The Trials of the Honorable F. Darcy (44 page)

“Mr. Darcy, there is an urgent transmission for you,” the captain said after clearing his throat and alerting them to his presence. They had taken to enjoying naked sunbathing and each was becoming a lovely golden brown all over. Darcy pulled his hand from Elizabeth’s thigh and tossed a towel over her then sat up and pulled on his swim trunks.

“From whom?” he asked. Of course nobody would dare interrupt them on their honeymoon unless it was an emergency; the question was, was it his family or hers?

“Mr. Fitzwilliam,” the captain answered. Darcy nodded and went to the cabin and picked up the receiver.

“Richard?” he asked, concerned.

“Will, I’m so sorry to interrupt you, this won’t take five minutes. Caroline and I have eloped. We’re in Naples right now. We want to see you when you reach Italy to have lunch.”

Darcy laughed.

“Congratulations! Of course. I’ll call your cell once we settle in. How long will you be there?”

“Just another week. When will you arrive?”

“Day after tomorrow. I’ll call you then.”

“Great!”

“And Richard?”

“Yes?”

“Don’t call me again unless someone is dead.”

Richard laughed and they rang off. He returned to Elizabeth, doffed his shorts and lay down on his stomach on his deck towel.

“You won’t believe it. Richard and Caroline have eloped,” he mumbled sleepily.

Elizabeth laughed.

“Good grief, marriage is contagious,” she said.

He nodded and placed one hand lovingly on her breast and fell asleep with a smile on his face.

***

They arrived at the Amalfi Coast of Italy two days later. Darcy was sated by the total seclusion the yacht had offered; he no longer felt the need to be completely isolated. He called Richard as soon as they were off the boat to find out where he and Caroline were staying. Much to Elizabeth’s amusement, Darcy wanted to have dinner with them that very night.

“What happened to ‘don’t call me unless someone is dead’?” she laughed.

He grinned. “You may not realize it but Richard and I are like brothers.”

“Oh, I realize it. Competitive brothers,” she replied archly.

He nodded. “Get a few drinks into me tonight and maybe I’ll reveal some of our sordid past,” he winked.

They checked into their villa and met their amiable hosts, who were thrilled to have a newlywed couple to pamper. They were given the best room with a view of the ocean and a private terrace. A basket of fruit, chocolates, and champagne was delivered shortly after their arrival. They unpacked their things and freshened up. The heat made it intolerable to wear anything but the lightest of clothes; Elizabeth slipped into a gauzy white skirt and tank top while Darcy put on a tan linen suit and white shirt.

They met Caroline and Richard just hours later at a small café. Richard and Darcy shook hands while Caroline and Elizabeth hugged. Caroline looked radiant; her face was softer, her smile truer, and her laugh lighter. Richard appeared just as happy; he couldn’t stop smiling and had a rather smitten look on his face.

Caroline had always thought Richard somewhat of a shallow playboy, someone who it would be fun to have a fling with. And he was fun; he liked to party, was a little on the hedonistic side. She had reconnected with him after Christmas one night and he had invited her out for a nightcap that lasted four hours. He’d taken her home and chastely kissed her cheek then called her the next day. She found that while he was a partier, he had a surprising sensitive core. She discovered that he wasn’t a playboy: his affection, however fleeting, was genuine.

Despite her better judgment, she found herself liking him more. He always admired her outfits but then he asked about them; what kind of fabric was it, was it inspired by Eastern designs, was the dye environmentally friendly? They had traveled to some of the same places and enjoyed sharing their individual memories. She learned that he was a bit of a bohemian. They smoked hash naked on Moroccan pillows in her den, listening to Egyptian music. He admired her tattoo, knew the meaning of it without her explanation. He showed her his own and explained the meaning of it to her.

It was during one of these smoke-filled evenings that their friendship had advanced into something more, to the liking of both. For his part, Richard had always known that Caroline was more than she presented to the world. He refused to believe that anyone who had a tattoo symbolizing serenity on her lower back, drawn on by a tribesman in the Amazon, was shallow. She was good at disguising it but she was a kindred spirit. He had slipped past her exterior with little effort and liked what he found.

Elizabeth found the whole development of Caroline’s romance with Richard shocking and yet, somehow, perfect. They had both seemed somewhat adrift, as if searching for a spiritual anchor. Both seemed to have found that anchor in the most unlikely place and yet it worked. She was very happy for them both.

They settled at their table and shared an excellent bottle of wine before their dinner arrived. Conversation drifted toward childhood memories and stories of Richard and Darcy’s exploits. Elizabeth was somewhat surprised to find how close Richard and Darcy actually were. As boys they had spent summers together swimming and riding horses in both California and at Pemberley. During their teen years they had covered for each other when getting into trouble
,
either with their parents or with their girlfriends. As adults, they had looked after each other’s best interests and their bond was only strengthened by their joint guardianship of Georgiana.

