Chapter 26
The cottage at The Lakes was everything Elizabeth had hoped it would be and then some, though as cottages go, it was rather large. It was comfortably furnished and thoughtfully laid out. There was a lovely view from every window. Everywhere she looked, she was greeted with beauty.
The morning of their second day, she toured the house on her own, quietly leaving the room while Fitzwilliam was in his dressing room.
Her mind couldn’t help but wander to her new husband and how he had arranged this lovely trip.
It really was very thoughtful of him to remember that she had always wanted to see The Lakes and to secure such a nice place to stay.
Away from nearly all of society, they would become accustomed to each other in private, without family or society pressures and obligations.
She was very grateful for his foresight and his kindness and generosity towards her.
And he truly was very patient with her. She could tell he was befuddled by her sometimes, but she didn’t always know how to make sense of her own thoughts and feelings, let alone explain them to him.
She felt badly about it and tried to be as receptive as she could to his affection.
She was affectionate herself in turn, not holding herself back when she wanted to touch him.
She had always been a very tactile person, always wanting to touch things and regularly laying a hand on the arm of the person she was speaking with.
Her mother had chastised her for this habit and told her not to flirt with everything that stood on two legs.
At the age of twelve, she had not understood what her mother meant, but by sixteen she comprehended fully and learned to keep her hands to herself.
With Mr. Darcy, she did not hold back. If she was excited and happy about something, she smiled at him brilliantly and squeezed his hand or touched his arm or gave him a swift kiss on his cheek.
The last always made him smile and sometimes blush, and she thought she was on the right track there.
This thought made her pause as she wandered onto a terrace at the back of the house.
Did he need more encouragement from her?
Was that partly to blame for the quizzical look she sometimes saw?
She could do that. She was a very warm person, after all. Being affectionate with her husband would not be difficult. She would start today.
At breakfast, Darcy asked her what she would like to do that day.
“If you are tired, we could simply relax here, perhaps take a stroll. Or if you are feeling energetic, we could take the small boat out onto the lake.”
“If you’re feeling up to rowing me about, I would like to take the boat out,” she replied.
He smiled and assured her he was up to the task and they were soon off.
The lake had few occupants as they were already in a rather quiet location and the hour was still early. Elizabeth put on her straw bonnet and lace gloves and took a parasol to protect her from the sun. Darcy smiled when he saw her in her simple white dress with small yellow flowers on it.
“You look like sunshine, my love,” he said.
She smiled softly in response and blushed a lovely pink color.
“Come, the boat is ready,” he said as he led her to the dock and onto a small rowboat with three benches. Oars stretched across the narrow center bench and a hamper filled with food rested in the bottom. A blanket lay rolled up and stuffed under the wider front bench.
She stepped into the boat gingerly and a footman pushed them off, wishing them a good day on the high seas, to which Elizabeth laughed gaily. Darcy rowed them leisurely for some time, and finally headed toward a small island not too far away.
“Do you want to go ashore?” he asked.
“Yes, let’s. I’ve never been on an island,” she said.
He smiled at her anticipation and pulled as close as he could to the shore.
“I’ll have to pull it in the rest of the way,” he said once the boat had dragged the bottom.
She nodded and watched in fascination as he steadied the boat and stepped out, careful not to rock her.
She held onto the sides and he gave her a grin and a wink before heaving the boat toward the shore, leaving Elizabeth duly impressed.
He stopped a dozen feet from the bank. He could have pulled it farther, but he didn’t want to push it back out through the muck.
“Will we picnic here?” she asked.
He agreed and she passed him the blanket and hamper. He came back for her and she wrapped her arms round his neck while he held her to take her across the shallow water and onto the shingle.
“How strong you are, Mr. Darcy,” she teased as he stepped carefully across the rocky lake bottom.
“Nonsense. My lady is as light as a feather,” he said playfully. Her laughter was his reward and he smiled brightly at her.
She reached one hand down to touch the water and neatly flicked a bit of it onto her husband.
“What are you doing, wife?”
“Nothing, husband,” she said mischievously.
He took two more steps and she flicked him with water again, this time onto his face.
“Elizabeth,” he said warningly.
“What?” she said innocently.
He loosened his grip and pretended to drop her, catching her just before she hit the water.
“Fitzwilliam Darcy! Don’t you dare drop me into this water!” she called laughingly.
“Oh? You don’t want to refresh yourself in the cool lake?” he teased.
She laughed again. “No! I would like to remain dry. Do not —” he pretended to drop her again and she screeched and kicked her shoe into the water, sending a spray of water into his face.
He spluttered and closed his eyes at the assault while Elizabeth tried to hold in her laughter, which was impossible to conceal when he was holding her and feeling every repressed shake of her body reverberate across his chest.
“Forgive me, Fitzwilliam. I did not mean to get you so very wet,” she apologized brightly, her eyes twinkling.
He gave her a rueful look. “I will repay you for that, madam,” he replied, but before he could finish the final words, he stepped onto a slippery rock and lost his footing.
For a wild moment, they flailed in the air, her clinging to him tightly, him waving one arm frantically for balance while the other clutched his wife. They both fell in with a spectacular splash.
