There was a slight pause, but before Elizabeth could ask Loretta if all was well, the relaxing brush strokes resumed. She soon opened her eyes and looked into the dresser’s mirror and rather than Loretta, it was her beloved husband running the brush through her tresses.
“I hope you are not angry that I dismissed your maid. She will return when you ring for her,” William stated. “You have no idea how long I have dreamed of being able to see you with your hair down, and even more, being able to touch your locks.”
“How could I be angry with you, Husband. However, I must concede as a lady’s maid, you may be lacking just a little.”
“Minx!” William growled. “Before we proceed, did you enquire about us joining when you are with child?”
“I did, and there is no danger to the babe,” Elizabeth responded breathlessly.
William ran the brush through her hair one more time and then slowly replaced it on the dresser.
Elizabeth stood and looked at her handsome husband. He was wearing a lawn shirt, not tucked into his breeches, which was open down to the fourth button revealing the downy looking dark hair on his chest. Her heart sped up as she saw the strong chest muscles below the shirt.
Her eyes travelled down his form and she was delighted to see he was sans stockings and boots. She stepped towards William and began to unbutton his shirt. There were two more buttons to open and then he pulled it over his head and allowed it to drop onto the floor.
Elizabeth’s breath hitched as she was able to see his muscular chest, washboard stomach, and broad shoulders. There was a trail of dark hair which tapered and disappeared into his breeches. There was no missing the distinct bulge in said breeches.
William gently slipped the robe off her shoulders and allowed it to fall to the ground and pool around her feet. Now it was his turn to have his breath taken away when he saw his wife’s body revealed through her transparent night gown. Her pert breasts were on the large size, her nipples were hard and pushing against the thin layer of fabric.
Seeing her like this made his member throb with anticipation. His eyes travelled down to the dark triangle between her legs.
She stepped forward again and released the buttons keeping his breeches up. They fell to the floor as the rest of him was revealed to her. His arousal was large and looked very hard. His legs were as muscular as one would expect of one who rode his horse as much as he did.
He bent down a little, took hold of the hem of the nightgown and slowly lifted it up and over Elizabeth’s head. Once it was clear, he tossed it aside.
They moved toward one another as if they had silently agreed to do so. William placed his hands on her cheeks as his head dipped and he captured her lips with his own. Elizabeth let out a moan of pleasure into his mouth as they kissed, their bodies rubbing against each other’s.
William swept Elizabeth into his arms as if she were weightless and gently lowered her onto the enormous bed. He climbed onto the bed and their lips hungrily sought each other’s.
As Elizabeth watched him intently, William kissed her neck, behind her ears, and then made his way down until his lips found one of her breasts.
The frisson of pleasure which shot through her body was like nothing she had ever felt before, causing her to arch her back. Then when his hand found her most private of places, her pleasure only increased.
“Make me your wife, William,” Elizabeth managed in a husky, passion filled voice.
Being the gentleman he was, William could not refuse his wife anything she asked for. It was the first of seven couplings they would enjoy before the sun rose the next day.
They did not sleep much, but waking with William holding her in his arms was almost as thrilling as the marital relations they had enjoyed. The babe began to move more than it had until now.
William said a prayer of thanks for the information—regardless of how embarrassing it had been—his father had imparted the previous night, coupled with the various books he had read on the subject. Without it, he would have acted like the innocent he had been before their first coupling.
When her stomach growled embarrassingly, Elizabeth remembered they had not had dinner. As soon as they were both covered, the bell was pulled and in due course a mountain of food was awaiting them on the sideboard in the sitting room next door.
They spent most of the time while they ate lost in one another’s eyes, although they did glance at the view across the lake towards their boulder once or twice.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Fanny Bennet had taken to reading the London papers as her way of feeling connected to the world from which that unfeeling, ungrateful, wilful girl had banished her. The papers were about a sennight old when they arrived in Lerwick.
She opened the one dated the first day of June.
Duchess of Hertfordshire re-marries
Her Grace Lady Elizabeth Rose Gardiner, with the blessing of their Majesties the King and Queen, married William Alexander Darcy of Pemberley in Hertfordshire on the 30th day of May 1807.
From the time of the wedding forward, the Duchess will be Lady Elizabeth Darcy and the child she carries will bear the last name of Darcy as well.
At the same ceremony, Her Grace’s older sister, Miss Jane Esmeralda Bennet of London married Lord Andrew Reginald Harrison Fitzwilliam, Viscount Hilldale.
