Page 86 of The Widower of Pemberley

This timeshekissed him. She ran her fingers through his hair.

A deep delight filled his soul at her eagerness.

Slowly he began to undress her, and she helped him undo his cravat. Her fingers trembled.

As he worked her gown off her shoulders, she hugged him tightly and whispered into his ear, “I do wish for this. I hardly understand myself. I do. But I beg you to be gentle.”

“I promise I shall be.”

Chapter Twenty

Elizabeth stared at her husband with what she imagined must be a half-distracted expression as he held Emily up to the window so that she could see out as they drove through the lovely woods around Pemberley.

Since she had woken up in the same bed as Darcy the previous morning, she had found it impossible to stop staring at him when she did not think he was looking at her. The lines of his body were entrancing. She admired the close fit of his breeches, the way that his coat moulded around his shoulders, the colour of his lips, the way his hair fell over his forehead.

She was not surprised that she had found pleasure in the marital act, or that she was now eager to repeat it as often as they might.

What surprised her was the way it had changed how she saw her husband, and perhaps herself.

“Here, here!” Emily squealed. “Home!”

Darcy turned to Elizabeth, and he smiled in a warm way that made her stomach leap.

He was usually so quiet. Not one word in twenty in the carriage came from him. But he always watched them all, always watched her.

He watched her how she watched him now, with longing.

“What do you think?”

In her distraction, Elizabeth had missed the first chance to see her new home. Sitting next to Darcy, the lines of their bodies pressing against each other, she leaned to look out of the window and study the fine building. “My! It is enormous.”

Georgiana laughed. “The finest house in Derbyshire.”

“One must not let the Cavendishes hear that,” Darcy replied with satisfaction in his voice. “But I cannot disagree.”

Pemberley was larger than she had anticipated.

Even though she had known that Darcy was a great personage with a great fortune, that had been abstract, in a way.

This was more.

The park around the estate was grand, and the view was delightful, with a beautiful prospect and lovely hills rising behind. Deer could be spotted through the trees to the side.

The whole estate was covered with a light layer of snow, but the road up to the house had been cleared.

“I am happy to see that you like the look of the house,” Darcy said.

“It would be impossible not to,” Elizabeth replied, meeting his eyes.

That look that she was beginning to love came upon his face, the one that suggested that he would have kissed her soundly had they been alone in the carriage.

“What walks we shall have!” Elizabeth exclaimed. “Inside the house as well as outside.”

“I love to run in the long gallery!” Emily exclaimed. “Papa lets me when it is empty.”

“Then I shall need to run in there with you. Do you think that you can run faster than me?”

“You know,” Emily replied, “you are much bigger than me. Bigger people are faster.”