The Trials of the Honorable F. Darcy (43 page)

***

The next day, the boat anchored in a secluded bay and they lounged on deck in their bathing suits.

“The crew of this ship seems to be invisible,” Elizabeth commented. Darcy laughed.

“Thanos has a very discreet crew. As you know, he enjoys being nude. He also enjoys the company of women who are not his wife. His crew has learned to be blind, deaf, and mute. They are handsomely paid and he is satisfied.” Elizabeth laughed and privately mused whether she could convince Darcy to go naked.

The temperature did not drop with the sun; even at night the air was hot. They stayed on deck as evening drew on. Elizabeth looked up and saw a million glittering stars.

“Do you see that star?” she said, raising her arm to point. Darcy positioned himself behind her so that he could follow the line of her arm and then nodded. “That’s the star Deneb, which is a bright blue supergiant. If you look just there, you will see three fainter stars. This is the constellation Cygnus, the Swan. It flies southward into the summer Milky Way. The head of the swan is called Albireo, which is actually two stars.” He followed the line of her finger as she pointed out the shape of the swan.

“The swan is flying into Aquila, the celestial eagle. See the triangle formed by those stars? The center, the brightest one, is Altair. In Greek mythology, Aquila was a servant to Zeus. He held his thunderbolts and ran his errands.”

Darcy pointed and said, “What is that?”

“That is Cassiopeia. See how it makes a “W”? It’s a circumpolar constellation, which means it is visible year round in the northern hemisphere. Cassiopeia was the wife of King Cepheus. She was very beautiful but she was also vain. She bragged that she and her daughter, Andromeda, were more beautiful than the sea nymphs, the Nereids. Poseidon punished her by sending the monster Cetus to ravage Cepheus’ land. Being loving parents, King Cepheus and Cassiopeia sacrificed Andromeda to Cetus to save their kingdom. But just as she was about to be killed in a particularly gruesome manner, Andromeda was rescued by Perseus.”

She pointed out a few other constellations and points of interest to him.

“Did you learn all of this in astronomy club?” he asked, amused.

“Actually, I
started
the astronomy club. My dad and I have always been interested in the stars. In case you didn’t know, I was kind of a daddy’s girl. We were always very close. Every time we went camping we would take the telescope. One of the games we would play was that we would pick a constellation and I would have to learn all the mythology behind it.”

“What was your favorite one?” he asked, glad that she was sharing this passion with him.

“Orion,” she said without hesitation. “But you can only see Orion in the winter, so it’s not visible now.”

“What is the myth behind Orion?” he prompted.

“Well, once upon a time, there was a poor shepherd named Hyrieus, who was a kind man who wanted nothing more than a son. One day he was visited by three strangers. He had no real food to give them, so he slaughtered his only animal, a bull. But as it turned out, the three strangers were Zeus, Hermes, and Poseidon in disguise. They were so pleased by his generosity that they granted his one wish
-
to have a son. They told him to bury the hide of the bull and to pee on it. Nine months later, a baby boy showed up. Hyrieus named him Orion, and he grew into a strong, handsome hunter.”

“So
that’s
where babies come from? Silly me, I’ve been going about it all wrong,” he mused. She laughed and continued.

“Orion was hired by King Oenopion to kill some monsters that were terrorizing his land. Orion succeeded and bragged that he was going to kill all of the wild animals on earth. Well, this didn’t make Gaia, the earth goddess, too happy so she sent a gigantic scorpion after Orion. Orion’s weapons were no good against the scorpion’s scales and he couldn’t fend off the stinger, so he was stung to death. They were both then set in the sky as constellations. The scorpion, Scorpio, appears to be chasing Orion through the sky.”

“Didn’t the ancient Egyptians build the pyramids to honor Orion?” he asked. She nodded.

