Longbourn to London (37 page)

Nearly all Darcy’s hopes had already been realised when he awoke mid-morning on the day after his wedding. Elizabeth’s eagerness to please lent confirmation of her passionate nature. The taking of her maidenhead had given her pain—indeed, he had not expected such blood— but she was valiant. He was pleased she recovered quickly and continued to explore what fulfilled her desires. Even in this carnal realm, she was spirited and loving. That she awakened on their first morning together in a state of adamant arousal made him revere her all the more.
Darcy, you have no right to be so fortunate.
He was not ungrateful; indeed, he was erect again, but he was in greater need of food.

“Elizabeth?”

“Hmmm?”

“Are you awake?”

She was still cuddled next to him, both of them naked and warm under the bedclothes, where they had returned after their commingling in front of the fire at daybreak. He was alert, and she lethargic.

“I am starving, Elizabeth. Are you hungry?”

Elizabeth lifted her head, a considering sort of look on her sleepy face. “Since you suggest it, I am ravenous.” She scrambled from the bed.

Darcy stood and picked up her velvet dressing gown, giving it a shake. Crushed creases marred it. “Is it ruined?” He handed it to Elizabeth.

“Nonsense. It can be steamed and will be as good as new,” she said, though her look was dubious. She slid her arms into it with his gentlemanly assistance. He buttoned it under her bosom in a most attentive manner.

“My preference, Mrs. Darcy, would be to have breakfast here, and then perhaps we could bathe.”

Elizabeth lifted her chin, which Darcy well recognised as the summoning of her courage. “Am I to assume you wish for us to bathe together in the same tub?”

He embraced her—she was so pleasing to hold in her velvet dressing gown—and murmured, “That is precisely correct. If I may say, Mrs. Darcy, in matters of conjugal intimacy, you are a delightfully quick study.” Darcy nibbled her ear.

Elizabeth’s cheeks coloured, and she chuckled, asking, “Are you going to eat
me
for breakfast?”

I would, if you would let me.
Darcy envisioned the tempting sight of her womanly parts as he cleaned them by candlelight the previous night. “Lizzy, I am highly suggestible when we are alone together, and while
I
thought of Cook’s special ham rolls, and trying some of your strawberry jam, I would be happy to consume you instead. Whatever you wish.” He shrugged amiably.

She saw his rakish smile and shook her head in mock censure. “Perhaps you should ring for Mrs. Chawton, sir?”

“I fear I must, madam, for we need to fuel ourselves. What would you like for breakfast?” Darcy gave the bell pull a tug and then found his robe.

The housekeeper knocked discreetly on the door. Darcy opened it and spoke to her quietly. “Mrs. Chawton, we would like a tray of food. Some fresh fruit?” He looked to Elizabeth, and she nodded. “Bread and butter, some of Cook’s ham rolls, what is left of the cheddar from Mr. Bennet’s hamper, and some of Li… Mrs. Darcy’s strawberry jam. I want coffee, of course. Mrs. Darcy? What will you drink?”

She hesitated before saying, “I shall also have coffee, Mrs. Chawton, with milk, please.”

“Then in about an hour, if you would have Sarah prepare a bath.”

“Sarah will remove the linens then, sir. Shall I ask Murray to prepare a bath for you, sir?”

Darcy looked down, his cheeks turning rather reddish. “No, Mrs. Chawton, just the one bath. I shall ring for Murray when I need him.”

“I see.” There was a moment of tension, most of it flowing between Darcy and Elizabeth. “Very good, Mr. Darcy.” Mrs. Chawton turned to Elizabeth, “and ma’am. The food should be here in about half an hour but likely sooner. Much of it is ready.”

As soon as she left, their eyes met, and they started laughing. “What will the servants think?” Elizabeth asked. At heart, she
was
a little shocked. Darcy seemed close to his valet and housekeeper, and she wondered what they would make of their master going far beyond the bounds of his usual unvarying and confined behaviour.

Darcy walked to the door of the mistress’s bedroom and closed it. “Mrs. Chawton will have Sarah and an upstairs maid make up your bed and refresh the basins and linens in case we wander back in there.” He sat next to her on the settee. “We might want a change of scene…eventually.”

