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Never had he felt this way about anyone. This overwhelming desire to control and possess her, and then sink and drown in her power over him made his tender feelings for Anne de Bourgh seem fraternal in comparison. Did I ever love Anne at all? Perhaps not, if this is what love is truly like.

He knew he had gone dangerously beyond the admiration and respect he described to Elizabeth when he proposed. He was in love with the new Mrs. Darcy, and the pain of it was acute, because he knew she didn’t return his feelings.

He thought after the wedding night, he would stop obsessing about her.

He told himself it was just infatuation or beginner’s nerves, but the actual experience had done nothing to quell the urge to disrobe her, gently persuade and subdue her, and give in to an imprudent impulse by demanding that she love him in return.

He imagined her curls in rumpled disarray, her eyes warm and inviting, her red lips speaking the words “I love you,” and felt himself rousing to the call of his imagination.

“Mmph!” William growled deep in his throat and threw the razor down on the sink.He stepped over to the tub, hoping that washing with cold water would temporarily get his rutting mind off that topic.

Standing before the mirror once more, he gathered his shaving supplies. His mind now calmed by water and quiet, physical hunger began to replace the hunger of another more carnal kind.

He needed to keep control of his emotions.

William saw the pain his father suffered when his mother died; the man was almost incapacitated with grief.

He remembered that same pain in the wrinkled face of Mrs. Reynolds, even years after Mr. Reynolds passed.

He knew what love cost those who were left behind.

Hadn’t he experienced it to some degree after Anne?

Hadn’t he seen how Richard had suffered after the death of his wife?

Look what love had done to him. He considered, as a sobering thought shook him. Look what it had done to Gi.

William would be certifiable to risk loving a woman who held him in no special regard.

She was a good person; she was kind to him, but she didn’t love him back.

Perhaps in time—no. He shook his head.It was unwise to think that far into the future.

First, he had to get through this honeymoon.

First, he had to make it through this night.

He had just covered his face in lather, when a faint knock on the door startled him.

“William? I left my comb in there—may I come in and get it?”

He opened the door and grinned at her surprised gasp.

“I’m sorry. I’m not quite presentable, but I am decent.”He was wearing his trousers and a ribbed sleeveless undershirt, although his feet were still bare. A lock of wet hair fell over his forehead.

A charming blush crept up her cheeks. She lowered her eyes. “It’s no matter.” She walked around him, keeping her gaze averted, but after she found the comb, their eyes met in the mirror.He carefully drew the razor down his face while she watched with a fascinated intensity.

He looked at her, reflected in the mirror behind him and now perched on the edge of the tub. “Did you never watch your father shave?” he asked, mildly amused.

His question broke her concentration and she smiled.“Not for many years.” She paused as he went on shaving absent-mindedly. “It’s different, isn’t it?”

“What is?” he asked, reaching down and rinsing out the razor before drying it and placing it back in its case. He toweled off his face.

“Living with someone else. I mean, living with a man—or a woman.Getting used to their ways, their things.” She stood, reaching around him, running a finger down the handle of the razor.

He turned to her, leaning back against the sink and crossing his arms across his chest. “Yes, it’s different. Do you think it will be unbearable?”

She gave him one of her brilliant smiles and his heart ignited with joy.

“No, not at all. Not unbearable, that’s for certain. Unbearable is Kitty and Lydia fighting over who gets the bath water first while they’re standing in the mud room where we can all hear them.”

He shuddered dramatically for effect, and she laughed.How he loved to hear her laugh! She tilted her head and reached over to take the towel from the rack.He raised an eyebrow in question, and she leaned close to him and dabbed some shaving cream from behind his ear.

“There you go—spic and span.”She trailed a finger down his jaw.

William closed his eyes, basking in the pleasure of her touch, but his earlier savage thoughts had given way to more familiar, tender feelings.

“Thank you.”

An odd look crossed her face, and she brought her hand down suddenly. A hasty “You’re welcome” was spoken, and she hurried out of the room.

