*This story is copyright protected.
Elizabeth was unsure of how she managed to continue with the tour of the first floor, after all that Mrs Reynolds had told her. She was glad they had decided to do one floor per day otherwise, Elizabeth would most definitely be overwhelmed by it all. After making a few wrong turns, she breathed a huge sigh of relief, leaning her forehead upon the door of her bedchamber.
"Long day?"
Elizabeth screamed and spun around to find, Emily, who had startled and was now also screaming, hands covering her ears.
"I am sorry, Emily, I had not thought anyone would be in here," she said, laughing at herself.
Emily visibly relaxed and bent to retrieve the pillow, "Would you like me to have bath readied for you, Mrs Darcy?" she offered, with a small giggle escaping.
"Actually, that would be wonderful, thank you."
"It'll be just the thing to help you relax," she said, smiling cheerfully as she offered a curtsey and went to arrange her bath.
A short while later Elizabeth, eased herself into the warm, soothing water, hissing at the sting between her thighs and the aching in her muscles. She leaned her head upon the edge of the roll top bath, where Emily had arranged some towels and thought of all she had learned this morning. Her first instinct was to comfort him, but how…?
She very much doubt that she would appreciate it if she burst into his office climbed onto his lap and hugged him tight! She snorted inelegantly to herself as Emily re-entered her bathing room rolling up her dress sleeves.
"Would you like me to wash your hair, or would you like a little longer?" she asked politely.
"No, now is fine. Thank you," Elizabeth had to keep resisting the urge to be too familiar. Her and her sister had always shared a maid, but she had many other duties to occupy her at Longbourn, and so she and Jane would more often than not wash their own hair and help each other dress, when wearing their finer gowns.
Being Mrs Darcy, definitely came with its perks, she thought as Emily plucked the bar of soap from the side and began to lather her hands, before working the soap through her hair. It felt glorious, to have her hands massaging her scalp and it was over far too soon, but Elizabeth, followed Emily's instruction moving so that she could rinse her hair.
She fought her embarrassment at standing nude in front of yet another person, but Emily was holding the towel above her eye line, which Elizabeth was grateful for. When they walked back into the dressing room, she heard Emily gasp beside her. Looking at her she found that was looking past her and pointing over to the vanity table.
Upon it sat the most beautiful vase of red roses she had ever seen. She walked over to them and picked them up, bringing them to her nose to inhale their scent, then held them out for Emily to smell.
"They're beautiful!" she exclaimed, "Oh, and there is a note." Emily said, plucking it from the stems and passing it to Elizabeth, as she busied herself setting the flowers to rights and selecting some gowns for Elizabeth to choose from.
"She is beautiful, and therefore to be wooed;
she is a woman and therefore to be won" ~ William Shakespeare.
Your husband,
F.D
She clutched the card to her chest before secreting it away in the secret compartment of her jewelry box with the first card she received from the evening they attended the theatre.
Then she went over to Emily and chose her gown, allowing Emily to dry her hair, then decided that she would have a short nap before dinner. It had been a long few days and she wanted to show William, how appreciative she was of how hard her was trying.
Mr Darcy had felt guilty after the way things had been left between them and had remembered his Uncle Matlock sending flowers to his Aunt when she was cross with him. It was time to test if that tactic worked with Elizabeth too.
He left his study, to go and prepare himself for dinner when he happened upon Mrs Reynolds, who smiled warmly at his approach.
"How goes things with, Elizabeth?" he asked.
"Very well, Sir. She will make a fine Mistress." she gushed. He had underestimated his new wife greatly; she had shown such great promise of leadership and had already succeeded in winning over Mrs Reynolds!
"Very good. Has she retired to her rooms already?" he asked.
"I believe she did, we parted ways two hours ago, Mr Darcy."
"Thank you, Agatha," he said, patting her shoulder affectionately taking his leave and making his way to their apartments.
Knocking gently upon the adjoining door to Elizabeth's bedchamber, Darcy was shocked when her maid Emily answered the door.
Bobbing a small curtsey, "Mrs Darcy is sleeping, would you like me to wake her?" she asked.
"No, that will not be necessary, you may leave us for this evening."
"Very good, Sir." She said, offering another curtsey before leaving through the servant's entrance.
Walking over to the bed, William stopped, looking down at his young wife as she breathed evenly in her sleep. Her hair loose, cascaded in long dark waves against the white bed linens to rest past her breasts, her lips parted and begging for his attention, she was captivating. Unbidden, his mother laying up the grassing bank, her body cold, flashed in his mind obscuring Elizabeth. His chest tightening, he could not resist an old compulsion he had when his siblings were younger and bending towards her a fraction turning his head to listen for her breathing. To be precise, he listened to hear three breaths in and three out… then further still, to be sure he was not hearing things he placed his hand above her mouth to feel the small gusts of air as she exhaled, three times in and out, to be absolutely certain.
