My Dearest Mr. Darcy: An Amazing Journey Into Love Everlasting (23 page)

Lizzy sighed, speaking barely above a whisper as it seemed somehow appropriate. "Not so dissimilar than all sunrises in the end, as they always move me, but I love how the waves glisten and the light outlines the clouds, showing all the layers. It is breathtaking."

"It varies so, the sun as it touches the clouds and water. At home the dawns and sunsets are essentially unchanged. Unless a storm approaches or snow blankets the ground, it is rarely differing. Beautiful, naturally, but the same. The ocean is something else. We could catch the rise each day and never see it precisely alike."

Warmth rapidly accelerated in the halcyon atmosphere surrounding them. Darcy rained tender nibbles along Lizzy's neck as she released a sound of pleasure. "Perhaps you are correct about ocean sunrises, but I shall never tire of the dawn as seen from home. I love how the innumerable greens of the fields and orchards are gradually revealed as the sunlight spreads. It reminds me of spilled liquid gold as it touches the colors, covering all the valley and eventually the gardens and Manor in a brilliant blanket of light. Besides, we have our own rippling waters at Pemberley. The Cascade Falls and lakes with fountains shimmer and sparkle so stunningly." She sighed deeply. "I guess I am a bit homesick."

She turned in his arms, leaning backward against his bent knee to peer into his smiling face. Immediately he cupped her cheek, stroking softly with a thumb, pulling her tight into his body and surrounding her with muscular legs. Brushing her lips lightly, he then spoke, "Elizabeth, my heart swells when you talk of Pemberley with such devotion. I cannot express how pleased I am that you love your new home."

"The cliched reply would be for me to say, 'How could I not love Pemberley as you are there.' Of course, this is largely the truth, but it is more than that."

"In what way?"

"I do not know if I can explain it, William. All my life, as much as I loved Longbourn, it never felt completely permanent. I suppose that is because as a female I knew I would someday marry and leave, but also because there was a sense of instability. We knew that if Papa died it could, and likely would, be taken away from us. Hardly a day went by that Mama did not lament the fact. It was home, but I remember feeling somewhat like the nomadic Arabs or American Indians." She shrugged and laughed, Darcy chuckling as well.

"I honestly gave it little thought, but I suppose I must have wished for a deeper feeling. Then again, I am fairly pragmatic, so undoubtedly figured experiencing emotions for a house impractical and silly. Whatever the case, when I saw Pemberley, something opened in me."

"How so?"

She sighed, staring blankly as she attempted to recapture those long-ago sensations. "Since reading your letter I had spent all summer replaying all our conversations, or rather the attempts at conversation. You know all this, love, as we have discussed it. Between my preconceived opinions and rudeness, and your awful communication skills, I had little to work with!" Darcy blushed slightly and Lizzy tickled him, both chuckling and unable to deny the truthful accusations.

"Anyway, after months of reflection, and extreme annoyance with myself in that I could not evict you from my mind, I came to the conclusion that I had erred horribly. Not in refusing your proposal, but in allowing my prejudices and independence to ruin the opportunity to get to know you. I cannot say I loved you, but I did recognize the good man you are. Yet never, not once, did I think of your wealth. Until I saw Pemberley." She reddened and Darcy lifted one brow with a crooked smile.

"Ah, mercenary after all, Miss Bennet?" He kissed her forehead and she playfully slapped his chest.

"Not quite that bad, but I am not completely stupid. We paused on the bridge and there she was. Oh, William, Pemberley is so beautiful! Maybe on some level it was because it was your home, but for a second all I could think was that I could have been Mistress of such a place. For the first time I truly grasped your station and the significance of your wealth. I laughed at what I knew every other girl alive would consider my extreme folly. I sat, still giggling, as the carriage resumed the ride up the drive. However, as quickly as those thoughts had come, they vanished. The closer we got to the house, and then when we did arrive and began our tour, all I could think of was you. Fitzwilliam Darcy, the man as I had begun to imagine you were behind the arrogant facade. I could see your elegance, grace, warmth, and taste in every corner of every room. Then Mrs. Reynolds began rattling on and on about what a fine Master you are, how all the servants and tenants revere you, what a doting brother you are, how generous and affable..."

