by Wells, Linda
“I will meet them soon enough.” Picking up his hat, he smiled at Darcy. “I will just leave you two alone. And … you have given me food for thought. I appreciate it, William. I thank you for your generosity and your brotherly affection. It never ceases to amaze me.” He held out his hand and shook Darcy’s before smiling at Elizabeth. “Be kind to the gentleman.”
“Whatever do you mean?” She raised her brow and squeezing his arm, watched him close the door as he left. Turning, she watched Darcy walk out from behind his desk. “You reassured him? Whatever was troubling him?” He nodded. “I am glad.” Darcy came to a stop before her, and waited. “You left this morning without saying a word.”
“You were asleep and I know how you need your rest …”
“Nonsense. I was awake and waiting for you to say something. Instead you slunk away. When have you ever slunk away? It is not the man I know.” She crossed her hands over her waist. Darcy’s gaze went to the slightly rounded place on her belly and returned to her face. “What did you fear?”
Darcy took her hands and held them as he tried to read her red-rimmed eyes. “I embarrassed you last night. I smelled of ale and lake this morning … I was disgusted with myself and did not want to face your fury.”
“If I felt fury, I would have expressed it last night when it was fresh, and I would not have slept beside you, no matter how you smelled. You know that full well.”
“But you were embarrassed.”
She looked around the warm safe confines of his study and thought about the evening before. “Yes, but … in the end, everything you said and did simply told everyone that you love me.” Darcy visibly relaxed and she found his eyes again, “Would you rather have me rail at you? How often do you truly become so inebriated? Without your cousin’s help?”
Darcy straightened and nodded vigorously. “There, you see? I blame him, too!”
“And you were celebrating, rightfully, Charles’s triumph. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that.” He looked down to their entwined fingers. “Everyone was amazed with you, Will. You were so open and easy, your wonderful sense of humour intact, the side of you that I see every day but you can only rarely show to others. I think that your display underscored a point that would be hard to make with so many of them otherwise.”
“What do you mean?” He asked softly.
“Anne, Cathy, Caroline … all of your relatives have an image of you that was created as much to protect yourself through all of your troubles as it was to live up to your position. Would they want this playful man who they saw last night?”
Darcy considered the women and smiled. “You do not think so.”
“I think that they are jealous of our displays of love, but they are too conscious of their class to be easy in theirs.”
He opened his arms and drew her to his chest. “You are not angry with me? For kissing you and holding you … I am sure that nobody heard what I said …”
“I heard you proposing to me all over again.”
Their eyes met and he raised her hand to his lips. “I was.”
“Until you spoke of my dress.” She laughed when he smirked. “Luckily, I believe that our companions were all too focussed on their own problem husbands to hear any of your suggestive whispers.” He chuckled and kissed her again. Her face became serious as she stroked back the hair from his brow, “Could you save your most intimate professions of love for me alone? So that I may respond in kind? I loved hearing you sing, and I loved hearing you play Romeo before everyone … but …” She blushed.
“Lizzy … Sometimes I cannot help myself, but yes … the most intimate professions are for you alone. I promise. And I shall begin now.” Darcy kissed her temple and fingered her dress, “I would love to see you in a wet white gown … and nothing else.” Elizabeth smiled softly. “I am definitely not drunk. And we are most definitely alone.” He caressed her warm cheek and dragged his thumb over her lower lip. “Shall I lock the door? Shall you show me your response, Juliet?”
“Lizzy.”
“Mine.” His hands smoothed down her shoulders to her bottom, and he smiled as she did the same to him. One hand moved around her waist to rest over her belly and he saw the answer he was looking for in her reddened eyes. Tenderly, he caressed the swell. “Ours.”
There was a knock at the door, but Darcy kept his gaze on her face and returned his hand to her hair. “Mr. Darcy?” Evans asked. Neither responded. “Sir?”
“Missed opportunity.” He finally whispered and wound a curl around his finger before lifting it to his lips to kiss. “We talked too much.”