“Mr. Darcy, unless I very much mistake you, and I do not believe I do, I detect licentious intentions.” She gave him a quick kiss. “You should be ashamed of yourself, but I know you are not. I know you that well, at least.”

He held her in a longer, passionate kiss, then trailed kisses to her delicate ears. “Tell me, Lizzy, which bedroom do you prefer?”

“That I can easily answer. I have preferred this room since first I saw it. There is a warmth and simplicity that pleases me. I understand it is many years since the other room was occupied, but I find it fussy. A soothing atmosphere is my preference.”

“Nothing needs to be decided now, but we could have it fitted over as a sitting room for the two of us. We could keep the settee, add a larger table and chairs with a sideboard for food, maybe a small pianoforte. We can remove the bed. Perhaps you would prefer plain painted walls to the murals?”

Elizabeth’s brows rose. “A pianoforte?”

“Indulge me, Lizzy. Your singing pleases me. You perform with lovely
joie de vive
. And I must confess, it stirs my blood.

“I was thinking about it yesterday. When did I first start to love you? It is difficult to say, but I remember you playing at Lucas Lodge, and I told Caroline Bingley how I admired your eyes. The irony is not lost on me, I assure you, that she, of all people, was the first to learn of my admiration of you. But I have never since dreamt of any other lady’s eyes.”

Elizabeth looked at him in amazement. “You loved me as long ago as
that
? And when I played for your cousin at Rosings?”

“This is the beast you have married, Lizzy; you must know the truth. After that first song, I wanted nothing more than to kiss you violently. During the second, when I approached, I wanted to take you by the hand and drag you to my room to make you stop mocking me. Oh, Miss Bennet…” He leant his forehead to hers.

“Mr. Darcy! Most unseemly…” Elizabeth started to reach up to his curls, but she was interrupted by tapping at the door.

“Damn…” they both muttered, before looking at each other with renewed laughter.

Darcy rose and bid the servants enter, one with the coffee service, one with the tray of food. “Excellent, thank you!” Darcy ushered them out again with all possible speed and poured a cup of coffee for Elizabeth. “How much milk?”

“Let us say, I take a little coffee with my milk.”

Darcy smiled, “Ah.” He handed her the cup. “The opposite then, of how you take your tea.”

My goodness! He forgets nothing.
“Light caramel-coloured, sir. Perfect on the first try.”

Darcy poured himself a cup and sat next to her. As they finished their coffee, they could hear servants moving in the next room. Elizabeth went to the closed door, and opened it enough to call in, “Good morning, Sarah.”

Sarah straightened from making the bed and curtsied. “Good morning, Mrs. Darcy. Oh, ma’am?”

“Yes, Sarah?”

“Is there a box for the pearls?” Sarah held them out to Elizabeth.

“Mr. Darcy?” Elizabeth looked back into the master’s bedroom. “Have we a receptacle for my pearls, or are we to keep them in the pocket of your robe?”

“Ah, yes!” Darcy jumped to his feet and disappeared into his dressing room, re-emerging in seconds with a brown velvet box. “Here.” He stopped next to Elizabeth and gave it to her.

Elizabeth handed the box to Sarah, who blushed to see the master so informally attired.

“Excuse me, sir,” Elizabeth said, looking over her shoulder at Darcy. She stepped into the bedroom and shut the door behind her. Leaning back against the closed door, she met Sarah’s eyes and beamed. “It all went rather well!” she whispered happily. Taking Sarah’s arm, she pulled her into the dressing room.

“He wants to bathe
with
me, Sarah!”

“So I have been told, ma’am.”

Elizabeth blushed and shrugged off the velvet robe. “I think the creases can be steamed?”

“Easily, ma’am.” Sarah noticed evidence that the dressing gown had been used more as a towel than a garment.

Elizabeth opened the wardrobe containing her nightclothes. She grabbed a nightgown of deep pink satin with long sleeves and a drawstring under her bosom. “Help me into this, though why I bother, I cannot say…”

“Elizabeth! I am waiting to eat!” It was Darcy, impatient on the other side of the bedroom door.

