Imperative: Volume 2, A Tale of Pride and Prejudice (57 page)

Darcy laughed and hugged her again.  “Thank you, dear.” 

“I am not ever hosting that . . .
woman
in my home.”  Darcy tilted his head and she closed her eyes.  “Oh all right, she is my sister’s sister and she may come.  But do not expect me to be turning cartwheels with the prospect.”

“I doubt that Bingley and Jane were very happy about asking for the favour.  I can imagine that being in Scarborough amongst the relatives, they were feeling very pressured to do something about Miss Bingley.   As he is the head of the family, it falls to him.  I think that we are really just being asked to provide them a refuge from your mother until his lease is up and then . . . hopefully by then a home can be identified for them.” 

“Is it uncharitable to feel a certain amount of satisfaction that they have to bear some difficult relatives, too?” 

“Probably, but I do not hold it against you.”  He smiled and kissed her cheek when she closed her eyes.  “I think that you should reserve determining your opinion of your sister and her motives to when she is actually here.  I know how hurt you were with her letters, and how hard it was not being able to defend your absence from Longbourn.”

“I should not have had to defend myself!  I said my goodbyes!  That is what is most upsetting.  My name is Darcy, not Bennet.”

“Thankfully, yes.  But . . . just . . . I have learned the value of letting things go.  You have taught me this, have you not?”

She looked at him and pursed her lips.  “Unfair.”

“No.  What is unfair is that we will have people visiting.”  He sighed, “So much for our peace.”

“They are not coming tomorrow, dear.  Neither is Georgiana.”

“Forgive me; I am possessive of this time alone.  What of the Gardiners?”

“They will be in Derbyshire next month.  I cannot wait to see them.”  She smiled when she saw his smile return.  “I am so glad that you like them.” 

“So am I, and I
do
miss Bingley and you
do
miss Jane.”  Darcy closed his eyes.  “And that leaves Aunt Catherine’s letter.” 

“I could not bear to open it without you near.  Am I a coward?”

“No, merely cautious.  Who knows what is sealed within those pages?” He kissed her temple.  “Relax love; let us enjoy our solitude while it lasts.” 

The two settled into companionable silence.   They were just beginning to nod off when a breeze ruffled Elizabeth’s hair and she opened her eyes. “It looks as if a good stiff wind blew the laundry from the line.”  She observed sleepily from her position within Darcy’s embrace.  The two of them sat reclined beneath a tree upon a blanket found in the back of the curricle.  Their bare feet were entwined and warmed by the dappled sunlight shining through the leaves.  Around them were scattered nearly all of their clothes, save for Elizabeth’s unfastened gown and Darcy’s breeches and loose shirt. 

“mmmm.”  He buried his nose in her hair and breathed in the scent. 

“More cider?”  She giggled when one of his eyes opened and looked to the nearly empty jug lying on its side by one of his discarded boots.  “Are you drunk, Will?”

“I am . . . very relaxed.” 

“Too bad.  I was just considering what more I could do to relieve the stress of the day for you . . .” Her fingers slid up his chest beneath his shirt to caress the soft nest of dark hair that bloomed there.  “But . . . if you are already relaxed . . .”

“Lizzy . . .” Darcy’s palm glided up over her waist to her shoulder, and pulling down her dress, he cupped her breast and gently took the nipple in his mouth. Her breath caught and she rested her cheek in his hair.  Satisfied with her soft moan he fixed her gown and kissing her forehead, hugged her to him.  “We have all of the time in the world to relax each other.  We are on nobody’s schedule but our own.” 

“I keep forgetting that.” 

“Did you not just remind me of that?”  He chuckled and she looked up at him.  “Perhaps
you
are a little drunk?”

“Maybe . . . You spoke of wanting me in a meadow . . .”

“Do you know why?”  She shook her head and he entwined their fingers.  “I have anticipated this since . . .  since I saw you walking one day, alone as usual.  You were going up to that little knoll you favoured.”

“Oakham Mount?”

“Yes. That is the place.”

“It is not so little.”  Darcy raised his brows and looked around them.  “Well, in comparison to the Peaks . . .”  He laughed and she slipped one hand under his bottom and pinched.  “You were spying?”

“Not intentionally.” He saw her brows rise.  “Very well, it was intentional.  I wanted to see what you were about, walking alone . . . so very alone.”

“Were you having lascivious thoughts?”  She gasped.

