Darcy's Temptation (38 page)

“I am well, Mrs.—I mean, Elizabeth.”

“Good.” She adjusted a blanket across her own lap.“I would not wish you to return to the troubles which beset you of late.”
Turning her head to take in his profile, Elizabeth laced her arm through Darcy's as he picked up the reins. As he flicked them across the horse's hindquarters, she called, “Hero, come.” The English Springer spaniel leapt into the vehicle and curled up immediately at Elizabeth's feet.

“The dog gives you great pleasure?” Darcy said with some finality.

“The man who gave it to me because he knew I never had a pet of my own gives me great pleasure.” Again, Elizabeth's closeness sent a shiver through him.“Are you chilled, my Love?”

Her concern for him seemed genuine. “I am fine. I just did not expect such frankness.”They sat looking deeply into each other's eyes.

“I would prefer if we could be truthful.We do not have time to play games.We are married and must establish a life together at Pemberley; yet, we must do so under absurd conditions. Many of the assumptions we previously put aside may resurface. We both once misconstrued the essence of each other; we have not the time to hide our feelings.We may not like many of our encounters, but we have no real choice, in my estimation.”

“You are a very astute woman, Elizabeth.” Darcy forced himself to look away, having become lost in her eyes.“Where would be our destination for the day?” He tried to sound casual.

“I have something I want to show you, which I hope will please you.” Elizabeth snuggled in closer to him to feel his warmth. “I want to return to the glade behind the stream where we talked the other day.”

“We return to the scene of the crime?”

Elizabeth dropped her eyes.“I am sorry we argued; I should guard my tone.”

“But not your sentiments?”

“You know me. . . .” She stopped, and a nervous laugh escaped. “That is just it; you do not know me, do you? I have a tendency to speak before thinking. I would not say my
objections changed, but I would change my approach. I should use a feather but instead use a hammer.” Darcy chuckled with her metaphor. “Our disagreements are part of the legend of our courtship.”

“I assume you refer to my first proposal?” Darcy's statement came out as a question.

“Ah, our infamous time at Hunsford. Do you remember that day?”

“My sister tells me I insulted you?” Again, the question returned.

“You were very
fluent
on your trials in overcoming my family connections. I took offense because you separated my dearest Jane and Mr. Bingley.Toss in the lies Mr.Wickham fed me, and we were nearly in a state of fisticuffs.”

Darcy stopped the curricle.“You jest?”

“We agreed to be frank,” she answered quickly. “I certainly considered striking you for a few brief seconds. I kept your letter where you defended yourself against my misplaced accusations. You are welcome to read it if it will help you recover some of that time.”

“I will believe you for now.”Then he flicked the reins again to see where the day would lead.

 

“Let us stop here,” Elizabeth said softly at last, turning the blanket back. Darcy came around to help her from the curricle. He lifted her by the waist while she supported herself by placing her hands on his shoulders.When he placed Elizabeth on the ground in front of him, he hesitated in withdrawing his hands. Her hands now rested on his chest, and she moved in instinctively to be closer to him. “You are exceedingly handsome, my Husband,” she said as she caressed Darcy's cheek.

“It pleases me you are trying to make my transition easier.” Darcy found he once again became lost in her eyes. He held Elizabeth there next to him, unable to move. Darcy wanted to
kiss her, to take his rights as her husband, but a part of his brain demanded he wait. No doubt Elizabeth would not refuse him; her eyes told him as much, but it was indubitable for him to do so without some affection for the woman. He could feel the tension between them growing so he did the gentlemanly thing: He took her hand and kissed the back of it lightly before hooking her arm in his.

“Is our destination close by?” he asked to try to distract his thoughts from kissing Elizabeth's lips and from caressing her body.

“Very close.” She motioned toward the tree line. Elizabeth led him to a small glade behind the tree line created by the natural bed of the stream leading to the lake. “I hoped to find something more hidden, but when I saw this glade from the uppermost windows of Pemberley, I knew it was the one.”

“The one?”

Elizabeth pushed back the low branches and stepped into the open. Darcy followed but stopped short. “Elizabeth,” he gasped,“when—how?”

