Prologue

Darcy walked to the foot of the bed and looked at his new bride. Her long ebony eyelashes rested on her cheeks and he wished he could see what dream was responsible for the contented little sigh that escaped her lips. Her peaceful countenance was almost too serene to disturb. Almost. Carefully, he reached his arm up under the feather duvet until he found her feet. He began to tickle her and was rewarded with a series of kicks and some low grumbling that spoke volumes of her displeasure. A mischievous smile lit up his face. He noted that tickling could stir her, but if he wanted her awake, he would need to resort to more drastic measures. He reached further up her legs and found her knees through the gentle touch of his fingertips. Then when he had narrowed in on the region for attack, he slipped his ice cold hands onto the back of her knees and laughed as she woke with a start.

"William!" She screamed jerking her legs away from the assault. "What are you doing?"

"Good morning, my love. Awake already?"

Elizabeth pouted as she carefully tucked the blankets around her securely creating a cocoon of warmth. "You purposely woke me and you know it."

With a look of complete innocents, Darcy said, "I believe, my dear, you are thinking of yesterday. I could not possibly have awaken you this morning. You asked me yesterday not to."

"You deny tickling my feet and then warming your hands on me just now?"

"Oh my. Did that wake you?"

"You most certainly know it did. And that was your intent."

"No. I most assuredly deny that I woke you this morning." Lizzy looked at her husband with a knowing look one gives a child who is obviously lying, and Darcy removed a gold watch from his pocket, opened it, and said, "as this timepiece will attest, I could not have woken you this morning for it is now half past noon."

Lizzy's face lit up and she lunged from her cocoon toward the object in her husband's hand. "You had it fixed!" He smiled and handed her the watch.

"Of course I did. Your grandfather's watch is not merely an antique, exquisitely made, and very valuable, it has something no other watch has — a special place in your heart."

Lizzy turned the time piece over in her hand then held it to her ear. "I can hear it ticking. Thank you, William."

"Of course." He watched her examine it and remembered an interesting feature. "I went by to check on the progress while the piece was disassembled. The watch has some beautifully engraved images on the inside face. It seems very unusual. On this model, the inside face would only be visible once the watch is taken apart. So no one would be able to enjoy the art work except for a watch maker. Do you know why your grandfather decided to do this?"

"Oh, my grandfather did not commission the piece. He won it in a card game. I do not know why the original owner might have done that. When my father married, grandfather gave it to him as a gift and told him it had always brought lucky the owner. My father told me that he believes I was the good luck that was brought to him, which is why he gave it to when we married."

"Well you should keep your watch," Darcy said wrapping his hands around hers and closing them around the watch. "I have you and that is all the luck I will ever require."