Vampire Darcy's Desire (64 page)

“Allow me to greet your mother first, Child.” He leaned to the right and placed a lingering kiss on Elizabeth’s upturned mouth. “Did you miss me also, Mrs. Darcy?”

“From the moment you rode off to Matlock.”

Darcy smiled that smile he always gave her right before he
seduced
her.“The Earl and Her Ladyship send their love.They plan to visit at Michaelmas.”

“Excellent.” Elizabeth moved away to the blanket. “Mr. Bingley and Jane will come next week. They are most eager to meet their nephew.”

“How is James?” he asked as she picked up the squirming infant.

“Damon is perfect,” she corrected as she brought the child for his father to admire.

Darcy rolled his eyes. “The child was named after my
father,
Elizabeth.” He turned back the corner of the blanket to look at the screwed-up face of his son.

“After your father
and
your cousin. I just prefer to remember
the living.” She swayed to quiet the child’s protests.

“Will I ever win another argument?” he asked good-heartedly.

Elizabeth laughed lightly.“Probably not, but I promise you will not suffer from the defeat.”

Darcy bestowed another kiss on her lips.Then he turned to the child he still held in his arms. He placed her little feet on the tops of his boots. Lydia’s head barely came to his knees. “Would you hum for us, Elizabeth?”

She began to sing “Lord Thomas and Fair Ellender.” Darcy’s head shot up in surprise, but his daughter sang the words, too, and so he, dutifully, stepped into a sweeping waltz. Lydia, happy to be the center of attention, laughed and sang until he lifted her to him, and she combed the air with her chubby legs.

“I love you, Papa,” she proclaimed, her declaration of love mixed with wet kisses on his cheek and a giggling fit of joy.

“You were laughing, Sweetling.” Holding her to him, Darcy kissed the end of her nose.They had made love twice, and now he wanted her again.

“Mmm.” Her sleepy voice made him feel guilty about his hunger for her.

“You were laughing in your sleep. It was a good dream, then?” He kissed along her neck and shoulder.

Elizabeth rolled into his embrace and slipped her arms around his neck.The image of their children safe in their arms stayed with her, but Elizabeth did not share what she had seen. She just silently hoped that this dream came true, as had her others. “We were at Pemberley, and we were in love.”

“We
are
in love,” he corrected. “Now, in the present; and in the future. The past belongs to Ellender and Arawn. Ours will be the new legend.”

“Then you are
happy,
my Husband?”

“Well, I would not mind being allowed to win an argument
occasionally,” he mumbled as he nibbled on her neck.

“You never stood a chance, you know.”

“I know,” he said with some resignation.

“It was a glorious battle, though, do you not think?” Elizabeth wriggled her body against his.

Darcy’s every sense was lost to her.“I succumbed too easily,” he chastised himself. “However, I should make note that you do not play fair.”

“It would bode well for you to remember that in the future, Mr. Darcy. I thought that you had learned your lesson long ago, during the snowstorm.”

“In my defense, you distracted me both times.” By now, his mouth had drifted down the front of her body. “You realize that you will pay for such treachery.” He brushed his mouth over the swell of her breasts. Needing to mark her as his own, his mouth returned to hers, and he spoke only inches from her lips. “I never thought I could know contentment. You changed my life, Elizabeth. You made me whole.” The kiss deepened, and the hunger of a lifetime settled between them.

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DARCY’S PASSIONS:
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE
RETOLD THROUGH HIS EYES
Regina Jeffers, $14.95

Profound and amusing, this novel captures the style and humor of Jane Austen’s novel while turning the entire story on its head. It presents Darcy as a man in turmoil. His duty to his family and estate demand he choose a woman of high social standing. But what his mind tells him to do and what his heart knows to be true are two different things. After rejecting Elizabeth as being unworthy, he soon discovers he’s in love with her. But the independent Elizabeth rejects his marriage proposal. Devastated, he must search his soul and transform himself into the man she can love and respect.

DARCY’S TEMPTATION: A SEQUEL TO JANE
AUSTEN’S
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE
Regina Jeffers, $14.95

By changing the narrator to Mr. Darcy,
Darcy’s Temptation
turns one of the most beloved literary love affairs of all time on its head, even as it presents new plot twists and fresh insights into the characters’ personalities and motivations. Four months into the new marriage, all seems well when Elizabeth discovers she is pregnant. However, a family conflict that requires Darcy’s personal attention arises because of Georgiana’s involvement with an activist abolitionist. On his return journey from a meeting to address this issue, a much greater danger arises. Darcy is attacked on the road and, when left helpless from his injuries, he finds himself in the care of another woman.

THE LOST YEARS OF JANE AUSTEN: A NOVEL
Barbara Ker Wilson, $14.95

There was an interval in Jane Austen’s life, before any of her novels were published, when she disappeared from sight. This book seeks to fill those missing months with a visit from England to the colony of New South Wales, where the dashing Mr. D’Arcy Wentworth has settled at Homebush, a convict revolt is brewing at Castle Hill, and no one is quite certain whether the Napoleonic War has ended or not.

MR. DARCY PRESENTS HIS BRIDE:A SEQUEL TO
JANE AUSTEN’S
PRIDE & PREJUDICE
Helen Halstead, $14.95

When Elizabeth Bennet marries the brooding, passionate Mr. Darcy, she is thrown into the exciting world of London society. Elizabeth is drawn into a powerful clique for which intrigue is the stuff of life and rivalry the motive. Her success, it seems, can only come at the expense of good relations with her husband.