Before him stood a field of wildflowers. Many fledglings in their growth—but all of them with heads turned toward the sun. Darcy took a few steps forward, looking about him in disbelief. “The clearing—your mother's favorite at Hunsford—you honored me when you shared it. After your first proposal and the letter, I wanted to bring something of you home with me.” Elizabeth's voice was soft and inviting. “I thought I would never see you again; you left Rosings before I did. I returned to your mother's clearing and cut many of the flowers. I dried some for a sachet, but for many of them I took them for the seeds. I planned to plant them in the fall at Longbourn, but then you returned to me so I brought them here.

“In November and December, I came here often, bringing the seeds with me. I scattered some every time there came a snow or a rain. I even elicited Mr. Howard's help. Some of the
tenants helped plant the seeds; some even furnished seeds.With your disappearance, the field became a place of solace—a place where part of you could be here with me at Pemberley.” Elizabeth tried to search Darcy's face to judge his reaction to what she told him. “I have a hedgerow of yellow rosebushes on the back side of the field because you gave me yellow roses when we married. It has a long way to go, but do you not think it to be beautiful?” Elizabeth waited impatiently, trying to steel her nerves.“Please say something, Fitzwilliam.”

Darcy closed his eyes and drank in the emotions coursing through him. For a brief, fleeting moment he saw Elizabeth turning round and round in a field of wildflowers.
Her rich, mellow eyes sparkled and filled Darcy with happiness. He loved Elizabeth. The realization of admitting his feelings flashed through his being; no more would he say he loved her eyes or loved how she spoke her mind; no longer would he think of his feelings being only a strong attraction; he loved Elizabeth.
The memory clearly played across his mind. Darcy turned back to her; tears misted his eyes. He had trouble separating the memory of that moment from the real woman currently standing in front of him. He took Elizabeth in his arms. “You did all this for me?” He seemed surprised by the depth of her devotion to him.

“We could not return to Rosings with Lady Catherine's objections so I thought I would bring Rosings to us—to you. It is one of my favorite memories of our time there. Georgiana helped, too.” She rushed through the words, afraid to let him respond. “She was always jealous you shared your mother's clearing with me. Now we can enjoy it together. Would it please your mother?” Elizabeth asked innocently.

Darcy pulled Elizabeth's head to his chest as he looked around at the early-blooming flowers. “It is a great gift you give me and Pemberley,” he whispered in her ear. “It would astound my mother you would think of this.You say we can see the field from Pemberley?”

“From the baby's nursery it is quite obvious. I thought it would be a good story to share with our children.” She wondered how Darcy would react to her reference to
children
, indicating she wanted a future with him. All he did, however, was stroke her head and kiss her forehead. They stood as such, her hands caressing the muscles of his back within his waistcoat and Darcy holding her tightly to him.

“Elizabeth,” he began at last, “I need more time; I am not ready for all this.” His words held the sorrow he knew she would feel when he released her.

Darcy heard her swallow hard, but when she raised her face to look at him, other than the tears welling in her eyes, no one would know Elizabeth felt anything besides joy. “Like the clearing, it is a beginning, my Husband. I will wait for your love to grow.”

Darcy could understand how he aligned himself with Elizabeth Bennet. She possessed a fortitude he did not know could be found in a woman, especially one so petite and lively. “The air is cool today; let me get you back to the curricle before you become chilled.” He coaxed her to walk with him.

Once Darcy placed Elizabeth in the curricle, he tended to her needs, giving her his blanket also.Again, he resisted his urge to kiss her, sure if he did, he would not want to stop until he possessed her.The woman of his dreams and the woman in the curricle could not be one and the same; he would not allow it to be so.“Where to now, Elizabeth?”

“I need to call on Mrs. Fleming if you do not mind, Sir.” Elizabeth reached to secure the basket she planned to give the woman. “Her gout has her unable to get about this past week. I just wish to check on her, and then we may return to Pemberley.”

“How many of the tenants do you know, Elizabeth?”

