The past four years had taught Elizabeth how much her husband enjoyed saying such forbidden things to her, and how exciting he found it to whisper intimacies like this to her when they were in a public setting, yet still she coloured lightly. She could not deny that she found his behaviour arousing, as a familiar feeling of liquid heat began to build within her, and she gave him a wicked look, because she also knew that part of his pleasure came from seeing her response to him.
“And you want that too, do you not?” he continued to whisper as she fixed her eyes on the scene unfolding in the hall below, where Richard and Sophia had joined Georgiana. “You want me to touch you again and again until your pleasure takes you, and I want to see your face as it happens, because you are so very beautiful at that moment.”
She looked down at the floor, reflecting with a smile that she would never have thought that the staid Mr. Darcy she first met would have such a taste for skirting the edges of forbidden territory, nor that she could ever find it so appealing. She very properly said nothing, though, knowing he was fully capable of reading her reaction from her body.
“In fact, my loveliest Elizabeth, I find I am far too impatient to wait until after the wedding breakfast.”
She raised an eyebrow. “We do have a wedding to attend,” she pointed out, with a look that expressed her certainty that he would ignore that fact, and that she would follow his lead willingly.
His eyes flared. “That means only that we must not linger,” he said softly as he released his hold on her, only to take her hand and direct her back along the hallway to the study.
He locked the door and led her to a chair, where he lost no time in arranging her across his lap and moving directly toward his goal. He smiled broadly and nipped at her lips as his fingers discovered the incontrovertible evidence of her arousal. As she arched in pleasure at his intimate touch, he said seductively, “I can see this will not take long at all, my love.” Her only reply was a moan as he used his knowledge of her body to rob her of any remaining coherent thought.
He was right; it did not take long for him to bring her to the limits of her pleasure, nor did it take long when she exacted her revenge by opening the front of his breeches and straddling him with a boldness which would have shocked her in the earliest days of their marriage. It was a boldness which her husband appreciated and encouraged, and she did not hesitate to show him her enjoyment in bringing him to his own peak of pleasure.
They enjoyed the comfort of being in one another’s arms for a short interval, and then Darcy said reluctantly, “Though I would love to stay here, we must go; I would not want to shock Georgiana with our absence.”
Elizabeth laughed. “Georgiana is completely shock-proof after living with us so long, my love.” Though Darcy often worried about his sister discovering evidence of their intimate activities, in her own mind, Elizabeth thought it had done his sister a world of good to occasionally run into proof that joyful passion could be part of a happy marriage.
She took a few minutes to restore her appearance to a public standard, then held out her hand to her husband. “Shall we go, then?” she asked.
He kissed her lingeringly before agreeing, appreciating the particular look of softness Elizabeth’s eyes always held after they had made love. “I will go anywhere with you, my love,” he said.
“The church would seem to be a good place to start,” she teased. Darcy unlocked the door, and the two made their way down the stairs hand in hand until they came within sight of the others, then reluctantly released their hold on each other.
“Good God,” Richard said in an amused voice when he spotted them. “If they are not every bit as insufferable as they were as newlyweds!”
“Yes, we certainly are,” said Darcy, his tone daring anyone to challenge him.
Elizabeth looked at the two men affectionately. “Insufferable or not, I believe we have a wedding to attend, gentlemen,” she said lightly. She shared a smile of amused understanding with Sophia, silently acknowledging the occasional challenges of dealing with the Fitzwilliam men, then each woman took her husband’s arm as they left for the church.
Acknowledgments
This book could not have been written without many people, most especially the online readers who loved it and commented on it as a work in progress. I’m much better at writing books than at titling them, so longtime reader Leslie Emer has my thanks for coming up with the perfect title when I was stumped for one. My fellow writers at Austen Authors have provided support, friendship, and a lot of much-needed silliness. My fabulous editor, Deb Werksman, and my fantastic agent, Lauren Abramo, helped this edition into the world. Last, but never least, my dearest husband, David, and beloved children, Rebecca and Brian, for support, understanding, and lots of chocolate.
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About the Author
Abigail Reynolds has spent the last fifty years asking herself what she wants to be when she grows up. This month she is a writer, a mother, and a physician in a part-time private practice. Next month is anybody’s guess. Originally from upstate New York, she indecisively studied Russian, theater, and marine biology before deciding to attend medical school—a choice which allowed her to avoid any decisions at all for four years. She began writing Pride & Prejudice variations in 2001 to spend more time with her very favourite characters. Encouragement from fellow Austen fans convinced her to continue asking, “What if…?,” which led to seven other Pemberley Variations and two modern novels set on Cape Cod. Her most recent releases are What Would Mr. Darcy Do?, A Pemberley Medley, and Morning Light. She is currently at work on some book or other, and will let the world know if she ever figures out what it is. She is a lifetime member of JASNA and lives in Wisconsin with her husband, two teenaged children, and a menagerie of pets.
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