“Getting all of this to work will take time and practice, but the longer William and you are together, the easier it will become because you will know him better. Now, I have a present for you.” She went to a chest and took out a bottle. It was lavender water. “You will have to be clever about this because you do not want him to figure out what you are doing, but no man should know all there is to know about a woman.”
“Yes, I agree. A woman’s nature should be a mystery to a man.” Lizzy pulled the top off the bottle and put some lavender water behind her ears, and with a smile on her face, she said, “We shall see if this works. I certainly hope so.”
“You smell pretty,” Darcy said as Lizzy came into the room.
“Your aunt wanted to give me this.” She held out the bottle of lavender water for him to see.
“That is all she wanted?” Darcy asked, doubting it very much. You do not chase a groom away from his bride of two days so that you can give her lavender water.
“No, she wanted to tell me that if you are a grouch, it has nothing to do with your being a wolf. It has everything to do with your being a grumpy Fitzwilliam Darcy.”
“That’s it?”
Lizzy went to the window and pulled back the curtain. “Will, come here. You can see the man in the moon.”
“Yes, the two of us will soon be together,” he answered while slipping his hands around her waist.
“It will be Nell, you, and the man in the moon,” Lizzy said, correcting him. Oddly enough, Nell’s presence was a comfort to her. She did not like to think of him as a lone wolf.
“Oh, yes, I forgot about Nell.” The idea of being with Nell instead of his wife was a decidedly unattractive prospect, but he needed to talk to her about Monsieur Reynard.
Lizzy turned around and started to untie his neckcloth, and he responded by unbuttoning her dress. After slipping it off of her shoulders, he traced the outline of her neck with his tongue. She immediately responded to him, and he took her by the hands and walked backwards with her toward the bed.
After they had made love and Mr. Darcy had fallen asleep, Lizzy lay awake smiling. She was thinking how fortunate she was to have such a thoughtful and giving man as her husband, and his desire to please her was evident while they were making love. For her, the intimacies of the marriage bed had proved to be a pleasant surprise. All the old wives’ tales she had heard, and even Jane’s rendition of her wedding night, had proved to be untrue—at least for her. But there was a second reason she was smiling. Her very first effort at creating a distraction to overcome Mr. Darcy’s superior senses had been successful. When she had walked to the window, he had been unable to look into her eyes, and so he had failed to notice that she had avoided answering his question about his aunt. So the werewolf in Fitzwilliam Darcy could be got ’round, and that was a good thing to know. On the other hand, when she did want him to know something, that was easily done as well. Lizzy was beginning to think that she might have the best of both worlds.
When Lizzy awoke, she found her husband gone from their bed. This was becoming a habit, one she hoped to break once they got to Pemberley. Since Mr. Darcy said that he wanted to leave the first thing in the morning, she wondered why he had not awakened her, and when she looked at the mantel clock and saw that it was ten thirty, she nearly panicked. Because of the late hour, it was unlikely that they would be able to reach Pemberley by dark. But when she went to the window and opened the drapes, she understood why he had allowed her to sleep so late. Snow was falling, and no one was going anywhere. It looked as if Mr. Darcy would experience nightfall at Ashton Hall.
After performing her morning ablutions, Lizzy was about to ring for a maid when her husband walked in, and right behind him was a serving girl carrying a tray. After the girl left, he came to Lizzy and kissed her.
“I had hoped to serve you breakfast in bed,” Darcy said to his bride. “I assume you have looked outside.”
“Yes, I see that it is snowing.”
“We will have to remain here until it stops, and then Mercer will decide if we may leave tomorrow, which depends on whether the temperatures remain above freezing.”
Lizzy was unhappy with the idea of not getting to Pemberley in time for nightfall, but she did not want Mr. Darcy to know that. “Since we are delayed for at least one day, how shall we spend the day, dearest? A sleigh ride perhaps?”
“No, I do not think we should go outside at all. It is a soft slushy snow, and we will get soaked. Since Metcalf has not yet arrived with our luggage, we have nothing to change into.”
“That is true. Well, let us see what is here in the room. There is a volume of Walter Scott’s poems on the mantel. Would you like for me to read aloud to you?” Darcy shook his head. “Shall we invite your aunt, sister, and Mrs. Brotherton to play cards? All right, no cards. What if we go to the drawing room? Georgiana or I could play a tune on your aunt’s spinet.” Darcy continued to reject all her ideas.
“What about charades? Compose riddles? Sing carols?”
Darcy shook his head at every suggestion.
“If none of these appeal to you, what do you suggest we do?” Lizzy asked in an exasperated voice.
Darcy pointed to the bed.
“We cannot spend all day in bed!” Lizzy said, shocked. “What will your sister and aunt think if we remain closeted in our suite?”
Darcy picked his wife up, cradled her in his arms, and then carried her to the bed. After he lay down next to her, he whispered, “They will think we are newlyweds.”
Chapter 35
With a nearly full moon to light his way, Mercer checked on the conditions of the road that ran outside the gates of Ashton Hall. Because the temperatures had remained above freezing, the snow had turned to slush. As a former coach driver, he determined that there was a good chance that they could reach Pemberley with a few hours to spare if they were on the road by four o’clock in the morning. So at three o’clock, he knocked on his master’s door to let him know he thought that they should attempt it. Darcy agreed. If it was necessary for them to stop, there was a Council house between Ashton Hall and Pemberley where the others could spend the night, but it was Darcy’s preference to be home in time for nightfall.
When Darcy went back inside their room, he found Lizzy was already getting dressed, and she told him that she would go wake Georgiana and Mrs. Brotherton. She, too, wanted to be at Pemberley in time for Mr. Darcy to prepare for nightfall. With everyone moving apace, an hour later, they climbed into the carriage.
Because of their hasty departure, Lizzy would be unable to say good-bye to Mr. Darcy’s cantankerous aunt. In addition to being lively and unpredictable, it seemed as if Aunt Marguerite was the keeper of the family’s secrets, and she looked forward to returning to Ashton Hall in the spring. As Mercer drove down the tree-lined drive, Lizzy looked out the carriage window and saw a light in the turret window, and although she could not see Lady Ashton, she knew that she was wishing them Godspeed.
“How long do you think we will be on the road?” Lizzy asked her husband.
“The journey is usually between six and eight hours, but the conditions of the road will slow us down. There is also an incline that will require that we walk in order to lighten the load. So let us say ten hours and that will leave me plenty of time to prepare.”