“No …” She nestled in his arms and listened to his heart. “You said exactly what I needed to hear.”
Darcy rested his cheek on her head as the knock came again. “That only tells me there is more to be said.”
“I APOLOGIZE for that, Darcy. I saw Evans knocking on the door and I just had to find out if you had lived through the night.” Richard lined up his shot carefully and looked over to his cousin staring impassively at the balls scattered over the billiards table. “If I had known you were alone with …”
“Richard, you interrupted nothing, we were simply talking together.”
“You had a lock of her hair twisted around your fingers.”
Darcy glanced at him and back at the tables. “And I will again before long.”
Richard laughed. “With all of these people in the house? You like the prospect of the challenge, do you?”
“You sound suspiciously like you are about to offer one.”
Gladney wandered over. “What are you two discussing?”
“I am throwing down a gauntlet.” Richard looked around. “If only I had one. If this was Matlock there would be a suit of armour every ten feet. Very well then. I say that our cousin and master of the house does not manage to kiss his wife publicly for a week.” Darcy opened his mouth and Richard held up his hand. “And by kiss, I mean kiss. A full, on the teeth, no holds barred, passionate, knee buckling kiss.”
Gladney snorted. “Whose knees?”
Darcy regarded his smiling cousin without emotion. “Is there a time requirement for this assignment?”
“I notice that Mrs. Darcy is never without that chronograph you gave her.” Richard rubbed his chin.
“Just like you are never without that snuff box I gave you. Such love you both have for me to carry my tokens.” Darcy’s eyes twinkled. “What shall you give me to carry? A lock of your hair?”
Gladney made a face. “I think I will be sick.”
“Do it in the bushes, there’s a good fellow.” Darcy waved to the shrubbery outside of the window and turned back to Richard. “Well?”
“A full minute!” Richard grinned.
“A minute!” Gladney cried. “If he kisses her for a minute before company … Lord, imagine the reactions of the crowd, and Mrs. Darcy herself!”
Richard looked at his brother, “Knowing our cousin’s ego, I daresay he will claim that she will be begging him to carry her to their chambers.”
“If she does not slap his face off, first. I suppose that means it will be her knees buckling. Ah, that Darcy magnetism.”
“That is not so long.” Darcy said thoughtfully.
Smirking, Richard nudged him, “A minute can be a lifetime if you use it correctly.”
“How dissatisfied your wife must be.” Darcy murmured and watching Richard’s strike fail wildly, nudged him aside to take his turn. “Any challenge you set for me must be met by you, as well.”
“Oh … hold on, there, Darcy.” Richard said uncomfortably. “That is not fair!”
“Afraid of failure? Or afraid of your wife?” Darcy cocked a brow. “She is used to beating up men. Robert Kelly showed me the collection of half-moon scars on his arm inflicted by an angry Sophie’s claws as a child. Imagine what she could do now.” Richard puffed his cheeks while Gladney nearly doubled with laughter. “Care to include Anne in this?”
“No. If I were to kiss her fo
r a full minute …” He smiled. “She would likely carry me up to her chambers.” Shrugging, he clapped his brother’s shoulder. “Withdraw now with honour, Brother. Darcy will not embarrass his wife for your amusement, only for his.” He turned and walked away from the men to take a spot at the end of the table.
“He is correct, you know.” Darcy agreed and drawing back his cue, flicked it expertly to strike the ball.
Richard watched his brother informing Bingley and Hurst of the bet. As the men laughed, Richard nudged his cousin, “He seems improved since he arrived here.”
Darcy studied him as he moved around the table. “Speaking with Uncle has helped him. He understands the power of opium better than we.”
“What do you think of the judge now?” Richard asked casually.
“I had a serious talk with Samuel today.” Darcy leaned on the cue and looked out of the window thoughtfully. “He is showing pride in his name … he wants to do well for himself and the family. Not that he did not before. I compare it to your situation. Since Albert’s recovery and your father’s humbling, you actually have pride for your family, and are willing to take on the earldom, if you must. Samuel is experiencing something similar; he is discovering that his father is not only a fallible human, but a man he just might be able to admire.” Darcy lifted his brows. “Imagine that.”
