Imperative: Volume 1, A Tale of Pride and Prejudice (119 page)

Elizabeth rested her hands on his shoulders, and moved cautiously, judging his every breath and expression as she slowly rotated her hips.  Darcy did not mind at all; he was fascinated to see her taking charge of their lovemaking, but knew that she needed to be reassured.  “Like this, love.”  His hands on her hips he lifted her up so that he almost slipped out, and then back down. 

“Oh!”  She gasped.

“Faster.”  He urged.  “Faster, dearest.  Ride me!” 

Elizabeth did as he bid, she planted her knees firmly outside of his thighs, pressing his legs together, and bent over him, holding on to his shoulders like a jockey in a steeplechase.  She closed her eyes, imagining she was the rider, urging her mount to go faster and faster, rocking him, lifting up high and slamming down hard as she leapt fences.  Her magnificent mount Darcy grunted and bucked against her, and she just drove him harder.  The feel of his hard shaft pounding in and out of her reached a fevered rhythm that neither had ever felt before; they were utterly lost in the building tension within their bodies.  The wet slap of their skin meeting again and again was like a whip, sending jolts of fiery pleasure throughout them both. 

Elizabeth was moaning nonsensical words, so lost was she in the movement.  Darcy was desperate to thrust relentlessly into her, his body was lathered with sweat and his hands ran endlessly over Elizabeth’s shining, slick skin.   She was curled over him, her heels dug into his hips and he urged her on, begging her to treat him like a great wild beast that she was trying to tame and finally abandoning all control, he held her and moved as his body demanded, stretching her further as he buried himself over and over again.  Elizabeth gasped and he pulled her head down, kissing her greedily.  She responded in kind, holding his face in her hands and devouring his mouth.

Elizabeth lifted her head enough to see his eyes again.  Darcy’s breath was coming in rapid pants, he was trying desperately to hold on, to make it last, and resist the stabbing ache that his reckless movement produced.  She read his eyes and slowed nearly to a stop; and caressed away the damp hair that lay against his brow.  His eyes reflected his appreciation; the love he wordlessly expressed filled her with as much desire as their desperate lovemaking had.  Carefully, Elizabeth lifted away from him.

“Where are you going?” He whispered and reached for her hand.  “I just need to rest for a moment . . . please stay . . .”

“Hold me.” 

Elizabeth lay with her back to him.  Spooning their bodies together, he slipped back inside of his wonderful warm home.  They both sighed.  Elizabeth lay clasped in his strong arms with his body curled around her.  Darcy kissed her shoulder and caressing her breasts, slowly rocked.  She looked back to him and they kissed in the gentle, open, way that they loved.  It was that kiss that sent them both tumbling over the edge.  He rested his forehead on her shoulder and shook with her. 

“Oh my.”  Elizabeth drew a long breath and looked back at him.  Darcy had a sleepy, relaxed smile on his face.  “I think that you feel better.” 

“I know that I do.” 

Elizabeth managed to slip out of his grasp enough to find the quilt and cover them back up.  She turned to face him and they kissed.  “We needed that, so much.” 

Nodding, he brushed away her damp curls.  “I think that we needed the fast and the slow.” 

She blushed.  “What on earth possessed me?”  Darcy chuckled when she hid her face against his shoulder.  “I apologize . . . I was so afraid of hurting you and instead I became a wanton wild woman!”

“I loved it.”

“Did I hurt you?”

“Did you love it?”  He tilted his head to see her eyes.  “You did.”

“Shhhh.” 

Darcy chuckled and kissed her forehead.  “No, you did not hurt me.  I was feeling too good to feel pain.”  Lifting his chin he peeked back down.  “I think that we have found an excellent replacement for laudanum!”

Elizabeth gasped.  “Oh no, sir.  I have no doubt that when the bloom of this encounter wears off you will eagerly drink down that glass of wine.”  She pointed to the glass sitting nearby.  Darcy looked at it hesitantly, and Elizabeth, sensing his continued reluctance, demanded, “Do you mean that you will continue to refuse taking something that genuinely helps you?   Are you telling me that every time you have an ache or pain we will have to fall into bed?”

“The idea has merit, don’t you think?”  His eyes twinkled when she groaned.  “What is it dearest?”

“I will never accomplish anything with you always after me.”  Elizabeth lifted her face to find his soft kiss waiting for her.  “But I suppose that I can bear it.” 

