“It is not necessary to say so.” Damon gave Darcy a quick bow, and then, taking Elizabeth’s hand, he kissed the back of it. “Take care of that rascal, my dear, and of yourself. I never had a more capable partner or one quite so beautiful.”
Elizabeth lightly touched the side of his face. “My house will always be your home, Sir.”
EPILOGUE
The colonel rode off on Trident before the Darcys broke their fast. “It is time to let you and Elizabeth repair your marriage without a chaperone,” Damon insisted when Darcy asked him to accompany them to Scotland.
“I do not know how I will ever repay you.You protected Elizabeth. I shall never forget that fact.”
Damon looked away, still not comfortable with his guilty feelings. “You chose the perfect wife for you, Darcy. No other woman of our acquaintance would go through what Elizabeth did to save your life and to change your future.”
“I see that my wife’s natural charisma has won her another admirer.” Darcy would play what he had earlier noted as being insignificant. “I have observed it so with everyone she meets, whether a lord of the realm or one of my servants.You just proved your fine taste, Cousin, and my exceptional good luck at discovering her for myself.”
“Then you should address any misgivings the lady has.” Damon embraced Darcy before turning to the mount.“I will send Trident on to Pemberley. Would you like me also to send some news of your success to Georgiana?”
“I will write to her later today, but you will arrive in Derbyshire long before the mail service. She shall be glad to hear the news from someone she trusts.”
“Give my regards to Elizabeth.” Damon strode to the horse and mounted. Reaching down, he patted the animal’s neck. “He is an excellent example of horseflesh.” With a salute, he sped away towards Matlock and family.
The Darcys neared the center of New Town in Edinburgh in the midafternoon. Throughout the trip, Elizabeth kept a running verbal journal of everything she observed out the coach’s windows. Each prospect was more impressive than the one before, and Darcy simply sat back and enjoyed seeing the city through her eyes.“Did you ever see a building so tall?” Her mouth was agape as she moved closer to the window for a better view.
“That is St. Giles Cathedral,” Darcy commented. “Although I have never seen it personally, Gladstone’s Land is reportedly six stories.”
“You practice a gammon, my Husband?” She eyed him to see if he manipulated his words as part of a tease.
“No, my love. I speak the truth.” Darcy smiled, returning his gaze to hers. “It was not many years ago when one could smell what is known as Old Town from miles away, but in the latter years of the past century, the city made a concerted effort to change things. Renowned architects created a new look for Edinburgh by adding neoclassical elements and planning gardens as barriers to the filth of the walled palace and abbey.”
“You know so many things, Fitzwilliam. I wish women had access to such an education.”
“You would drive the professors at Oxford or Cambridge crazy—first, with your beauty, and then with how you hunger for new ideas—your insatiable need for knowledge.” He laughed at his own assessment.“We shall see some of the city while we are here.”
As if on cue, Peter pulled up on the reins of the horses in front of an upscale hotel. Scrambling down from the perch, he let down the steps before moving back.“We be here, Mr. Darcy.”
“Thank you, Peter.” Darcy dismounted from the coach and turned to help Elizabeth down. “I will send someone out to help you unload, Peter. Put the coach and team in the mews; Mrs. Darcy and I will stay for three days.”
“Yes, Sir.” Peter prepared to unload the luggage.
“Are you ready, Sweetling, for a new adventure?”
Elizabeth’s eyes lit with excitement.“I am so glad we decided to follow your cousin’s advice. I never imagined I would see any city besides London. Now I am in another country. My life has taken a turn I never expected.”
Darcy tilted his head to speak only to her ears. “I would give you the world, Elizabeth, if you let me.”
She wrapped her arm through his, snuggling into Darcy’s shoulder.“I will allow you to love me.The world, for me, depends upon you, Fitzwilliam.”
“Then you will forgive me for all the chaos I brought to your life?” he whispered.
Elizabeth laughed lightly. “Absolutely not.” She paused to increase the drama. “It will take several hundred of your kisses to earn even an ounce of my forgiveness.”
