“Mrs. Reynolds blathers too much and exaggerates,” he interrupted with a hoarse grumble.
Lizzy laughed and reached for a kiss. “She loves you and only speaks the truth.”
“Finish your tale, love, but save the flattery.”
She slipped her arms tight about his neck, fingers in his hair. “How can I not flatter a man as perfect as you, Mr. Darcy?”
“I am warning you, Elizabeth!”
She laughed gaily, kissing him again. “Very well, in all seriousness. All my emotions swirled and coalesced, as you know, and I finally accepted the truth of my feelings for you. I do not think I can fully separate my love for you from my love for Pemberley as they are so intertwined. When I thought you were lost to me, again, I was devastated primarily at never being able to hold you and confess my feelings, but also with the reality that I would never see Pemberley again. Your home had surrounded me and entered my soul. I did not recognize just how much until after we were married. You remember how nervous I was as we approached the Manor after our wedding?” He nodded. “It was not merely because I feared being a good Mistress and making you proud; it was equally because I knew instinctively that Pemberley deserved an excellent Mistress and I feared myself not up to the task. I had already given her a personality all her own; she was as real as you or me and I did not want to disappoint her. It was then that I realized my love for a house! Over the next weeks it grew, and before our first month was complete, I understood what it truly meant to be connected to land and heritage.”
He was softly stroking her face, smiling tenderly as they stared into each other's eyes. Lizzy reached one finger to trace his lips, speaking quietly, “Can I tell you something, dearest, without hurting your feelings?”
“Of course.”
“When we get home, I do not want to go on any other adventures for a very long time. Naturally, it would be unwise,” she said with a laugh and pat to her belly, “but mainly I want to abide, truly abide, at Pemberley. With you and Georgiana and our son and whatever guests visit, but always with the familiar walls around me and our bed to sleep in. For the first time in my life I truly have a home that is mine, will forever be mine, and I want to savor it.”
“I promise we shall stay put, my love. However, I will remind you of your words when another long winter of snow and endless spring of rains causes you to lose your mind from the forced confinement!”
Lizzy laughed, again rubbing over her belly. “I think I shall have plenty to consume my time.”
Darcy chuckled, lacing his long fingers through hers on the soft bulge of their child. He leaned for a kiss, pulling her further into his chest while gently reclining their bodies onto the sun-warmed blanket. The cushiony sand gave way under the weight, molding around their forms. Darcy's enormous coat covered them completely, shielding Lizzy from the whiffs of breeze as bare legs were exposed by a seeking hand.
Lizzy caressed over his chest, leisurely wending her way down his torso to groin, while kissing playfully with little nibbles and suckles as Darcy adored. He was dressed in his favorite gray overcoat, shirt open and no vest, his face stubbly and hair in sleeping disarray. Lizzy was always thrilled with his casual clothing and disheveled appearance, the combination of pounding surf and kindled daybreak enhancing the sensations.
“Hmm… William, I love you.”
He withdrew from her lips with a faint moan, grasping her fondling hand. “Elizabeth, we should return to our room.”
She opened her eyes in surprise. “I know you well, my lover. Do not tell me you have not dreamt of making love on the beach! I have seen your eyes rest on the sand when we bathe, with that singular expression I know indicates you are musing on making love.”
“Decadent imaginings are not necessarily translated to reality, beloved. We are quite exposed here and I cannot allow my passion for you to overrule my judgment.”
“Your judgment is flawed. It is barely six in the morning; no one arises this early, except for the servants, and they have no reason to come here. The bathing machines are not utilized until ten and shield us well. It is not yet fully daylight so our shadows will meld with the rocks, and your large coat will cover us. Since I rather enjoy making love to you clothed like this, it is an additional bonus for me.”
She finished with a smug smirk, grabbing a thick lapel and pulling him roughly to her upturned lips. He relented for several blissful moments, hands intimately moving over her body. With a frantic gasp elicited by her purposefully stimulating hands, Darcy attempted to withdraw.
“Obviously you have given this serious contemplation, but I still deem it risky. Elizabeth! Desist!”
With a throaty chuckle and devious smile, she whispered, “You cannot return to the inn in your current condition anyway, Fitzwilliam. Therefore, you may as well search about to ease your mind as to our solitude, and then grant me what I demand. You know I shall prevail in the end anyway.”
He stared at her, lips twitching as he attempted to maintain a stern glare. It was thoroughly impossible to do so when she was so beautiful and desirable with the rays of sunlight dappling her flawless face; lush, pert lips set in a succulent pout.
“What has happened to the sweet, innocent girl I fell in love with?”
“She married you, my marvelous lover. Alas, she is corrupted for life, naughty and wanton, a tigress by your own admission. Wipe the transparently false disapproval from your face, Mr. Darcy; the sun is rising higher and we are wasting precious time.”
He caved, shaking his head and laughing as he rose. A quick scan and circuit around the machines proved the asserted fact that they were utterly alone. The majority of the beach and resort on the bluff above were yet sunk in shadow, only the few flickering lights visible at lower level windows. Briskly he strode to where Elizabeth waited, now sitting up and watching as he approached, coat billowing as he walked his uniquely powerful gait. He knelt by her knees, but before he could lay her back onto the sand, she encircled his waist with a firm clasp and squeeze.
Darcy grinned, lacing lean fingers through her trailing hair as she attended with devoted caresses. Of course, she was correct; he was helpless to resist her allurement and advances. The man of caution and towering regulation was shattered before the onslaught of her love. How she excited him and fulfilled him was infinitely beyond any dream he had ever entertained. He honestly believed the entire resort population could walk by and he would not notice, nor care.
“Fitzwilliam,” she whispered as they loved, nibbling on an earlobe while his hot breath rushed over her neck in cadence with his tireless motions, “are your daydreams and fantasies being fulfilled?”
He lifted with a groan, arching and slowing until physically able to speak. “Truthfully? Oh God, Elizabeth! Wait!” He gasped, staring at her with glazed eyes. “I… I visualized us totally naked, rolling about on the hot sand in broad daylight. Completely impossible, naturally. This… Lizzy, my wife… every time is a gift with you.”