“So … Samuel is benefitting from his father’s improvement. He needed this.” Richard rubbed his jaw thoughtfully.
“I believe so. He is a better man seeing his father’s change.” Darcy bent to the table again. He drew a determined breath. “We made the correct decision, Richard.”
He startled. “What do you mean? What decision did we make?” He met Darcy’s expectant eyes and understanding, blew out his cheeks. We let it go.
“DO YOU KNOW, Mrs. Darcy, I spent the entire day anticipating our dancing lessons?” Darcy wrapped his arms around her waist and hugging her, whispered, “You teasing woman.”
Elizabeth smiled and batted him away when his breath tickled her ear. “Are you disappointed or relieved that I was teasing you?”
Holding her back against his chest, he purposely breathed in her ear again. “May I say both?”
“Both!” She strained to see his face.
“I want to dance with you desperately, dear, but I am dead on my feet.”
“Not a good confession when your friends from school are a mere minutes away.” She nodded towards the ridge where two carriages rolled past the gap in the trees.
He glanced up and returned his attention to his wife. “I am counting on their exhaustion from the journey to work in my favour.” He smiled as he heard her laugh. “I know, unlikely.” Darcy hugged her tighter, “What I do not understand is how all of the women agreed to your scheme.”
“Do you not? Fitzwilliam, you left us alone for far too many hours. Threatening you with dancing was the least of our plotting. I voted down the tarring and feathering.”
His eyes widened. “Lizzy!”
“You are too easy.” Elizabeth looked back only to receive a hard kiss.
Darcy caressed her jaw. “I am. You play my heart like a harp.”
“I was not playing with your heart, Will. Only your sleepy mind.”
“You play my heart every time you look at me.” His little smile lifted his lips and he studied her eyes. “What do you need to tell me? What sent you to the gallery this morning?”
“How … ?”
Darcy rested his cheek on her hair. “Will you tell me what is wrong?” When she did not answer, he kissed her cheek, and asked softly, “How do you feel?”
She hesitated and then confessed as her eyes welled up, “I do not feel anything, Will. Should I not by now? I no longer feel ill … I am not bothered by smells and I … Maybe it is nothing at all … maybe he has gone away.” She drew a shaking breath, “If he was ever there at all.”
“Lizzy.” Darcy sighed and embraced her when she turned to face him. “Dearest …” He searched for some way to convey the jumble of thoughts in his head. “I do not know what to say, only that I am sure beyond anything that all is well. What sent you to doubting it so strongly today? Something must have happened?”
Seeing his steady encouragement she bravely told him the frightening news. “I found blood on my nightdress.”
He drew a breath. “But we did not love …”
“No, we slept last night.” She looked down. “I have nothing to blame but myself.”
He swept that away. “I will not listen to such foolishness. Do you continue to bleed?”
“No.”
“Well then …” His brow creased, holding her possessively while he thought. Elizabeth gladly lent herself to his crushing embrace. “Well then, I say we disregard it.”
“Will, how can I?”
“Easily. I know well the symptoms of miscarriage.” Before she could ask, he smiled. “Uncle Gardiner.”
“Oh.” Shaking her head she managed a smile. “And what did my uncle tell you?”
“You would most certainly be calling for your hot water bottles if this was truly a miscarriage. Instead you are teasing me with dancing. I say …” He drew a deep breath and spoke with authority, “You are well.” Looking down, he spoke to their hands pressed to her belly. “Do you hear that child? Please do us all a favour and start kicking your mother?”
“Will …” Elizabeth sobbed and throwing her arms around his neck, she kissed him. Darcy lifted her so that her feet dangled a good foot above the ground.
“I have enough confidence for both of us dearest.” He said as they broke apart. He held her eyes. “Let me carry you for a change. Lean on me.”
“I do not want to disappoint you.”
“What a foolish, impossible notion.” He kissed the tears from her cheeks. “I forbid it.”
