Elizabeth smiled in great amusement. “I am sorry to disappoint you, but I cannot think of anything that would have been further from his mind on that occasion.”
He shook his head again, as if mystified by the behavior of the younger generation.
Darcy approached them at this point, and Elizabeth linked her arm through his. “Mr. Darcy,” she said mischievously, “it seems that I am a great disappointment to Lord Derby.”
“I am sorry to hear that, Mrs. Darcy, since I have just agreed that we would join him for a brief wedding breakfast at Derby House,” he said in like manner, clearly unsurprised to find her already teasing his uncle.
“Not at all, Mrs. Darcy,” said Lord Derby urbanely. “I find you uniformly charming. My nephew is another matter entirely; he is indeed a disappointment.”
“For failing to inform you of my wedding? I knew that if you were invited, you would take the opportunity to tell my bride terrible things about me.”
“Did I do anything of the sort?” he demanded of Elizabeth, but without giving her a chance to respond, he continued, “William, this lovely lady tells me that you met her last October and that you are only now getting around to marrying her! What sort of example are you setting?”
Darcy gave Elizabeth an ironic look. “I see nothing wrong in keeping her in suspense about my intentions,” he said. “Mrs. Darcy, have I thought to mention to you that some members of my family run to an excess of character? Of course, you have met Lady Catherine, and as you know, a more gentle and circumspect soul never walked the earth, but some of our relations are rather more difficult than she.”
“You introduced her to Catherine, and not to us? Now I am offended!”
“I must confess, Lord Derby, that I managed to find Lady Catherine completely on my own, with no assistance from Mr. Darcy,” Elizabeth intervened, but stopped short of mentioning her cousin. She was still uncertain of how much Darcy intended to tell his family about her connections. Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner could easily be mistaken for people of fashion, after all, and she did not know if he intended to disillusion his illustrious relations.
“Mrs. Darcy’s cousin is the recipient of a living from Lady Catherine,” Darcy explained. “She had the opportunity to dine at Rosings on several occasions during a visit to him.”
“And lived to tell the tale? Mrs. Darcy, I am indeed impressed.”
Shortly thereafter they departed from the cathedral en route to Derby House, which proved to be an imposing edifice of the same white limestone as the cathedral lying a short way outside of town near the river. Lady Derby had arranged a sumptuous wedding breakfast—Elizabeth could not help but wonder what would have happened had Darcy not agreed to attend it—that outstripped her expectations by far; it was clear that Lady Derby was a gifted and experienced hostess. The bishop was announced shortly after Darcy and Elizabeth arrived; Elizabeth followed suit behind Lady Derby in curtseying and kissing his ring. Darcy stayed close by her side as the bishop spoke to her, asking her questions about her impressions of Derbyshire and Pemberley. It seemed a somewhat stilted conversation to Elizabeth, and she was relieved when he moved his attention to Georgiana, giving Elizabeth the opportunity to offer her thanks to Lady Derby for her attentions.
Lady Derby was a very genteel lady of understated but direct opinions who was quite curious as to the mettle of the young woman who had captured her nephew’s heart. It was clear to her from observing them both that it was a love match; she would not have expected Darcy to settle for anything less, but she had in the past few years felt some concern as to whether he would ever meet someone to suit his needs, surrounded as he was by fortune hunters and flatterers.
Elizabeth brought up her acquaintance with Colonel Fitzwilliam, and the two conversed on that subject briefly before Lady Derby turned her attention to the subject of her nephew, mentioning that Elizabeth seemed rather different than many of the young ladies of Darcy’s acquaintance.
“Yes, I remain convinced that the reason he first noticed me was that I showed no interest in him whatsoever,” said Elizabeth with a laugh. “It is my impression that he was quite tired of the constant attention he received.”
“Yet somehow he seems to have gained your interest,” Lady Derby suggested.
With an amused smile, Elizabeth said, “He can be very persuasive—and persistent—when he sets his mind to it.”
