Chapter Twenty-Two #2
Because the ladies would need some time in the morning to dress for the wedding, they all agreed to retire earlier than normal.
Elizabeth walked upstairs with Jane and after wishing her goodnight, continued to her bedchamber.
The soldier, whom she’d learned was called Bellows, padded behind them on silent feet.
She gave him a nod of recognition before closing her door and locking it behind her as instructed.
Her maid awaited within and helped her undress then unplaited her hair and began to brush it out.
“You have a key to the room, Danvers?”
“I do, ma’am, but upon leaving the room I am to hand it to the guard.”
Elizabeth felt comforted by the thought, but then her mind began to run amok.
What if the guard were one of the henchmen?
He would have access to her at night when no one would hear or see his activity.
She sat at her vanity table long after Danvers left, tormented by her thoughts and fears.
Finally, unable to quell them, she rose and silently moved toward the connecting door to the shared sitting room with her husband.
Keeping her head cocked, listening for any movement in the hall, she opened the door and entered the room.
She made her way to the small table by the window.
The moonlight that filtered through the semi-sheer curtains gave her enough light to see what she was about, and in less than two minutes, she had a chair braced beneath the doorknob to her bedchamber.
Satisfied any assailant would be unable to enter the room without making a lot of noise, she then turned her attention to accessing her husband’s bedchamber.
His connecting door opened without a single sound and she slipped into the room.
After pulling the door closed behind her, she leaned against it and concentrated on regulating her breathing.
Her heart pounded like crazy in her chest and she thought for sure it echoed throughout the house, alerting everyone to her location.
Finally, her heart rate slowed along with her breathing and she knew she was alone in Darcy’s bedchamber.
He was still downstairs with Uncle Thomas.
Feeling much safer in his room, she padded toward the bed and slipped under the covers on the side that was next to the far wall.
She reasoned Darcy would sleep closest to the door, as it was human nature to want an easy escape if needed when in an unfamiliar place, and the bed was large enough and the room dark enough that he would never know she slept beside him.
At dawn, she would make her way back to her room and no one would be the wiser.
These thoughts and the sense of feeling safe allowed her to close her eyes and drift off to sleep.
***
After spending a tension-filled evening canvassing all sorts of plans and contingencies with Mr. Bennet, Darcy finally made his way upstairs for the night. He passed the guard outside Elizabeth’s door.
“Nothing to report, Bellows?” he asked the giant of a man.
“No, sir. All is quiet. I haven’t heard a peep from Mrs. Darcy since her maid quit the room.”
“Excellent, good evening, then.”
He entered his room, feeling rather foolish for wishing he had permission to join her.
He could always slip through the sitting room and knock on her door.
He shook his head. No, that was foolish.
She had gone up a good hour earlier and was surely sound asleep.
His head tilted up, like a wolf scenting the air, positive he could smell her perfume.
He truly must be going daft with love for he was convinced her unique scent had permeated his bedchamber.
There was enough light from the waning fireplace that he did not need to light a taper, and his valet had been excused for the evening.
He quickly stripped down to bare skin and slid between the freshly laundered sheets, laying on his back, hands behind his head, thinking of Elizabeth.
Soon, as it so often occurred, one hand slid beneath the covers to take care of his burgeoning desire.
With a familiar dream of him sliding into his wife’s welcoming body, he was startled when the blankets on the other side of his bed moved and a slender arm flung out and landed across his midsection, followed by a soft body that curled into his side like a perfectly fitted puzzle piece.
“Janie, you are unbearably hot,” she mumbled into his chest.
With that, a still-sleeping Elizabeth grabbed the covers and threw them off Darcy’s body.
Too stunned to move, he released himself and tried to pluck a corner of the sheet back over the lower half of his body.
He was not ashamed of his nakedness, but if Elizabeth awakened – and given where her head was located on the lower half of his chest – she’d get an eyeful of a certain part of his body that desperately wanted to know her intimately.
Two dilemmas faced him. Covering his body and fighting his libido.