As he looked upon her sleeping for a moment, he felt peaceful and his heart fluttered slightly within his chest, as if awakening after a long sleep. Since he had met her his thoughts had been focused on what would make her happy. It was these moments with Elizabeth – the quiet and introspective moments – that he believed she might be able to help him keep the monsters at bay. That he could relinquish some of the control… but he could not do that to her. She was untarnished, if she knew what he had done, she would be frightened of him and would not want him to be near her. He frowned unable to define his feelings for her, he knew they weren't of love, as he would never succumb to such an emotion, it was not worth the pain. Regardless of what his feelings were, he knew for certain that he needed her, and he would not risk losing her, she could never know the truth…
Straightening the covers, he looked to the fireplace to check that there was no fire burning, of course there wasn't. the weather had been relatively warm of late, with the odd spells of rain here and there. Cursing under his breath, he went over to it knowing that he would not be able to leave without feeling to see if any heat radiated from it. Once satisfied he went to his valet Steven's and gave instruction to ready his bath water and ordered dinner sent up to their sitting room. He would not wake her until the food had been delivered, she had experienced a great many changed and he noticed that she hadn't eaten properly since they had married, and he would not allow her to go hungry.
Elizabeth awoke to noises coming from through the adjoining door. Rubbing at her eyes she noticed that the room had grown dark and the a few lamps had been lit, how long have I been asleep for? And where is Emily? she thought moving to her vanity table, brushing her hair and braiding it quickly to rest over one shoulder. Donning her robe, she moved to press her ear against the adjoining door when it opened, she jumped back startled, but let out a nervous giggle upon seeing William standing in the doorway.
He looked as handsome as ever, albeit a little less formally attired. He wore a bottle green and black striped waistcoat and white shirt and snowy white cravat, with his shirt sleeves rolled up to reveal his muscled forearms. She could not resist her gaze lingering at the exposed muscular skin of his arms, they were so masculine with the coarse veins sitting upon the surface of his pale skin. His shirt was tucked into grey breeches, but he was sans his stockings, she frowned and could not remember ever having even seen her father's bare feet. How odd that this would strike her as very intimate considering all that they had shared.
William wiggled his toes and she looked up to find him smirking. He could be much like Hugo, when he was in this playful mood, the difference being that he was always a man, and never became boyish. The thought saddened her a little, as she realised, he probably did not remember how to be carefree…
"I should hate to think I caused such sadness to cast shadows in your eyes, Elizabeth," he said, reaching up to clasp her chin so that she could not avert her gaze.
Reaching up she placed her hand upon his wrist, and ignored his slight stiffening, knowing one of his scars lay beneath her palm, "I am not sad because of you, I realised I have neglected to write to my father and tell him how the library here compares to the one at Darcy House,"
He relaxed, the tension leaving his body as he moved to take her hand and lead her into the room. Elizabeth peered around him, surprised to find she was in a sitting room.
"I thought… all this time I thought your bedchamber was beyond that door." she said, with a chuckle.
"No, this our joint sitting room," he clarified.
"Well that is just silly! Why do we need so many?" she asked.
"I confess, I have never used mine, and I have tended to hoard my favourite books in here." he said with a small shrug looking at the many shelves lining the walls of the room. "Before I forget, if you are missing your family, you may invite them to stay with us next month, we could invite the Bingley's and the Matlocks too. I must tell you that I have already given your father leave to come and visit without warning. I said he should feel free to take advantage of whichever of our libraries is closest." he chuckled and froze when he looked up to see Elizabeth staring at him, teary eyed.
"I do not believe anyone has ever been so considerate of my happiness before…" she whispered, standing upon her tiptoes and kissing him on the tip of his nose.
Embarrassed, William cleared his throat and stepping back asked, "Are you hungry?"
"Famished!" she admitted, smiling sheepishly a hand now resting on her stomach.
"It is a warm evening, so I took the liberty of having our meal served on the balcony…"
Elizabeth gasped her delight when she spied the curtain billowing slightly out onto the balcony. She could see a table had been simply set, with a single candelabra and just past it, a glimpse of the spectacular view of the lake and the rose garden beyond it, could be seen.
They paused at the threshold of the balcony to slip their feet into matching sheepskin slippers. Then William escorted her to where she would be sitting and held out her chair for her.
Once seated, William placed a plate before her and uncovered it, to reveal a starter of pâté and some thinly sliced toast. As he placed his plate, where he was sitting and went to place the covers on the table against the wall, he turned back to her happily.
"I hope you do not mind, I dismissed the staff. Sometimes it is nice to do these things for one's self."
"I agree, shall I pour?" she said gesturing to the decanter of wine resting on the table between. She had yet to figure out whether was partial or not but was learning it was best to not ask him outright as he became an impenetrable mask. She smiled towards him innocently.
"Hmmm," he said, as he took his seat opposite her, "No, thank you I am happy with water. But, please help yourself, my Aunt Violet recommended this vintage to me as it is one of her favourites. Although, I have been warned it is quite strong, and so best enjoyed with one's meal." he chuckled.
