Vampire Darcy's Desire (62 page)

“You should tell them of Wickham’s demise. It would satisfy their sense of justice and give them a chance to grieve for their daughter rather than to seek revenge,” the colonel said, reasoning out the situation. “In fact, tell them that Darcy took Wickham in an honorable fashion. It would explain his injury, and it is not an untruth.”

“It is not the
truth
either,” Darcy sardonically added.

Damon considered what he said. “No one would believe the truth. Besides, too many people know of what we did here. In my opinion, you should leave as soon as you can, before your identity becomes too well known.”

Elizabeth looked concerned. “Maybe Damon is correct. The community knows us under the D’Arcy name, but the longer we are here, the greater the risk of someone recognizing the livery. Certainly, we want no one from society to come across rumors of our adventures.”

“If we wish to present Georgiana this season, I would want no shadows darkening her prospects.” Darcy began to examine the ramifications of their recent choices. “Should we not follow Damon, Elizabeth?”

She sipped her tea, taking her time to answer. “Although we should leave Stanwick, you are not well enough for such a tedious journey, Fitzwilliam, and even my body does not relish another week in your carriage.”

“Do you have more extensive injuries than you led me to believe?” Darcy demanded.

Elizabeth blushed, as Damon remained in the room.“Just badly bruised.”

Damon cleared his throat.“May I make a suggestion?”

Darcy disentangled himself from the bed covers.“Certainly.”

“When Elizabeth and I registered, I told a tale of how the two of you planned to holiday in Edinburgh, and that I escorted her from London for that purpose.You could travel to Scotland and spend a few days recovering. It would only add a half day to your return journey. If word gets out of your being in the north of England, Edinburgh would be a good excuse for a newly married couple.”

“I have always wanted to see the land of my ancestors,” Elizabeth ventured.

Darcy actually liked the idea. “Are you up for another adventure, Elizabeth?”

She winked at him. “Absolutely, Sir.”

Damon stood to leave.“I am weary and am in need of rest. I set out for Matlock early tomorrow. I shall see you in the morning before I depart.”

“My wife would take me to task if I chose to do something as impulsive as stand up at the moment, but you, Cousin, know of my devotion and my gratitude for all that you did this past week. I owe you my life.”

“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.”

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,
“Please, Fitzwilliam.”

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,
because the human part would be more dominant.”

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 never 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
and generous master, but I do know the man his son became, and I cannot imagine your father taught you the qualities of empathy, responsibility, benevolence, tenderness, and caring without possessing them himself.The Earl and Damon speak of the type of person your mother was. She loved you and Georgiana, and I am of the persuasion that she loved your father.”

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.”