“Oh, yes.”  He nodded unrepentantly.  “Most definitely, yes.  I saw you climb that hill so vigorously and I saw you remove your bonnet.  Your hair became unbound and . . .” 

“Your heart is pounding!”  Elizabeth held her palm to his chest and stared open-mouthed.  “Your cheeks are flushed, and . . .” She looked at his breeches, “Fitzwilliam Darcy!”

“Lust, Lizzy, pure lust!”  His eyes twinkled and drawing her dress down to her waist, he watched with delight the blush spreading over her breasts and up her throat. “Do you know how much I wanted to climb after you?”

“When was this?  How long had you known me?”

“Perhaps a fortnight?  We had interacted several times by then.”

“Fought.”

“Courted.”  He laughed as her eyes rolled.  “I wanted you.”

“Not to marry, but to have.” 

“Did you want me?”  He whispered and stroked back the curls around her face.  “You know what the ache in your loins means now.  When I touch you, is it what you imagined then?”

“I was hardly thinking of you touching me.”  She looked down and tried to ignore the shivers travelling over her body.  Darcy watched her nipples tighten as her desire grew.  She licked her lips and gooseflesh covered her arms.  He turned her face and his soft, warm mouth found hers.  Clasping her to him, he lifted her onto his lap and they curled together, his hand caressing over her breasts as she clung to his shoulders and wound her fingers into his hair.  “Willllll.”  She whispered at last when his mouth trailed down her throat and his hand bunched her skirt up over her waist.  Elizabeth watched as he drank from her breasts again.  His nose was pressed into the soft flesh and his long lashes brushed her skin.   “Ohhh.”  Elizabeth’s head fell back when his tenderly probing fingers slid between her thighs.  “Willlll.”  She let go of him and opening his breeches, held onto his shoulders and slid down, encompassing his rigid pole. 

“Oh
yes
!”  He moaned and laid his head back against the tree.  Looking down, he found that his view was obstructed by the gown, and quickly it was lifted up and away.  Darcy stared, gripped by
absolute possession as he watched his erection disappearing, inch by awesome inch into her body.  When she had all of him, he lifted his hips.  Elizabeth gasped, but held his eyes.  “How do you feel, dearest?”  He growled

“Sated.”  She murmured and holding his shoulders, kissed him hungrily. 

Darcy grasped her head and met her insistent, rampant kisses stroke for stroke,  then breaking away, pressed his palm against her tight flat belly and felt himself move within her.  Closing his eyes, he groaned.

Elizabeth moved with him, resting her head on his broad shoulder while his hands gripped her hips and lifted her up and down to the rhythm his body demanded.  Letting go he wrapped his arms around her and found her mouth, and it was while locked in their kiss that they fell over onto the blanket.  Darcy’s mouth rested on her head.  Hot pants mixed with his steady low groans, filling her ear as he thrust in and out.  Elizabeth clasped his bottom, whispering his name between cries of pleasure.  Darcy’s moans became erratic and letting go of her, he pushed up so that the only point of contact between them was their pounding, grinding hips.  He nearly forgot to breathe as suddenly a surge of intense power shot through his groin and up his spine. When his eyes opened, he swallowed and gazed upon the sleepy, glowing woman below. 

Darcy drew a deep breath and laughed.  “You look how I feel.” 

“I feel like I am floating.”  She whispered and watched him slowly withdraw.  Darcy looked down at himself and back up to see where she was focussed.  Her bottom lip caught in her teeth was nearly enough to send him plunging back in again.

Darcy collapsed beside her with an elated smile.  “I certainly was not able to dream of loving you like this when I stared at you in Hertfordshire.  I was in enough trouble with the thoughts I did entertain.”  He leaned and kissed her laughing lips.  “I could not imagine bringing you such satisfaction either.  I would not know how until I loved you.”  His palm passed over her belly and he asked softly, “I did no harm?”

“The farthest thing from it.  You are always so worried for me, Will.”

Darcy read her smiling eyes and shrugged.  “I think of those broken condoms and wonder how you can tolerate me.  And then when we are joined, all I want is more and more.  It was . . . I cannot describe how good it feels to . . . How do you fit him into your slight body?” 

“Who?”  She laughed when he nodded shyly at his groin.  “Oh Will!  It has a name?” 

“No.”  Darcy’s cheeks were flushing.  “You have to understand that . . . well this part of a man is quite independent in nature and . . . demanding.  Marriage is truly a godsend.” 

