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The first floor consisted of a succession of drawing rooms, saloons, and parlors.

The aesthetic tastes of the person who had decorated them were evident in each room; the rooms were elegant and refined without being ostentatious.

They crossed the wide center hall, passed down another hall, and Darcy stopped before a group of doors.

“My parents, who first built and decorated this house, never liked to be parted from each other. What was my father’s chamber is now mine, and I have had your things placed in my mother’s former room, which adjoins it.

It has been redecorated since her death, but of course you will want to decorate it to your own liking. ”

He opened a door and showed Elizabeth into a large, airy room decorated simply with hangings of sea-green silk.

Two windows looked down into an extension of the garden on the other side of the house.

She exclaimed over the cushioned window seat before turning to a comfortable sitting area in front of the fireplace.

“A beautiful room, Fitzwilliam! I can imagine myself being quite comfortable here. And of course, I love the window seat!”

Darcy opened a door. “And here is your dressing room. I remember sitting here often with my mother as a child.” The room was large, comfortable, and convenient. Elizabeth’s bonnet and gloves were already waiting to be stored in the wardrobe with its many drawers.

Darcy extended his hand. “Come this way.” They passed back through the bedchamber, and he opened a door near the fireplace. “This is my room.”

The two bedchambers mirrored each other in size and in the arrangement of their furniture.

The hangings in Darcy’s room were of a deep red, and the furniture was dark, but the somber colors were relieved by simple white paint on the walls.

Two comfortable wing chairs were drawn up before the fireplace, one of which showed more signs of wear and use than the other.

Darcy pointed to a door at the other side. “ My dressing room is in there.”

Elizabeth smiled shyly. A blush stole up her cheeks, a fact that was not lost on Darcy. “I like that we shall be neighbors,” she said. “I will not be afraid with you nearby. My parents’ rooms are as far apart as they can be and remain in the same house.”

“My parents slept together in this room when they were here, or in my father’s room at Pemberley. They did not like to be apart.” He folded her into his arms. “We can do that as well, dearest. If that is what you wish to do.”

“I would like that very much,” she replied. “Because it is not my parents’ habit, I did not think of it, though Aunt and Uncle share their room. I will like being with you, and I will be safe.”

“Elizabeth,” he began. “You have been through an ordeal. Your shock and terror have been unimaginable. You have wept in my arms until I feared both our hearts would break. If you would rather wait, I will wait for you as long as is necessary. I would cut my arm off rather than cause you any more fear or shock or pain. You must believe me.”

Elizabeth rested her head on his chest, listening for his heartbeat.

“Dearest Fitzwilliam, it was dreadful, but the worst is over. Our love is about mutual joy and comfort and life itself. I am not afraid of you. I want this, and I want to be yours. I have an optimistic turn of mind, and my dearest wish has just been granted. I will be able to settle down with you and we can make a home and a family.” She sighed, making a contented little sound.

“Now, you must help me take off this precious necklace and put it somewhere safe.” He saw her smile return and was satisfied.

Darcy folded her in his arms and bent down to kiss her, but after a moment, she placed her finger across his lips.

“Wait! I am forgetting our bargain. A promise is a promise after all.” She stood by the table next to his wing chair and began removing the pins from her hair, placing them carefully on the table.

“I need to save these until I can get more.” When the last pin was out, she shook her head, and the whole length of her hair tumbled down about her shoulders and down her back. “Is that better?”

“It is much better,” he whispered. Seating himself in the armchair, he pulled her onto his lap and said, “Now, come and kiss me,” rejoicing in her growing passion as they both lay hidden beneath the silken curtain of her hair.

A few short moments later, the clock on the mantelpiece chimed six.

Darcy stood them both up, smoothed her hair back and kissed her feverish cheek.

“Madam, I must say that we are both overdressed for this occasion. However, we are faced with a choice.” He held up his first finger, which she immediately kissed and tried to take into her mouth.

“Do not interrupt me while I am enumerating our choices, or we will find ourselves left with only one choice. I shall continue. Firstly, we may straighten our clothes, effect repairs to our, ahh, our hair and go down to the dining room for supper. After supper, we may return here, enter our respective dressing rooms, ring for maid and valet, and prepare for bed. This would be the course pursued by civilized men and women.”

“I can only conjecture that your second choice would be pursued by uncivilized men and women.” Elizabeth’s dimples showed. “I should like to hear it nevertheless.”

“Well then. The second course of action would be simply to stay here without benefit of maid or valet and see what happens.” He smiled a rare, happy smile.

“Were we to find ourselves in danger of starvation later, we would be forced to put on night clothes and steal down to the kitchen under cover of darkness, there to forage for our food like savages. I will say, in favor of this second choice, that there is little danger of discovery. The staff will have enjoyed enough good rum punch to put them all into a stupor.”