“Yes, he is very like his father in that way, though he does not have his father’s easygoing disposition. He is more complex; he will not be the easiest of men to understand, I expect.”
“I would be hard put to disagree with you, Lady Derby,” responded Elizabeth, “though I prefer to think of it as his having great depth.”
Lady Derby smiled gently. “That is one way to put it, I suppose. He has been through trying circumstances over the years, and although he generally does not admit to their extent, they have left their mark on him.”
Elizabeth wondered what message she was being given. “I imagine that I shall learn more about that over time; as you say, he tends to be private about the past.”
“I certainly hope that we shall see more of you in the future; you should not let my nephew hide you away at Pemberley.”
Wondering at the shift of subject, Elizabeth was about to respond when a voice came from over her shoulder, “You will allow me, I hope, a bit of time alone with my bride before you begin to carry her off on social obligations,” Darcy said smoothly. “And while I am on the subject, it is past time for us to depart; we are expected at Pemberley.”
“I hope you will allow us to keep Georgiana for a few days, William. We hardly get to see her these days,” said Lady Derby.
“If she would like to be kept, I see no objection,” he allowed. Lady Derby approached Georgiana, who initially seemed reluctant, but on further persuasion from her aunt, appeared to change her mind.
“She has agreed to stay, but only tonight; she wishes to return to Pemberley with the Gardiners tomorrow, if that suits.”
With an amused smile, Elizabeth thanked Lady Derby for the wedding breakfast, and implicitly for her tact in separating out Georgiana to allow them privacy on their wedding night. She and Darcy bid their adieus and were soon en route to Pemberley.
They had barely left before Darcy moved from his proper position sitting opposite Elizabeth to the decidedly improper one of sitting by her side, and augmented his impropriety yet further by pulling her close to him. “At last I have you to myself, Mrs. Darcy,” he said.
The pleasure of having his arms around her after a day of deprivation brought an immediate smile to her face. “Just you and I, Mr. Darcy, and, of course, the driver and the footman. It was very thoughtful of your aunt to keep Georgiana.”
He laughed and kissed her lingeringly. “It was, indeed, which is why I may forgive them for ambushing us at our own wedding.”
“I know that you had not invited them—was it so disturbing that they were there?” she asked. Lord and Lady Derby had seemed quite pleasant to her, and she had been wondering why he had so steadfastly avoided informing them of the wedding.
“No, not disturbing. I did not wish to add to the stress of the occasion for you by bringing them in, and thought it wiser to allow you to meet on a less momentous occasion. They can be, in their own ways, somewhat challenging to deal with, but today seemed to bring out the best in them, so I cannot complain.”
“Challenging? How so?” Elizabeth succumbed to temptation and slipped her hand inside his coat.
He gave her an amused look. “It is a long way yet to Pemberley, madam!” he said. “Well, my uncle can tease mercilessly. Lady Derby, well, she is invariably pleasant, charming company, and she never makes any demands, but for some reason after speaking with her, one ends up doing whatever it is that she wishes, regardless of how one might feel about the matter. I suspect my uncle was quite taken by surprise when he found himself proposing to her. It is an astonishing talent; were she a man, I am convinced that she would be run
ning the country, not just Derby House and all her relations, but it is all with the best of intentions.”
“Fortunately for you, I have a great deal of experience at being teased. As for your aunt, we shall have to see. Today she seemed primarily concerned that I care for you adequately, and I can hardly fault her for that, and since I have every intention of caring for you very well indeed, she could not change my mind on the matter,” said Elizabeth.
He kissed her hair, taking pleasure in simply knowing she was his wife, and that nothing could part them now. “So long as you are with me, my love, I shall have no complaints,” he said. “I will be forever grateful that you saw fit to give me a second chance, despite your reservations.”
She blushed, recalling how distressed she had initially been by his attentions on his return to Hertfordshire. “Well, the truth is that I had no intention of allowing you much of a chance at all, but it seems that my efforts were for naught.”