“Oh, for heaven’s sake…” Elizabeth muttered. She hurried behind the screen, freshening herself with more lavender water. Sarah handed her the sheer dressing gown meant as the partner for the nightgown as Elizabeth dashed back to the closed bedroom door. “Sarah! Knock on this door when the bath is ready…then you may go.” She stopped at the door, donned the dressing gown, and took a deep breath before opening it.

Darcy stood on the other side, a handful of late grapes from Pemberley’s glasshouse in one hand, and a half-finished ham roll in the other. “You look beautiful,” he said with his mouth full.

“You said you were
waiting
to eat.” She swept past him, stealing his grapes.

He swallowed. “I did not say I was doing it well.”

Elizabeth began to eat the fruit. Darcy met her at the settee and refilled her coffee. Elizabeth knelt upon the settee, leaning over its arm, selecting morsels from the tray. Finally, she slathered a thick slab of bread with strawberry jam, and sat back on her haunches to savour it.

Darcy poured his second cup of coffee, admiring his wife. “You are a vision. You have had a costume change to match what you are eating? I do call that the height of fashion…”

“If I were any less pleased with you—and being married, and my jam, and everything—I would scold you for teasing me. That the first nightgown I came to matches my jam is a happy accident, sir, nothing more.”

“Would you scold me? I was complimenting you, you know.” He wandered around her, drinking coffee and observing. “I have been thinking about what we should do today.”

“And?” Elizabeth asked between mouthfuls.

“I would like to show you the house after we bathe, but that means getting dressed. Or do you think the servants would mind if we wandered about in our robes?”

“
I
would mind.”

“Would you?” He set down his cup, took another ham roll, and turned to her with a smile. “I could ask that they scatter and stay below stairs until a given time—”

“Oh, no, sir! That would be even worse. I would indeed like to see the house, and I would like us both to be presentable. I shall ask Sarah to dress me after our bath, and I am sure your valet is wondering what has become of you.”

“He knows full well that waiting for you to become my wife has long since exceeded the limits of my patience, and I very much wish to be making up for the lost time.” He sat down next to her.

Elizabeth finished her bread and jam and settled beside him, disturbed to think what his most trusted servant might know. She noticed a drip of jam upon her bosom, and leaned towards the table to retrieve a cloth. “It seems I
do
need a bath!”

Darcy reached for her. “Let me do what I can.” He was grinning as he licked the offending sweetness from her scented skin.

Her inclination was to respond that he could not possibly lick all of her clean but thought better of it. Given his present mood, with his passion rising again, he would try her if challenged. He had already disarranged her nightgown and was fondling her. She felt herself giving over to desire when there was a rap on the mistress’s bedroom door.

“You are good, sir, to be so very solicitous, but our bath is ready, and you need not trouble yourself further.”

“I intend to trouble myself a great deal further, Lizzy, unless you truly perceive it as disagreeable.”

When they reached the bathtub in Elizabeth’s dressing room, it was half-full of warm water, with two more copper ewers of hot water waiting nearby and one sitting on a metal rack in the small fireplace amidst the blazing logs.

Darcy threw off his robe and stood in the tub. “Come to me, Lizzy. Be my frolicsome naiad. Cavort with me.”

Elizabeth looked at him, his face so boyish and expectant; she could not help but chuckle. Together they undressed her, the pink silk shimmering to her feet. She stepped into the tub with a hop, and he hugged her. She returned his embrace and looked into his eyes. “Your…um, creature is recommending itself to me. Is it always so demanding, or may I take this as a compliment?”

“My male part cannot believe my good fortune. To have so beautiful and comely a wife, so generous and willing a wife…” Darcy sighed. The feel of her body against his bare skin was intoxicating. He whispered hotly into her ear, “Oh, Lizzy. Elizabeth. What a fool I have been. A year ago, I told myself to get to London to escape you. Then, although I put my words to you poorly at Hunsford, I had come to think you were exactly the sort of woman who would suit me. And even though I did not know
much
, at least I saw by then that I had gotten it all wrong at Netherfield. Had we never met again after Hunsford, I never would have married. No woman could displace you.