Elizabeth’s cry quickly turned into laughter as she put herself to rights.
They were both soaked through from the waist down and half-covered in muck.
Darcy had the disadvantage of being on bottom and the entire back of his shirt was wet and dirty as well as some of his hair.
His hat floated a few feet away. Darcy scowled as he stood and placed a hand on her elbow to steady her.
She scooped up his hat as they walked the remaining few feet to dry land and handed it to him with a sheepish expression.
She could not contain her laughter when he looked at the poor muddied hat with an expression of disgust and dismay.
He eventually laughed with her and they pulled the bits of leaves and other debris from each other as they stood on the grassy shore, dripping and cold.
“We’ll have to sit in the sun to dry out,” she said.
“We’ll never dry in all these layers.”
He removed his jacket and waistcoat and hung them on the low branches of a nearby tree.
Thankfully, the day was sunny and warm, so they would dry quickly.
Elizabeth removed her shoes and stockings, placing the former in the sun and the latter over a branch.
She then shimmied her petticoat out from beneath her skirts and hung it up as well, followed by her damp bonnet.
It had thankfully kept her head dry, and much of her torso was dry but for a few splashes, luckily, but she still did not enjoy the feeling of her wet skirts across her legs.
She quickly laid out the blanket and lay back on it, turning her face to the sun and closing her eyes.
“Are you going to join me?” she asked.
He swiftly lay down beside her in a similar position.
“You may as well take off your shirt. It’s wet and can’t be comfortable.” She looked over at his wet linen and grimaced. He looked doubtful. “No one will see you. This island looks deserted.”
He looked around and pulled his shirt over his head, leaning back on the blanket next to his wife in nothing but his breeches.
Elizabeth smiled at him and closed her eyes, reveling in the warmth of the sun.
They eventually flipped over to dry their backs and turned their heads to face each other, smiling and talking about silly nothings.
Elizabeth opened the hamper and began doling out food while Darcy poured them each a cup of wine from the cask.
They ate the cheese and bread in relative silence until Elizabeth leaned over and popped a grape into Darcy’s mouth.
He smiled and returned the favor and soon he had his head in her lap while she fed him small bites of strawberries and more grapes.
When they’d had their fill of fruit, he closed his eyes as she ran her fingers through his hair, humming softly.
Eventually she stopped humming and began exploring her husband’s shoulders and neck.
She ran her fingers over his skin lightly, noticing how it felt warm from the sun and was slightly lighter than the skin on his face.
Her hands drew circles over the tops of his shoulders and dipped down to his arms, feeling the gentle firmness of his muscles and tracing the outline of a triangle on the outer edges of his arms. She idly wondered if such muscles were from riding or if her husband was an avid swordsman.
Somehow, the latter seemed to fit him and the thought was not displeasing.
She continued her explorations down his chest and across his ribs.
He was very broad, her husband. His waist was narrower than his chest, but only barely.
His ribs stood high off the ground and rose and fell steadily with his breaths.
His chest was covered with soft, dark hair, not so much that he felt furry but not so little as to call it a smattering.
She ran her fingers through it and felt his heartbeat beneath her palm.
She had never touched him so blatantly. When they were together intimately, he was always touching her, moving over her still body.
Afterwards, she would often rest her head against his chest until they fell asleep.
But it was always dark and she never felt as free or able to touch him as she did now, nor had she felt such a desire to do so.
His hair stopped just below his breast except for a dark line that traveled down his center.
She traced it for a moment until it disappeared into his breeches and continued on with her discoveries.
His shoulders were hot to the touch and solid beneath her hands.
His ears were surprisingly soft and his hair seemed in need of a cut.
She had touched it many times before, but always in the heat of passion.
She was enjoying this slow assessment of her husband’s form.
Darcy was also enjoying it—immensely. He had begun to drift off to the soothing feeling of his wife’s nimble fingers in his hair and her sweet voice humming a tune.
Then those same fingers began a new circuit around his shoulders, arms, and chest, once even drifting dangerously close to his hips.
She could not know what she was doing to him.
He had chanced a peek at her, finding she was all curiosity and studiousness.
It was clear it was not an erotic game she was playing but rather a curious woman’s investigation into the male form.
Of course, he was happy to broaden his wife’s mind in any we he could, but if she didn’t stop soon, he’d hardly be able to hold himself back from doing some investigating of his own.
Taking a deep breath, he slowly opened his eyes as if waking from sleep. He didn’t want to discourage her explorations or push for more than she was ready for, but he would not be able to remain still much longer.
“Do you think our clothes are dry now?” he asked.
“Most likely,” she said. He sat up and she rose to grab her stockings and petticoat off the branch she’d hung them on. “These are dry. Shall we head back?”
He looked at the sky and the grey clouds in the distance that were moving their direction.
“That’s probably best.”
Within an hour, they were returned to the cottage and requesting baths.
Elizabeth stood in the sitting room while she waited for the water to heat, remembering something her husband had said about baths when he’d given her a tour of the London house.
She thought of joining him in his bath, but did not feel bold enough today.
But soon, she would. It would be a perfect goal.
She would aim to surprise him in his bath within the week.
If that was not encouragement, she didn’t know what was.