Their Glory Continues

Part IV – A Normal Life???

Mr. and Mrs. Darcy began their married life after what they considered a too short honeymoon period. After the first day that they spent in the company of others, they realized that they needed to find a way to balance their private, intimate lives with their public lives as a proper gentleman and lady. As with anyone faced with a major life-changing situation, the Darcys set small goals and tried daily to meet them, working diligently to achieve their aims to ensure they would have a normal life. Their efforts were met with both success and failure. Failures were addressed by working harder toward the goal, readjusting the goal to meet their needs, or just plain giving up the goal as impossible to attain. Fortunately for the Darcys, the last option was exercised very minimally.

Just how did the Darcys go about setting and achieving those aims?

Both the Darcys were typically early risers; they were not lay-a-beds or sleepyheads. They enjoyed living and did not want to miss out on what life had to offer. They both enjoyed early morning exercise as a way to get their blood pumping and their hearts pounding. Before their marriage, each had his or her own separate activities to produce these results. After the wedding, however, they found an activity that they could mutually enjoy and still receive the benefits they were seeking. This activity was firmly entrenched in their routine and there were no ifs, ands, or buts about it. The only discussion about this particular goal was how many times it would be achieved before they were ready to begin the rest of their day.

They found their morning couplings so enjoyable that they were reluctant to leave their bed each morning. Not that they were lazy, mind you, it was just that one never knew when an urge might strike and it just seemed best to be prepared. But they also knew that the key to a normal life was to establish a routine and after much discussion, it was decided they would try to complete their early morning conjugal couplings in time for both to be bathed, dressed, and ready to perform their duties and responsibilities by the hour of nine o’clock in the morning. To ensure they would meet that objective, they requested their breakfast be served in their chambers, believing it would give them a little leeway for anything that might come up or wish to go down. (The author is sincerely ashamed for that last bit.)

Unfortunately, the first day of their new resolution met with failure. After sitting down to a leisurely meal after working up quite an appetite, Elizabeth overloaded her toast with jam. It was blackberry jam, Mr. Darcy’s favorite. As she tried to maneuver her overburdened piece of bread to her mouth, a huge dollop of jam slipped from the toast onto her breast. Mr. Darcy, ever the gentleman and one to make sure that good jam did not go to waste, leaned over to assist his wife on her misfortune by promptly licking up the jam that was soiling her lovely breast. Elizabeth in allowing her husband to perform his gallant act had accidentally tilted her toast and another bit of jam slid from its perch on said toast and went to mar her other breast. Of course, Mr. Darcy had to assist her and, as he was in the vicinity, had no problem obliging her. By the time that poor piece of toast had reached her mouth, there was nary a speck of jam on it.

When Mr. Darcy finally settled himself back in his chair, he felt the fool that he had not heeded his wife’s mistake of putting too much jam on a flimsy piece of toast. Soon his lap was covered in jam. Elizabeth, always one to repay a favor and knowing how disappointed her husband would be if she let good jam go to waste, knelt down to perform the same service as he had so graciously done to her earlier.

Before they both knew it, they had discovered that they shared an extremely large sweet tooth. Mrs. Ashworth had supplied several different kinds of jam and Mr. and Mrs. Darcy felt it would be rude not to sample the assortment. Needless to say, they missed their deadline and did not appear downstairs until nearly lunchtime albeit with a slight stomach ache for all the jam they consumed.

So they went about readjusting their goal. It was decided that a full breakfast in their chambers was, perhaps, not wise. Breakfast would be served at nine o’clock in the morning dining room. Only plain toast, no jam, and a pot of coffee would be brought to their chambers to cut the hunger from their early morning exertions.

Both were pleased with the arrangement and believed it would work. And it did work for them but not for several days. It seemed another barrier was put in their path.

The next morning Darcy rose from his bath and toweled off. Wrapped in his dressing gown, he went to sit in his shaving chair for Abernathy to give him his morning shave. He was quite pleased at how the morning had gone so far and was looking forward to meeting their agreed upon aim of being ready to face the world by nine o’clock.

That is until he remembered he had forgotten to inform his wife that they were to expect callers this morning. It was understandable that he forgot; being in his wife’s presence, especially when she was nude, seemed to make him forget about things as his wife always seemed to capture his undivided attention with her allurements. Waiting for Abernathy to finish, he resolved immediately to make his way to his wife’s dressing room, just poke his head in to deliver this bit of information and then return to his dressing room to complete dressing for the day.