Darcy sighed and settled her into his embrace.  “I know that I can.” 

Chapter 36

“Y
ou are such an idiot.”  Richard snorted.  He was leaning comfortably against a wall in his bedchamber where Darcy had joined him the following morning. 

His features took on a pink tinge.  “How did you wrest that out of me?  If she knew I had said anything she would throttle me!”

“
That
I would love to see!  No, you did not need to say a thing, you are an open book.  I pray that it was worth it?”

“Worth it?  Richard, you truly do not understand, do you?   No, I do not hurt any worse than before; she certainly did me no harm . . .” Darcy sighed from his position stretched out on a sofa.  “It was exactly what we both needed.”

“So damn the consequences?  I suppose that there are none since you are still carrying a glow from the proceedings.  Maybe that will be enough to sustain you for the last leg of your journey.”  He studied his cousin; and glancing at the door, took a seat on the edge of the bed.  “Tell me what you needed.”  Darcy looked at him quizzically and was surprised to see Richard’s cheeks colour.  “Just . . . fine.   You know that I likely had company last night.”

“Likely?”  Darcy smiled and laughing, winced as he held his ribs.  “It is a good thing that those skins fit you so well.  You make such good use of them.”

“I am trying to be serious, Darcy!”

“Very well, forgive me.  It is a rarity to see this side of you.”  Darcy grimaced and Richard helped him to sit up.  “What is it?”

He hesitated and addressed the butt of his sword.  “Well . . . I understand the physical need, but . . . I do not understand . . . You and Elizabeth seemed to have an emotional need that surpassed your good sense.  You knew full well that you would be paying for your lovemaking this morning, you know that you will be spending four hours in the carriage before you reach the sanctuary of Netherfield, obviously pain was not a concern?”

“No.”  Darcy studied his cousin’s face and spoke thoughtfully.  “No.  The reassurance that we both received from being so reckless was worth it.  I could have died in that accident.  Elizabeth could have died or at the least been terribly injured.  Loving her reassured me that everything was going to be well.  I felt like myself again.  I . . . I was expressing all of those thoughts that . . . she knows full well I cannot say coherently.  I am sorry, Richard, you have to be in love with someone to understand.”

“So I gather.”  He sighed.

“You have never felt such a deep connection to a woman?”

“No . . . but I could imagine feeling it for your wife if I had met her before you.”  Richard smiled at Darcy’s glare and giving his shoulder a squeeze, rose to his feet.  “I am pulling your leg.”

“No you are not.  But you would never have won her.”

Surprised, Richard turned.  “Why not?”

Darcy laughed when Richard’s voice trailed upwards to a squeak.  “Because you were all too quick to criticize her background and assess her on the cold basis of what she could do for you.”

“That is a result of my position and my lack of funds.”

“That is a result of your unwillingness to open your heart to a woman who could bring you riches beyond your imagination, without adding a penny to your purse.  We are both products of our upbringing, no matter how much we resist it at times.”  Darcy looked at him pointedly and Richard closed his eyes and nodded resignedly.  “Plenty of men of your rank are married, comfortable, happy, and with families.  I think that you use your income as an excuse to avoid commitment.”

Richard groused and started pacing.   “I have enough commitment.  I have the army; I have my drug-addicted brother . . .”

“Ah, the weight of the world and the burden of a possible inheritance are on your shoulders, a familiar tune that I have danced to.  I think that you should use that to your advantage, actually.”  Darcy smiled when Richard turned to look at him.  “If indeed your brother’s ravaged body fails and you do become viscount, do you truly want to experience the marriage mart that I did?  The insincerity?  The ones after your title?  You have the opportunity to find a woman who actually loves you
now
, when you have this lowly position of colonel.  Do not choose a flighty woman of fashion, choose one who is strong and who will stand by your side as you rebuild what your father and brother have nearly destroyed.”

“A country girl?”  Richard’s humour returned and he smiled at Darcy’s shrug.  “You are speaking sense, Cousin.” 

“I try.” 

“Well, sometimes you do.”  Picking up a bottle of wine and pulling the stopper, he poured out a glass.  He then opened a smaller bottle and carefully dropped in a measured amount of a dark red liquid.  Swirling it around, he approached Darcy.  “I asked you to be cautious, not stupid.  Drink this and survive the trip to Netherfield.  You took my fears for my brother far too close to heart.” 

