All Hallow's Eve (39 page)

A fleeting look of surprise
crossed
his
face
, and then
h
e
chuckle
d
as he began to move again
in
answer
to
her
question
.
Elizabeth pointed in the direction opposite to the one in which he was taking her.
“
As you very well know, our rooms are
in
that
wing
.
”

William stopped in front of
a
door and
somehow managed to open it without
having to release
his precious cargo.
As he walked into the room, he smiled widely and said,
“
Bingley arranged it so that w
e now occupy the master suites.
”

As
William placed her on her feet in the middle of the room
,
she
realized
this was the mistress’s bedchamber.
Some of her possessions were on the dressing table
,
and her
best
nightgown was laid out on the bed
.
Elizabeth’s eyes widened, and h
er hand came up to
cover
her mouth as her forehead furrowed.
“
Oh.
”

C
oncern
began to overwhelm him
as he watched
her expression
change
.
“
Elizabeth?
”
When he received no answer, he asked,
“
Please?
Tell me
;
what
is
the matter
, my love?
”
Again, he received no answer.

William stepped
away from her and
intentionally
straightened
to a more formal stance
. A
s the impassive expression that Elizabeth had not seen since before the
Sanun
fell across his features
,
it caused
a horrible feeling to rise within her
.
His voice was formal when he said,
“
I understand.
Elizabeth,
and
as I have promised, I
will
not
demand
from you what you are not disposed to give.
”

Her confus
ion
gave way to
wide-eyed
surprise when she came to understand that he thought she did not wish to
experience
the marriage bed.
“
Oh
,
William, no! I
t is not that
at all!
”
Sh
e
stepped closer
,
gently t
a
k
ing
his face in her hands and
, raising one eyebrow,
whispered
,
“
In fact,
my feelings
about
that
are
quite
the opposite
of
what you have assumed
.
”
Elizabeth
almost smiled at the relief that
showed on his face
, but s
he could
also
see that he was still expecting an explanation.
Finding that
sh
e could not say what she must
whilst
looking in
to
his eyes
, h
er hands moved to his cravat
,
and
her attention was
centered
on
the
white cloth
as she stuttered
out
,
“
It is just that... w
ell, I
–
I
expected
that everyone
knew
...
that they
would
guess
that
something
would happen
tonight
,
but
...
Oh
!
”
Closing her eyes, Elizabeth’s face turned
a dark
crimson.
“
The thought of
Charles
...
”
She gasped as her eyes snapped open again,
“
and
all
of
the
servants
!
T
hat t
hey
actually
planned
...
that
they have
gone through so much
trouble
to
...
to
...
to
move
our
things
—to
prepare
...
so that
you and I
could... so we could..
.
”

B
ur
y
i
ng
her face in her hands
, Elizabeth
then leaned her forehead into his chest
to hide her embarrassment
.
William’s
arms gathered her to him more fully.
She felt his
chest r
i
se and f
a
ll
against her,
as if he had sighed
, and then his body began to shake
.
Elizabeth
dared to
look up
at him and found that
William was trying to stifle laughter.

“
I apologize
, Elizabeth; I am not laughing at you or
at
what you
have said
.
It is
only
that
the truth is so
different
from
what I
had feared only a few moments ago,
that
I could not help
but laugh at
myself.

“
As f
o
r
Charles and the servants
, I am certain that their purpose was to make us
more
comfortable.
W
hether or not they had anything else in mind, I cannot tell you, and honestly, I care not.
”
He shook his head, leaned down to kiss her
lips
lightly
, and then moved to pay similar attentions to that sensitive part of her lovely neck that consistently caused her to utter a certain sound that had tested his
gentlemanly
control on numerous occasions
.
“
The only thoughts that
will ever
be
of any
interest
to me
on this subject
are yours
, my love
.
”

Elizabeth
pulled back and
smiled impishly
whil
st
reaching to pull
on his cravat
in the way she learned would expos
e
his neck, and
then
she surprised him by returning the favo
u
r
of his attentions
.
When h
e
uttered
a
sound
somewhere between a
moan
and an approximation of her name
, she
whispered into his ear
,
“
I assure you, my husband, that you
would
approve of my thoughts on th
is
subject
thus far
.
”

~%~

Elizabeth was awakened by a ray of light that had found a way through the small space between the curtains on the window.
Usually she was very cold at this time of morning, before the maid came to start a fire, but today she was
unusually
warm
.
As a result of being so comfortable
, she did not wish to move—though she found she could not fall b
ack to sleep
—
and
her attention became focused upon a
weight
across her middle
.
When she
moved slightly
,
the weight moved as well, pulling her backwards against something large, warm,
and
firm,
and she was enveloped by an incredibly delicious scent.
Elizabeth smiled
as all confusion left her mind
—t
oday
w
ould be
her first full day as William’s wife!
She snuggled closer to her husband and felt his breath tickle her ear as he sighed in apparent contentment.

She would have to wake him soon—their mission had been put off for a day, but it would not wait forever.
They
would
be leaving for Longbourn after breakfast.
Knowing full well how little
rest
they had
gotten
during
the night, s
he would allow him to
slumber
a little longer and
indulge herself in
studying
the way it felt
to be
wrapped in his arms.
Elizabeth
hoped
their night
had been
as wonderful
for him as it was for her
. I
f
his responses were
any indication
,
she could be assured that
it
most definitely
had been.

G
ently turn
ing herself
until she was
lying
on her back
, she
watched
William
sleep for several minutes
before a smile slowly
crept
across his face
. H
is eyes opened,
already
glowing with his love for her.

“Good morning, my wife.
I have never
seen
anything
as
lovely as
you are this morning
.”

“
How do you manage, e
ven upon first waking
, to
find the perfect words to set my heart
to
beating faster
?
”

“I am happy that you approve
of my early morning fluency
, since I hav
e every intention of
waking in a similar manner for the remainder of my life.
”

As William leaned in for a kiss, a knock on the servants’ entrance to the room
intruded
.
Knowing exactly who it would be,
Elizabeth donned her robe and opened the door
just enough to see out
.
“
Yes,
Hanna?”

Hanna curtsied, remaining in the servants’ corridor.
“Ma’am, ya’ left word for me to wake ya’
at sunrise.”

“
T
hank you, Hanna.
I will ring when I need you.”

“Yes’
m.
I’ll ‘ave your bath
ready in
five
minutes.”

Elizabeth closed the door and locked it.
When she turned around
,
she was disappointed that
William
was already wearing his robe.
H
e
cross
ed
to the hearth to start a fire,
s
nicker
ing
.
In answer to her enquiring as to just what he found amusing, he said,
“You should be
happy that
we were in
your
chamber.
I did not think to tell my man not to come in to stoke the fire before I w
o
ke, as he usually does.”