He soon realized the battle was being lost on both sides.
He could not reach the sheet and little puffs of air from her mouth had him twitching in erotic agony.
She shifted and dragged one leg over his.
Dear God in Heaven. Everything in him clamored to awaken her and assert his husbandly rights.
He began to count backward from one hundred, in Latin, to take his mind off the supple length of his wife’s body wrapped around him.
He had reached forty-seven when she moved again, her hand inching dangerously close to…
He would not survive. He would die a painful death with vivid, erotic thoughts in his mind and then spend the rest of eternity in purgatory reliving this moment with no release in sight.
What had driven her to sleep in his bed?
Surely, she had not come to entice him to consummate their marriage.
She would not be encased head to toe in a serviceable nightgown if that had been her mission.
No, something else drove her to seek sanctuary in his room.
The plans of his aunt had upset Elizabeth more than she let on.
If anything calmed his libido, it was thoughts of Lady Catherine. He cupped Elizabeth’s head, holding her close to his chest, almost groaning aloud at the feel of her soft curls beneath his fingers. As long as he had life in his body, he would protect her.
Determined to keep her safe, even from himself, he finally managed to hook the sheet with his pinkie finger and pulled it up high enough to cover himself fully, although a good half hour later, there remained an obvious protrusion making itself known beneath the sheet.
He cradled his diminutive wife as best he could with one hand and finally fell into a light slumber.
He knew not how long he slept, a few hours at most because the room had considerably lightened with the advent of dawn.
Elizabeth lay partially curled within the crook of his arm and he slowly opened his eyes, pleased to discover that she was awake and perused his body with a frankness that thrilled him.
When her eyes widened and her mouth formed a soft ‘o‘, he realized another part of his body was awakening and her attention was riveted on the gently rising sheet.
Wondering what she would do, he closed his eyes and pretended to still be asleep.
Now and again, he would dare crack one eye open and watch his curious wife.
She shifted into a semi-sitting position and with great care, lifted the edge of the sheet.
He nearly died when she peeled back the cover and with the lightest of touches, feathered a fingernail down the length of him.
He could take no more.
“I hope you are prepared to see your actions through to their finality, Mrs. Darcy.”
“Oh!” she squeaked out in a breathy gasp and scrambled to a sitting position, the sheet falling to cover him again. “I thought you were asleep.”
“I was, but a wood nymph brought me out of the depths of Morpheus into her web of desire and love.”
“I am sorry, Mr. Darcy.”
“I am not, and yesterday you called me William.”
He had not thought it possible, but she blushed an even darker shade of pink. How delightful.
“I suppose, in a moment of fear, I did call you by your given name, Mr. Darcy.”
“We are past you calling me Mr. Darcy. We are now Elizabeth and William. I will accept nothing less.”
He shifted his pillow and brought himself into a semi-reclining position, bending one knee so that his apparent desire was no longer center stage.
“Very well, William.” She studied him with wary eyes. “I had best return to my room before my maid comes in to find me gone and rings the alarm.”
“Why did you come here last night?”
“You will think me foolish.”
“Never. You are not only the most beautiful woman I know, but also one the most intelligent.”
She lowered her eyes and once again her cheeks tinged a deep pink. He could get used to this. Flirting with his wife in bed.
“Once alone in my room, I began to fear shadows. Well, not shadows exactly. My mind began to travel down roads that made me think the guard could be one of the men Lady Catherine hired. It is the perfect disguise, and he would have access to me as he holds the key to my room…” She trailed off and gave him a lopsided, wry smile. “Sounds silly when I say it out loud.”
“Not really. Your premise is sound; however, I know these men were handpicked by my cousin Richard and the only way Lady Catherine would have had prior access to them was if she had crossed the channel, entered the battlefield, and politely asked Napoleon to pause his war for a brief moment while she hired a few men to do her dastardly deed. They are loyal to their colonel first and the King second.”
“Is that not treasonous?”
