Darcy felt something catch in his stomach, and then Elizabeth said quietly, “It is so strange, so new. I hardly know what I feel. I had never expected…”
“I know.”
“When I saw you this morning, your chest hair was visible, your shirt and face glistened from the water. You smiled at me in such a way. I felt happy to see you again. And I wanted… I wanted…” She rolled over and pressed her face into her pillow, hiding herself from him, as she squeaked out, “I wanted this, what we just had right now.”
Darcy leaned back onto the bed. A smile widened on his face. Even if she did not want to reply that she loved him, thiswas a good start to the matter ofcourtingher.
“I hardly know.” She turned and embraced him and placed her head on his chest. “Does that make love? I am confused. It is a thing where… and what I feel… this marital embrace, it is hardly talked about. Even Mama and my aunt only describedwhatis done, and hardly anything about how it feels. I already knewwhatis done from seeing animals, and that one book hidden in Papa’s study…”
“Which book?” Darcy asked curiously.
Elizabeth froze with embarrassment, she then laughed. “One ofthosebooks. Oh, I feel shamed to remember what I saw.”
“After this?” Darcy laughed. “And ‘those’ books? I can imagine several types of ‘those’ that might match what you have said.”
“I like it when you laugh.”
Darcy was filled with a deep feeling of warmth and affection for his wife.
They lay there together, Elizabeth’s breath slowly becoming more even, more languid.
At some point, when he was not sure if she had fallen asleep already, Darcy said, “I also like it when you laugh.”
Elizabeth made no response, he was not sure if she had heard him.
Then her hand found his, and she squeezed it.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Elizabeth woke quite early the next morning, ravenously hungry as they had not only wholly skipped dinner but spent the time instead in vigorous exercise.
She did not move for a while, cuddling up next to Darcy, enjoying the feel of his arm against her cheek, the way that his body rose and fell with each peaceful breath, and then, driven by an instinct she did not understand, she wrapped her fingers in his while he slept.
He was very large and strong. And wholly naked. She was also naked. She had not really seen him while he was naked before. Not until they had risen from the couch to go to her bedroom. There was something about his stride then, like the movement of a young, vigorous stallion.
Which he was.
She studied him. It was too cold for her to do what she really wished and pull the blankets back to see him and study him freely. Perhaps she would dare to ask him for such a chance when the weather turned warmer. That would be very daring, even though they were husband and wife, but she had been daring yesterday.
He loved her.
She’dknownhe admired her, lusted for her, desired her before.
But there had been something more, something deeply tender yesterday. And her heart longed to respond in the same way.
Yet, as she had said last night, everything was so new. She simply wanted to enjoy the sensation she had now, the way she felt at present.
When she glanced back up at his face, he had awoken, and he looked at her with a soft smile.
She kissed him tightly.
Shewas now as filled with lust for her husband as he was for her.
When they went down to breakfast later, Georgiana blushed to see them, but made no comment upon how they had not appeared for dinner. Elizabeth cheerily greeted her, while Darcy also blushed.
The siblings could not meet each other’s eyes for a good ten minutes.
While she was starving, as soon as she started to eat, Elizabeth felt the nausea again, and she could only take very small bites of the toast that was now her perennial breakfast companion.
