Hey guys ! Thank you so much for reading, adding to follow/favourite and reviewing ! I loved your reactions even the disappointed one. Alright I corrected the title as I should have, in my defense I really loved how it sounded xD anyways sorry for all those I've hurt with that grave mistake ! One thing I love with this fandom is how proper and smart most of you sound so I'm taking the remarks well, but I have to admit it amused me to get back to constructive criticism after so long on AO3. Also I have to warn you : this story is purely fanservice from a fan to another (me) and I actually love those improper behaviours set in regency era, as much as it may shock some, so that will happen again. Sorry this story is not about being historically correct, it's purely about getting some love for a mushy, fluffy, sweet Mr Darcy.

PS : THANK YOU AGAIN FOR THE TITLE ! I'm updating a new chapter today to go along with the correction.

Darcy looked at the huge wooden trunk he had moved to his office a few months back. It used to be his mother's. It was beautiful and feminine and clashed against the decor of his own office. Silver roses and twines ran around it and the clear wooden colour highlighted the shine of the metal.

It used to be his mother's. Darcy had started filling it when the objects he amassed in his office started to raise eyebrows, a pretty bonnet, lavender ribbon, piles of feminine fabric... Once every now and then, something would catch his eyes and remind him of his dear Elizabeth and like a man mad in love he bought it on the spot. He would never get the chance to offer it, it was too improper, but it soothed him to buy her gifts, if it also fed any unhealthy hope, he dealt with it in the confine of his ragged heart. Jewellery, perfume, essences, books and clothes, everything could be found in the trunk, sometime he wanted to throw it away, the only sight of it hitting him in the stomach, but then he would go for a walk to calm down and his eyes would stop on yet another not-gift.

He sighed at his own ridicule and got up. Eric had invited he and Georgiana for dinner and he didn't want to be late.

They went by foot as his house was but five minutes away in the same neighbourhood. The duke somehow still looked surprised by the sight of the proud Fitzwilliam Darcy standing on his doorstep, even though they had been meeting at the club and for rides for almost two months now.

Darcy knew Eric had hesitated to invite him because he wasn't sure of how he would act around his wife. Thus he was set on being on his best behaviour tonight. As they were let in, and lead to the drawing room, Eric made easy conversation with his shy sister.

The duchess was nothing like he had imagined. She wasn't beautiful, not that she wasn't pretty, but she was very... normal looking. The duchess was quite tall, and reached her spouse's nose, her long hair were a dark brown that reminded him of Elizabeth and her smart grey eyes of his cousin Anne. Darcy immediately felt at ease with the woman.

"Darcy," Eric said looking at his wife with so much love and pride, it made him jealous. "Let me introduce you to the wonderful Lady Grath."

"It is an honour my Lady," he bowed as she curtsied, and proceeded to introduce his own sister.

He found Lady Sarah Grath to be quite different from her husband. Where he was all warmth and extrovert, much like Bingley but a bit more wicked and a tad less kind, she was cold and quiet. Darcy was amused at such a match and somehow their interactions were weirdly balanced. The dinner was a successful affair and the ladies seemed to enjoy each other's company. Gradually, the duchess let her guard down, probably eased now that she saw they didn't look down at her for her parentage.

"How did you trap such an intelligent woman ?" Darcy jokingly asked as they had left the two ladies to enjoy drinks in the billiard room.

"Trap ?" Eric laughed at loud. "Who's to say she wasn't the one doing the trapping ?"

"From the look on your face," Darcy smirked as he hit a ball straight into the hole in the middle of the green table. "I was definitely right."

"I walked into her father's library to buy a gift for a lover," he smiled in reminiscence hitting another ball. "I don't even remember who it was now."

"What a bad start !"

"She saw right through me as I browsed the romance section and helped me out," he smiled brightly and this time he really looked like Bingley. "I tried to charm her just for the sake of my pride. No woman had ever ignored this face," he looked positively insulted. "She just ignored me and I left with a hurt ego. I forgot all about the lover and kept coming back every day. Sarah looked so annoyed with me, I couldn't help it," he laughed and now both man stopped playing. "The first time I asked to court her, she laughed at my face. She thought I was just trying to get a mistress. And honestly at first I was. At first, I saw her as everyone does : banal. She was pretty enough but nothing exceptional, it was just a challenge."

"What happened ?" Darcy asked anxiously.

"We became friends," he smiled and the sentiment in his voice seemed to burst out of him in waves. "She was the first person to talk to me, directly me, she didn't want anything, she didn't care about my money or title. Don't misunderstand Darcy, our friendship was genuine, but we both know what happened the second I walked out of the way you saw as right," Darcy looked away in shame. "Sarah was fun to be around. She listened and advised. Oh, she judged me harshly sometimes ! I even complained about a woman or two ! It was so freeing to be around her. Every time she glared at me as I entered the shop and disturbed her work, I felt my heart pounding. I would have been content keeping this friendship for the rest of my life."

"But you took it further," Darcy smiled. "How ?"

"It just happened one day," Eric sighed happily. "I walked in but she was busy at the back, arranging new arrivals. I was struck in the heart then, she stood in front of the window, the sun hitting her just right for me to see every tiny details of her face. She was humming quietly and her hair were escaping her tight bun. She smiled up at the sun and something just clicked. I had the most beautiful creature on earth standing in front of me."

"And you married her," Darcy grinned, but his heart ached in envy.

"Oh no ! Didn't you follow the part where I was completely honest with her about everything ? She had seen the real me, the good, the bad and the ugly. I grabbed her face and kissed her, she slapped me harder than my father ever had," he winced at the memory. "She wouldn't speak to me for weeks afterwards, it almost broke me. She didn't take me seriously when I proposed."

"Wow," Darcy whistled. "You are a rake."

"It was horrible ! I, a respected duke, was rejected again and again by a simple shop owner's daughter. It was a humbling experience."

"Didn't you think of giving up ?"

"Never. She was perfect for me, Sarah Pierce was the only woman I could think of spending the rest of my life with," he answered with so much assurance Darcy felt ashamed of his own former doubts and regretted the way he used to be. "Eventually, I wore her down," he added with a wolffish grin. "And the rest is history."