Truth about Mr. Darcy (28 page)

It was not long before Elizabeth was soaring toward her completion.

Darcy felt her muscles tightening around him as he buried himself within her, time and again, deeper and deeper, until, finally, with a loud cry, he suddenly felt one of the most powerful releases he had ever experienced.

They did not speak, but lay together, hands and bodies entwined, rapid breathing slowing, frantic heartbeats calming, the silent reassurance of the other’s presence enveloping them. Darcy bestowed a lingering kiss upon his wife’s forehead as he closed his eyes, exhaustion finally claiming them at last.

Lydia, you are insufferable! Surely, you must see the danger and impropriety of indulging in such disgraceful behavior with a dangerous scoundrel! You permitted him to take outrageous liberties with you that many respectable married women will not even allow their husbands, and you were in public! Have you no shame at all?” Elizabeth found Lydia’s refusal to see the error of her ways regarding her scandalous conduct with Wickham the night before infuriating. To further inflame her anger, Lydia merely turned her back to her sister and sulked.

Jane’s approach was more sedate. “Lydia, you must understand that with your lack of fortune, your virtue and reputation are all you have to recommend you to a respectable gentleman. You cannot continue to conduct yourself in such a degrading manner with a man like Mr. Wickham. Surely you must know by now he cannot be respectable if he insists on taking advantage of you in such a way and encourages you to bestow your favors upon him. Your scandalous behavior not only reflects poorly upon your own reputation as a respectable young lady, but that of your dear sisters, as well. By indulging in such sinful behavior, especially with a man of questionable character, you are greatly lessening the probability of Mary and Kitty making prudent marriages. Even if you are not concerned with your reputation, you must at least consider those of poor Mary and Kitty.”

“Lord, Jane, you sound just as droll as Mary when she is reading from Fordyce!” exclaimed Lydia. “I cannot see how I have done anything so very wrong. I daresay no one would have been the wiser had Lizzy not stuck her nose into my affairs last night instead of minding her own business like she ought. I am heartily disappointed in you, Lizzy, for turning out to be so disloyal and hypocritical!”

Elizabeth stared at her with incredulity. “Whatever do you mean by saying I am hypocritical? That is hardly a term I would associate with myself in any case, particularly in such an instance as this! And certainly, Lydia, you must know my loyalty must lie with preserving the respectability of my family, not with the utter degradation of it!”

“Lord!” Lydia snorted. “That is certainly rich coming from you, pretending to be so high and mighty now that you are a married woman. But admit it, Lizzy, you cannot, in all honesty, say you appreciated Mr. Collins’s bothersome interference in
your
amorous encounters in the garden with Mr. Darcy. I would have thought that, after all the scandalous things he told Sir William about
your
behavior before
you
were married, that you would have had far more compassion for me and my dear Wickham. Do not deny it, Lizzy, for everyone in Meryton knows you surrendered your virtue to Mr. Darcy long before you exchanged your vows with him in church.”

“How dare you, you insolent, ungrateful little—”

Elizabeth’s uncharacteristic shouts resonated throughout her father’s house, startling servants and sending members of the family rushing toward Lydia’s bedchamber with surprising alacrity. The first to reach them was Darcy. He threw open the door with a thud and entered the room with an expression of alarm. He was stunned to see his elegantly dressed wife lunging toward her youngest sister while Jane struggled to hold her at bay. Lydia was in the midst of hollering something especially appalling in reference to the size of Darcy’s fortune and Elizabeth’s willingness to bed him before they were married. Darcy’s jaw dropped open.

“I swear I shall strangle you for your vulgarity, Lydia!” Elizabeth yelled as she finally succeeded in shoving Jane out of the way. Lydia jumped back, and Darcy bolted forward, seizing his wife around her waist. With very little effort, he managed to carry her flailing form to the other side of the apartment. “Unhand me this instant, Fitzwilliam!” she commanded. “I must throttle my impudent sister before I regain my senses!”

Lydia stuck out her tongue and laughed. “Ha! I’d like to see you try, Lizzy!”

In an effort to escape, Elizabeth elbowed Darcy in the ribs, hard. Rather than gaining her freedom, however, she succeeded only in ensuring her continued captivity, for her husband responded to her act of aggression against his person by throwing her over his shoulder and carrying her, kicking and screaming, out of the room. They passed an incredulous Mr. Bennet on the stairs, who very wisely gave them a wide berth, his look of complete astonishment soon giving way to amusement as he watched the staid master of Pemberley struggle with his daughter.

