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“Believe it! In spite of his facade of worldliness, William has lived a very sheltered life. He has not taken full advantage of what his wealth and position could have afforded.” Richard wagged his brows mischievously. “You know what I mean—loose ladies, widows and such. He is still, in essence, very much an innocent when it comes to women, so he can be embarrassed quite easily. I would have loved to have teased him about his enjoyment of last night.”

“I can only imagine!” Evan grinned. “Ana has often mentioned the many times, before we married, of course, that she followed him around at various balls and dinners to keep the ladies at bay. I just assumed he was immune to it by now.”

“Never!” Richard crowed. “Your dear brother will never be used to being the object of the fantasies of the female masses!”

Evan laughed aloud, covering his mouth as he glanced over at the now stirring vicar. “I suppose Elizabeth shall now be in charge of protecting her husband’s virtue.”

Richard guffawed, causing Mr. Williamson to open one eye. He went on to declare. “Why do I have the feeling that Elizabeth can handle with aplomb anyone who tries to dally with her husband?”

“Perhaps, because it is true!” Williamson retorted, striving to sit up straight as he stretched to relieve his aching back. “My Lizzybet is a strong woman, and she will suffer no fools! Anyone, man or woman, who tries to come between them, or heaven forbid, harm Fitzwilliam, will find that out straightaway! Why, I remember her giving Martin Long a black eye once for pulling Jane’s pigtails! She was fearless!”

“I do not think I would want to be in Lady Leighton’s shoes if she ever tries a trick again like the last one she attempted with my cousin!”

Williamson nodded. “Lizzybet may be small, but she can be lethal with a weapon, and she is not above using one to even the odds. Once she hit John Lucas in the back of the head with a stone using only a slingshot. She must have been all of six years at the time, and she hit him from at least fifty feet away.”

Richard guffawed, “And the poor boy’s crime?”

“Trying to give her cat an unwanted swim in the pond.”

As the vicar continued to spin tales of Elizabeth’s prowess as a champion of the oppressed, whether man or beast, the coach erupted often with copious amounts of laughter, drawing the attention of the three footmen and the driver on the outside of the conveyance more than once.

Unknown to the Master of Rosewood, Colonel Fitzwilliam and Mr. Williamson, the servants raised their brows and smiled at one another with every loud outburst, though none were impertinent enough to remark on the merriment inside the coach. They were just pleased that the men were in good spirits, the weather was fair, the roads were passable, and they were sure to make their next stop, an inn within three hours of Lambton, before nightfall. They were going home!

Barnwell’s Boarding House

The cottage

A feeling of numbness in his right arm brought William out of his sleep while the room was yet shrouded in darkness. As he tried to move, he realised that some type of weight lay on his arm and opened his eyes to find that he was clutching a soft, lavender-scented body tightly to his chest. Underneath a silk sheet, a naked torso lay half-way across his chest—while an arm and a leg stretched to his other side, as if trying to assure he could not escape. In the crook of his neck, hidden inside a halo of unruly, ebony curls, a face was buried. Elizabeth!

His heart swelled with love at the realisation that he would wake in a similarly pleasant manner for the rest of his days. A contented sigh escaped him then at the remembrance of the night’s lovemaking. Loneliness was now a thing of the past! She was his forevermore!

Suddenly, reality invaded his euphoria. Shortly others would expect them to board a coach to transport them home to Pemberley. The thought of having to spend the entire day sitting next to her in a coach full of men, but not being able to touch her, made him begin to ache. Perhaps if they could make love just once more this morning, he would be able to survive until they reached the inn in the evening.

William’s first thought was that he wanted their next joining to be slower and gentler than the last. Last night they were both lost in long suppressed desires and their lovemaking was fervent—impassioned. Today he intended to take his time while loving her. Placing a kiss atop the mass of curls he whispered, “My love?”

Elizabeth mumbled something unintelligible and tried to burrow deeper into him, her arm and leg gripping him even tighter. William smiled, profoundly content with her show of possessiveness. With one quick motion, he rolled to his right side taking her with him, so that she was lying on her back. Her eyes barely opened to observe him. The sight of her uncovered breasts instantly made him harden in desire, and as he captured one soft mound in his mouth, his tongue began a slow circle around the tip, causing it to harden as well.

As his attentions continued, her hands slid up to capture his unruly hair and she moaned, fanning the flames of his desires. In mere moments, they were joined again, only this time William made sure to keep himself under rigid control. Slowly moving in and out, he took Elizabeth to the heights of passion until she cried out for release, and only then did he allow himself to plummet into that same pleasure. Afterward they lay tangled, breathless.

“Oh, William, making love with you is so wonderful! I never dreamed it could be like this!” Elizabeth murmured, pulling his mouth down to hers for another passionate kiss. When she released him, he was grinning from ear to ear, and she laughed aloud at the look on his face. “Proud as a peacock, I see! And rightfully so, I might add!”

“Proud that you are my wife and that we are so well-matched. I want nothing more than to satisfy your every desire—whether it be in our bed or any other area of our lives. I truly want us to become one, Elizabeth.”

“That is my desire as well,” she answered contentedly before her dark eyes became sombre and began searching his earnestly. “This means there can be no secrets between us. Do you want to know what I wish for most at this very moment?”

“I will always want to know your heart’s desire.”

She touched his face tenderly. “My heart desires a child—your child, William.” He could not conceal the love shining suspiciously like tears in his eyes. “I have waited years for you, my darling, and I want to proceed with the business of living—of filling Pemberley with our children. I need the sounds of laugher of family all about me—happy and content. And you, sweet William? What do you wish for at this moment?”

“We are no longer starry-eyed youths, and I am more than ready to be a father, Elizabeth,” he said earnestly. “As long as you are their mother, I long for children, too.”

She leaned in to place a soft kiss on his mouth, teasing, “Then, I believe, Husband, that all that is left for us to do is to practice. As Lady Catherine once told me, no one can be a proficient if they do not practice! And you would not want her to think us remiss in our commitment to excellence.”

William could not help but chuckle. “I believe this is the only time that you shall hear me agree with anything my aunt has ever said. But I beg you, for the sake of our felicity, do not mention her name again on our honeymoon!”

He punctuated his request by tickling her, and their horseplay quickly became serious as they settled in to practice diligently what they had learned once more. It was long past the hour for them to meet the others at the coach when they finally were dressed for the trip.

The Barnwell’s Boarding House