“Well, then, I am grateful that you stopped fighting me long enough to begin to like me,” he said teasingly. He slipped his fingers into her hair, caressing the silky strands until he encountered hairpins, which he began to remove.
“You are incorrigible, sir!” she said.
“Because I like playing with my wife’s hair? I so rarely get the opportunity, for it seems that whenever I have access to your hair, I tend to be distracted by your other charms. It seems just the thing for a long coach ride,” he said, kissing her neck.
Enjoying the sensuous feeling of his hands exploring her hair, she said, “I should have known it was hopeless by how hard I had to fight. I had an inkling of it already on the day you introduced me to Georgiana.”
“That soon? How did you know?” he asked, continuing his collection of hairpins.
She blushed. “What worried me was the way I reacted when you kissed my hand. Other men had done the same in the past, had handed me into carriages, had danced with me…”
“That is quite enough on that subject,” Darcy interrupted.
She smiled at him wickedly. “… but, while pleasant enough, the experience had never particularly affected me. But as soon as you touched me, it was different. Even when I was still firmly decided against you in my mind, still I was not able to forget how I felt when you kissed my hand.”
He caught her cheek and turned her face towards his, kissing her possessively, feeling all the satisfaction of her admission that she did not respond to others as she did to him. A jolt of the carriage pulled them apart, and they smiled regretfully at one another.
Elizabeth, the sensation of his kiss still fresh on her lips, could not help recalling her anger with what she had perceived as the treachery of her body when she had responded to his early advances, and it was ironic that the same reaction that caused her such distress could now bring her such pleasure. Darcy had returned to his enjoyable task of demolishing the careful arrangement of her hair, and, as it tumbled down around her shoulders, she nestled against him in contentment.
They spent a long while in this manner, Darcy playing gently with Elizabeth’s hair as she leaned against him. He could not recall feeling as peaceful in a very long time, merely from sharing her presence and knowing she loved him. It was the culmination of his dreams since he had met her, and he could still barely credit it was true, and had to fight the feeling that she could still somehow be snatched away from him. His eyes traced the line of her profile, trying to memorize the moment.
Elizabeth, reveling in the pleasure of feeling him beside her, closed her eyes to better savor the experience. It seemed impossible to believe that she had fought against this so long, and she could barely remember being the girl who had taunted Darcy at the Netherfield ball about his relations with Wickham. Now she could hardly imagine how she had lived without him, and the realization of her need raised a small spectre of fear within her. She had never allowed herself to need anyone in this way before; she had always been careful to keep her heart safe, and made sure that she could not be affected by the changes in someone else’s fancy. She had kept parts of herself secret even from Jane, but she was beginning to realize that she might find it harder, if not impossible, to do so with Darcy, that part of a love and desire as intense as his was an equally intense need and hunger for its object that might not allow for that distance. To need him so in face of this was disturbing, and unlike anything she had faced in the past.
It is a sad statement, she thought, that I sit here recognizing my fear of losing the man who has just promised before God to spend the rest of his life with me! With an amused smile, she looked up at him, and when he noticed her regard, she said from her heart, “I love you, my husband.”
His hand drifted from her hair to the back of her neck where his fingers began to caress her. He smiled slowly as he bent his head to claim her lips. He tasted the pleasures of her mouth as he drew from her the passion that he knew lay under the surface, passion that was now his to explore and enjoy at his leisure. In an unhurried manner he continued to tantalize her with his mouth, sliding his hand onto her back and just underneath the neckline of her gown, until he felt her surrender to her desire and cling to him in return. “I have waited so long to call you my wife, my beloved, adored Elizabeth,” he murmured, “and I shall continue to show you how much I love you every day of our lives.”
Elizabeth was discovering to her dismay how much more difficult it was to satisfy herself with his kisses when she knew what more pleasure could be had than when she had remained innocent of the possibilities. It was going to seem a very long time until they retired for the night. Darcy, thinking likewise, decided that a change in subject was much required, and said, “We must consider how to inform your family of our marriage.”