“In Orion’s belt, the two large stars are aligned but the third, smaller star is slightly off the diagonal. The pyramids are aligned with the same setup; two large pyramids aligned with a smaller one slightly off the diagonal. Many other Egyptian pyramids seem to correspond with other stars,” she said. “The Egyptians were very connected with the heavens. They believed that the sun god Ra assumed the form of the pharaoh to impregnate the queen to produce the next divine king.”

“Does everything come back to sex with you, Lizzy?” he teased.

She laughed softly and leaned back into his warm arms. They sat together in silence for some time, listening to the water lap against the sides of the boat.

“Let’s go for a swim,” he said huskily into her ear. “A naked swim.”

She laughed and shook her head.

“Why not?” he asked. “The crew won’t care.”

“It’s not the naked part, it’s the swimming. I don’t know how to swim,” she smiled. He pulled away from her in order to look at her face.

“Really? You don’t know how to swim?” he asked, surprised. She shook her head. “Are you afraid of the water? Am I torturing you by making you spend five days on a boat surrounded by water?” he asked, concerned. She laughed.

“No, I just don’t know how to swim. I never learned. I don’t like it when I can’t touch bottom.”

“Will you come in with me if I hold onto you?” he asked. She hesitated and he whispered, “Please?” in her ear. She smiled and nodded. Delighted, he stood and promptly dropped his trunks. He grinned at her and turned to the side of the boat. She heard him slip into the water with a quiet
plop
. She peered over the edge and saw him emerge from the water. He flicked his hair back and beckoned her to join him.

With great trepidation, she turned and descended the ladder. At the bottom, she stopped.

“Come on, I’m right here,” he said gently behind her. She shook her head.

“I’m scared,” she laughed weakly, glancing over her shoulder at him.

“Elizabeth, I’m not going to let anything happen to you. Come on in.” He put one hand on her ankle to let her know that he was there. “Put you
r
foot in the water and let yourself down.” She obeyed his command and found herself floating in the water with Darcy’s arm around her waist. “Let go of the ladder,” he laughed gently in her ear.

“Easy for you to say, Aquaman,” she said shakily. He kissed her neck.

“Then I have you at my mercy,” he said and grabbed her breast with his free hand.

“Hey!” she laughed, letting go of the ladder to swat his hands. He pushed off the boat with his feet and pulled her out into the open water. He ducked below the surface and slithered around until he was in front of her, then surfaced. He shook his hair as her arms latched around his neck.

“That’s not so bad, is it?” he smiled. A moment passed and she did not loosen her grip on him. “You can stop choking me now.” She reluctantly loosened her arms a bit.

He enjoyed the soothing sensation of buoyancy and weightlessness as the waves swelled and dipped. The moonlight rippled on the surface, giving her skin a silvery glow. He coaxed her arms from his neck and held her hands while he pulled her through the water. He gently instructed her to kick, or to stroke, and soon she was swimming on her own.

“You are a quick learner,” he grinned. She smiled at him and took his hands, lacing her fingers through his.

“No, it’s just impossible to be scared when I’m with you,” she replied softly. He pulled her back toward the boat and floated behind her as she grasped the ladder. Suddenly, she turned back to him and put her arms around his neck. He grasped the ladder with his hands.

“I just remembered your ulterior motive in this swim,” she said as she wrapped her legs around his waist. He laughed softly.

“You aren’t naked,” he observed.

“Easily remedied,” she said. He nodded and with one hand untied the back of her top; she grabbed it before it floated away and tossed it on deck. He put one hand on her thigh as it gripped his hips and fingered the tie of her bikini bottom. She looked expectantly at him and he obliged by pulling the string. A moment later, the bottoms joined their mate on deck.

They floated in the water, their nakedness obscured from view. But his hand found her breast and his thumb stroked across her nipple while she kissed him. Her fingertips traced his collarbone and, as she cupped his neck with one hand, she deepened her kiss by opening her mouth and stroking her tongue across his lips. His mouth opened beneath hers and he took her lip gently between his teeth. He exhaled a sigh of pleasure when she pushed her tongue into his mouth. She pressed her torso tight against his, tensing all her muscles to be as close to him as possible. His arm trembled as he held onto the ladder, fighting the instinct to wrap both arms around her tightly. She felt his arousal pressing against her.

