“I will have to buy you a library full of books if this is my reward.”
Darcy released her and strode away. He raked his fingers through his hair in disappointment.“I cannot do this, Elizabeth.”
She stood there, stunned.
“I cannot allow myself to succumb to your charms! I cannot ruin your life by touching you the way I wish to touch you!”
“Fitzwilliam,” she whispered softly.
“I did not make you my wife to wreck your chance at happiness. I married you to protect you from Wickham; I will not allow my passion to rule me.”
“I am sorry, Fitzwilliam. When I am with you, I am happier than I have ever been. It is natural I should wish to express that.”
“Yes. I feel the same, my darling.” His words soothed her aching heart. “But I must control my urges,” he continued—causing her fresh pain. “As husband and wife, we will spend time together during the day, but at night, I will sleep in my chambers, and you will sleep in yours. Lock your door, Elizabeth. My resolve is strong now, but it could weaken.”
He made it sound like a business deal, and Elizabeth cringed with the reality of their lives. “We will not do that, Mr. Darcy,” she countered.“Ours is supposed to be a love match, and your staff will gossip. They will say you married me because you compromised me, and they will criticize you for bringing your sister into the house with a woman of loose morals.” Elizabeth raised her chin, daring him to challenge her.
Darcy blew out a long breath. “Elizabeth, when I lay with you at Netherfield, I did so at great risk to you, for I desire you. I am consumed by my need to take you. More abhorrent is my need to possess you in every way possible, as Wickham might.”
Elizabeth flushed with anger. “Then you must find a way to control your desires, Mr. Darcy. Neither your sister nor I will suffer shame because of your actions. Our arrangement was that I would be treated as your wife in every way except one. My reputation as a genteel woman and as the mistress of your estate depends upon the façade we show the world. People will accept my eccentricity, but they will not accept my being treated as an afterthought by you.”
Darcy rose and came towards her. “I would never put you in a bad light, Elizabeth.You must know that.”
“Then you will join me in my chamber.” She glared at him and left his room.
Darcy gazed at her retreating form.What she said made sense, but Darcy did not know how he would control himself.Whenever he was in her presence, he wanted her in so many ways. He wanted to drink in her naked body with his eyes. He wished to kiss her passionately and feel her quiver beneath him. He desired to lose himself in her body until his passion was satiated. And then there was the one point on her neck, where Elizabeth’s lifeline pulsed below the surface. Darcy could not forget the sweet taste of her blood on his lips. Never had he felt such a compelling need for anyone; never had his blood lust run so wild. Darcy did not know which expression of desire would satisfy him more. He closed his eyes to visualize Elizabeth standing before him, her luminous eyes only on him.A groan escaped his lips.
With resigned self-contempt, Darcy opened the door to the adjoining dressing rooms, leading to his wife’s bedchamber. Entering the open door to Elizabeth’s room, he noted the presence of only a single lit candle on the bed stand.The only other light came from the fireplace. He walked to the far side of her bed and, turning back the covers, Darcy slid his long frame into the bed. He blew out the candle and moved to spoon her body with his, draping an arm over her waist and pulling Elizabeth’s back to his chest. The smell of lavender drifted over him as he tried to clear his mind and to welcome sleep.
“Thank you, Fitzwilliam.” Her voice was barely audible in the darkened room.
“It is for the best, Elizabeth,” he said quietly.
She smiled with triumph. Lately, she contemplated the great pleasure of surrendering her maidenhood to the man she now called her husband. She shivered with anticipation. Her dreams of their joining increased after her Aunt Gardiner explained what the wedding bed might hold. Even more appalling, Elizabeth knew she would surrender to his seductive mastication as well.
CHAPTER 13
Wickham had expected that the morrow would bring him strength, but Mrs.Younge tended to his needs for three days before he stirred for more than a few minutes at a time.
Each time he woke in the shadow-filled room, George Wickham forced terror-filled dreams from his mind. Fitzwilliam Darcy had nearly found the key to killing him—ridding Darcy’s life of Lady Ellender’s curse. Wickham would need to do something about Darcy before long. Darcy’s having discovered Elizabeth Bennet gave the man an advantage Wickham needed to eliminate before his enemy realized how valuable the woman was to his cause. It was not that she possessed powers of her own; it was the faith she held in Darcy’s powers that made the man such a formidable force. Plus, Wickham suspected that Elizabeth Bennet held the key to Darcy’s fate. In today’s dream, she led Darcy to Wickham’s lair, and he and the man fought to the death. When, in the nightmare, Darcy drove a stake through Wickham’s heart,Wickham awakened with a terrible scream. An abrupt jerk of his limbs told him it was just a dream, but the feeling of dread stayed with him long after he rolled from the bed.