Darcy considered the glass.  “This is what Elizabeth was whispering to you about at breakfast?”   

“Well, it certainly was not sweet nothings.  She was taking me to task.”  He held out the glass.  “You are no addict, Darcy.” 

“No, I realize that.  Perhaps I did overreact last night.”  He sighed and shook his head.  “No, thank you.  I may be foolish, but I do not care to tempt fate.  Never again will laudanum cross my lips, I did not like the feeling of flying high as a kite.”  Slowly, he pushed himself from the sofa and onto his feet.  “I am sore, but I know that I will heal eventually.  I have my lover back, I will be fine.”

“Stop being so damned stoic, Darcy, you are not in the military.  You are permitted to express pain and to seek relief.”  He swirled the wine and held it out again.  “This is not laudanum, but it tastes equally bad.”  Seeing Darcy’s familiar creased brow, he chuckled.  “Mrs. Darcy sent me to the apothecary this morning to purchase you a tincture of willow bark.  She had been thinking all night of what might help you.  Of course this is not nearly as strong as the laudanum, it will not put you to sleep or relieve the worst of your pain, but . . . it will assuredly help.  I . . . just wanted to see if you would stick to your guns.” 

Darcy took the glass and sniffed.  It was definitely not laudanum.  “Does Lizzy know of your trickery?”

“Seriously, Darcy, do you think I would tell her?  She would have my head to know that I tested you!  Go on, drink up.  Make that good worried woman happy.” 

Darcy looked at his cousin and then held out his hand.  Richard smiled and gave over the bottle of tincture and watched Darcy walk stiffly out of the room and down the hallway to the chamber he occupied with Elizabeth.  He entered the open door where he found her donning her gloves and wordlessly, handed her first the small bottle and then before her, drank down the dose.  His eyes squeezed shut.  “BLECH!”  Elizabeth burst into laughter and he coughed when she took the glass away and hugged him.  “I certainly hope this works.  That was foul, dearest.” 

“I am sorry.  Maybe the tea would be more palatable?”  She caressed his puckered mouth.  “Bless you for taking it.  But tell me how you came to be in possession of the bottle?”

Looking to the doorway where Richard stood with a grin on his face, he turned back to his wife.  “Well love, it seems that our cousin was playing with me unbeknownst to you . . .”

“CAREFUL.”  Samuel gripped Georgiana’s elbow and helped her over a rut in the dirt road that ran through the churchyard at All Saints’  “I am sorry that we could not drive in here, but the ground is a little too soft.  I do not want to make this worse.  Although, I think that the snow is preferable to the mud.  I am glad that you wanted to join us to visit Henry’s grave.  We are grateful for him saving our lives.”  He smiled at her and she returned it. 

“So am I.  And I loved him.  He used to put me up in the driver’s seat and take me around the park.”  Her smile faded.  “That was after Papa died and Fitzwilliam was so busy.”

Samuel quickly changed the subject.  “You look well today.  How are you feeling?”

She started from her thoughts and blushed.  “Oh, I am glad for Fitzwilliam being well enough to travel; they should be arriving today . . .”

His head shaking, he fixed his eyes upon her.  “No, I asked how
you
were feeling.” 

“Oh.  I am trying to not think of myself so much.”  She looked down and clasped her hands together when his smile returned.  “Besides, nobody really asks me that.”

“Nobody?”  He tilted his head.  “I find that hard to believe.”

“Well . . . I mean . . . so few people know . . . what to ask.”  She sighed.  “I am sorry.  Of course Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam, and Aunt do, I just . . .”

“Feel isolated with your secret?”  He said gently. 

“Yes.”  Tears sprang to her eyes and she wiped them with her glove.  “There I go again!  I cry at the drop of a hat.”

“What else is part of this?”  Samuel handed her his handkerchief and returned his hands to their position clasped behind his back.  “I understand that eating is an issue for one in your situation?”

Georgiana giggled.  “You sound like Fitzwilliam would when he is trying to be nice, but is uncomfortable with the subject.” 

Smiling, he shrugged.  “I am trying, just like you.  And as one of the few who may speak to you about it, I want to know.  So?”

“I have gone from wanting nothing to wanting everything that I can put in my mouth.  I will be as big as a house before long and it will not be because of my . . . situation.”  She looked at him ruefully.  “I suppose that I should be walking more.”