When he reached his wife’s dressing room and before he could alert her to his presence, he was awestruck and his reaction was immediate. There she sat, dressed only in her chemise while Nancy brushed through her luxurious mane. But what really transfixed his attention was the fact that she was rubbing lotion on her leg that was braced against the dressing table so she could reach it without disrupting Nancy’s brushing. Then she put more lotion in her hand and began rubbing it into her arms and chest, up along her slender neck.

Finally gaining his voice, he said, “Nancy, would you excuse us? I have a matter to discuss with Mrs. Darcy.”

Nancy laid the brush on the dressing table and made her way to the door leading to the servant’s corridor.

Elizabeth turned her head to look at her husband, raising her eyebrows to question his reason for being in her dressing room as she had just left him less than twenty minutes ago.

He entered the room and walked toward her.

As she was sitting on a bench, she was eye level with the protrusion that was finding its way through the folds of his dressing down.

“Fitzwilliam, we do not have time. What is it you need to say to me?”

He undid the tie of the dressing gown to let it hang open.

“Fitzwilliam!” she exclaimed.

Upon reaching her, he lifted her from her seat and kissed her to silence any further protests. Then he raised his hand to fondle her breast until he heard her moan. Releasing from the kiss, he lowered his hands to the hem of her chemise and raised it up and over her head as he looked into her eyes with an intensity that told her that there was no use for any further objections. Once she was again naked, he brought his lips to hers letting her know that he would brook no disobedience from her, picked her up and carried her to the bed.

Having already enjoyed his wife twice earlier, he felt no urgency and was planning on taking his time, enjoying fully this intimate time with his wife.

It was not long before Elizabeth was extremely stimulated and eager to hurry things along. Darcy knew all her tricks and deflected any of her attempts to keep him from prolonging a leisurely seduction of his wife.

Almost an hour later, our couple lay on the bed. Elizabeth had a leg draped over him so that her knee covered his manly parts. Her arm was wrapped around his torso while her head pillowed on his shoulder. In such a languid mood and exhausted from the extra morning exercise, sleep was about to claim her.

Darcy lay on his back with one hand beneath his head and his other arm around her shoulders as his hand cupped her breast. On his face rested the smile of a happy and contented man who was about to join his wife in slumber. That is until the clock chimed the half hour. Opening one sleepy eye, he saw that it was half past nine. They had missed breakfast. Oh, well! Curious as to why they were in Lizzy’s bed chamber, realization struck him like lightning.

Clamoring off the bed, he left his wife sprawled out. She started to curl up in a ball to regain some of the warmth she had just been denied.

Darcy leaned over and took her hands to pull her up, “Lizzy, wake up! Oh! Lizzy, I am so sorry.”

Lizzy tried to wrest her hands from his, “No, please let me sleep, just a minute more then I will be ready to begin again.”

Continuing to pull her up until she was on her knees facing him, he shook her slightly and said, “We missed breakfast.”

Sleepily she replied, “Yes, well it was time well spent. I am sure Mrs. Winters can find us a bite to eat to tide us over until luncheon.”

“Yes, but we have more pressing matters. We have guests arriving in thirty minutes,” he finally related his very belated news.

After a moment to let that news sink in, she opened her eyes wide, “What?”

“Mr. and Mrs. John Marchant will be here in thirty minutes,” he explained.

“Why did you not tell me this sooner?” She was beginning to get a bit angry at him.

Sheepishly he admitted, “I meant to tell you last night but…my mind was on other things. Then this morning while Abernathy was shaving me, I remembered that I had forgotten to tell you and I immediately made my way here.” Averting his face from hers in his embarrassment, “I got side tracked.”

Scowling at him, “Yes, you did!”

Putting his hands under her arms, he lifted her off the bed. Turning her to face the dressing room door, he patted her bum, “Hurry! We do not have much time.” Turning on his heel, he left to go to his dressing room unable to see his wife standing there glaring at him.

Thirty-five minutes later, Elizabeth appeared in the drawing room a bit flushed. But that should be expected as she had hurried through her toilette, was embarrassed by her tardiness (not the way to make a good first impression), and still vexed at her husband.

Settling down after greetings and introductions, Elizabeth had prepared herself to be barraged with all types of unseemly questions about how she had captured Mr. Darcy but she was pleased to find the couple pleasant and, though curious, only asked questions about how she found London and if she had enjoyed any outings about town. Of course, the only outing she had had was to the theatre; a subject she was reluctant to discuss for obvious reasons.