“My lord?” Mrs.Younge tapped lightly on the door.
“Come in, Amelia.” Wickham had dressed for the day. He motioned the woman inside. “I appreciate your efforts on my behalf, my dear.” Wickham took the woman’s hand and brought the back of it to his lips. He was now completely healed, and so he dropped automatically into his seductive mode.
AmeliaYounge watched his movements carefully. She had fallen for his temptation months earlier, and she knew there was no true reason for him to shower her with attentions now. But she enjoyed them, false though they were.“I am pleased you are well, my lord.”
“You served me faithfully.” Wickham finished tying his cravat. He stood in front of the mirror, as if to use it in his efforts, although only a wavy reflection—a blur of colors—appeared. It was a reflex action—a muscle memory—that even after all these years he had never abandoned. It made him feel human.
“My lord,” Mrs.Younge said tentatively,“I have news.”
Wickham folded the cravat so that it might be pinned. “Yes, Amelia? Speak.”The length of material frustrated him.
Mrs.Younge walked to the door and picked up a newspaper she had left lying on a table. “This is the Times—today’s edition. I believe you should see it.”
Wickham snatched it.“What is it you deem so important?”
Mrs.Younge pointed to the third column.“There.”
Wickham’s sight adjusted quickly to the dim light. He read the first paragraph of an announcement:
Monday, December 2, 1811, St. Blaise Church, London, celebrated the union of Fitzwilliam James Darcy of Overton House and of Pemberley in Derbyshire, son of the late Mr. James Darcy and Lady Anne Darcy, to Elizabeth Victoria Bennet of Hertfordshire, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Bennet of Longbourn.
The news visibly shook him, and Wickham shoved the paper back into Mrs. Younge’s hands. “Bloody hell! The woman will be my death!” He grabbed the paper again and began to search for his answer before he asked the question.“Does it say whether they left for the country?”
“It does not say.”
“Well, I know where to find him; Darcy retreats to his ancestral home, the same house where I stalked every other generation. I will stop this before it gets started.” He threw the paper on the bed. “Join me for the day.”
“I will be happy to serve you, my lord.”
“We leave in a quarter hour.”
Sally tapped lightly on Elizabeth’s door before entering the room. She waited, and hearing the Master bid her enter, the maid rushed into the room, only to find her mistress curled up in Mr. Darcy’s arms in the bed.
“Beg—begging your pardon, Sir,” she stammered, stunned to find her employer in his wife’s bed.
When Darcy heard the light tap, he knew what to expect. Immediately, he brought the blanket up to cover Elizabeth and rolled her towards him.The maid discovered “the reality” they created.
“Nonsense, Sally. It is commendable that you are so attentive to your new mistress.”
“I will come back later, Sir.” She started backing towards the door.
“Tell her to return in half an hour.”Their voices had awakened Elizabeth, and she snuggled into his chest.
“I believe you heard Mrs. Darcy.”
“I did, Sir.Yes, Sir.”The woman blushed with embarrassment at her intrusion upon their domestic scene.
However, before she could exit the room, Darcy called to her: “Sally, please lay out Mrs. Darcy’s riding habit, and tell Morris I will need similar attire. And have the staff saddle my horse and also Ceres.”
“Ceres?” Elizabeth was suddenly fully awake.“Ceres is here?”
“I sent for her yesterday. I paid your father fifty pounds for his trouble. I meant to surprise you.” Darcy’s smile told of the pleasure he took in taking her unawares.
“Thank you, my Husband,” she said and spontaneously hugged him tighter.
“Will that be all, Mr. Darcy?”The maid waited to be excused.
“Certainly, Sally. We will ring when we are ready to dress for breakfast.”
“Yes, Sir.” She curtsied and was gone.
Elizabeth kissed him immediately. Surprise and happiness filled
“You are my wife, Elizabeth. I would do anything for you.” Pure joy at seeing her excitement showed in his tone.
“Where may we ride in the city?”
“Hyde Park holds several riding trails, and as the season is over, we should have the park pretty much to ourselves. Once we travel to Pemberley, we can ride regularly. It will give me a chance to show you the entire estate.”
Elizabeth now kissed along his chin line. “You are the most charitable man; I cannot believe I ever once thought ill of you.”