She poured herself a glass, as the wine hit her taste buds, her eyes widened in wonder, "She has excellent taste! It is delicious. You must try some." she said, taking another sip, before setting her glass down, she hadn't thought before she said he should try some, but then maybe he might just divulge a little something at her innocent probing.
To her shock, he leaned over and instead of pouring himself a small measure, picked up her glass in his long, elegant fingers, and took a sip from the exact spot her lips had been moments before. In reality he had wanted to taste the wine from her lips, but he would not distract her until she had eaten a full meal. She watched her husband, fascinated and wished he had removed his cravat, she would have loved to watch the movements of his neck as he swallowed.
"Mmm, you are right, that is delicious." he said, huskily. His eyes glittering with amusement and desire.
"If you have not, had this wine before, does that mean you prefer whiskey, or perhaps brandy?" she asked, as she spread some of the pâté on the toast, and sighing her delight as she took her first bite.
"No, I not overly fond of spirits or wine, I enjoy a sip or two… men, especially my family tend to not understand that and so I tend to take what they offer and swap it nurse it over the course of an evening." he said, tucking into his food.
She giggled at that, "I confess, I had noticed once that you had done that, but then you had a glass of wine at the theatre and so disregarded my observation and assumed you were partial, after all. Well, now I know that you do not like wine, spirits or peas! You should be careful, you know not yet whether I may keep them in my arsenal for when I want to blackmail you into doing something for me!" she teased, dabbing her lips with her napkin.
He stood to remove their plates, stopping before her and cupping her chin so that she had to crane her neck to look up at him, "I would by no means, suspend any pleasure of yours, my wife." her breath hitched, as he slowly lowered his head to hers and captured her lips with his. it was not a kiss that eluded to more, but a kiss of affection and made her feel wanted by this powerful man before her. As though it was a kiss they would share as a sweet gesture of love.
William made swift work of clearing away their first course and placing the main course before them; roasted pheasant, with boiled vegetables and buttered potatoes with a red wine and plum sauce. He helped her to a little more wine, and topped up her water glass, before resuming his seat.
"How was is the tour of the property going? Mrs Reynolds said that she had a pleasurable morning with you." he said, conversationally.
"Yes, we made a plan to do the ground floor last, as that is the most important as that is where we shall entertain guests. Instead we started on the first floor, although I am eager to see the library which I believe is situated on the second floor?"
"Yes, it starts on the second floor, but it is in the centre of the property and it goes up from the second floor through to the fourth floor, stopping before the attics." he laughed, seeing her awe at the prospect. "If you are not too tired after dinner, I can show it to you if you like?"
"I should like that very much!" she said excitedly. "Today we finished our tour in that gallery, and I saw the sculptures of your pets…"
"The children – uh, the twins and Georgie," he ushed a little at having referred to them as a father might, "They asked to have one made in memory of the family dog, called Dog, and then it turned into a tradition so that none of the other, dogs, cat's etcetera. Did not feel left out. However, I drew the line at the horses being included." he said, rolling his eyes affectionately.
Elizabeth paused briefly, before she continued, "I saw the portraits of your mother and father… you are the image of your father and I have hear how he was a great landlord and husband," she said, no doubt William noticed she did not mention that he was a 'great father.' "Your mother was beautiful, Mrs Reynolds told me of how she radiated love and happiness wherever she went." she finished, and went back to her food, not expecting him to answer, but this evening he was full of surprises.
William looked out over the lake and the rolling hills, before saying, "Yes, she was the best mother, I was very lucky to have been born to her," in his head he added, 'she sadly was not so lucky to have born me as her son…'
They finished their meal in silence, but it was a companionable silence. Both lost in their own thoughts, until they finished their final course and moved back into their shared sitting room. William, sat on the settee and noticed the stiffness in Elizabeth, as she pulled her legs beneath her as she sat next to him. He should not have given in and engaged in intimacies with her this morning. He would need to allow her to rest a few days…
"Do not look at me like that, I feel aches like this after walking too far!" she said, leaning her head upon the back of the sofa, trying to stifle a yawn.
"I forgot to ask, whether your rooms were to your liking?" he enquired. "They are beautifully decorated; they are just perfect. Why?" she said turning her head lazily towards him. The wine had relaxed her to the point where she could hardly keep her eyes open.
"No reason, they have not been touched since they belonged to my mother, but please do not feel that you cannot change anything. I want you to feel at home here." William said, sincerely.
"I see no need to change anything, I believe I would have decorated them in the same fashion myself!" she said, smiling drowsily.
He pulled her into him and ran his fingers through her hair, waiting for her to drift back to sleep. They would visit the library together tomorrow evening, he would be sure to tell Mrs Reynolds to leave that part of the tour to him.
After placing her within her bed sheet's he could not help but once more check her breathing and the fireplace as he had done earlier, then snuffing out the remaining candles and checking they were cooled, he reverently placed a chaste kiss upon her lips and retired to his room.