William sipped his coffee and scanned the dining room’s entrance for his wife, who had excused herself to go to the ladies’ room a few minutes before.

The band was warming up, and people were milling about between the tables and near the edges of the dance floor in anticipation.

The crowd had picked up considerably since the dinner hour ended.

Elizabeth reappeared, and he lifted his hand in response to her searching gaze.

With a bright smile of recognition, she glided through the throng, weaving her way toward him with several excuse me’ s as she went.

When she was only a couple of tables away, she accidentally backed into a young man, perhaps in his early twenties.

She turned around rapidly and he caught her elbow to keep her from stumbling.

William saw her flush and bumble out an apology, which the young man accepted with a handsome smile.

Darcy frowned as the man turned back around to watch her walk away and almost sputtered in indignation when the young pup’s eyes traveled down and stopped right below the back of her dress.

William bolted to his feet, but by the time she reached the table, the man had disappeared into the crowd, leaving him feeling angry and slightly foolish.

Surely you realized men were going to look at her in that dress. After all, you looked at her, too, all evening long. He tried to hide his expression, but it was too late—she had seen him scowling.

“What’s the matter?”

“Nothing,” he replied in a clipped tone.

“You look like you’re ready to go. Are we leaving already?”She sounded a little wistful.

“No, I—” He fished around for some reason he stood so suddenly. “I thought you’d like to dance, that’s all.” He held out his hand.

“Oh. Yes, I’d love to.”

Darcy looked around, wanting to show the unwelcome trespasser that this lady was taken, but the man was nowhere to be seen.

They danced in silence through several songs.

Then, as the strains of Stormy Weather began, Darcy pulled Elizabeth close, his mood beginning to match his expression as he listened to the torch singer’s sultry alto crooning about separation and loneliness.

He traced a sure, possessive circle on her bare back and breathed in the vaguely familiar scent of jasmine.

He didn’t remember her wearing that fragrance before yesterday, but now, its sweet fragrance immediately invoked memories of their wedding night.

Let the cad look.She’s my wife, and she’s going home with me.

Elizabeth pulled back and looked up at him. “William, are you all right?”

“Yes, why?”

“You seem…worried or distracted.”

He consciously relaxed his furrowed brow and tried a brief smile.“I’m fine.”

“Good.” She brought her eyes back level with his shoulder and stood on tiptoe, trying to see over it. A change in music caught his attention and he pulled her a tad closer when he recognized the tune.

“What is this song?” she asked. “I don’t think I’ve heard it before.”

“Cole Porter wrote it. It’s called Night and Day .”

“The melody is beautiful.” She sighed, relaxing into his arms a little further, and her curls brushed his downturned cheek.

He was unconsciously humming, not realizing it until he felt her smile.

Pulling back when the song ended, he became aware that he had been nearly embracing her in front of all these people, but she didn’t seem concerned.

“I’d”—he began in a low voice—“I’m…ready to go back to the hotel.If you are,” he added hastily.

She looked in his eyes a long moment, as if trying to discern what she saw there. “All right. Just let me step over to the table and grab my wrap.”

“I’ll get it.”Before she could respond, he turned away and strode over to fetch her fur-lined stole from her chair.

As he made his way back to her, he halted at the sight of the trespasser, approaching Elizabeth with two glasses in his hand and a smooth grin on his face.

William quickened his pace and managed to cut the man off, looking down on him with a fierce glare.

He turned toward Elizabeth and held the wrap for her, covertly lifting her left hand and displaying her wedding ring with a pointed look at the man.

The fellow looked slightly shocked, but then nodded in understanding with an “aha” on his lips.

He gave Darcy an approving smirk, which Darcy was tempted to wipe forcibly off the nitwit’s face.

The ride to the hotel was a quiet one. Elizabeth stifled a little yawn and leaned her head against the car window. William kept his eyes focused on the road, wondering if there would always be this awkwardness between them.

Elizabeth approached the bed slowly. William looked up at her from where he was sitting with his back against the headboard, reading the newspaper. His smile was gentle, now that they were alone.

“Coming to bed, Mrs. Darcy?”