Richard was sipping a glass of wine and smiling wistfully as Darcy recounted one particular summer in California.

“That was the summer we lost our virginity with those twins,” Richard grinned.

Darcy laughed and blushed. “Please, Richard, you’re mistaken. I saved myself for my wife,” he laughed.

“That’s not what Caroline says,” Richard said somewhat pensively. There was an awkward silence as everyone remembered that Caroline and Darcy had been lovers, if indifferent ones.

“Richard tells me you’re quite the performer,” Caroline said to Elizabeth, hoping to distill the awkwardness but only deepening it as everyone remembered Elizabeth’s
‘Hot Stuff’
number.

“Elizabeth took dance lessons as a child,” Darcy offered and everyone was relieved to turn the conversation. “She wanted to be a ballerina.”

“Really? So did I!” Caroline said, smiling. “I got too tall but I always loved to dance.”

“Isn’t it the most wonderful form of expression?” Elizabeth exclaimed. Elizabeth and Caroline put their heads together and shared a conversation about their love for dance, while Richard and Darcy looked at each other somewhat warily.

Richard could not help but wonder at the relationship Darcy had with Caroline and what the inevitable comparisons would be. She had assured him that Darcy was nothing compared to him but what could one really expect given the situation? It seemed that despite their closeness, Richard would always hold a frisson of resentment against Darcy. He tried to put it out of his mind and enjoy the remainder of the evening.

Meanwhile, Darcy could not forget that Elizabeth had danced for Richard. For him and Caroline, sex was just sex, but for him and Elizabeth, well, dancing was something
more
.
Emotions
were involved when she danced, whether she admitted it or not. She had only danced for him at his request, but he had witnessed her performance for Richard and the spontaneity with which it had been done. It made him irrationally jealous.

After dinner, the two couples agreed to a stroll on the beach before returning to their hotels and respective honeymoons. Initially, Elizabeth took Darcy’s arm and strolled by his side. He carried her shoes and she squelched the sand between her toes. She sensed that he had taken some melancholic turn during the evening but was not sure of the source.

Caroline had perceived the same turn in Richard. She turned to Elizabeth and Darcy, who were walking behind them, and said,

“Eliza, won’t you take a stroll with me? It’s so refreshing.” She held out her hand to Elizabeth, who took it with a mix of reluctance and relief. The ladies left Richard and Darcy and set about a brisk pace to put some distance between them.

“It seems that the gentlemen still have some issues to work out between them,” Caroline said quietly as she tucked her arm into Elizabeth’s elbow.

“What do you mean?” Elizabeth asked, hazarding a glance behind them.

“Well, Richard is terribly insecure about Darcy’s prowess in the bedroom and if I’m not mistaken, Darcy hates the fact that you once performed for Richard. Every time Richard brings it up, Darcy’s face goes all cold and you know Richard; he brings it up at every opportunity.”

Elizabeth let out a short laugh. “I confess I have some insecurities about your relationship with Darcy as well but I’m doing my best to put it behind me.”

“You have nothing to worry about, Lizzy. He was never interested in me. We slept together a handful of times and while he was good, he never let himself be completely free with me. I always wanted to tap into that inner passion he has but he would never open it up. I suspect that you have witnessed the full brunt of his passion. With Richard, there’s no holding back. He’s never been anything but completely open with me, as Darcy never was. You shouldn’t give it another thought any more than I give your little performance for Richard any thought.”

Elizabeth smiled and squeezed Caroline’s arm. On impulse, she removed her hand from Caroline’s arm and instead took her hand. With a laugh, she did a little pirouette under Caroline’s arm. Caroline laughed and took Elizabeth’s other hand. For a few moments, they laughed and playfully danced on the beach, performing a graceful and impromptu duet.

Richard walked next to Darcy and watched their wives walk before them. The women were talking quietly, Caroline’s head bowed low to speak to the shorter Elizabeth.

“We have two very extraordinary women,” Richard mused.

Darcy nodded. He sensed that he needed to clear the air with Richard but wasn’t sure how to approach it. If he said Caroline meant nothing to him, would Richard be offended? He contemplated in silence what to say, until he was interrupted by Richard.

“Did she ever call your name out?” Richard asked, looking straight ahead.

Darcy followed his cue and refused to look at Richard, instead looking intently at the air three feet in front of him.

“No.”

“Did she ever rake her nails down your back?”

“Never.”

“Did she ever tell you that she loved you?”

“No.”

Richard seemed to relax a little. He looked over at Darcy and gave a little smile.

Possessed by some heretofore unknown need to tease Richard, Darcy asked with a curious tone,
“Did she ever make
you
dress like a space cowboy?”

Richard looked at Darcy with shock and concern, then saw the smile playing about Darcy’s lips.

“Really, Darcy, don’t you know that you can’t tease a man about the woman he loves?” he laughed. Darcy laughed with him, and they looked at the women before them, who were now engaged in a graceful dance in the moonlight, their silvery forms darting at the edge of the water.

