by Linda Wells
Darcy thrust his potent arousal against her and groaned. “Oh God I want you, I want to make you mine, Lizzy. Nobody can take you away from me once you are mine.” He moved his hips rhythmically, imagining loving her, and revelled in the small gasps against his ear as he stimulated her core. Groaning he moved them back onto their sides, kissing her face and again finding her sweet parted lips. His hand drew up her gown, then began to stroke her lovingly. He watched her eyes close and felt her body tremble. “Does this feel good, my love?” Elizabeth nodded, unable to make a coherent sound. Darcy was dying to slip a finger inside of her and experience her warmth, but limited his touch to resting his hand over the chestnut curls. Slowly he began rubbing over her pearl, and enjoyed her writhing as her hips bucked up against his unceasing hand. She bit her lips as the exquisite feeling of pleasure began to build, and Darcy instantly needed to nip that luscious flesh, then soothed the bites with his tongue. The warm evidence of her ecstasy spread over his fingers as her back arched and her body blushed. When she opened her eyes, she saw that he was staring at her longingly.
Elizabeth pulled his hands and urged him to again lie on top of her. “Love me.” He shook his head. “I want to be yours Will, please.” Darcy moaned softly and closed his eyes, settling over her. Stroking her hair, he held her tightly as they kissed. His erection was there, and he could sense the wetness and the warmth drawing him in. The intoxicating scent of her body surrounded him. Her legs parted further, and he felt warm hands pulling up his robe and nightshirt, caressing over his bottom and up his back, stroking him and urging him forward.
“Oh my Lizzy.” He moaned, experiencing the pleasure of her touch, and kissed her deeply. Darcy looked into her eyes and saw the love he dreamed of, and somehow, with a strength he did not know he possessed, he managed to tear his body from hers and roll off onto his back. He covered his face with his arm and panted; the pain of denying his desire was overwhelming. Elizabeth felt instantly bereft of his body, but did not feel rejection. Instead her feelings for him grew stronger. She realized that he was the one in control, and that she really had to depend on his ability to stop, as she could not yet understand what was to happen between them.
Laying her head on his chest, she closed her eyes and stroked her fingers over his aching arousal, hearing a low groan. “Let me love you.” She whispered, touching him the way he showed her. His eyes were closed, and she felt the tension in his body. Her fingers glided over him, gently rubbing the moist tip. Darcy jumped and his arm flew from his face. “Did I hurt you?” She asked worriedly.
“No.” He said in a strangled voice and watched in fascination as she smiled and lowered her head back to lie upon his chest, and began to caress him again. “Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh.” Darcy muffled his moan by pressing his arm across his mouth. Elizabeth continued, slowly increasing the motion, pleasuring her William until she achieved a rhythm that he matched with his driving hips. Suddenly Darcy lifted her shoulders from him and dragged her up to his mouth where he kissed her desperately, and she felt his body buck beneath her as his essence spread over her legs. Darcy clutched her and breathed raggedly. “Do not move, please.” Elizabeth settled atop him and felt the tension in his muscles leave as his body sank into lassitude. Eventually his eyes opened and he spotted a handkerchief. He gently lifted her away and carefully wiped the spending from their bodies. He then drew her back into his embrace and covered them with the counterpane. “I love you.” He closed his eyes and kissed her. “I did not mean for this to happen, I planned to just kiss you and hold you, but I … I guess that I can not let go of you. Please forgive me, Lizzy.”
Elizabeth nestled onto his chest and ran her fingers through the black curls that bloomed through the open neck of his nightshirt. “Do not apologize William, I am as much to blame as you.” His disgusted laugh made her angry and she sat up. “Excuse me sir, but I am not completely helpless. You have witnessed me slap one man who tried to accost me, do you truly think that I would have remained yielding and compliant if I was not a willing participant in our activity?”
Darcy stared up at her and was about to retort when he was instead overcome by her beautiful flashing eyes. “What am I to do, Elizabeth? When you smile I am lost, and when you glare I am just as deeply entranced. It is hopeless; I am clay in your hands.”
Her anger subsided. “That is a very dangerous confession, sir.” She smiled and kissed him.
He chuckled, seeing her satisfied with herself, and ran his fingers through her hair. “I am sorry, though. I know that you are still ill, but I come here and disregard your obvious fatigue and wish to satisfy my own needs. It was wrong of me. Are you feeling any better?”
She settled back onto his chest. “I am. I believe the fatigue you saw was merely the result of spending an evening fending off the kind advice of Mr. Bingley’s sisters.”
“What did they say to you? Did they bother Georgiana, too?” He asked with concern.
“Nothing that I could not address, Miss Bingley is rather disappointed in our engagement, I gather. Did her brother make her angry somehow?”
Darcy smiled. “You might say that … he has curtailed her spending until the spring.”
“Ah, that would explain her burning the newest issue of The Lady’s Magazine and crying that she would have no use for it.” She laughed. “If you ask me, she desperately needs the advice, but that would be unladylike to make such a remark, so of course, I will not.”
