He lifted his upper body so he could see her face, halting all movement momentarily, fingers fondling each feature and kissing tenderly. “I only speak the truth in my heart, Elizabeth. You have no reason to suffer negative emotions regarding my love for you and undying devotion, but I shall offer comfort and assurance every waking second if necessary.” He resumed his steady rhythm with a breathy growl. “Additionally, I shall make love to you endlessly and adoringly. My wife, my own love. So beautiful you are to me. Elizabeth,” he finished in a reverent whisper.

Grasping his face with a sudden burst of passionate enthusiasm, Lizzy pressed into his mouth, Darcy responding immediately. Never relenting in her kiss, Lizzy next attacked his robe, struggling to free his arms to her touch. Darcy attempted to assist yet refused to cease kissing or moving, the conjoint endeavor on the narrow sofa humorously spiraling.

They both began to giggle, the robe catching on his elbows so that when he tried to rise he began to sway off the couch. Desperately seeking a grip on something to correct his precarious perch and imbalance, he clutched the only thing at hand: her thigh. As a result, they both tumbled onto the floor in a heap, laughing hysterically.

His laughter, combined with the breath being knocked from his lungs as a result of hitting the hardwood floor and Lizzy's legs squashing his chest, had Darcy gasping. Laughing, Lizzy strived to right herself, silken robe and gown tangled about her legs.

At length she knelt beside her teary-eyed, wheezing spouse. “William? Are you all right? Oh my goodness, you look so ridiculous!” She dissolved in further giggles, bending to kiss his cheeks and reaching to disencumber him. His arms were trapped at odd angles under his body, robe askew and bunched bizarrely about his nakedness. She sat him up; his robe finally slipped from arms that he instantly threw about her waist with hands flattened on her back, pressing in for a thorough kiss. Still snickering, she captured his lower lip between her teeth and fondled his groin.

Darcy groaned, hands sliding to her bottom but Lizzy jumped up and stepped back. The puzzled pout crossing his features escalated her humor. “Elizabeth?” She shushed him, flouncing as she removed her robe with a twirl, trailing the ends over his face before releasing the silk to fall as a cloud onto his head.

“Come, lover. Catch me if you can.” The gown followed the robe in a pile on his head, Darcy sweeping blindly for her legs but she was gone. Moments later, entering the modest bedchamber Darcy found his lovely bride stretched languidly and deliciously in the middle of the bed. “What took you so long?” she teased, opening her arms with hands reaching.

Smiling broadly with indescribable happiness, he joined her, body pressing beautifully over hers with mutual heat seeping through every pore. Not uttering a word, he kissed her consumingly as his hands stroked through her tousled hair. Lizzy clutched him tight, legs over legs and arms about chest, rubbing and fondling flaming skin in ecstasy.

Darcy kissed softly over her face, ending on her nose. Meeting her blazing eyes with a smile, still smoothing through her hair and brushing thumbs over her cheeks, he said, “I love you, Mrs. Darcy. I love how you make me feel like a giddy child and a virile man at the same time.” He nibbled her ruddy lips. “I love how you tease me and cherish me. You are my breath and life, Elizabeth, best beloved.” Another deep kiss was followed by a trailing firestorm of sweet kisses and suckles down her neck to shoulders.

Winding his way downward, Darcy aroused his wife to insane heights. Lizzy still, after nearly nine months of marriage, could not understand how his hands and lips were everywhere at once. Every inch of her skin was scorched and begging for more of his masterful, provocative touch. Each nerve throbbed, every cell ached in yearning, and all her muscles trembled. Blood rushed with the pounding of her passion infused heart. Lungs cried for air. It was divine agony and she beseeched him to persist, her very existence dependant on his touch.

Ardor raged. Lizzy was incoherent with desire. Darcy loved his wife, kissing and caressing, the giving of pleasure transcendent until she arched and shouted his name in glory. Tremors wracked her as he bestowed brushing kisses over her thighs and abdomen. Ceaseless delicate kisses imparted as he worked his way back up to her bosom, eventually rolling to his side with Lizzy in his firm embrace. “William,” she murmured faintly, “I love you.”

He lifted himself, gazing with bottomless depths of love, smiling as he pulled her shivering body against his chest. “Elizabeth, you have no idea how I enjoy pleasuring you.”

They embraced in silence for a time, Lizzy's wits gradually returning to normal. Well aware that he remained aroused and unfulfilled, Lizzy commenced the succulent exploration of his body. She kissed the hollow of his throat, pulse warm and strong. Hands traveled over his chest and belly to all other masculine parts, Darcy groaning from the sensation. As lazily and competently as he had rocketed her passion, she did the same.

It was a magical night of interminable lovemaking. They had found on occasion that their mutual desire was insatiable, both seemingly inexhaustible in their need for each other. Tonight was such a night. Not two hours of deep sleep later, it was Lizzy who first roused her husband with caresses and kisses.

Darcy's response was instant, even if he remained more asleep than awake when she loved him. Several hours of limb-entangled slumber passed before they sleepily reached for each other, Darcy moving onto his welcoming wife.