Before taking their leave, the Marchants issued an invitation to the Darcys to attend a small dinner party they were hosting the following week. It was to be just five or six couples, the gentlemen being friends and acquaintances of Mr. Darcy’s from his university days.

Looking at his wife for her thoughts on the matter, Elizabeth showed her acquiescence with a small nod and a smile. Mr. Darcy accepted the invitation as he escorted the visitors to the door.

Hoping to escape to his study without having to deal with his wife, he was soon halted with a…

“Mr. Darcy!” Elizabeth stood in the doorway of the drawing room with her hands upon her hips. “Might I have a word with you?”

Turning, he looked blankly at her as if he had no idea of what this was about. After a few moments, he walked back to his wife and escorted her into the drawing room, closing the door behind them.

Once inside, Elizabeth spoke her peace, “Fitzwilliam, for a man known for his discipline, who makes decisions with deliberation, discernment, and diligence, you have shown an abominable lack of those qualities lately. We agreed on rules to help us merge our public lives with our private lives and we have yet to meet our commitments. This morning, being the perfect example of why we need to try harder.”

Darcy would admit to enjoying an angry Elizabeth. He did not, however, enjoy a disappointed Elizabeth because that meant he had failed her and betrayed her trust, which was something that he abhorred. She was the most important person in his life and to have her disapprobation did not make him happy, not happy at all.

“Elizabeth…” was all he could get out. She was right. She was exercising wisdom and sense. What could he say to that?

“Fitzwilliam, I know you are struggling with this and that it is hard.” She looked down and then returned her gaze to him. “It is very difficult for me as well. I have an extremely handsome husband; a husband who I know loves me with all his heart. But when I look at your beautiful face or at your beautiful body, I cannot help but have wanton thoughts. When I see that look of desire in your eyes that I know I put there, my defenses crumble. When you touch me in that way you have, designed to give me pleasure, all rational thought leaves me as all I can focus on is you. And that is what scares me, it only takes a moment for me to lose myself in you and forget that there is any one else in the world but you and me. It scares me that we lose ourselves completely and could do that in front of your sister or the servants or complete strangers. Look at what happened at the theatre the other night.”

“You are right. We have worked to establish guidelines to help us but I have been the one who has chosen to ignore them. You have been strong and, in my selfishness, I have used my intimate knowledge of you and your body against you. I am truly sorry. I will do better.”

“Does that mean that tomorrow morning at nine o’clock we will be sitting at the dining table enjoying our breakfast?” she smiled.

“Yes, it does,” he affirmed.

Tilting her head a bit and raising an eyebrow, she stated, “Then from now on we will have a new rule – Mr. Darcy is not allowed in my dressing room.”

He chuckled, “Fair enough.” He stepped near her and took a hand and raised it to his lips for a short kiss.

Gently pulling her hand from his, she walked to the door before turning back to him, “As we both have things to do this morning, we need to part. After lunch, however, I will be in my sitting room and would enjoy your company.” Gracing him with a seductive smile and a wink, she opened the door.

Bowing slightly with a huge grin on his face, “It will be my pleasure.”

The turmoil going on above stairs did not compare to the chaos in the kitchen; pots were banged, pans were rattled, flour was flying, and a poor, defenseless lump of dough was being beaten to within an inch of its life by a rolling pin. Mrs. Johanna Ashworth was in a bit of a temper. The breakfast that she labored long and hard over had gone untouched.

On questioning the scullery maid who had run into the servants’ hall crying, Mrs. Winters made her way to the kitchen to soothe her old friend. Stepping up to the table where Mrs. Ashworth was pounding on the dough, and making sure she was out of range of the rolling pin, Agnes Winters went about calming the turmoil.

“Johanna…” she began.

The cook looked up and said, “How is a body to get any work done when routine is disregarded? I have worked in this house for twenty years and never have I seen such a lack of order. Why I should just leave now and find another situation.” Looking away in a thoughtful manner, “Maybe Lady Matlock would take me in. Now, there’s a woman who knows how to run an efficient household.”

Seeing that Mrs. Ashworth had set the rolling pin down, Agnes Winters stepped closer and said, “Johanna, she is a new bride having to make so many changes in her life and find her way in this house. On top of all that she is dealing with a very difficult man. You know how that boy can get.”