“Georgiana and I called on them all at least once; some are more readily accessible because of the roads. When we could not get through in a carriage, we sent some of the staff on
horseback with supplies. Our efforts began during the Festive Season. We sectioned off the estate to better manage our time.” Elizabeth seemed all businesslike when discussing the estate's cottagers.

“I appreciate your helping Georgiana to assume such duties.”

“She has a very generous nature; when your sister marries, her husband will have to guard against her giving away everything he owns.” Elizabeth laughed at the image of Georgiana handing over tapestries to the poor.

By now they were at the Fleming cottage, and Darcy again helped Elizabeth from the curricle. He carried the basket of supplies. When she knocked on the door, he heard cries of “Mrs. Darcy be here” as several children scrambled to answer the door. Having Darcy with her silenced the rabble, but as she stepped through the open door, Darcy noted how Elizabeth reached out to touch their heads or their faces and how she called each by name.

“Mrs. Fleming,” she said softly as she advanced toward the bed, “I hope you are feeling better.” Elizabeth sat on the edge of the bed without being asked. Darcy surreptitiously looked around the cottage; it was cleaner than most in which he had been. He placed the basket on the table.

“Mrs. Darcy, ye be honoring us by comin' to us today,” Mrs. Fleming gushed, “and ye brought the Master with ye. How blessed we be in yur doin' so.”The woman beamed at being so recognized.

“We brought some food for you and your grandchildren,” Elizabeth gestured to the basket.“Is your son in the fields?”

“He be so, Mrs. Darcy. Me son works hard to raise the children and to take care of his old mum.”

“You must be very proud of him.We will not keep you. I was concerned with your health.” Elizabeth stood to take her leave.

Mrs. Fleming caught her hand. “The Master—he be takin' ye to Tissington for the well dressin' this year?”

“Mr. Darcy and I have not discussed it, Mrs. Fleming.” Elizabeth shot a glance at Darcy. “We have several commitments including the marriage of Mr. Darcy's cousins to which we must attend.” Elizabeth knew Darcy would not be comfortable at such a
pagan
gathering.

“Ye be lookin' like the maids in the fields last year. I be sayin' so me self at the Festive Season gatherin'.”

“I thank you, Mrs. Fleming,” Elizabeth smiled. “Mr. Darcy and I will do our best. Please take care of yourself. There are treats for the children for after dinner.”

“Mr. Darcy, yur wife be a special one,” Mrs. Fleming called out to him.

“So I have noted, Mrs. Fleming.” Darcy extended his hand to Elizabeth. She slipped her arm through his and returned to the curricle.

“Tissington well dressing?” he asked once they were on their way again.

“Hannah told me about last year's mosaic when I was here last August. At the tenant celebration, Georgiana and I dressed as the two women in the mosaic dressed.Your sister wore the rich brown earth tones while I dressed in the green found in Derbyshire's rolling hills. I wanted to create a mood to assure the tenants Pemberley—the land—would always be there for them. Mrs. Fleming made the connection and told the others. Pretty soon Georgiana and I were part of the legend.” Elizabeth shifted, uneasy about how Darcy would react to such out-and-out manipulation on her part.

However, as he did that December afternoon, Darcy found the retelling amusing. A temporary sensation of Elizabeth interacting with his tenants in one of the public rooms at Pemberley overcame his senses. He heard Mr. Howard's voice.
“These people are not sophisticated, Mr. Darcy; they live their hard lives based on their beliefs and their traditions. Old Mrs. Fleming over there swears the mosaic art at the Tissington well dressing this summer
was your wife and your sister.”
As he did that day in December, almost as if he relived the moment in his memory, he turned to Elizabeth and asked,“And from where, may I ask, did you learn such devious manipulations, Mrs. Darcy?” His smile portrayed an unspoken interest.

“Should I respond as I did before?” Elizabeth searched Darcy's countenance for how far to push the memory.

“Please do,” Darcy said softly. By now they sat in the carriageway before the house.

Elizabeth forced herself to breathe. An emotional day, she knew not whether to allow herself to continue this trip down “memory lane” with Darcy. Finally she said enticingly, “From the master, my Love—from you.”