“Not loyal to Richard in a literal sense. More like, figuratively speaking. They are members of the Royal Dragoons and returned to England with him after their last battle in Portugal.”
“You are telling me I am safe to cower in my bed and not worry about the guard?”
“The only way you will be safe is when you are tucked up against me. Then, and only then, will you truly survive this ordeal.”
“That is laying it on a bit thick, Mr.—” He lowered his forehead and gave her a look of warning. “William,” she said with a soft laugh and began to pleat the edge of the sheet, clearly showing her nerves.
“What is bothering you, Elizabeth?”
“I… I believe I should go back to my room, but I am not dressed properly.”
He held back a chuckle and said, “As a gentleman, I would leave the room and allow you to exit with grace and dignity. Alas,” – he waved his hand to pull her attention to the area under the sheets where the rest of him lay in repose – “I do not wear a nightshirt and you are not prepared, yet, to see me in all my glory.”
“Mr. Darcy! I mean, William! For shame.”
“Nay, ‘tis a shame that I must stay here while you scamper across the room and give me much to feed my imagination.”
“You are absolutely wicked.”
“No, I am absolutely in love and this, us in bed together, is my deepest desire.”
Her breathing shallowed and her pupils dilated.
Dare he? Dare he ask his wife if she were ready to go a step further?
Fortis Fortuna Adiuvat, slid through his mind like a quicksilver.
Fortune Favors the Bold. He had nothing to lose and everything to gain.
He shifted until his weight rested on one elbow and with his free hand, reached across to touch her hair, which spilled down her back and over her shoulder in glorious curls.
Twining the end of one curl around his finger, he leaned forward and brought it to his nose, inhaling her distinctive scent of lavender and, he assumed, honeysuckle.
Her breath caught, but she did not move away.
He reached out again, this time curving an arm around her waist to draw her close, urging her to lay down by his side.
She did not resist; in fact, she even helped him.
He lightly skimmed the tips of his fingers on the lace ribbon that held the front of her nightgown closed.
Ever so gently he picked one loose end of the ribbon and tugged.
Like petals of a flower awakening to the morning sun, the edges of her gown unfurled.
Nudging it open further; he leaned over and kissed the bare skin of her shoulder.
Emboldened by the soft sigh that escaped her mouth, he opened her nightgown further, exposing the soft creamy skin of her breasts.
Not wanting to frighten his innocent wife, he first kissed her eyes, her cheek, and the tip of her nose and then pressed his lips against hers.
He teased the edges of her mouth, tracing the seam of her lips with his tongue.
Without hesitation, she opened and he tentatively slid his tongue into her mouth, deepening the kiss.
Small hands crept up over his shoulders and soon, delicate fingers furrowed a tunnel through his sleep-mussed curls.
Curbing his impatience, he retreated from their kissing and gazed down at Elizabeth, her lips glistening from his attentions. Slowly her eyelids drifted open and she smiled.
“I truly hate to ruin this moment, but do you wish to go further? I fully understand if you want to leave and wait until we have a better understanding of ourselves.”
She cupped his cheek.
“I am ready to be your wife in every way.”
“Thank God!”
Together, they removed her nightgown and soon he lavished attention on the part of her body he could only dream about before.
With a husky groan, he buried his face in the valley between her breasts, rubbing back and forth before drawing a nipple deep into his mouth.
She shuddered at his touch and he smiled around the hardened pebble.
After a few minutes, he lifted onto his elbow and drank in the sight of her full breasts swollen from his kisses and dedicated ministrations.
“You have no idea what you do to me. These,” – he punctuated the word with a kiss on the creamy swell of each breast – “have kept me awake and in a state of agony for months.”
“Aunt Frances told me to lower the neckline of my dress to entice your interest. I would hazard to guess she knew what she was talking about.”
“Remind me to thank your aunt on the morrow.”
“Today is the morrow.”
Having had enough conversation, he proceeded to make her his wife complete. Soon her body was tightening around him and with powerful thrusts, he surged into her welcoming heat.