Elizabeth rolled her eyes. “Perhaps we could hope that they just never notice,” she suggested lightheartedly.
“I believe that it might strike them that something is amiss when I carry you off to my bedroom each night,” he said with a smile. Realizing that he had managed to bring the conversation back once more to exactly the point that he wished to avoid, he added, “I assume we should tell them in person?”
“I would think that best. Presumably we shall have to reach Longbourn no later than my aunt and uncle; we can certainly not leave them to explain why I have failed to return with them.”
He laughed. “That would indeed put them in an uncomfortable position. Well, then, I assume we should travel to Longbourn when they leave Pemberley. We will no doubt need to remain there until Bingley’s wedding—do you think that your parents would be offended if we stayed at Netherfield instead of Longbourn?”
“Well, if they are, the reduced stress for us will no doubt outweigh the offence! We can always present the argument that Netherfield has more space, especially as the wedding approaches.”
He wound his hand in her hair again. “I am sorry that this has made matters so much more complicated,” he said.
“You are worth it,” she said with an impish smile. “I believe you may have been right, sir, when you suggested that our ability to wait longer may have been overrated.”
“Mine certainly was,” he growled in her ear before nibbling on it. “My ability to wait until we reach Pemberley is coming into further question by the minute.”
She raised an eyebrow as she blushed. “I am not of the opinion that a carriage is a pleasant or safe place for such endeavors, sir.”
“While it is tempting to try to convince you otherwise, unfortunately I suspect that you are correct, madam,” he replied.
Ten
The wedding celebration that night was quite the opposite of the solemn, quiet ceremony of the morning, and it brought home to Elizabeth full force what it would mean to be the lady of the manor. It began at sundown with dancing by torchlight to the music of fiddle and flute, followed by food on a grand scale for all the tenants—Elizabeth was astonished to see what the Pemberley kitchens could produce on such short notice, and when she saw the gathered masses, she realized
for the first time just how many lives depended upon her husband’s management. She and Darcy had shared a light dinner earlier, which was fortunate, since they were quite busy throughout the feasting, Darcy distributing gifts to the poor, and Elizabeth presenting small nosegays of flowers to the children, who bobbed shy curtseys and bows in acknowledgement. The house was completely decked with flowers—she wondered if she would find the gardens stripped bare the following morning—and filled to the brim with revelers.
She found herself feeling unaccountably shy when Darcy introduced her to the crowded masses, and blushed when they cheered her heartily, which only encouraged some of the lewd comments that flew back and forth among the tenants. Darcy had warned her of this aspect—“This is still the North, my love,” he had said—and she tried to keep her composure, but to the delight of the crowd, one or two of the comments clearly embarrassed her thoroughly, and they were all the more pleased to discover that the new Mistress of Pemberley had the capacity to laugh at herself when this occurred. Darcy, who was not such a tempting target for heckling, escaped more lightly, staying at Elizabeth’s side throughout.
After the formal festivities finally drew to a close, Elizabeth and Darcy retired to her room, where they stood at the window as a group of villagers sang ballads and made music below them. When they came to the chorus of one of the songs, Elizabeth felt Darcy’s eyes on her.
O farewell grief and welcome joy,
Ten thousand times therefore
For now I have found mine own true love,
Whom I thought I should never see more.[1]
He murmured in her ear, “There are cakes and ale in the village, but I fear that they will not leave until they see me kiss you. May I?”
She looked up at him with an amused smile. “Well, if I must tolerate your attentions, Mr. Darcy, I suppose there is nothing to be done for it. I shall strive to bear it with equanimity.”
The corners of his mouth twitched, and he pulled her into his arms for a kiss perhaps slightly more thorough than the circumstances required. Her cheeks were scarlet as they called their thanks to the cheering singers.