Page 36 of Searching for Elizabeth
Elizabethmaintained her composure despite the imposing size of the four-story building.Footmen opened the two lustrous mahogany doors, and she saw for the first time the man and woman who would be most important for her eventual success as mistress of Darcy House. Darcy introduced Mr. Shelton, the butler, and Mrs. White, the housekeeper, and he addressed the other servants flanking them, “I am thrilled to introduce you to your new mistress, Mrs. Fitzwilliam Darcy. She is a wonder, with a list of accomplishments quite singular amongst ladies, and I hope that some of you will eventually be privy to highlights from that list. But for now, let me beg of you that youwill serve her as promptly and loyally as you have always served me.”
Elizabeth blushed, greeted the staff with friendly smiles and pretty words, and then emitted a charming bell-like laugh as Darcy swept her up into his arms and carried her up the stairs to her suite. He called over his shoulder, “Shelton, has there been any post for my bride in the past few days?”
Mr. Shelton looked unaccustomed to calling loudly in the house, but he raised his voice enough to be heard: “Yes, sir, it is in the master-suite sitting room.”
Elizabethlaughed again, but a low, pleased sound that only Darcy could hear. “You remembered what I wanted to do first-first!”
“I did.” He had arrived at his new bride’s suite, and he was pleased to personally show her the bedroom, the water closet, the dressing room with a perfectly enormous tub, and a sitting room, which was connected to his own dressing room, water closet, and bedroom. He also introduced Elizabeth to her new lady’s maid, Pearson.
“I wonder if second-second, we might take a bath,” Darcylightly suggested as Elizabeth fell upon her expected letter. “There is room for two in your tub,” he whispered in her ear, and she felt his words vibrate into her, down to her core. “But it will take quite a while to fill, so I should give the order ahead of time.”
“Oh, yes, that sounds lovely,”Elizabethsaid. She managed to look very eager and very shy at the same time.
A short while later,shecrowed: “William, Mr. Briggs accepted my manuscript! I will soon have another published book!”
“I had no doubt that Mr. Briggs would want it,” Darcy calmly opined.
“But you have not even read that one, yet,” Elizabeth replied. She scrunched her nose. “If you tell me thatTales from the Hedgerowsis good before you have even read it, then how am I to believe anything you have said about my writings that you actuallyhaveread.”
“Oh, my darling girl,” Darcy laughed. “First, I never said that it was good; I said that Mr. Briggs would want to publish it.”
He went on, “Naturally, the fact that your previously published books and essays are all very well written and a pleasure to read — that fact means nothing, and of course I assume that this latest work is quite boring, rife with errors of every kind, and overall quite dreadful. However, given the commercial successes Mortimer Press has had with all of your other publications, I was justified in being quite certain that they would publish just about anything you cared to submit.”
Elizabethlaughed, too, archly protesting, “I say,Mr. Darcy, you need not be quite so positive about everything pertaining to a field in which you know little. Unlike you, Ihaveread theHedgerowsvolume, and I must say that it only borders on being boring; it is merely chock-full of errors, not rife with errors; furthermore, only five sorts of errors are to be found within the pages, which as you know is not even a fifth of every kind of error; and overall the book is merely terrible, not dreadful. What say you now, sir?”
Darcy had seen a signal from a footman who was passing the open door to the mistress’s dressing room, and he told Elizabeth, “I say, let us bathe!”
Elizabeth wentalone into the dressing room, and her maid helped her out of her clothing and into the tub. “I am putting your towels here, madam,” Pearson said. “Would you like some scented oil, or a wash ball? Or both?”
“Just the wash ball, thank you. And then you can go.” Elizabeth rubbed the ball with her hands to release some of the soap into the water. As she had hoped, the water became more cloudy. She was positive that her beloved husband wished to join her—
As expected, there was a soft knock on the door. “May I come in?” Darcy asked.
“Yes, please.”
“Yes, I amverypleased,” he said as he removed his robe and quickly got into the tub.Elizabeth’s eyes went wide as she glimpsed a body part that, when she had seen it on a life-size statue, looked much, much smaller. She looked alarmed, but Darcy just chuckled and said, “Remember, the part of your body that you are now certain is too small can enlarge enough for a baby to pass through.” He held out his hands to show the rough dimensions of a newborn. “So…definitely not too small.”
“Oh, Will, I feel ridiculous for not thinking about that. And Iamblushing too much. I promise you, I will not go entirely missish on you!”
“Your courage always rises at every attempt to intimidate you,” Darcy reminded her.
Elizabeth giggled. “Well, in this case, you are not attempting to intimidate me, although you may eventually attempt to impale me, and you are the one rising, not me!”
Darcy loved her wit even more when they were sitting together in a beautiful copper bathtub. He gently washedElizabeth, using the ball and a soft cloth, and he intrigued her with some touches in regions where she had never previously been touched, and the more he did all of that, the less ridiculous she felt, although the blushing continued apace. By the time the couple had used the fluffy towels to dry one another and had reached the bed in the next room,Elizabethfelt that she needed more of something—what she did not know—and the dialogue between the two became less erudite and more repetitive. “Right there, right there.” “Please, more, please, please.” “Yes, yes.” “Oh, oh, oh, ohhhhh.”
And even though this was a couple who had been drawn together over their mutual love of intellectual debate and witty repartee, that night they had a tremendous time despite the lack of four-syllable words.
Chapter 30: Elizabeth
—the next morning—
Elizabeth Darcy—oh, how well that sounds—felt nothing but bliss as she drank chocolate and nibbled on a scone. She had had no notion that the marriage bed could be so pleasurable; indeed, she had not known that such heights of pleasure were even possible.
She adored gazing into William’s eyes as he drank coffee and ate a more hardy breakfast. He said, “I am afraid I have an hour’s worth of work I must do. Is there anything I can get you or do for you before I sit down with my correspondence?”
Lizzy felt as if she had been pulled back into the not-always-so-blissful real world with his question. Of course, she loved the real world; she knew she had things she could do, wanted to do, as well. It was only an hour.
“No, Will, you need not worry about me. I plan to work on my latest story; but I can bear the interruption when you have accomplished your work, so please do come to me.”