"Mrs. Reynolds blathers too much and exaggerates," he interrupted with a hoarse grumble.

Lizzy laughed and reached for a kiss. "She loves you and only speaks the truth."

"Finish your tale, love, but save the flattery."

She slipped her arms tight about his neck, fingers in his hair. "How can I not flatter a man as perfect as you, Mr. Darcy?"

"I am warning you, Elizabeth!"

She laughed gaily, kissing him again. "Very well, in all seriousness. All my emotions swirled and coalesced, as you know, and I finally accepted the truth of my feelings for you. I do not think I can fully separate my love for you from my love for Pemberley as they are so intertwined. When I thought you were lost to me, again, I was devastated primarily at never being able to hold you and confess my feelings, but also with the reality that I would never see Pemberley again. Your home had surrounded me and entered my soul. I did not recognize just how much until after we were married. You remember how nervous I was as we approached the Manor after our wedding?" He nodded. "It was not merely because I feared being a good Mistress and making you proud; it was equally because I knew instinctively that Pemberley
deserved
an excellent Mistress and I feared myself not up to the task. I had already given her a personality all her own; she was as real as you or me and I did not want to disappoint her. It was then that I realized my love for a house! Over the next weeks it grew, and before our first month was complete, I understood what it truly meant to be connected to land and heritage."

He was softly stroking her face, smiling tenderly as they stared into each other's eyes. Lizzy reached one finger to trace his lips, speaking quietly, "Can I tell you something, dearest, without hurting your feelings?"

"Of course."

"When we get home, I do not want to go on any other adventures for a very long time. Naturally, it would be unwise," she said with a laugh and pat to her belly, "but mainly I want to abide, truly abide, at Pemberley. With you and Georgiana and our son and whatever guests visit, but always with the familiar walls around me and our bed to sleep in. For the first time in my life I truly have a home that is mine, will forever be mine, and I want to savor it."

"I promise we shall stay put, my love. However, I will remind you of your words when another long winter of snow and endless spring of rains causes you to lose your mind from the forced confinement!"

Lizzy laughed, again rubbing over her belly. "I think I shall have plenty to consume my time."

Darcy chuckled, lacing his long fingers through hers on the soft bulge of their child. He leaned for a kiss, pulling her further into his chest while gently reclining their bodies onto the sun-warmed blanket. The cushiony sand gave way under the weight, molding around their forms. Darcy's enormous coat covered them completely, shielding Lizzy from the whiffs of breeze as bare legs were exposed by a seeking hand.

Lizzy caressed over his chest, leisurely wending her way down his torso to groin, while kissing playfully with little nibbles and suckles as Darcy adored. He was dressed in his favorite gray overcoat, shirt open and no vest, his face stubbly and hair in sleeping disarray. Lizzy was always thrilled with his casual clothing and disheveled appearance, the combination of pounding surf and kindled daybreak enhancing the sensations.

"Hmm... William, I love you."

He withdrew from her lips with a faint moan, grasping her fondling hand. "Elizabeth, we should return to our room."

She opened her eyes in surprise. "I know you well, my lover. Do not tell me you have not dreamt of making love on the beach! I have seen your eyes rest on the sand when we bathe, with that singular expression I know indicates you are musing on making love."

"Decadent imaginings are not necessarily translated to reality, beloved. We are quite exposed here and I cannot allow my passion for you to overrule my judgment."

"Your judgment is flawed. It is barely six in the morning; no one arises this early, except for the servants, and they have no reason to come here. The bathing machines are not utilized until ten and shield us well. It is not yet fully daylight so our shadows will meld with the rocks, and your large coat will cover us. Since I rather enjoy making love to you clothed like this, it is an additional bonus for me."

