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 still: 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.
Darcy spent most of the visit in the company of Mr. Bennet, a situation that placed him on the defensive even when his father-in-law was most cordial. Elizabeth, however, could tell more immediately that the brunt of her father’s anger with her husband had passed, and had the satisfaction of seeing Mr. Bennet taking pains to get acquainted with him.
After a lengthy discussion, Darcy asked Elizabeth to join them, leaving Lydia to sulk over her neglect. “Elizabeth,” Darcy said, “your father has informed me that he plans to depart for Longbourn tomorrow morning.”
“I see nothing further that I can do in London apart from fretting, and I can do that equally well in my own library,” said Mr. Bennet, with more of his old dry humor than Elizabeth had heard since their arrival in London. “Your aunt is likewise returning to London with the children tomorrow. Lydia will have to remain here until the wedding, of course. The question is as to what the two of you wish to do.”
Elizabeth glanced at Darcy, whose countenance was unrevealing. He said, “We will need to be in London in two weeks for your sister’s wedding, since that is when the financial arrangements are to be finalized, but in the meantime we can do as you wish—we can travel to Hertfordshire, or we can remain in town.”
Having taken earlier the difficult step of acknowledging that Darcy had the right to make this decision on his wife’s behalf, Mr. Bennet was pleased to see him turning the question to Elizabeth.
“We really must go to Longbourn soon in any case,” Elizabeth said. “I suppose my preference would be to do so now, so that after Lydia’s wedding, we would be free to return to Pemberley.”
Darcy’s eyes lit at the idea that Elizabeth was anxious to go home, to
Mr. Bennet grimaced slightly, less than pleased to hear that Lizzy was desirous to leave the environs of Hertfordshire. In the interest of tranquility, however, he said, “I wrote to your mother this afternoon; I am not certain whether she will receive the letter or not before I return. I elected not to mention your marriage in it, Lizzy, since I did not know whether you preferred to announce it yourself.”
“We had originally planned to do so, but that was before we knew that we would be coming to London,” she replied. “I have not given it any particular thought since then, given how much else has been happening. We can tell her when we arrive at Longbourn, though.”
With a wry smile, Mr. Bennet said, “Now, as you know, Lizzy, your mother’s nerves and I are old