Darcy’s laugh rumbled in her ear. “Oh, Lizzy, I enjoy being with you so much.”
“You enjoy hearing nonsense?”
He hugged her. “I enjoy hearing anything you have to say.”
She snuggled into him. “And I enjoy lying beside you.” He stiffened and she felt it. “Please tell me what is wrong. You returned from the dinner without eating. What happened?”
He closed his eyes and blew out several deep breaths. “I had a conversation with Lucas; he spoke of my father’s will and implied knowledge of Wickham, the man who tried to elope with Georgiana?” His eyes reopened to meet her gaze. “Lucas did not know his name though, so I assume that he heard this story from his time in London. Wickham spread his tale quite widely.” He sighed and tightened his embrace. “I fear that he will attempt to speak to your father and perhaps you to warn against me. I am afraid that what he repeated to me was just the smallest hint of the stories that he heard, and I do know that the stories were quite fantastic. I can defend against the claims that I cheated Wickham of his inheritance, but as to these other rumours, if he has heard them, and finally connects my name to them … I do not know what they are, so I can not prepare. I would hope that he would not repeat them around the neighbourhood. I think that his goal may be a wish to see you reject me.” Elizabeth sat up and regarded him with great concern. “I hope Lizzy, that if you hear these things, you will remember me, the man who has written to you, and attempted to court you, and not believe the ugly accusations. I hope that you will still wish to be my wife.”
“William! How could you possibly believe that I would reject you? I surely am not enamoured of John Lucas, what could these stories be that would turn me against you?”
“Bingley told me the worst of what he heard about me.” He paused and said quietly. “They spoke of my mistress.” He watched in horror as all colour drained from her face and he pulled her down to him. “It is not true, I swear, I have never kept a woman.”
Elizabeth rested stiffly in his arms, staring up at the canopy. “I would be foolish to think that you are innocent, especially after what we have experienced these last two nights, no matter how much I wish it to be true.”
Darcy sighed. “No, Elizabeth. I am not. But neither am I a rake.” He felt her tension. “It has been so long since I last …”
“Will I ever meet her?”
Darcy started at the thought, cursing the pain he was giving her, and saw that her eyes remained fixed on the canopy. “They were always demimondes.” He said softly, and read her confusion. “
Une chére-amie.” He sighed; pretty words would not change the facts. “They were paid for their favour.” He studied the canopy as well. “I am seven and twenty, and I never expected to marry. I went, I never stayed longer than an hour, and I always left disappointed.”
They. She attempted to stop thinking about how many women that could mean. “Then why did you return?” Elizabeth fought back the tears that pricked her eyes.
“I wished to feel something, even if for only a moment.” He turned and held her face in his hands. “You are the only woman I have ever slept with. You are the only woman I have ever held in my embrace. You are the only woman I have ever wanted to love. You alone are my future. These last two evenings with you have given me … oh Lizzy I can not describe the joy I feel with your touch.”
Elizabeth searched his sincere and pained expression and knew he spoke the truth. “I believe you.” He clutched her to his chest and kissed her forehead fervently. “I am glad that I heard this from you. If I had been confronted with the tales from anyone else, it would have been difficult to … stop the hurt.”
“I do not mean to hurt you.” He whispered.
Elizabeth sighed. “I know, but it does nonetheless, and even though it was before you met me, and it is likely an unreasonable reaction, I do not care. You are mine, and I hate knowing that someone else knows what I someday will. Do you not feel the same way about me?”
Darcy swallowed and again cupped her face in his hands. “Elizabeth, you saw how I felt about Lucas touching you … I … I would likely kill any man I knew who did anything more, no matter how long ago it was.”
“So my reaction is not at all unreasonable?” He shook his head. His soulful eyes stared into hers, and he tenderly kissed the tears from her cheeks.
Elizabeth drew a breath and blinked. “I have never liked sharing.” She smiled slightly and stroked back the hair on his forehead.
He watched her carefully. “Neither do I my love, which is why I burst in here and accosted you so …”
“Enthusiastically?”
He smiled a little. “I was going to say desperately, but I will accept enthusiasm, it does not sound so …”
“Desperate.” She gave him a small smile, and they both laughed quietly, feeling the tension ebb.
“Is that the worst of it?” Elizabeth settled back into the safety of his arms, she had not offered forgiveness and he had not sought it.
An enormous feeling of relief flowed through him; she hopefully accepted that it was the past. “I believe so, at least as pertains to me. I did not hear it all, but I can not imagine what else they would say, there was a story that I shot the man Georgiana eloped with, obviously that is not true. I do worry over the many things I heard of her while in London. Nothing kind, and unfortunately she heard them as well. I dearly hope that Lucas keeps his conversation to your father, if he speaks at all, and does not remember anything else of what he may have overheard when in town. I hope that he realizes that this is a child he would be disparaging, not just me. It would likely be useless to visit him and try to make him see reason, or try to convince him of Wickham’s guilt. I am hardly someone he would wish to believe.” He gave her a tight squeeze and kissed her head. “I will speak to your father tomorrow when you return to Longbourn, and bring him the settlement to sign. Danny brought it while I was away.”