“Is that so?”  Elizabeth rolled onto her stomach and propped her head up with her hand.  “Do tell?”

“Oh, what have I done?”   He laid his head on his arm.  “My blasted tongue is loose again.  I thought I had learned to control it at last.  You see what an affect you have on me?”

“I happen to love your blasted tongue.”
 
She stroked her finger over his lips and then touched the soft hair on his cheek.  “Is this what you thought lovemaking would be like?” 

“No.  I . . .” He stopped, becoming lost watching the play of sunlight over her glowing skin.  “Lovely . . .” He whispered, caressing his hand over her.  The breeze ruffling hair reminded him of their location, and it was only with extreme reluctance that he reached for her dress. Helping her to pull it over her head, he buttoned his breeches and they curled back together.  “This was a dream fulfilled today.” 

“No, it was not.  Your dream had us in a meadow full of flowers.”  Elizabeth hooked her hand behind his neck and drew his face down to kiss his mouth.  “We are beneath a tree.”

“I have always admired your powers of observation, my love.”  He murmured against her lips.

“So we will have to repeat this.”

“Soon.” 

“Oh yes.”  They kissed again. 

“And wear fewer clothes.”  He waved his hand over the mess around them and laughed.  “Too much time is wasted disrobing.” 

She caressed his hair and he missed the change in her tone, “Will you answer my question?”

Darcy kissed her temple and closed his eyes.  “What did you ask?”

“When you were with other women, was it like this?”

His eyes opened.  “That is not what you asked.”

“It is what I am asking now.”  Darcy said nothing and watched her take his hand and trace a finger over his ring as she spoke. “I am glad that you are not immediately trying to placate me with a resounding no.” 

“Are you?  I am wondering why you would bring up the question at all.”  He asked softly, “What do you really want to know?”

 Hesitating, she kept her eyes on her tracing finger.  “You spoke of watching and desiring me, and I wondered what you thought you would feel if you climbed after me at Oakham Mount.  We were not together and certainly we had no expectations of ever being together.  If your experience then was only of courtesans, did you think that being with me would be different?  Or better?   Could you imagine what it would be to . . . embrace someone you loved?  Or did you think of me like those women you . . . paid.”  She was blushing, but she finally raised her eyes.

Darcy considered the questions, and she appreciated the thought he was putting into his answer.  “Those rare experiences with courtesans were . . . good for a brief release but always they were followed by great emptiness.  That is why I stopped going.  Well, that and not wishing to risk my health.”  He shrugged.

Elizabeth’s hand went to her mouth, “The condoms did not fit . . . Oh, thank heaven!”

Darcy laughed and blushing, shook his head.  “Yes . . . well, I remember a certain night at Darcy House when we were cursing that very fact.  That is why I worry about being too much for you, even if I do lose all sense of restraint when I feel you.”  He caressed his hand through her hair and smiled when she did, “When I used to watch you . . . and you know that I watched you a great deal.”

“I do.” 

“You see, even then you were bringing me comfort.”  Elizabeth smiled and they kissed.  “When I watched you, not once did I ever imagine being
with
you,” he looked down to his lap and back to her eyes, “without it being . . . an act of love.  Not even when I let my thoughts go to my wildest fantasies, my appetite for you to be,”  He blushed anew but ploughed on, “bent over a billiards table, or up against a tree with your leg high in the air, or . . .  Oh my . . . swimming naked in Pemberley’s lake in the moonlight.”  Elizabeth’s hand was to her mouth and he laughed and nodded.  “Yes, Lizzy.  Yes, I do think about these things and so many more. But always . . . Oh Lord, always, I wanted it to be just as thrilling for you.  I guess . . . I always just wanted to love you.  My heart knew long before my head.”

“How do I respond to that?” 

He laid his head back against the tree.  “Am I shameless?”

“No.”  She hugged him tighter and laughed.  “Adventurous, maybe.”

“I told you that I have a very active imagination.”

“Still waters run deep.”  She caressed back his hair and smiled.

“Passion runs deep.”  Their eyes held and drawing a breath, he blushed, “I also think about loving you slowly before a fire, or all night long in our bed, over and over.” His hand waved.  “Under a tree on a blanket.” His head shook while he played with her hair. “I do not know.  When it comes to you,  I am insatiable.  It has always been this way.”