“The second course of action has much in its favor. I find the part about foraging for our food like savages to be especially appealing. Are you an experienced forager, sir?”

“I’ve had my moments.”

“Very well then.” She turned and walked into his arms, brazenly taking hold of the end of his neckcloth and tugging. “I would like to know how to get rid of this without turning it into a hangman’s noose.”

“My information is always available to you.” He took her hand. “Simply take it here and pull gently.” The knot disintegrated. “As you see, it is not difficult.”

She unbuttoned his shirt, kissing that part of his neck that was exposed to her view.

“You can have no idea of the effect you have on young ladies when you suddenly appear before them in your shirtsleeves after having gone for a swim, Mr. Darcy. I am not certain that I have ever completely recovered.” She began to kiss that part of his neck that she could reach and to caress that part which she could not reach.

“And are you never seen without your coat and waistcoat?” she finally said.

The offending garments were gone in a moment, and she unfastened the buttons of his shirt.

Darcy looked down at her and said quietly, “One of us is wearing too many clothes.” He reached behind her and unfastened her gown, which slipped to the floor, leaving her in nothing but a soft chemise.

Then he carried her back to the chair. There he began a slow, gentle seduction of his bride which delighted them both.

***

Elizabeth awoke at some time after midnight.

For just a moment, she wondered where she was.

Then she felt Fitzwilliam’s lean body curled around hers and felt his warm breath on her shoulder.

She lay still, remembering the astonishing pleasures they had experienced only a few hours before.

She had not had any idea that such feelings were possible, and her husband’s attentions and his obvious delight in her had left her completely fearless and feeling very much cherished.

She closed her eyes as a delicious shiver ran through her.

Then her stomach gave a distinct and most unladylike grumble.

Her face grew warm with embarrassment, and she felt his body shake with laughter against hers.

“I suppose I had best take you away and feed you,” he said against her ear. “Are you ready to learn to forage for your food like a savage?”

“I am ready. But if you continue to tickle my ear like that, we may yet starve, Mr. Darcy.”

“There is no rest for the weary,” he replied, getting out of bed and lighting the bedside candle.

Darcy walked across the room to his dressing room, lighting another candle or two.

Elizabeth, who had no idea of where her nightgowns or wrappers had been stored, looked vainly through her pile of clothes for her chemise.

Not finding it, she settled on his shirt, which was still thrown across the arm of the chair.

It hung to just above her knees, and she knew that the fine cambric would be quite revealing. Then she found her shoes.

Darcy, returning in his dressing gown, gave her a look of frank appreciation.

Then, finger to his lips, he led her down the hall to a back stairway and down two pairs of stairs to the vast kitchen.

He smiled when he caught sight of the kitchen table.

“The cook has taken good care of us.” He pointed to two fine plates, two sets of silverware, and two linen napkins.

A bottle of wine and two glasses stood nearby, and a snowy cloth covered a platter of small savory tarts, a loaf of new bread, cheese, and cold beef.

A plate of fresh fruit stood nearby with another plate of small cakes.

Elizabeth nibbled a couple of grapes. “This is savage indeed. And the foraging has been quite taxing. I believe I could force myself to eat something.”

They fed each other bites of savory tart and sips of wine, licking the crumbs from each other’s fingers.

Then Darcy stood and carved slices of beef with great expertise and a flourish, and Elizabeth made sandwiches.

She presented her husband his sandwich with a flourish of her own, and after taking a bite, he pronounced it the best sandwich he had ever eaten and proceeded to devour it, washing it down with sips of wine.

“If this were Pemberley,” he observed, “we would have good homebrewed English ale. I keep a French cook here to impress my friends, but at Pemberley we employ a proper Englishwoman.”

“That is a good thing, because I know a great deal more about plain cooking than I do about the more elegant dishes.” Elizabeth had also finished her sandwich. In fact, they had eaten up the entire meal.

“Our work here is at an end,” said Darcy.

“I suggest we return to our bed.” They turned to the stairway.

Ordinarily, a gentleman preceded a lady up the stairs, both to light the way, if necessary, and to avoid any embarrassing glimpses of petticoats or ankles.

Darcy stopped and handed Elizabeth the candle.

“After you. Since you are wearing my shirt, I feel I should be allowed to develop a proper appreciation of the sight.”

Laughing the entire way, Elizabeth ran up the stairs. Darcy followed at a much slower pace.

“And did I give you enough of a view to justify my theft of your shirt, Mr. Darcy?” Elizabeth laughed down at him as he climbed the last few stairs.

“Well, let me see. Slender, well-turned ankles, beautiful legs, and . . . and other beauties. I believe I have been well compensated for the use of my shirt, Mrs. Darcy.”

When they were back in their room, he took the candle from his wife and set it on the stand before discarding his dressing gown. Then he turned to her, pulled the shirt off over her head, carried her to the bed, and pleasured her until she cried out in bliss.