“Lizzy,” he said quietly. “You are a terrible tease.” She laughed softly.

“This was
your
idea,” she reminded him between kisses. “I’m not sure it’s even possible to make love like this.”

“Let’s not try, I can’t promise not to let go,” he said. He smacked her bottom lightly and she turned and climbed up the ladder. He smiled appreciatively as he watched her graceful form pull up the ladder, water cascading and trickling down in silvery rivulets. A moment later he joined her on deck. She was reclining seductively on a towel, smiling at him invitingly. He joined her on the towel and resumed his kisses.

“I’ve always wanted to do this,” she smiled under his lips.

“In case you’ve forgotten, we’ve done this on a number of occasions,” he laughed against her jaw line.

“I mean make love under the night sky,” she replied. “There’s something perfect about the eternity of the stars.”

Darcy paused in his kisses and looked into her eyes. He stroked a wisp of wet hair from her cheek with the back of his hand; she felt his wedding band graze her skin.

“Let them look down and envy
this
perfect moment,” he said softly.

She held his gaze and felt her chest constricting with the symphony of emotions she felt for him: love, admiration, respect, devotion, protection. She let out a little laugh as she felt her throat close, tears threatening to spring to her eyes.

“I love you, Fitzwilliam Darcy,” she said. She managed to push back the threatening tears, and squeezed her arms more tightly around him.

“And I love you, Elizabeth Darcy,” he replied, returning her hug. He was silent for a moment, letting her compose herself, kissing her cheeks. Then he glanced up at the sky and said with a mischievous grin,

“Shall we show those horny gods how it’s done?” Elizabeth laughed and nodded, pulling his lips down to hers, and gave him a deep kiss.

Their grinning kisses were soon replaced by smoldering, passionate ones. She ran her hands over his damp back, feeling the smooth skin over taut flexing muscles. She had always loved his long frame, the line of his torso as it tapered from broad shoulders to slender hips. So many times he had made her shiver with delight with his body. She closed her eyes and tipped her head back, exposing her throat to his seeking lips.

Darcy was intoxicated by her; the way her skin felt under his fingertips, the suppleness of her body beneath his, the way she still, after all this time, smelled like pears to him. He felt her stroke one hand down his back, the other tousling his wet hair. He heard himself telling her that he loved her; she was right, he
was
a chatty lover. From the earliest days of their relationship, when he made love with her she brought all of his emotions to the surface and everything that he wanted to tell her came bubbling forth. He was often rocked by the intensity of his feelings for her.

Their bodies joined and each felt the sensual frisson of their intimate connection. They moved together slowly, gently giving and receiving pleasure from each other. She whispered his name and he nodded, understanding what she wanted without more. His hand rested on her thigh as it pulled along his side, her foot trailing along his leg. He slid his hand along her leg, feeling her ankle beneath his fingers, the weight of his wedding band reminding him that he was hers forever.

Elizabeth plunged both of her hands into his hair, twining her fingers into his short waves. She sought his kisses again, hot and sensual as their lovemaking. He was so much taller than her, it was sometimes difficult to kiss while they were making love, but he would arch his body to meet her lips when she demanded it, as she did now. With his hips pressed firmly into hers, subtly stroking her from within, both hands supporting his weight, and with his shoulders hunched to capture her kisses, he brought her to completion and swallowed her gasps of ecstatic relief even as he expelled his own.

As their climaxes descended, he lowered himself to her and shifted until he could kiss her unimpeded. As so often happened, their powerful feelings after climax caused them to linger in deep, tender kisses, punctuated by warm and gentle endearments. They nuzzled their heads together and he could feel her eyelashes flutter on his cheeks.
I will love her forever
, he thought.
The stars are not the only things that are eternal.