Gentle Reader,

I'm sorry for the delay in updating-I can't even begin to tell you how stressful the last couple of months have been for me. There was also a little indecision about how I wanted to have this chapter go.

Thanks again for your patience, I won't make you wait anymore.

Love,

RobinDesBois

Darcy woke naked and happy. The memories of the previous evening came flooding back as he stretched out his arms, only to find himself alone in the cottage's small bed.

This was not what Darcy had planned for this morning. He was going to pull Elizabeth into his arms and make slow, sweet love to her, the way he hadn't been able to for the last few months. He planned to watch her reach the height of her pleasure several times before releasing his own, to make sure she knew how much he still loved and wanted her.

Well, thought Darcy, if nothing else, last night should ensure she knows I want her. He got out of bed to locate his wife, only to be distracted by the black corset still lying on the floor, near where he remembered throwing his shirt. Which was, mysteriously, missing. His pants, however, remained.

Pulling on his pants, he began to hear noises from the kitchen, and he prayed Elizabeth hadn't stolen his shirt and summoned a servant to prepare breakfast in the same morning. Really, that time they'd been walked in by the discreet Mrs. Reynolds was more than enough, he didn't need to have his staff knowing everything that occurred on the property.

Darcy walked into the kitchen, running his fingers through his hair, to find Elizabeth cracking eggs into a pan on the stove, wearing nothing but his shirt.

"Good morning, William," she greeted him cheerfully.

"You know how to cook?" he asked, feeling, admittedly, a bit foolish.

"You don't rise as early as I do, nor walk as far, without finding yourself in need of a few culinary tricks. You prefer your eggs over hard, right, dear?" Elizabeth asked as she handed him a kettle for their morning tea.

"Yes. With salt and-"

"Pepper. Yes, I know. Fill that at the pump outside, won't you?" Darcy didn't even question that his wife was sending him off to do chores half naked, he was so entranced by the image of her cooking for him wearing nothing but his thin shirt. The fire of the stove had made her skin look so warm….

"Damn," he whispered, startled from his daydream by water overflowing the kettle and running onto his foot. He hurried back to the cottage, remembering that the real thing was waiting for him.

"Took you long enough. We'll have tea after breakfast." Elizabeth smiled, putting the kettle on the only part of the stove not currently covered in sizzling eggs and bacon. She handed him the basket they had brought with them the day before, and he found two place settings at the bottom.

"Go on, then." He could tell by the glint in her eye that she was very much enjoying bossing him around, and he couldn't claim to oppose it himself.

The Darcys enjoyed their first quiet breakfast and tea together in months, both reveling in the fact that they'd not been required to really dress for breakfast. When Elizabeth began to clean the table, Darcy grabbed her from behind, spun her around in his arms, and kissed her so thoroughly that her knees almost gave out under her.

"What was that for, Sir?" she laughed.

"Am I not permitted to kiss my wife when and where I please?" he replied and kissed her again, more tenderly this time. "Now, my love, about my shirt."

"Mr. Darcy, I realize you only grew up with one sibling, but are you unfamiliar with the phrase 'Finders, keepers?'"

"I am familiar, but please, Mrs. Darcy, enlighten me," he replied, running his hands down her hips and pulling her closer. "Does that mean that if I find it while I explore you, it becomes mine?"

"Oh, I'm afraid this rule only applies to things, not people."

"You would manage a loophole. Very well, my love, if you insist that the shirt is now yours, I insist on payment in kind."

"Was breakfast not enough, Mr. Darcy," she whispered.

"Not nearly."

"And what do you estimate to be the worth of this shirt?" Elizabeth pulled her lower lip between her teeth, and Mr. Darcy almost caved.

But no, he'd been wanting to do this since the night his children were born. He leaned in towards her face and stopped a mere inch away, close enough she could feel his breath as he whispered his reply.

"I think it's worth spanking you over, Elizabeth."