She finished with a smug smirk, grabbing a thick lapel and pulling him roughly to her upturned lips. He relented for several blissful moments, hands intimately moving over her body. With a frantic gasp elicited by her purposefully stimulating hands, Darcy attempted to withdraw.

"Obviously you have given this serious contemplation, but I still deem it risky. Elizabeth! Desist!"

With a throaty chuckle and devious smile, she whispered, "You cannot return to the inn in your current condition anyway, Fitzwilliam. Therefore, you may as well search about to ease your mind as to our solitude, and then grant me what I demand. You know I shall prevail in the end anyway."

He stared at her, lips twitching as he attempted to maintain a stern glare. It was thoroughly impossible to do so when she was so beautiful and desirable with the rays of sunlight dappling her flawless face; lush, pert lips set in a succulent pout.

"What has happened to the sweet, innocent girl I fell in love with?"

"She married you, my marvelous lover. Alas, she is corrupted for life, naughty and wanton, a tigress by your own admission. Wipe the transparently false disapproval from your face, Mr. Darcy; the sun is rising higher and we are wasting precious time."

He caved, shaking his head and laughing as he rose. A quick scan and circuit around the machines proved the asserted fact that they were utterly alone. The majority of the beach and resort on the bluff above were yet sunk in shadow, only the few flickering lights visible at lower level windows. Briskly he strode to where Elizabeth waited, now sitting up and watching as he approached, coat billowing as he walked his uniquely powerful gait. He knelt by her knees, but before he could lay her back onto the sand, she encircled his waist with a firm clasp and squeeze.

Darcy grinned, lacing lean fingers through her trailing hair as she attended with devoted caresses. Of course, she was correct; he was helpless to resist her allurement and advances. The man of caution and towering regulation was shattered before the onslaught of her love. How she excited him and fulfilled him was infinitely beyond any dream he had ever entertained. He honestly believed the entire resort population could walk by and he would not notice, nor care.

"Fitzwilliam," she whispered as they loved, nibbling on an earlobe while his hot breath rushed over her neck in cadence with his tireless motions, "are your daydreams and fantasies being fulfilled?"

He lifted with a groan, arching and slowing until physically able to speak. "Truthfully? Oh God, Elizabeth! Wait!" He gasped, staring at her with glazed eyes. "I... I visualized us totally naked, rolling about on the hot sand in broad daylight. Completely impossible, naturally. This... Lizzy, my wife... every time is a gift with you."

Lizzy gazed up at her husband, resplendent with his morning face flushed and hair tousled, half dressed with flowing coat perfectly accentuating his masculinity. He was stupendous, abundantly gratifying every dream she conjured.

Several nearby birds squawked and flapped away in fright at the shouts emerging from the rocks, but no other life forms were aware of the rapture attained on the sand. The Darcys would be mistaken to assume they were the only couple to ever watch the sunrise and take advantage of the isolation. Luckily they were the only ones to pick this particular day, but the resort staff had more than once needed to discreetly steer a tiptoeing couple in an opposite direction.

Sneaking back into their room without being noticed was a bit problematic as more staff members were about. Still, the servants skillfully glanced in the opposite direction or busied themselves at some task until the Darcys passed by. Their faces were rosy with embarrassment, but both agreed the outing was worth any humiliation. Once in their room they laughed giddily like children, randomly dropped their sandy coats and the blanket, and commenced kissing and embracing with joyful enthusiasm.

"Elizabeth, I am as foolhardy and nonsensical as a youth when around you! And as amorous. Lord, what you do to me!" He grasped her bottom and pulled her tight, fingers traveling to the buttons down her back as he assaulted her mouth.

The zealous embrace continued until Darcy laced one broad hand through the wildly tangled hair on the back of her head, whereupon Lizzy frantically reached to where his fingers were with a gasp.

"My hair clip! It's gone!"

"Which clip?"

"The one with the pink flowers on it. Oh, I love that clip!" She was searching around the floor at their feet, Darcy joining the visual exploration, but it was nowhere in the room. "It is an old one of mine and not that important really, but I have had it for years."