Darcy stalked into the first room he encountered, which happened to be his father-in-law’s library, and slammed the door behind him. He turned the key and then pulled it from the lock. Only then did he release his wife. He deposited her onto a chair by the fire and stood before her, his breathing hard, his hands curled into fists upon his hips. “Pardon my language, madam, but what the
hell
was that display abovestairs?” he demanded. “You are the mistress of Pemberley and
with child
! You are not to conduct yourself in such a disgraceful manner!”

He began to pace, one hand raking through his hair. “For God’s sake, Elizabeth! What if you had injured yourself or the baby? And over what? Some ignorant piece of idle nonsense your sister spews forth from her accursed mouth?” He made an inarticulate sound of disgust and threw himself into the chair next to the one she was occupying. Rubbing his aching ribs, he growled, “You need not have taken your fury out on me, Mrs. Darcy. It was most underhanded of you, not to mention unsportsmanlike. I shall expect far more respectful treatment from you in the foreseeable future, madam, effective immediately.”

Elizabeth, her arms crossed over her breast, merely scowled before turning away her head. After several long minutes of uncomfortable silence, she ventured a glance at Darcy, who was still staring at her. Several more minutes passed in much the same manner before she finally forced herself to say, with some small degree of contrition, “I am sorry I injured you, Fitzwilliam. It was certainly not my intention. I hardly know what has come over me this morning, except to say I have simply not felt like my normal self as of late.” She expelled a breath of air and drummed her fingers upon the arm of the chair. “My aunt Gardiner mentioned to me that sometimes a woman may experience some inexplicable alterations in her mood and temperament when she is expecting a child.”

Rising from his chair, Darcy rolled his eyes and mumbled, “Apparently,” in a particularly bitter tone as he walked over to the nearest window, where he stared at the road for some time. Before long, there was a knock upon the door. Lost in his own contemplations and forgetting for the moment he was not in his study in Town, Darcy called out, “Come.”

Elizabeth raised a speculative brow.

He was startled back into reality, however, when he heard Mr. Bennet’s amused voice say from the other side of the door, “How gracious of you, Darcy, to grant me admittance to my own sanctuary! However, I currently find myself unable to take you up on your generosity, as you seem to have taken it upon yourself to lock me out of my library, sir!”

Darcy strode to the door, inserted the key, and turned the lock. His face was flushed by the time his father-in-law entered and appraised him with a look not dissimilar to the one Elizabeth was currently leveling at him. “Forgive me, sir. I seem to have forgotten myself. I hope my actions have not unduly offended you,” he mumbled, properly humbled.

Mr. Bennet raised a brow. “No, not at all, sir, not at all.” With a pointed look at his daughter, he said wryly, “I daresay you have quite a bit on your plate at the moment, Darcy. My Lizzy, when provoked, can truly be a fearsome sight, can she not?”

Darcy hazarded a glance at his wife, who appeared to be far from amused by her father’s comment. “Yes, sir,” he said dryly, “quite fearsome.” Then, with a flicker of a smile and a wink at Elizabeth, he said, “However, I believe she is now
my
Lizzy, and I would not give her back again for all her fearsome behavior this morning.”

Elizabeth rolled her eyes, and Mr. Bennet chuckled. “Wisely said, young man, wisely said.” He turned toward his daughter then, his manner grave. “Now, Mrs. Darcy, I can imagine I need not tell you how thoroughly disappointed I am with your behavior. I understand your fury with Lydia for behaving in such a scandalous manner with Mr. Wickham, my dear. Indeed, I would like nothing better than to get my hands on that scoundrel and throttle him to within an inch of his life; however, such conduct as you have shown this morning toward your sister, no matter what disgraceful bit of vulgarity she may have uttered in order to get a rise out of you, is quite unbefitting of a lady, especially a lady of your current standing in society. I do not doubt your husband has already communicated his displeasure on the subject, so I will not bore you with any further commentary, except to say I never want to see such an appalling display in my house again.”

“Yes, sir,” Elizabeth replied.

Mr. Bennet turned to his son-in-law. “The question of what is to be done remains. Lydia has certainly been compromised, though how thoroughly is still to be determined. In any case, I am afraid we have little choice. Wickham must be found and made to marry her. There is nothing else to be done.”