“They really are extraordinary, aren’t they?” Darcy sighed.

***

When they returned to their villa, Darcy and Elizabeth wandered onto the terrace, reluctant to end the evening so soon. Darcy found a bottle of wine and two glasses while Elizabeth plugged in her iPod to give them some music. They sat on the terrace for some time, sipping wine in silence and looking up at the stars. Darcy stretched out his legs while Elizabeth tucked hers under her skirt and curled into his arm.

“Richard and Caroline seem very happy,” she commented softly.

“Yes, they do. Strange pairing, isn’t it? But it seems right. They complement each other very well.”

“Imagine, you could have ended up with her,” Elizabeth teased lightly.

“Never. It never would have happened. We were meant to be. Don’t you know that by now?” he replied earnestly and tipped her chin up. She smiled at him and he dipped his head to kiss her. She melted into his arms while his thumb stroked the side of her jaw line. After several minutes of kissing, Elizabeth pulled away from him.

“I have a wedding present for you,” she said, standing. She pulled him to his feet and made him stand in the center of the terrace.

“I created this for you. It’s never been shown to anyone else and it never will,” she said as she walked away from him. She stood at the edge of the terrace and, to Darcy’s utter amazement, began to dance for him. It was not a seductive dance; she did not engage him to participate. He watched as she stretched her arms in a graceful arc above her head, swept them to her sides, and stretched her legs, standing on the balls of her bare feet.

To the strains of Apocalyptica’s “Nothing Else Matters,” Elizabeth paid tribute to the man she loved. The first gentle movement of music she interpreted as the tentative beginnings of love, with practiced graceful strokes and swings, beautifully executed with care.

The next movement was the passionate declaration of love, which was expressed with wide twirls and dips, culminating in her leaping into his arms, one leg wrapped around his waist. He wrapped his arms around her, surprised, but let her go as she slid down his body at the crescendo’s end.

Elizabeth completed the final movement, that of surrendering to love, with graceful moves tinged with passion and longing. Though less precise than the first movement of the performance, this movement was more expressive and emotional. She ended by walking gracefully toward him, draping her arms around his neck and resting her cheek against his chest.

His heart was thumping wildly in his chest; he was touched beyond all measure of expression other than the way that his body was trembling and his ardent desire to wrap his arms around her and weep. Rather than sweep her into a passionate kiss, he stood still with his arms around her. He let the significance of what she had just done sink in and let the emotion seep into his pores until he was saturated with her love for him.

After a moment, she looked up at him. He was pulled in to those velvety brown eyes that he loved so much, until nothing else mattered, nothing else existed but her. With the tentativeness of a new lover, he kissed her. He heard her exhale against his lips, felt the moist warmth of her breath as it mixed with his own. It was another indication of how they were now one person, one being, forever commingled in body, mind, and spirit.

Wordlessly, he picked her up and carried her back into their suite. Their fingers trembled as they removed each other’s clothing. His fingertips played over her skin and he felt the hairs on her arms rise in when he whispered against her lips, “Elizabeth, I love you.”

They sunk naked to the bed and he laid his head on her chest. He felt her arms curl around his head as he kissed her collarbone and moved down to her breasts. He was cradled within her arms and legs as a mother holds a child, safe and secure within her embrace.

Yet her love was not maternal; it was the amorous love of a new wife, eager and supple. She arched within his arms as if continuing her dance into another movement: consummation of love. Her legs curved gracefully against his body, limber muscles tensing and relaxing beneath his touch. Her arms curled and twisted around his own, holding him tightly to her.

She explored his skin with her lips and tongue, tasting the salt of his sweat. Her nose was filled with the earthy, mossy scent of his skin and hair. She brushed her fingertips over his taut back muscles and stroked his puckered nipples with her cheek before kissing them.

With her tongue rasping over his nipples, Darcy emitted a groaning whimper. He pressed his hands into the flesh of her backside and pulled her onto him. She sat atop him and began a glissade over his length, using long, slow strokes and pushing herself onto him until he was fully buried within her. Each expelled soft moans as they kissed, tongues touching and retreating.

He rolled her over to her back and knelt, hooking his elbows under her knees. She lay before him, arms stretched over her head, breasts tipped up with each breath, legs draped over his arms, unmistakable desire on her face. He tore his eyes away from hers to watch himself enter her then returned his gaze to watch her face as he thrust into her.

She had closed her eyes but now she opened them and held his gaze steadily. He saw her face twitch with pleasure each time he pushed into her, watched as her brows knitted and her lips parted with increasing arousal. As much as he loved to watch her, he wanted nothing more than to share that arousal with her. He dropped her knees and lowered himself to his elbows, pressing his chest against hers.

With his hands twined in her hair, their mouths joined, her legs wrapped around his hips and her ankles pulling on his calves, they made poignant and fervent love late into the night. It was not until dawn that they fell into a deep sleep: the sleep of the truly sated, contented, and loved.