The hunger within him reawakened; he growled, “I begin earning that first ounce as soon as I have you behind closed doors,Vixen.”
“I am your captive, Mr. Darcy.”
They dressed for supper after spending several hours walking the intersecting streets surrounding their hotel and exploring gardens and visiting shops. Elizabeth served as his valet and he as her maid. They laughed, they teased, and they kissed. Everything seemed perfect; they did not mention anything about their night of terror.
Elizabeth sat at her dresser, trying to arrange her own hair, when Darcy came up behind her and kissed the nape of her neck. “You are beautiful,” he whispered as he nibbled on her earlobe.
“Mmm.” Elizabeth closed her eyes and enjoyed his closeness. “I never tire of your touch.” Her breathing suddenly became shallow. That was all the encouragement he needed to continue his assault on her neck and shoulder. Instantly, as he always did—he wanted her.
Elizabeth watched the reflection of his head in the mirror as he moved lightly across her bodice, increasing her desires and feeling the blood pool in her stomach. Within moments, she moaned,
The need found in her voice shook him, and Darcy straightened and walked away.With his back to her, he willed his body to calm.“I am sorry, Elizabeth.”
Still watching him in the mirror, Elizabeth counted to ten before she spoke.
“Fitzwilliam, we fought every apparition within a five-mile radius of Stanwick in order for us to have a normal life, but nothing has changed!” She laid the brush on the dresser and moved to the window.
Darcy wanted Elizabeth to be reasonable, but he did not know how to make her see his point of view. “Defeating Wickham did not change what I am.”
“I do not care! Do you hear me, Fitzwilliam? I…do…not… care! I love you, and I want my husband to make love with me.”
“We do not know whether we broke the curse.”
Elizabeth began to pace in agitation.“How will we ever know? It is not as if the curse came with instructions! We can continue to deny ourselves, and nothing will change—or everything will change. But we will never know which it was. There is no guarantee. We eliminated the source of the vampirism, and all the books say to stop the line from continuing, one must go to the source.Wickham and Lady Ellender were the original victims for the D’Arcy family. What else can we do?”
“Think of our children,” he pleaded.
“I am thinking of our children. Between your family and mine, girls outnumber boys six to one. We have better odds at having a daughter, and I want her, Fitzwilliam. I want to clothe her in ruffled dresses and see whether she has blue eyes like you or green ones as I do. I want to visit her in the nursery and read her stories.”
“And what if the child is a boy?”
She came to stand in front of him.“We teach him to deal with what Fate gives him the same way we would teach him how to function in his world if he was born blind or with a deformed hand. In every generation the tendency would become weaker,
Darcy moved a loose curl to behind her ear. “And what if I infect you?”
“I am not sure that I would mind. It is quite daunting to consider how I will grow older, and you will essentially stay the same. Every one of those we fought fundamentally never aged a day from the time he was infected. Did you never consider that?”
“Truthfully, I did not.” Darcy tried to make sense of what she said. “Obviously, I aged,” he thought aloud.
“Because you ne
ver used your abilities,” she asserted. “What about now? Am I to watch you remain a virile man when I am turning grey?”
Again, she asked questions to which Darcy had no answers. “This is all new to me. I have no idea what the curse means to my private life. Now I regret not speaking to my father about his struggles. Although I respected him as the Master of Pemberley and as my father, I pretended, along with him, that I did not resent the infamy he practiced on my mother.”
“But she loved him, Fitzwilliam.Think about it. Lady Anne bore him a second child—Georgiana. Do we have any way of knowing whether Lady Anne’s demise was a result of your father infecting her? Could he not have just succumbed to the need to love his wife as a man, rather than as a dhampir? Can you honestly say your mother’s passing came as a result of your father’s lust for blood, or did she simply die from complications of childbirth as so many women do? It is not as if either subject would be discussed with a young boy of twelve, as you were when Georgiana was born, nor a young man of sixteen, as you were when Lady Anne passed.”
