Free Loving Mr. Darcy: Journeys Beyond Pemberley by Sharon Lathan

is all." He grew stubborn and refused to talk about it.
    With all that had transpired since, Lizzy had totally forgotten both instances. Now, she sat on the makeshift bench and wondered afresh what had been racing through his mind. Knowing him as intimately as she now did, she could solve some of the riddles. Obviously he had not disliked her as she assumed but, in fact, was smitten. His confusion, hesitation, and lack of wit she understood now were due to his shyness coupled with the desire to converse with her. What she did not comprehend was the odd emotion on his face when he first saw her and the even odder comment about dreams.
    She shook her head, vowed to ask him later, finished her apple, and opened her book.
    Back at Netherfield, Darcy and Bingley returned from their hunt, several birds the richer. Georgiana informed her brother as to Elizabeth's whereabouts, and he left with a huge grin.
    "Elizabeth... Elizabeth... Mrs. Darcy."
    Lizzy slowly opened her eyes, the hazy figure bent over her gradually focusing. "William?"
    He smiled. "Miss Elizabeth, what a delightful surprise. Come here often, do you?"
    She laughed, accepting his hand to assist her into a sitting position from the slumped pose she currently occupied in her slumber. He brushed off her skirts as he knelt in front of her. She smiled and caressed his face. "Yes, I come here often. However, the best occasions are when handsome gentlemen intrude."
    "And how often does that occur, pray tell?"
    "A dozen or so, over the course of time, naturally."
    "A dozen, you say? That many? Any particular events or gentlemen of special import?"
    Her fingers moved to the knots of his cravat as she replied, "Only one gentleman that is burned in my memory. He intruded upon me thrice. On the first occasion I noted he had the loveliest neck and my thoughts were quite wicked."
    Darcy was genuinely surprised. "Truly? I did not suspect. I have been under the mistaken impression that you hated me then."
    "No. At that time I simply thought you annoying and pompous. Also, I had concluded that you disliked me."
    "Foolish girl," he said as he ran his fingers over her lips.
    "Yes, to be sure. Of course, mistaken impressions aside, your neck is quite delectable and I was not so completely foolish as to not notice!" She leaned in to his now bared neck for a smattering of delightful kisses. He sighed happily, a hand encompassing each slender ankle. Murmuring against his skin, "Why were you racing so crazily that day, William, and looking at me so strangely?"
    "I always looked at you strangely, my dear, because I was enchanted by you and utterly at a loss as to how to proceed. You dazzled me at every turn and rendered me mute and dull. A woman as intelligent as you had no choice but to deduce my moronic behavior unworthy and reproachable!"
    Lizzy shook her head and clasped his face with her hands. "Do not say that! I was the fool to not see your worth and love." She kissed him. "You did not answer my question, however. Why on that particular day were you running so dangerously and later spoke of dreams tormenting you?"
    "Oh, yes, I remember now." He smiled and laughed. "I had forgotten." He sat back onto the grass, lightly massaging her calves and feet. "You surely remember my confession to you, dearest, of the nature of many of my dreams involving you?" She nodded, blushing slightly. "Later, once we were betrothed, those dreams of making love with you were welcomed. Practice sessions, I deemed them."
    "William!" she declared in mock shock, and he laughed.
    "However, earlier, during my sojourn at Netherfield and your abiding there, the dreams began and they were not welcomed. Enjoyed certainly, but I was mortified once I awoke. I was dismayed that I, Darcy of Pemberley, a gentleman with superior temperance and constraint, would lose control even in my sleep so as to consider you in such a way. Yet, I could not deny how... pleasant... it was." He chuckled. "It was a torment, Elizabeth. I was