Epilogue
One Year Later – Pemberley, Derbyshire
Elizabeth woke slowly beneath the warmth of Darcy's hand at her waist. Sometime during the night, her hair had come loose and spread across the pillows in a dark auburn tangle.
Darcy had gathered part of it over one shoulder and was pressing a line of soft kisses along the curve of her neck, each one lingering just long enough to draw her further from sleep.
She smiled before opening her eyes. "You are taking liberties, sir."
"Guilty, my love."
His voice was husky with sleep. Elizabeth turned towards him, and the movement brought them close enough that his mouth found hers before she could answer.
The kiss began gently, but Darcy's restraint did not last. His arm tightened around her and he drew her nearer, careful of the rounded swell between them, while Elizabeth slid her hand into his hair and kissed him back with equal enthusiasm.
The curtains remained closed against the morning and the rest of Pemberley might have been a hundred miles away. There was only the warmth of him beside her, the familiar strength of his hand moving slowly over her back and the soft catch of his breath when she pressed closer.
When they finally parted, neither moved far. Darcy rested his forehead against hers, his thumb brushing over her lower lip as though he were considering another kiss.
Elizabeth caught his wrist. "You appear very pleased with yourself."
"I am in bed with my wife. I see no reason not to be."
His mouth curved, and he kissed the corner of hers before lowering his hand to the gentle swell of her stomach.
The touch changed at once, becoming softer and more careful.
Elizabeth covered his hand with her own, and for a while they lay quietly together as he traced the curve beneath her nightgown.
The child moved faintly beneath his palm. Darcy's expression altered with the same wonder it had held the first time. He bent and pressed a kiss to her stomach, then another, before returning to her mouth.
"Good morning," Elizabeth whispered when he finally let her breathe.
"A very good morning."
She watched him for a moment, warmth spreading through her that had little to do with the bedclothes. Then she reached towards the small drawer in the table beside her. "Do you remember what day it is?"
Darcy looked almost offended. "A year since I became the happiest man in the world."
The answer was so immediate, and spoken with such certainty, that Elizabeth could think of no light reply. "That is very well done."
"It is also true."
He kissed her again, slower now, and she nearly forgot the drawer entirely. Only when his hand began to draw her back towards him did she laugh against his mouth and reach blindly until her fingers closed around the small parcel hidden inside.
Darcy noticed. "Your gift is downstairs, my love. I was saving it for our dinner with Jane and Richard."
"Do not worry about that now."
"Elizabeth, I ought at least to—"
She silenced him with another kiss and pressed the parcel into his hand before he could continue. "For once, you may simply accept something."
He looked down at the folded paper, tied with a narrow length of purple ribbon.
"Purple?"
"I thought it appropriate."
Darcy loosened the knot and opened the parcel. Inside lay a new gold chain for his father's watch, plain and finely made, with a small oval fob attached at one end.
He lifted it carefully. When he turned the fob over, the inscription caught the pale morning light.
For Fitzwilliam. Every hour, yours. Elizabeth.
For a long moment, he said nothing. Elizabeth's confidence began to falter. "I did not wish to alter the watch itself. I know what it means to you, and the old chain had already been repaired twice, so I thought perhaps—"
Darcy set the parcel aside and kissed her before she could finish.
There was nothing restrained in it. Elizabeth gave a soft sound of surprise as he gathered her close, one arm around her shoulders while the other remained tangled in her hair. His kiss deepened until she forgot everything except his touch.
When he finally drew back, his breathing was uneven. "It is perfect." His hand returned to her stomach, and the child moved once more beneath it.
Darcy smiled and bent to kiss the place again. "I did not know happiness could continue to increase."
"It is fortunate that you married me, then."
"Extremely fortunate."
He drew her back into his arms, the gold fob still held between them.
A year earlier, he had knelt before an entire ballroom and asked her to share his life. Now she lay beside him at Pemberley, his mother's ring upon her hand and their child turning beneath his palm.
Every hour, his. And he, entirely hers.