“There you are!” Lizzy laid her embroidery hoop aside and smiled up at her weary but handsome husband, who had entered their sitting room with a contented sigh.
“Yes, finally. Forgive me for ignoring you. I wanted to settle a few matters with Mr. Keith before they escaped my tired brain.” He crossed to his wife, sitting on the ottoman before her chair and leaning for a kiss, hands warm and soothing on her knees. “Thank you for waiting so patiently.”
“I cannot claim any great patience, as I was near to storming into your study and evicting you forcefully.” She smiled but reached up to stroke his cheek with concern evident in her eyes. “You have had a grueling few days, my heart. I can see it in your eyes without knowing the specifics. I should scold you for insisting we retire early only to spend the past hour with your steward, but I shall not. I am just happy you are here. Shall I call for tea?”
Darcy shook negative, hands clasping hers and stroking gently. “No thank you. I had some tea in my study. All I wish for now is to disrobe and relax with you.” He kissed her cheek, nuzzling against her soft skin and inhaling deeply. “Alexander is asleep?” He inquired, following with a gentle suck to her earlobe.
“Hmmm. For the present. He will require a snack in two hours or so before satiated enough for a long sleep.” She withdrew to gaze into his beautiful eyes. “We have time to enjoy each other before the other man in my life demands my attention.”
Darcy chuckled, initiating a long and lazy kiss while Lizzy began working the various buttons and knots necessary to accomplish her spouse’s desire to be unclothed.
The afternoon and early evening after the two snow-encrusted, frozen men finally arrived home had been filled with greetings and conversation, neither man elucidating their adventures. They barely managed to bath and change clothing before being accosted joyously and distracted with refreshing cuisine and glittering entertainment. Richard, generally the hardy soul square in the thick of any revelry offered until late in the night, had pleaded weariness, retiring immediately after dinner. Darcy politely requested the same, only to then retreat to his study for a “brief” interview with Mr. Keith.
Now that he was here, Lizzy’s heart and soul were complete, yet she was worried. That he was physically exhausted was clear; but it was also glaringly evident, at least to her, that the trip had taken an emotional toll that transcended the physical. Never in their time together thus far had she sensed this degree of disquietude in his soul. That he would share all the recent events was not an issue for contemplation, as she knew absolutely that he would. Her uncertainty was in how best to comfort him.
However, within seconds of entering, his wishes were abundantly clarified. Lizzy smiled as she pulled the choking cravat free and tossed it aside. Her William may have been a complex person, but in the end he was simply a man, and she estimated, even in her ignorance on the subject, that the male species were all the same. Sexual pleasure would always be preferable, offering a release unique and cleansing under any circumstance. Knowing her husband’s rampant amorousness and considerable virility, she rather doubted any amount of weariness or distress could staunch his desire for her. If making love was the foremost urging of his heart, then she would happily acquiesce.
She slithered from his tight grip, kneeling between his knees to remove boots and stockings. Darcy took advantage of the position to unclasp the jeweled combs from her hair and thrilled in the vibrancy of her fragrant tresses flowing through his fingers.
“I missed you, my beautiful wife. More than I have the words to convey. My bed was lonely and cold, my sleep troubled with the want of your body in my arms. I even missed our son waking me at ungodly hours of the night.”
Lizzy rose, clasping arms about his waist while Darcy dexterously attacked the row of buttons down her back. “I missed you as well, love, although I had the advantage of nestling Alexander against my chest. It is not nearly as glorious as your nakedness surrounding me, but it soothed me to a degree.”
“He slept with you?”
Lizzy nodded. “I could not bear to sleep alone. I hate it so! Besides, it was terribly cold and I worried for him. At least that was the excuse I used.” She smiled, leaning into his body to bestow sucking kisses to his exposed neck. Darcy shivered and moaned, hands tightening on her waist as he succumbed to the exhilarating sensations.
“Oh, Lizzy! How desperately I need you.” He whispered faintly, vocal cords overwhelmed, and fingers trembling against the thin chemise covering her exposed back. His eyes were closed, ardor rising rapidly as she unbuttoned his shirt, with lips as warm and soft as finest velvet trailing down the midline of his chest. Delicate hands moved gracefully over his torso, grazing puckered nipples before stripping the linen off broad shoulders and reaching to trace the strong bones of his back.
Halting and pulling away after an electrifying dip of her tongue into his navel, Darcy jerking and gasping in delight, she stood and peeled the gown off her shoulders. The corset joined the puddle of fabric at her feet. Darcy groaned, reaching instantly to encircle her hips and draw her toward his aching mouth, but she chuckled softly and clasped his hands. Tugging gently, she stepped backward and drew him to his feet, Darcy swaying slightly.
“Come, lover. Follow me and hold tight to my hands. I would not wish you to faint from the sudden lack of proper blood circulation to other muscles of your body!” The last uttered with a playfully arch glance to his groin and wide grin.
“You minx! Seducing me to achieve such a state and then teasing mercilessly! Do not fear, my beloved vixen, I am quite capable of standing, walking, and doing a great deal more. Lead on and I shall follow happily, but hasten, my sweet, or I will be convincing you of my capabilities on this chair!”
Lizzy laughed, turning and steering the few feet to their bedchamber with her enchanted and extremely aroused spouse inches behind. His breath brushed over her bare shoulder, lips grazing, the rising heat of his body felt deep into her bones, and his free hand roamed insistently over hip and thigh as she walked. The second they entered their favored sanctuary, he flattened his palm over her lower abdomen, hauling her backward onto the hard surfaces of his chest.
With intimately probing fingers rendering her breathless and incoherent, she listened as whispering lips brushed her ear, “I do pray you have slept well over the past days, Elizabeth, as I intend to keep you awake most of the night. Loving you once will not satiate me, I can assure you. I require the glorious sounds of your ecstasy and erotic writhing of your body numerous times to quench my thirst even partially. The hunger to feel your warmth encasing me as we love cannot be satisfied until a banquet course has been served. I need to feast on every inch of you to be truly satisfied. Lord, my precious wife, how beautiful you are and how deeply I love you!” The latter breathless exclamation was uttered as he tenderly rotated her now naked form to face him, eyes afire as he inspected head to toe while fingertips breezily traced her curves.
Lizzy groaned, moving decisively and clasping his face in her palms, lifting on tiptoes to passionately claim his mouth. His poetic words, always so spontaneously expressed from the heart, never failed to stir her tremendously.
Over the course of their marriage, they had learned the blissful happiness achieved in intuitively seeking to discover the innermost yearnings of their partner. A mere glance, fleeting touch, whispered word, or barest kiss was enough to sense the internal necessity. In the main, they discovered that their individual cravings at any given interlude were inevitably hungry for the same level of intensity, be it slow and languorous or fast and furious.