Chapter 12 Supreme Temptation #3
Oblivious to the sisterly chitchat occurring on the trail behind them, Darcy and Lizzy continued to laugh and leisurely stroll.
Willow Bench held special memories for them, although they had only met there twice.
Each of those times had been accidental, and the encounters as different as night and day.
On a hill off to the left of the trail, the copse of six old willow trees with leafless branches swaying in the gentle breeze appeared rather sad and lonely.
Still, even with the lack of sheltering foliage, they were isolated and beyond eyesight.
The location was perfect for two people wildly in love, but also dangerous, which is why Darcy already knew the answer to the question he asked.
“In all our walks, why have we not taken the time to visit your childhood sanctuary?”
“Because you, Mr. Darcy, are a proper gentleman who would never, not even if told the very fate of the world depended on it, do something as outrageously indecent as to be alone with his fiancée! The very idea is shocking and unfathomable.”
“Ah, yes. That is so. I am a rock in that regard.” He paused, sighing heavily.
“Still, it is a shame to waste a lovely day, and I have noticed that you are appearing a bit weak, Miss Elizabeth. I would hate to overtax your fragility, but then again, I am vastly concerned for your health, so perhaps a sprint would do you good. Get the blood pumping and all that. What say you?”
Her answer was a single laugh, the ringing tones of gaiety floating over her shoulder as she took off running.
Darcy watched for several seconds before taking up the chase.
Naturally, his long-legged gait could readily overtake her, even with the delay and her impressive speed.
Watching her dash with skirts held high enough for him to glimpse flashes of toned, stocking-clad calves was preferable by incalculable measure to winning a race.
Reaching the trees first, she spun around, shouting in triumph. The shout soon morphed into a squeal when he grabbed her around the waist, lifting her high off her feet and crushing against his chest before twirling in a series of circles.
Between laughter and squeals, she begged, “Stop! I’m growing dizzy!”
He stopped the rapid whirling, but the dizziness increased when he impetuously captured her mouth in a passionate kiss.
They clung to each other, swaying and with stars spinning inside their heads, and kept on kissing.
Within seconds they were fused along every plane, Darcy setting her onto her feet only so he could roam his hands freely over her body.
Wildly out of control, neither knew who broke the contact or why, but they pulled apart and mindlessly retreated to opposite sides of the copse.
Collapsing backward into solid willow trees, they stared at each other with passion-drugged eyes for a full five minutes.
Each of them gasped for air, the breathlessness having nothing to do with the sprint or the twirling.
Darcy leaned against the trunk, hands rigid with palms flattened harshly into his thighs as he frantically grasped onto the remaining threads of control.
If he did not regain his equilibrium soon and force a specific organ to behave, Elizabeth would become his wife in one sense of the word in the next ten minutes.
Of all the occasions where his restraint had teetered, this was a hundred times worse.
God help me, he silently begged, and please don’t move or say a word, Elizabeth, or I will be lost.
“I love kissing you!”
Darcy groaned at her blurted comment, closing his eyes in a last-ditch attempt to remain a gentleman. Looking at her passion-glazed eyes, which were, he had noted, drifting downward to the unmistakable evidence of his arousal, was too much to bear.
“I suppose that fact you have figured out by now,” she said, her voice shaky and weak.
He opened his eyes but said nothing immediately.
The war raged internally, and the way she was gazing at him was fueling the fire.
“Yes,” he finally choked out, through his dry throat, “I have received the message loud and clear. I love kissing you, Elizabeth. Most ardently, and fervently want to do so very much more than kiss you!” He inhaled, clenching his jaw and digging his back into the rough bark.
“That is why it is best you stay over there, and I remain here for a while, if not permanently.”
At this, she flushed, unconsciously biting the plump lower lip he hungered to kiss, and after another contemplative survey of the bulging member below his waist—which continued to stubbornly resist his monumental efforts to control—she averted her eyes.
Dear God in Heaven, her sweet innocence is as provocative as her womanly passions. How can any man be expected to withstand such a lethal combination?
Darcy felt his muscles tightening, and he involuntarily shifted his weight to take that one step forward which would end irrevocably in making her his. Emitting a growling groan of frustration, he tore his eyes away from the hypnotic allure of her body, following the direction of her gaze.
She was staring toward the meadow he had been racing across on the two previous occasions he happened upon her at this copse of trees.
Ten or so feet away was the tall wooden fence he and Parsifal had jumped over, Elizabeth’s anger and worry over that maneuver a comical, touching recollection.
She had climbed up the rungs of this fence on both of those unexpected encounters, but her reactions to his two invasions had been altogether dissimilar.
At the second meeting shortly after their engagement, he saw her desire for him plainly revealed for the first time in the brazen way she had looked at his body—not the wisest remembrance to dwell upon right now!
Darcy could recall each of those incidents with sharp clarity, the first as distinct as the second because, as he later admitted, he had been crazy in love with Elizabeth Bennet almost from the second he laid eyes on her.
Perhaps the intensity of his emotions, denied as they were for months, was partial blame why coming here stirred his lust to a ferocious level.
“What were you thinking when you encountered me here that day? Not a few weeks ago, but last year, after my stay at Netherfield when Jane was ill. You had such a strange expression.”
In a mesmerized monotone, he replied automatically, “I thought my dreams had returned to torment me.”
“What do you mean?”
I mean, I had dreamt of making love to you, a passionate, erotic vision of our naked bodies entwined and writhing, sweaty and flushed, experiencing a pleasure greater than anything comparable.
I mean, I wanted you physically, with such powerful intensity that not leaping off my horse to make love to you right here on the soft earth was the harshest battle I had ever fought.
I mean, I was madly, inexorably, and with all my soul in love with you, but had no clue how to deal with it.
“Nothing,” he said instead. “At least, nothing we should talk about now, trust me.”
They stared at each other in silence for quite some time.
“I know what you are thinking, my love, as I am thinking it too.” He spoke softly, seriously, and held her eyes. “What is one day? We love and want each other. We will be married tomorrow, so why not take advantage of our solitude in this special place to consummate our love?”
Pausing, he breathed deeply to still the pounding of his heart.
“I want to make love to you, more than I can ever put into words, Elizabeth. I know you want me as intensely. And I shall be honest, at this point proper behavior, being a gentleman, rules, even holy vows be damned, I would consummate our relationship and make you mine.”
He slowly shook his head. “The only reason I will not allow it to happen is because we, both of us, deserve better. We have waited a long time to love each other, to become one. Our first time together will be in a comfortable bed in a warm room where solitude is assured, not on the dirt in an essentially public place. It will be special, a precious time of discovery, intimate and beautiful. It will be perfect, I promise you that.”
Again, silence fell as they gazed at each other from opposite sides of the small copse of willow trees.
Then finally, Darcy smiled and laughed lowly. “I meant every word, believe me. Nevertheless, I am, in the end, a fallible human who is passionately in love, so let us not tempt ourselves any further.”
He pushed away from the tree and extended his hand. After another two minutes, Elizabeth bravely disconnected from the solidity of her tree, which had lent its unbendable strength during her vulnerability. Taking his hand, they left the copse of willows and descended the hill toward the pathway.
Once back onto the trail, Darcy stopped and looked back at the cluster of trees. “I have a feeling neither of us has seen the last of Willow Bench.”
Then he smiled down at Elizabeth, who laughed and shook her head. “I have a feeling you are correct.”