Again, Darcy seemed surprised by her viewpoint. He knew of his parents’ affection prior to their marriage; he heard it spoken of by all who knew them in those days, but after experiencing his own moments of lust as a young man, he imagined how his father had seduced the innocent Lady Anne, and he felt a certain repugnance for the man.“Do you believe it possible, Elizabeth?”
“I know nothing of the man other than his reputation as a kind
A bit discomfited by how her analysis contradicted everything he had believed about his parents’ relationship, Darcy interrupted with his own angle.“With such logic, am I to believe that your mother’s renowned silliness speaks of the type of person you will become?”
“You are to believe that my mother’s hysterics are those of a woman doing all she can to ensure that her five daughters are well situated because society denies them what should be theirs.Will I move heaven and earth to protect my children in any way possible? I warrant it, Mr. Darcy.The basic premise is that Lady Anne could have left your father—and under the circumstance, he would have allowed it—but she chose to keep his secret and nurture the relationship. Can I envision a woman giving her body and soul to the man she loves? The answer is a resounding yes.”
Darcy’s gaze now rested purely on his wife. “Then you want this?” His voice told of shame and desire and hope.
“Yes, Fitzwilliam. With all my heart, I want whatever Fate brings us. I cannot imagine anything worse than what we have already faced.” Elizabeth’s chin rose in defiance. “I never agreed to be a part of your life because I desired your position in society or your wealth. I would love Fitzwilliam Darcy even if he were a simple cottager.”
A curious spasm of guilt flexed his jaw line, and Elizabeth watched silently as he clenched and unclenched his right fist. “What if I do not agree, Elizabeth? What then? Will you leave me? You must know by now, I am not of the nature to be coerced into doing something I choose not to do.”
“Neither am I, Fitzwilliam,” she warned, “so please make no ultimatums we will both regret later.”
“Then tell me what are my options, Elizabeth. I do not see where being married to one of the richest men in England can be such a deterrent; obviously, Pemberley is superior to your situation at Longbourn.” Darcy offered more than any woman with similar connections could hope to achieve; he thought that should be worth something.
“Do—do not,” she stammered, “do not twist this into a fight about position and social standing. I love you,” she asserted. “I chose you over my family. Does that not prove my depth of affection? Yet it is not a competition to see who loves whom more. It is not a matter of sacrificing ourselves for our union.”
Again a long silence wafted over them. “I will give up my powers and not practice them ever again.”
“And that changes things how?” she demanded.
“If I do not use my powers, then we will not deal with age differences.” He thought it a fair compromise.
Elizabeth’s frustration exploded. She snatched up her reticule from the bed. “You may be only one of the richest men in England, Fitzwilliam, but you wear the crown as the most infuriating and stubborn one!” Darcy’s heart clutched as she slammed the hotel door and stormed away.
Thirty minutes later, Darcy found her having tea in one of the corners of the hotel’s sitting room. As the hours for supper service were well under way, Darcy was unsure how to approach her. “Elizabeth,” he said as he came up behind her,“may I escort you to the dining room?”
She stood and took his proffered arm.“Thank you, Fitzwilliam.”
The difference between the woman who had offered him strong condemnations less than an hour earlier and the amiable woman seated next to him now kept Darcy on edge. He expected that, at any moment, Elizabeth would return to the subject of their argument, but nothing happened. Instead, they talked of books they read and changes for Pemberley. It reminded Darcy of the
“Thank you, Elizabeth,” he leaned close to whisper.
Yet she did not respond with a retort or an acceptance. Again, Darcy felt fear in the pit of his stomach; it was not like Elizabeth to give up so easily. Did he not tell Wickham he did not have enough followers to stop her if she set her mind to a task? She is more than either of us can handle.
“Are you ready to return to our room?” he asked politely.
“I believe so. I find I am tired.” Darcy remained wary. He thought they might revisit their earlier confrontation when they were once again behind closed doors.
Together they returned to the room. Darcy ordered a bath, and they sat in front of the fire while the hotel staff filled the copper tub with hot water.“If you do not mind, Fitzwilliam, I would like to go first.”
