Elizabeth smiled at the scenery as their carriage closed in on the last mile to Stratsbury Hall. She was glad to be back, and glad to be safely ensconced in a stationary house for the next two weeks. She never used to have an aversion to traveling, but some things were beyond even the cleverest woman's control.
"Are you feeling quite alright?" Her husband pressed a kiss to her hand after his gentle whisper. He squeezed her hand between his large, warm ones. "I hope we do not have to toss out yet another bucket in front of Aunt Matlock."
Elizabeth glared playfully at him, and Darcy rewarded her with a kiss on her cheek. She would have much preferred a kiss on the lips, but she could hardly blame the man for avoiding her mouth after the way she had been tossing out her insides since the inn this morning.
"Your heir likes to torture me as much as his father." Elizabeth patted her belly, a smile on her lips. "At the rate I am losing my breakfast every day, it's a wonder my clothes still fit."
"You look plenty well in anything, my darling," Darcy complimented as they slowed to a stop. He cast her a teasing look before opening the door. "Or in nothing at all."
Elizabeth flushed while her husband jumped out the carriage door and turned to gently hand her down. She might wheedle him all she wanted, but he truly had been nothing if not solicitous since they'd learned of her being with child. The quickening had yet to happen, but Mama had assured her through multiple letters a week that her symptoms left little room for doubt about the babe's health. At least, the news of her increasing state made Mama pause her overtures about having Elizabeth arrange advantageous matches for her sisters. Mama had spoken of nothing else since Elizabeth and Jane's engagements a year ago.
"Ah, Mr. and Mrs. Darcy," Lady Matlock greeted them with a welcoming smile. It was strange to think of her as an aunt, but Elizabeth was nothing if not adaptable. "I promise a better house party this year than last. Harriett, the poor dear, has taken ill and might not be able to participate in all the festivities at all."
"Is Lady Dunvarr well?" Elizabeth inquired, hand in her husband's, even though she had fully alighted already. "I hope having guests bustling about would not cause her distress."
"Oh, we have hope that it is an illness of the much happier sort." The countess's eyes nearly sparkled. "Your children may be school mates as well as cousins yet."
Darcy and Elizabeth acknowledged the revelation, to their hostess's clear delight, just before another voice rang through the spring air.
"Darcy! How splendid of you to come so early." Richard called out just as he emerged into view with his wife on his arm.
"Jane!" Elizabeth cried happily, rushing to embrace her sister.
"Oh, Lizzy, it is so good to see you all here." Jane had always been pretty, but marriage had lent a maturity to her beauty that seemed to deepen and enrich it. She clutched her sister by the arms as she dropped her voice, "Are you quite well? I feel so selfish for wishing you here when travel is so strenuous for you these days."
"Oh, think nothing of it." Elizabeth smiled. "There are plenty of things I would happily endure to see my dear Lady Fitzwilliam."
Jane blushed, pretty as a rose. "Richard is very kind."
"And open-mannered and handsome, as you seem to like to tell me in your letters."
"Lizzy, don't tease! As if you are not just as enamored with your husband, Mrs. Darcy."
Elizabeth laughed. She cast a glance to where their husbands conversed with the countess. "I will admit. I do much prefer the role of Mrs. Fitzwilliam Darcy over Miss Elizabeth Merivale."
"You do not like being an heiress to a Scottish fortune?"
"Not more than you liked being a lady's maid, I would think."
"Well, I was very blessed with a wonderful employer."
"Who, I would think, came with a very endearing fake fiancé."
The sisters chuckled before they joined the others hand in hand.
"And the nerve of the man - calling me besotted!" Dunvarr shuddered as he related his tale that evening in the drawing room. "How absolutely insulting. I should have called him out right then and there."
"How horrid of your friends, brother mine," Richard remarked to the baron, Jane smiling on his arm. "How dare they think so little of you. Has it not been clear from the way you talk incessantly about your bride that you think nothing of her?"
With the rest of the guests still slated to arrive another two days later, the young cousins and Lady Matlock chuckled openly at the brothers' antics. While the invited participants for this particular house party were intended to be of a much less sinister sort than the last, there were certain things only the few couples present would truly feel comfortable jesting about.