She looked up at him. “I am returning?”
Darcy smiled and stroked her cheek. “My love, I stopped tonight only by the skin of my teeth. I am afraid that if you remain here another night, we will need to be married the next morning. I desperately want to make you mine in every way.”
Elizabeth sighed. “I do not object.”
“Neither do I, but even tonight when your father announced our engagement to the party, I noticed some eyebrows rose at the supposed expedited nature of the news. They were not surprised of the attachment, it did seem to be expected, but as far as they all know, we only met a month ago. Your father’s caution was wise.”
She kissed his chest and closed her eyes. “I understand.” The sounds of the rest of the household moving to their rooms were heard and doors opened and closed. Darcy and Elizabeth listened in silence as the footsteps and conversation died away, and gradually the movement in the other rooms quieted. He finally removed his robe and climbed back into the bed, spooning their bodies together. Darcy rested his face on Elizabeth’s shoulder and entwined their fingers.
“Good night my love.” He whispered.
“Good night Will, I love you.”
Chapter 22
Elizabeth awoke feeling cold. For a few moments she thought that she was in her bed at Longbourn until she realized that the fine fabric beneath her cheek would not have been wasted on a pillow, but would have been fashioned into a dress or a shirt for her father, just as her old gowns were remade again and again. She became aware of deep steady breathing nearby, and opened her eyes to see William. The moonlight through the window provided just enough illumination for her to lie still and simply appreciate his handsome relaxed features. She was surprised that he was not holding her in some way, and even, she admitted to herself, disappointed. Trying to roll to her back, she found it was impossible to move. Upon lifting the counterpane to discover the reason, she saw that William had gathered up the fabric of her nightdress and clutched it in his hand, like a child sleeping with a favourite blanket or toy. A bright smile lit Elizabeth’s face and her disappointment vanished. He was holding her. Seeking to reward him, she scooted to his side and instantly felt warm again.
Darcy’s arm wrapped around her waist and he sleepily nuzzled her neck. “Lizzy.” He whispered and his lips wandered up her face to find hers. They held each other and kissed deeply. When Darcy finally opened his eyes, he was astonished to discover this was no dream. Elizabeth held his face and laughed, watching his expression of surprise turn to one of absolute delight.
“You are real!” He smiled widely and hugged her tight.
“Did you forget about me?” She laughed.
“Never. I just am not used to having my dreams come to life … oh what a wonderful way to awaken!” He proceeded to leave a trail of kisses from her temple to her neck. His muffled voice tickled her ear. “You are not well enough to return to Longbourn.”
With difficulty, Elizabeth tried to speak coherently. “I … believe that … you decreed … I should.”
“I was overwrought. I have rested and I am thinking clearly now. You will stay until we wed.” The wandering lips were joined by his firmly caressing hands.
“But …” His hands began lovingly fondling her breasts. “Ohhhhh …”
Darcy’s face lifted. “Please stay.”
“Will … I truly wish to stay, but Papa …”
Darcy sighed and pulled her close. “He wants you home. I know.” The sound of resignation was clear in his voice. He kissed her forehead and valiantly attempted to control his desire. “Will you leave me a token, Lizzy, so that I can survive the night without you?”
“What would you like? You have my ribbon, my gloves, and my handkerchief, what else of me would satisfy you?” Darcy’s intense gaze answered the question without words. Elizabeth blushed, which did nothing to cool his ardour. His hands began stroking her face and he was staring at her parted lips. She smiled, and trying to regain control of the moment, brushed back the fringe of hair that covered his eyes, and raised her brow. “I am waiting for your answer.”
Darcy nipped her lip lightly and dragged his eyes up to hers. With a decidedly roguish glint, he made his demand. “Leave me your nightdress.”
Her eyes widened. “My nightdress!”
“It carries your scent, my love. Leave it behind or I will not permit you to go.” His face took on a stubborn set.
Elizabeth giggled then pursed her lips. “Fine sir, but on one condition.”
“Will.” He smiled. “What are your terms?”
She caressed his bearded cheek. “You must leave me yours.”
Hi
s smile was bright enough to light the room without a lamp. “Done, madam!”
They laughed and snuggled together, sealing the bargain with a kiss. “I will speak to your father about the settlement today.”
“Will you tell him of Mr. Lucas’s claims?”
He sighed. “Yes, I wish to keep no secrets from him.”
“I think that you need to have another conversation.”
Darcy lifted his head from the pillow of her hair and smiled. “With whom; and on what subject?”
“Georgiana, about everything. She is so afraid that she has angered you somehow, or that she has behaved improperly, she remains so timid. Even Mr. Lucas remarked on it.”
Darcy’s face immediately clouded and he spoke tersely. “I look forward to bidding Mr. Lucas farewell. That man has done nothing but disrupt what should be a joyous time in our lives.”