“Of course not. Let me unlace you.” Darcy stood to assist with the back of her dress. The nape of Elizabeth’s neck tempted him again, but still unsure of what his wife would do, Darcy chose to ignore it this time. “I will enjoy a brandy while you relax in the warm water.”
Once she was free of the clothing’s fasteners, Elizabeth stepped behind a screen to undress. Darcy saw the silhouette: the roundness of her hips and the perfect symmetry of her figure, and he gulped his drink, pushing away his desire. He felt lecherous watching Elizabeth without her knowledge, but he was loath to look away. He listened as she hummed a ballad—the water faintly lapping against the tub in the background. He knew exactly what she looked like reclining in the tub, with the soapy water caressing her breasts, and he felt himself go hard with the memories.
The sound of her getting out of the water signaled his own ablutions, so he removed his jacket and boots while she toweled dry. He was unbuttoning his waistcoat when Elizabeth appeared from behind the screen. Darcy quit breathing. She wore nothing but a slight blush and a smile. Her damp hair cascaded down her back and across her shoulders. Darcy had no idea how long he
So aroused that he did not believe he could take any more, Darcy swallowed the need bubbling in his chest and made himself walk away from her. Behind the screen, he unbuttoned the flap of his breeches. “Bloody hell,” he murmured. Normally, he preferred his bath water hot, but tonight he prayed it was icy cold.
When he had finally regained his composure, Darcy climbed from the tub and dried off. He donned a nightshirt and put his toiletries away, stalling before he joined Elizabeth in bed. He hoped she had fallen asleep waiting for him. Finishing up a quick shave, he paused, thinking about what she had said.Was he right in denying Elizabeth a chance for children of her own? He had no doubt she would make an exemplary mother. Did his father have this same argument with himself? Had his mother made the same decision as Elizabeth, deciding she would take the good with the bad? And is that not what every marriage is—the good mixed with the bad? His mother had never seemed unhappy, except when she had begged his forgiveness for allowing the curse to continue. She had showered him and Georgiana with so much love:They were the center of her world.
The lamp barely lit the room when he reentered the bedchamber. Elizabeth lay curled on her side, her face turned away from him, the bed linens pulled up around her shoulders. Her even breathing made Darcy believe that his prayer had been answered. Sitting on the edge of the bed, he extinguished the light; and then he slid under the linens with her.As he always did, he rolled next to Elizabeth, to spoon her body with his.
He stilled immediately; completely naked, Elizabeth’s body felt soft and inviting. Instantly, the arousal returned.They had never lain together without clothing between them. What is she doing to me?
Growling back profanity, he lifted his weight to move away from her, sliding as far to his side of the bed as possible. Elizabeth did not move; she remained facing away from him, so Darcy fluffed
Twenty minutes later, feeling relaxed at last, Darcy let his eyes close naturally, although he kept the distance between himself and Elizabeth.
Elizabeth had waited quietly for Darcy’s reaction when he crawled into the bed. She had never done anything so bold in her life.Turning down the lamp so Darcy could not see her embarrassment was the only way she could go through with her plan. Her husband desired her; of that, she was absolutely certain. She had simply decided to remind him of that desire on a regular basis. He had controlled their relationship to this point, but now she would take it over.That is, if she could overcome feeling like a complete wanton. Thankfully, Aunt Merry had explained how some men expected their wives to wear nothing when making love. Her aunt feared the rich to be more “experimental” in their relationships, and she offered Elizabeth a warning. It had seemed scandalous at the time, but now it felt more like freedom.
Gauging the evenness of Darcy’s breathing, Elizabeth smiled confidently before she moved. Rolling casually over, as if in deep sleep, she cuddled into Darcy’s side and draped her left leg over his body. Pretending to be in the nearly waking stage of sleep, she lightly kissed the side of his cheek and muttered something unintelligible in a seductive breath. She briefly arched towards him and then settled her head in the curvature of his shoulder.
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