Elizabeth paled. “No, Papa!” she cried. “You cannot sentence poor Lydia to a life with that scoundrel! Do you not remember what Fitzwilliam told you he is capable of all those weeks ago? Or what he attempted only last night with me? Having such a man forever among us, bound to our family for all eternity, shall bring us nothing but hardship and wretchedness of the most acute kind. The honorable institution of matrimony will never inspire him to abandon his nefarious ways. If anything, Lydia’s silliness and ignorance will only serve as a catalyst for even greater acts of desperation and deplorability.” She leapt from her chair. “I will not have my excellent husband imposed upon by such a man, to have creditors come to him to settle Mr. Wickham’s debts, or irate fathers who wish restitution for his debts of honor with their daughters. Oh, thoughtless, thoughtless Lydia, to involve herself with such a man! No, Papa, I absolutely will not have my husband imposed upon any further by that
barbarian
!”

The vehement strength of her opposition greatly alarmed Darcy, but he could not, in all honesty, say he was surprised by it. He looked from Elizabeth to his father-in-law before saying, “Mr. Bennet, I must agree with my wife. From the very first moment he arrived in Meryton, Wickham singled out Elizabeth for the sole purpose of revenging himself upon me for an assortment of imagined wrongdoings he feels he has suffered at my hands. He has chosen to prey on Lydia for similar reasons. If you do succeed in forcing a marriage between them, which will undoubtedly cost a very large sum of money, in any case, he will see to it that her existence is one of misery and degradation. If I may offer a suggestion, I feel our best course of action here is to wait and see if there are any consequences. God willing, there will be none to speak of, and in turn, I would be willing to contribute several thousand pounds to enhance Lydia’s dowry, as well as those of Katherine and Mary. I also believe all three girls would benefit greatly from enrollment in a reputable school for young women I happen to know of in London. Katherine would be able to study art with a master; Mary, music; and in Lydia’s case, I believe having such an opportunity would bring about maturity, restraint, and a healthy measure of decorum, which she is currently lacking. Of course, Elizabeth and I would be willing to finance the tuition for all three girls.”

Mr. Bennet closed his eyes and steepled his fingers as he sat behind his desk. He hardly knew how to respond to his son-in-law’s generous offer. Indeed, it appeared Darcy was willing to step in and take charge of an unsavory situation he had allowed to become so out of hand. He had been remiss in his duty as a father in many ways, but never more so than now, with Lydia. If they were lucky, they might escape a scandal, seeing that it was Elizabeth who had come upon her youngest sister in an amorous embrace with Wickham and not one of their neighbors or, God forbid, another officer of the militia. The elder gentleman took a deep breath and expelled it slowly. Perhaps all might yet be well, but for how long? While Mary had devoted much of her time to reading and practicing her music, Kitty and Lydia’s existences were ones of dissipation and idleness. No, Darcy was correct. Both girls were in dire need of discipline and guidance, and this, Mr. Bennet was well aware, they had not received, nor were they ever likely to receive, at home.

He sighed and ran his hands over his face. “I thank you for your very kind, very generous offer to my family, Darcy.”

Darcy inclined his head. “Your family is also my family, sir. Elizabeth’s sisters are now my own, and therefore, they are entitled to my protection just as much as she is. I take my responsibility to the members of my family very seriously, Mr. Bennet.”

“Yes, and it speaks well of you, Son. I hope, however, you will not be unduly offended if I defer my acceptance or declination of your kind offer for a day or two. I would appreciate some time to fully consider the matter and all its implications.”

Elizabeth gawked at him. “But Papa, how can you not accept Fitzwilliam’s offer? Cannot you see that it is in everyone’s best interest? Such an opportunity can only lead to advantages my sisters will never have available to them otherwise. Would you have them remain always at Longbourn, idle and ignorant?”

Before her father could respond, however, Darcy said, “Mr. Bennet, take all the time you require. We will be remaining in Hertfordshire until we can be certain of Wickham’s whereabouts. God willing, Colonel Forster and his men will be able to locate him within the next few days, and of course, we will be better able to decide on a course of action then.” He turned toward his wife and squeezed her hand. “Come, Elizabeth. I believe your father might appreciate having his library to himself. Perhaps we can take a turn in the garden before luncheon is served?” And with that, he led a very perplexed, not to mention irritated Elizabeth out into the hall.