“You forbid my feelings of …”
“Your determination to deny what is plain to me and, I believe, all of the women in our household who have carried a child.” He looked at her pointedly when her mouth gaped. “Yes, my love. You may have well-honed skills for reading characters, but I have the observation skills. If you think that any of our aunts or your sister Georgiana have any doubts that you are likely with child, you really need to watch them watching you sometime. It is a fascinating occupation.” A slow smile spread over his face. “I daresay Aunt Catherine is writing vindictive letters to Collins in her imagination.” Elizabeth’s hand went to her mouth. “Do I shock you?”
“Absolutely!”
“Good. I rather like the feeling.” Darcy kissed her again. “Do you know what happened a year ago today?” Elizabeth shook her head and stared up at his eyes. Some sort of fierce protection burned in them. “A year ago this day I received Wickham’s letter that told me his demands, and most importantly, where to find Georgiana.” Nodding with her gasp, he caressed her hair. “The day of the ball, three days from now, is the anniversary of the day that I found her. It is the day that … my broken heart began to mend.” Tipping up her jaw, he kissed her gently, “It was the day Bingley posted his invitation for me to stay at Netherfield.” Darcy’s eyes were bright and warm. “It was the day that set me on my path to you.” He drew a breath and smiled. “So, if ever you needed someone to lend you his confidence, my love. Here I am.”
“You dear, wonderful man.” Elizabeth hugged him. “Thank you.”
He whispered. “Have faith for a little longer. Remember, you are carrying a Darcy.”
“And a Bennet … I am a bit stubborn, too.”
“You need not remind me, you have refused to believe you are with child for months!” Darcy yelped when she pinched him and laughed to see her smile and sparkling eyes. “There is my love.”
“Have I been gone?” Elizabeth asked worriedly.
Smiling, he brushed back the curls from her temple and kissed her hand before standing properly to await the entrance of the carriages. “No … just a little sleepy.”
Chapter 41
“I lov
e you, Fitzwilliam Darcy.”
“Well, thank the Lord someone does!” Roger Manning walked through the garden towards the pair with a grin on his face. “What a welcome we have had to Pemberley! Sumptuous meals, excellent activities, diverting entertainment, a wide variety of companions and now this! My eyes are burning, did I just witness you kiss Mrs. Darcy in full view of the house?” He came to a stop next to them and noted with surprise not a hint of embarrassment in the couple. Rubbing his hands together, he raised his brows expectantly. “What is next in this drama?”
“That depends, is it a comedy or tragedy?” Darcy smiled at his wife. “Which do you prefer?”
She squeezed his hand. “I have had enough of tragedy, I think.”
“Quite enough.” Darcy agreed and raised her hand to his lips. “This is a day to celebrate.”
Marvelling at his friend’s ease, Manning spoke incredulously, “I am surprised that you did not accomplish this in Town, Darcy, introducing your wife during the Season with some crush at the house. You would have taken care of all the principals with one fell swoop. Now you just have to do it all again in the spring.”
“This is where we will live. Elizabeth is far more important to the people in Derbyshire. Besides, when have you ever known me to care for Town?”
“You have enough friends, Darcy. Do not pull the wool over my eyes. You simply did not stay in Town long enough to meet them.” Manning said pointedly. Darcy met his eyes with an imperturbable gaze. “You know, for some time I was worried that you had used the occasion of your marriage to drop us all.” He smiled at Elizabeth. “If we had not run across the two of you on the way to Scotland, I would have worried that the rumours were true and that he was unhappy in his marriage. As it was, that evening we spent together at the inn only cemented my opinion of his fine choice. Mother was bereft, of course.”
“Of course.” Darcy saw Elizabeth’s curiosity. “Mrs. Manning looked over all of his friends as potential suitors for Miss Manning. I was but one of the possibilities.”
“Yes, and now she has Fox and Winslow captured here with no annoying parents to get in her way.” Manning grinned. “When Father’s gout started paining him a few days ago and he made noises about remaining home, Mother would hear none of it!”