Darcy rolled her to her back and loomed over her.“And when was that, Sweetling?”
“You know perfectly well when that was, Mr. Darcy.” Elizabeth laced her arms around his neck and urged his mouth towards her. “When you thought me only ‘tolerable.’”
“I believe I tolerate you very well,” he said teasingly as he rained light, feathery kisses across her face.
Elizabeth instinctively wriggled her body against his, creating heat and energy between them. Darcy lowered himself across her and drank of her mouth. Her lips parted, and Darcy’s mouth pressed harder. Elizabeth’s hands searched the muscles of his back before he caught her hands in his grip and raised them above her head. Darcy’s lips trailed a line down her neck; he loosened the strings tying her nightgown and pulled it from her, exposing the swell of her breasts. His mouth followed his fingers along the curve of her neck and down the crevice between her breasts.
Elizabeth’s moan only encouraged his efforts, and Darcy cupped her breast in his palm before returning to plunder her mouth. Elizabeth arched into his palm, lost to the pleasures of his hand and mouth.
Darcy’s lips and tongue slid down the length of her neck, coming to rest on the spot he most desired. He kissed it and licked the point, feeling her blood under the surface and knowing it could easily mix with the moisture of his mouth. Gently, he sucked
Without realizing she did so, Elizabeth’s body responded by grinding her hips into him, flooding Darcy with nearly uncontrollable desire as he continued to kiss along her shoulder and returning to tongue and suck at the pulse point. When she begged, “Please,” Darcy’s reason fought for control, and he forced himself to withdraw, although the effort was painful to them both.
“Oh, God, Elizabeth,” he moaned into her hair as he buried his face in shame.
Elizabeth tried to control her breathing, needing to calm her racing heart. “You did nothing wrong,” she assured him. “You did nothing more than what I wanted; it is as much my fault as it is yours,” Elizabeth reassured him. She wanted desperately to keep him locked in her arms.
“As the man, it is still my responsibility,” he asserted.
Elizabeth tried to defend their actions.“We are attracted to each other. Is that terrible? Some marriages are purely business.”
“If ours were a normal joining, our attraction would have miraculous appeal.” Darcy rolled away from her and prepared to stand.
Elizabeth turned back the blankets and followed him to her feet.“I will not, Mr. Darcy, regret the fact that I desire my husband’s touch, and I will not be portrayed as a wanton because I want to lie in his arms and feel the pleasure of knowing him intimately.” Elizabeth realized she argued for something totally out of their control. “Fitzwilliam, do you not realize how truly exceptional our connection is?”
Darcy wheeled around to face her.“I told you before; you have lived with this evil for a few months; I have known it all my life. Our perspectives are different.”
Tears misted her eyes, but Elizabeth fought to keep her emotions under control. “Well, it is time your perspective changed, because You might have known this curse for eight and twenty years, but we will deal with it for many more than that. So the decisions are no longer yours alone to make.”
Darcy stared at her in disbelief; his authority was rarely questioned. It struck him as amusing, and he started to laugh his rolling laugh—softly, at first, and then loudly. Elizabeth was struck with the absurdity. Were we not just arguing? Darcy came forward, scooped her into his arms, and twirled her around as he let his head fall back in a deep, room-filling laugh. “You, my lovely, are magnificent!”
His laughter was contagious; Elizabeth could not remain angry with him. Automatically, she locked her hands behind his neck and pulled herself closer to him.“And you, my Husband, are a conundrum.”
“Now that that is settled,” he said, still chuckling, “let us begin our day.”
“Did we settle something?”
“We decided we would disagree,” he stated matter-of-factly.
“Well, as long as we are clear on that.” Reluctantly, she allowed him his ambiguous logic. Offering him a full smile, Elizabeth added,“I am happy you see it my way.”
Darcy laughed again as he set her on her feet. “I did no such thing, and you well know it, Sweetling.”
“But I will use all my arts and allurements to win you over,” she warned.
“I will enjoy the battle.” Darcy reached for the bell cord to summon the servants. “I will meet you downstairs for breakfast.” He left her standing in the middle of her room as he crossed to the adjoining dressing rooms. Reaching his suite, he waited patiently for Morris to attend his needs. He replayed the past few minutes, as well as their confrontation the previous evening—his wedding night. Elizabeth was right about one thing—he would protect her reputation as his wife.The Darcy staff would soon know that Sally had found him in Elizabeth’s bed; by midafternoon, neighboring household staffs would know.