“Lizzy, my beautiful Lizzy.” He murmured gravelly, holding tightly while nuzzling her neck. Lizzy wrapped about him, relaxing pliantly under his crushing weight as he moved so beautifully. It was a prolonged flowing interlude, lapping and waving bliss warming and intensely satisfying. Darcy collapsed with a throaty groan, pulling her to his chest as he rolled to the side. Promptly, they returned to refreshing slumber.

Many hours later, sunlight streaming through the parted curtains, Lizzy roused to discover her husband lying beside her and staring. She smiled groggily, reaching to caress his neck. “I still deem it horribly unfair,” she whispered.

“What is unfair?”

“How you can actually be more handsome with mussed hair and unshaven face. Even your grating voice is sexy and irresistible. Horribly unfair as I, thanks to you my lover, look a fright.”

Darcy smiled, elegant fingers tracing circles on her breasts. “Thank you for the compliment. However, you are grossly mistaken regarding looking a fright. You are ravishing. Never more lovely than in the morning sun with hair loose and the flush of our lovemaking yet apparent on your skin.” He leaned in for a kiss, staying near her mouth. “I have watched you for the past twenty minutes, love abounding and desire rising. I need you my wife, always.”

He finished with a sigh, tenderly encompassing her mouth as he merged with her, two bodies now one. They made love again, the end to a perfect night and beginning of an eventful day.

“Will you please see this reaches Reniswahl Hall as soon as feasible?” Darcy asked the desk clerk, handing a folded parchment with the Darcy seal melted securely over the edge.

“Certainly, Mr. Darcy.” He motioned toward a page who rushed over.

Darcy waited patiently while instructions were given and then continued, “Mrs. Darcy and I will be away all day. Please ensure a tray of fresh fruit and drinking water is available in our room.”

“Of course, sir. If I may inquire, are you planning to enter the Sherwood Forest region? I only intrude as a warning. There have lately been reports of bandits in Nottinghamshire. That ilk always seems to believe the foolishness of the Robin Hood legends lend a credence to their nefarious activities.”

Darcy scowled. “Romantic ideals of thievery, although I doubt they share their spoils with the average citizens. Thank you for the warning; however, we will not be traveling that far east. Nonetheless, we shall be cautious. Good day.”

He joined his wife by the carriage, setting off for another excursion abroad. Samuel and Marguerite were freed for the day to ramble through the town and seek their own adventures. The weather was lovely, the sun shining brightly with the promise of sweltering heat in the late afternoon. Currently, though, there was a brisk, cooling breeze. The terrain due east of Chesterfield was identical to the landscape passed all the previous day. Endless rolling hills of green, generally crop covered with the scattered copse of trees and small stone farmhouses. Dotting the beauty were the increasingly frequent black-scarred rubbles of stone indicative of a coal mine.

“How far under the ground do the rails extend?” Lizzy asked curiously.

“Miles in some cases, I suppose. I confess to not being well educated on the inner workings of coal mining. The east Midlands is replete with coal. A wonderful blessing for England's economy but depressing for the locals. I envision this area gradually diverting from farms to mines as the years unfold.” He shook his head sadly. “The waves of industry and progress march on, Elizabeth.”

The eight miles to Bolsover displayed this odd mixture of lush scenery with interspersed mutilated holes. However, the closer they drew to the modest town on the hill, all else faded except the looming vision of Bolsover Castle. The massive keep, a true remnant of a long gone day of medieval knights and chivalry, sat on a prominent bluff as expected, and dominated the entire horizon. They drove up the curving incline to the castle, Darcy launching into his usual narrative.

“Another claim of the Cavendish family, love. The original medieval castle built during the Norman Conquest is essentially gone, but Lord Cavendish, who acquired the property in the seventeenth century, built his fanciful keep with the original in mind. Therefore, the walls have never withstood a siege, but it certainly looks as if it could!”

“Do any of the Cavendish family members dwell here?”

“Not any longer. All the furniture has been removed to Welbeck Abbey and a token staff inhabits to maintain, although the lack of constant upkeep is beginning to show. Lord Cavendish and the bulk of the family remain in Devonshire. The castle is more of a tourist attraction than a home, which is fortunate for us.” He smiled at his wife, leaning for a kiss before they disembarked on the wide lawn before the main entrance to the vast house.

Thereafter followed a three-hour, leisurely stroll about the estate grounds and tour of the castle public rooms. The recognition by the staff of the Darcy crest afforded them greater access than the general visiting public. They walked along the battlement walls, the views, across ostensibly the entire width and length of Derbyshire, absolutely breathtaking. It may not have been a functional castle as in the ancient stories, but the atmosphere was authentic. Lizzy honestly expected to see a shining steel encased knight gallop into the courtyard with lance and broadsword at the ready.

The interior was as all fine English manors: lavish and well apportioned. Richly painted murals famous for their depiction of romanticism and English Renaissance chivalry graced nearly every wall and ceiling. It was stupendous, if slightly overwhelming. The cavernous feel of the ostentatious rooms was especially noticeable without furnishings.