk, grimacing and smeared with blood, the physician bent over his right side. He glanced up in surprise at the sight of his wife in his cousin’s arms.
Lizzy squealed and struggled frantically, Richard almost dropping her. She tottered to Darcy and he steadied her with a bandaged left hand. “Elizabeth, you are not supposed to be walking!”
“We can discuss that, Mr. Darcy, after you explain all this!” Richard burst out laughing, and even the doctor coughed a suppressed snicker.
Darcy was pale and weary but otherwise in quite good humor, so he too smiled at his wife. “Gentlemen, may we have some privacy?” When they left, he cupped her aggravated, teary face in his hands and kissed her deeply.
She succumbed for a moment and then yanked away angrily. “Fitzwilliam, you will not evade again with kisses!”
He smiled slyly, drawing her gently toward his lips once again, intoning huskily, “Oh, I do believe I could, beloved.” He brushed her mouth lightly. “But I shall reveal all first.”
He told her everything, dramatizing only moderately, as she examined his wounds. All were superficial except for the stab to his side that luckily had cleanly pierced the flesh, missing all vital organs. He had a nasty bruise between his shoulder blades and a painful bruise on his left instep.
“Are you in pain?”
“Nothing a whiskey and some tender female soothing will not alleviate.”
She snorted. “I should spank you rather than succor you!”
He grinned roguishly, “As you deem just, my love. However, we should wait until the physician completes stitching me up.”
She laughed, “Impossible!” She hobbled to the side bar and poured him a drink. She studied him as he drank deeply, hand shaking slightly. She ran her fingers through his hair, caressed his face and then kissed his cheek. “You are my hero, Fitzwilliam. I am so proud of you! I wish I could have witnessed Orman’s defeat and your chivalry in action.” Darcy smiled shyly and mumbled deprecatingly, humbly averting his eyes.
“Nevertheless, a sword duel is rather medieval and fraught with danger. Perhaps, dearest, in the future when you feel the urge to flex your muscles, you can choose a less deadly competition, for my sake and the sake of our child?”
“I shall faithfully endeavor to comply, Mrs. Darcy.”
“Good. Later, in our bedchamber, I will administer that spanking so you will not forget.” She smiled coquettishly, patting his rosy cheek, before calling the waiting men back in.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Romantic Interludes
HERE WE ARE, BELOVED. That was not too awful, now was it?” Darcy asked with a smile, as he spanned his wife’s waist with strong hands and lifted her from the horse’s back. She was a wee bit shaky in the knees, so he held her securely, taking the opportunity to bestow moist kisses along her neck.
“Dearest, if your desire is for me to regain stability, kissing me will only hinder the outcome.” She laced her fingers into his hair, tugging his head away from her neck, but claiming his mouth with her own for an enjoyable minute. “Show me your grotto, my love,” she whispered huskily.
He took her hand and guided her cautiously up the slope around the backside of the Greek Temple. He had insisted she ride a horse on the long trek from Pemberley, not Parsifal thankfully, but one of the placid, curricle-pulling mares Lizzy had acquainted herself with. Her ankle twinged only slightly on occasion, but was not healed adequately to tackle the uneven grasslands, and
she had discovered a heightened photosensitivity that sporadically induced minor headaches.
There remained vast areas of Pemberley’s extensive grounds that Lizzy had yet to visit. Sadly, between her extended recuperation and the endless spring rains that consumed most of April, there simply had not been the opportunity. May had ushered in the traditional lovely Derbyshire weather and the last of the clouds had been swept away. The result was a profusion of blooms, greenery, tweeting birds, butterflies, and raging rivers. The ducks had returned to the small pond, placidly paddling amongst the minnows and tadpoles.
Lizzy had regained her strength and mobility by strolling along the array of garden paths closest to the house, sometimes with Darcy but usually with Georgiana as her husband’s time was consumed by the demands of planting season and the annual cattle market in early May. There was a tremendous amount of work for him to conclude as next week they would be departing for Hertfordshire and then on to London for six weeks.
Lizzy was overjoyed at the prospect of seeing her family, especially Jane. Yet she could not deny a sense of sadness and homesickness already touching her at the notion of leaving Pemberley. Therefore, she had begged Darcy to devote a day, if possible, to acquainting her with his hidden sanctuary. He was delighted and had made all the arrangements. If riding a horse had not entered her consideration as part of the itinerary, it was worth it to be completely alone with the man she loved more than life.
The forest loomed to the rear of the temple as a seemingly impenetrable wall. Darcy unerringly skirted around the stone wall to a concealed break in the trees. The path was narrow and faint, shrouded by thick brush and overhanging branches so low that several times it was necessary to crouch. Unexpectedly, the tunnel-like path opened onto a glade carpeted in grasses and moss.
Mr. & Mrs. Fitzwilliam Darcy: Two Shall Become One Page 34