At least, amidst this crowd, it was never considered a crime to be wholly smitten with one's spouse. On the chaise next to the Darcys, Jane and Richard continued to look utterly infatuated with each other. Elizabeth felt her own husband lean closer, the heat of his body spreading through hers. She smiled. She hardly knew which couple looked the most besotted amongst them, but she was not about to complain. There were worse competitions to lose.
"Exactly. It is not as if I talk only of her," Dunvarr continued his rant. "I also talk about her clothes, and her family - and occasionally her horse."
More chuckling ensued, and Elizabeth took the chance to lean her head on Darcy's shoulder. Who knew the stoic, formal Mr. Darcy would prove such a comforting presence? She also rather liked him as a pillow, but Stratsbury's drawing room was hardly the best place to put him to use that way.
"How flattering - to be considered the owner of a fine horse." Darcy smirked at his cousin. "How did I never think to learn the ways of womenkind from you?"
"It is your loss then. If you had listened to me earlier, perhaps you would not have to steal another man's betrothed."
Jane and Lady Matlock gasped, though Richard and Darcy seemed to exchange guarded yet playful looks.
Elizabeth cleared her throat. "I think you just might be misinformed, my lord, for one could hardly be considered stealing if one's quarry decided to leave her captor first."
"Captor now, is it?" Richard barked across the room, looking falsely affronted. "I thought myself a benevolent master."
"Master? Do you hear yourself?" Elizabeth laughed just as Jane nudged her husband in the arm.
"Very well, a defender then."
"Hardly." Darcy glowered, though seemingly without true anger. "I believe I was the one escorting Elizabeth everywhere last year - when her supposed defender ran amok on his own, more interested in the servants' quarters than in his job."
"Do you not see, Darcy, that I was helping you?" Richard teased. Jane rolled her eyes beside him. Elizabeth decided she rather liked the easy mannerisms Jane had acquired since marriage. "You could hardly have courted Elizabeth in front of me now, could you?"
"If you had allowed me knowledge of your little charade, I would not have had to."
"I wished to tell you, early on," Elizabeth muttered.
"My wife, at least, understands me."
Richard groaned, and Darcy grinned. It seemed as if the cousins were all rather intent upon talking about their wives as much as they could. It was altogether amusing, and altogether endearing, if a little silly.
"I, for one, am rather glad it all ended the way it did," Lady Matlock declared benevolently. "I am no longer the only woman around here, and it is such a wonder to see you all married to such dear girls."
Jane and Elizabeth quickly murmured their appreciation of such a sentiment, and Dunvarr proceeded to say something sarcastic about his wife that he most definitely did not mean. Lady Dunvarr had to be a wonder for putting up with her unusual husband.
"The hour grows late," Darcy announced a moment later before pulling to his feet. He turned to assist Elizabeth with so much mischief in his eyes that it was clear he did not think the hour too late for them just yet - only too late for company. "I believe we shall retire."
"I did not know you incapable of retiring without your wife, Darcy," Dunvarr wheedled.
"It only shows, cousin mine, how little you truly know me," Darcy replied without so much a moment's pause. He guided Elizabeth's arm around his own before he smiled. "Richard is not the only cousin gifted in subterfuge."
"I don't think there was anything subtle about the way you two were canoodling in the gardens earlier today."
Now that made Elizabeth blush. "I beg your pardon, my lord, if we - "
"Don't apologize," Darcy whispered loudly. "He deserves it for snooping about."
"I do not snoop. And this is my father's house."
"I suppose snooping is rather more up my line of work." Richard grinned. Jane, the perfect complement, smiled winsomely beside him. "Shall we divide and conquer then? Lest we have any more unfortunate encounters, Jane and I shall claim the field by the stables. Dunvarr and Harriett may have the house."
Elizabeth laughed at the utter ridiculousness just as Darcy declared. "Perfect. And we shall claim the West Garden."
A/N: I couldn't resist the fluff! I hope you enjoyed reading this story as much as I enjoyed writing it. I will be publishing this under the Iris Lim collection in the near future, but I will leave this up for now until pre-orders start.
In other news, my Regency romance One Night in Beniton Hall is free from August 1-3 on Amazon, so do grab it if that's your thing. And if you follow my original works, The Ashes of Everstone Court is debuting in Kindle on August 10, so I'm super excited for that too. Thank you, thank you, thank you for all the response to this story. It means so much to me that the effort I put into this work is appreciated. I know it's not a perfect story, but I hope you enjoyed whatever I managed to squeeze into it!
