She tugged him along, not that she needed to. He would follow her anywhere.
Since their betrothal, he had arranged for an edifice made up mostly of windows to be built on the top corner of Pemberley’s roof closest to his study. WithMr. Bennet’s assistance, Darcy had placed an order for every easel, paint powder, brush, and utensil at Ackermann’s.
“I could set up my own shop with all of this!” Elizabeth spun in the center of her room. “And the lighting is perfect! Not to mention the view!”
“Do you have everything you need?”
“And more! I lack for nothing, only time enough to paint the commissions I have already accepted.”
Darcy went serious. “Promise you will only paint that which increases your joy.”
She smiled at him and held out her hand. “Now it is your turn. Come with me.”
His feet did not move quickly enough. He was too surprised. “I did not expect anything.”
She laughed. “That makes two of us! I did not expect to be regaled with gifts, but it is a good day for it!”
He followed her to her bedchamber, then over to her changing room, where a frame was hidden behind a robe. Pulling off the robe, she turned the frame around for him to see. “This is my first portrait. It is almost complete.”
From Darcy’s point of view, there was nothing more to be done. She had captured the way he felt when he looked at her, and it made his pulse race and his heart swell again in response. “It is perfect.”
“There is only one thing missing.”
Darcy looked closer. At the bottom right, there was no signature.
Elizabeth noticed when he saw it. “I signed your sketch as Elizabeth Bennet. Now, I want you to be the first recipient of an original Elizabeth Darcy.”
From where she had hidden the painting, she produced a thin brush and paint. Carefully, she signed her name at the bottom.Elizabeth Darcy.
In the next instant, she was in his arms. “Where will you place your portrait?”
“There is only one place for it.”
She looked up at him and waited.
“At your side, in my study.”
“Hmm,” she hummed. “Great answer.”
He tilted up her chin. “That is how it is with you and me, Elizabeth. We stand together, side by side.”
“Family first?”
“And always.” Darcy sealed his promise with a kiss.
