“Oh, William,” she whispered against his chest. “I missed you so much.”
He caught her lips in an engaging kiss. “I think that I shall never allow you to leave my side again.” He had found himself distracted all day by her absence, wondering what she was doing, and whether she was thinking of him, and to hear her acknowledgment of missing him filled him with the contentment of knowing that he was loved by the woman he adored so completely. Now that he was holding her in his arms, however, he began finding her distracting in a completely different way, and his hand began wandering down to the curve of her hips.
It was not fair, thought Elizabeth, that he could evoke a reaction from her body with such ease. She fought against the urge to press herself against him.
He pulled her closer to him as he deepened the kiss to taste the pleasures of her mouth. He could feel her response as her lips pressed against his, but her body did not melt into his in the way he so loved. When he lifted his head for a moment, he said, “Reluctant, my love?”
Elizabeth, knowing that she could be all too tempted if she allowed herself to be, said, “Georgiana is here, William. You cannot simply carry me off to bed.”
He said an ungentlemanly word, which together with the irritated look on his face, produced a soft laugh from her. He nipped at her ear. “Are you laughing at me, my love?” he growled.
She could not help the mischievous look on her face. “You are very amusing, after all,” she murmured, her words cut off by a gasp as he began to assault her neck with light kisses that seemed to send currents of energy through her.
He pressed himself against her in such a way as to leave her in no doubt as to his potent arousal. “Let us see how long you can laugh then,” he replied, moving his hands seductively over her hips while his lips drifted downward to her collarbone.
“William,” she protested gently, finding it very difficult not to arch her body into his enticing touch as desire began to wend its way through her. She was beginning to gain some understanding of why his family considered him impulsive, she thought. “I did miss you today,” she admitted.
“I cannot say I am sorry to hear it, since you were hardly out of my thoughts all day,” he replied.
“I wish that we could return to Pemberley,” she said somewhat dreamily. “There were not so many people bent on taking you away from me there.”
He leaned his cheek against her hair, still finding the experience of having Elizabeth express her affection for him to be a heady one. “My dearest love,” he said, feeling his love for her to be greater than he could ever hope to express. “I would like nothing better than to have you completely to myself.”
They remained thus, murmuring endearments, for a brief while, which came to a close when Darcy told her that he had something to show her. After a last kiss, she stood, leaving him free to fetch a paper from his desk. He handed her several closely written pages.
“What is this?” she enquired.
“It is a copy of the settlement I made on you while I was at my solicitor’s office today. I thought you might like to see it.”
She gave him a grateful glance, knowing that he had no responsibility to share it with her, and that in showing it to her he was respecting her desire for involvement in decisions regarding her. She read through it carefully, noting the provisions for her future should she outlive him, and for any children they might have, and paused when she reached the section regarding her annual allowance. Without looking up, she said slowly, “This is very generous, William, but I came to you without a dowry, and there is no need to settle this sort of money on me.”
He tipped her chin up so that she looked at him. “Elizabeth, this is an appropriate settlement for my wife, regardless of how you came to me, and I will not treat you like a poor relation. You will have significant expenses in maintaining the standards necessary for my wife. You will,” he paused, and smiled knowingly at her “for example, clearly have a substantial need for replacing clothing.”
She could not help smiling at his words, but still added, “I still believe that this is far too generous.”
“It is done already, my love,” he said, not without pleasure. “You may as well accustom yourself to it.”
She handed the papers back to him, and kissed him affectionately. “Well, I thank you, then, and I am glad you know that I did not marry you for your fortune.”
“Of that I am quite clear, my dearest.”
“And thank you for showing it to me; I do appreciate being involved.”
He looked rather more pleased by these thanks than her earlier ones. “I have one more thing for you as well,” he said.
“Am I required to guess what it is, or do I get a hint?”
“How many kisses is a hint worth?” he asked mischievously.
She put her arms around his neck and pulled his lips towards hers. “Kisses are free,” she said, demonstrating her point.
When she released him, he said, “In that case, I shall not require you to guess.” He reached his hands behind her neck and unhooked the chain of the small amber cross she customarily wore. From a box in his pocket he removed another necklace, this one an elegant pendant of pearls set in gold, obviously expensive yet simple enough for everyday wear, and replaced the other one by fixing it around her neck.
She lifted it to examine it more closely. “Thank you, William,” she said warmly. “It is lovely. But I hope you know that you need not buy me gifts; you are all that I need.”
He gathered her into his arms. “I enjoy buying you gifts, so you should accustom yourself to that as well.” She laid her head upon his chest, hearing the reassuring sound of his heartbeat.
A knock came at the door, and Darcy released her to open it. Colonel Fitzwilliam entered, and Elizabeth colored as he gave his cousin a look that made her suspect that he had no doubts as to why the door had been locked. “Excellent news, Darcy,” he said exuberantly. “Wickham accepted the offer with only minor alterations, and your sister, madam,” he paused to bow in Elizabeth’s direction, “is at your uncle’s house on Gracechurch Street.”
Elizabeth pressed her hand over her heart as a look of delight came to her face. “That is wonderful news, indeed,” she cried. “Thank you, thank you again and again for all you have done in this.”
“It was my pleasure, Mrs. Darcy. Your husband has the more trying position of having to foot the bill,” said the colonel, adroitly turning her attention back to Darcy, who did not appear pleased by his wife bestowing her bright smiles upon his cousin.
She turned a radiant look onto Darcy. “He is quite correct,” she said softly. “You are the one I should be thanking, and I do thank you, again and again, in the name of all my family.”
He kissed her lightly on the forehead. “It is no more than I ought to have done. Perhaps we should call at Gracechurch Street later ourselves.”
The excursion to the Gardiner home went as well as could be expected. Lydia was Lydia stilclass="underline" untamed, unabashed, wild, noisy, and fearless, talking constantly about her upcoming wedding and all the clothes she wished to purchase for it. Elizabeth, mortified by her behavior, tried to keep her as far as possible from Darcy, thinking he would be quite justified in thinking Lydia not worth the small fortune he was spending to rescue her. Fortunately, Lydia had no interest in someone as dull as Mr. Darcy, even now when he was known to be her brother.