Johanna Ashworth just looked the housekeeper, nodded, and began to calmly roll out her dough.

Agnes just smiled and added, “Besides, it is for the sake of having the joy of laughter and the sound of children’s footsteps running about this house again that we make these sacrifices.”

Mrs. Ashworth raised her head to stare at the housekeeper before returning back to her task.

Mrs. Winters turned to leave the cook and return to her office. She could not help the smile that appeared on her face when she heard the cook mumbling.

“More mouths to feed. Why I can hardly keep up with the ones already here. A body should at least have time for a spot of tea from one meal to the next. I hope they are planning on hiring more kitchen help as I will not be worked into my grave.”

When one goes about setting rules, they inevitably get broken or bent. This was true in the case of another one of the couple’s goals – that is they would remain out of their bed chambers from the time they descended for breakfast until they retired in the evening after dinner.

Almost immediately they had to amend that goal to state except between tea time and the time they needed to dress for dinner. After tea, in the late afternoon, the duties for the day were completed and the evening loomed ahead of them to include dinner or a social function that required their attendance. It was the perfect time to rest and reflect. And since they had to undress before they could dress for dinner, did it not make sense to retire to their chambers for such rest and reflection before dressing for dinner? According to Mr. and Mrs. Darcy it was the logical thing to do. Unfortunately for our couple, rest and reflection was not always accomplished and they were not always ready when the time came to dress for dinner.

While this goal of avoiding the temptation of their chambers seemed easy for them to accomplish, the odd snowy afternoon with nothing to do and nowhere to go made the privacy of their chambers too much a temptation. But then, are not rules meant to be bent?

These little trysts, however, brought another obstacle for them to face. They could not seek privacy within just any room. They chose not to use rooms that would be used for entertaining, such as drawing rooms or parlors, dining rooms, the ball room, and, especially, the music room. Miss Darcy was quite musically inclined and would spend hours and hours practicing at the pianoforte there and sometimes would request an audience.

Being intelligent people, the Darcys knew their weaknesses. While speaking to Lord so-and-so or Lady such-and-such on some boring topic, their minds might wander. And when faced with idle thoughts, the Darcys’ minds tended to wander only in one direction. Having to add a visual picture of the settee in the corner where Mr. Darcy had taken his wife to exhaustion that she remained there napping or the chair over by the writing desk where Mrs. Darcy had ridden Mr. Darcy to the finish line and beyond; it was just a disaster waiting to happen.

Any time one tries to achieve a goal, there will always be some small setbacks. Such was the case one morning when Elizabeth decided to practice her skills at the pianoforte. She had been careful to choose her practice times when her husband was unavailable. Having had word that Mr. Darcy was going to his solicitor’s office that morning, she retired to the music room. She had been playing and singing for almost an hour when an unexpected visitor arrived -- her husband.

It seemed that Mr. Darcy had received a note that the papers he was to review were not ready and someone would bring them around that afternoon so as not to inconvenience him further. After he had completed reading the newspaper for the day and, with nothing else to do, he went looking for his wife – idle minds. It was not long before he found her as the sound of her playing led him right to her. Slipping into the music room and admiring his wife’s talents, he noted that the vision of her swelling her breasts to sing her song was not the only thing that was swelling.

Moving to stand behind her, he placed his hands upon her shoulders. It was not long before his hands had traversed his wife’s chest to lodge inside the bodice of her gown where her nipples had hardened in anticipation. Of course, Mrs. Darcy’s fingers lost their place in the melody as her attention was diverted elsewhere and the couple was not aware of the sour notes she was hitting.

Lifting his wife from the bench on which she was seated, he took her place and then proceeded to install her on that part of his body that most required her consideration. Elizabeth leaned forward to provide a more pleasing angle for her husband’s thrusts and did not realize that she had braced her hands on the keys of the pianoforte thus producing rather discordant sounds.

Next to the music room were two parlour maids attending to their cleaning tasks while enjoying an impromptu recital from their new Mistress.

Each wrinkling their noises, one said, “What is she playing now? The melody is not very agreeable.”

“Maybe it is a piece from that new German composer.”

“What German composer?”

“The one whose music always sounds so angry and loud. Oh! What is his name? Beetman, no, Einhoven…” pausing a moment, “Beethoven! Yes, that is it. It is said that he is all the rage.”

Sticking her nose in the air to signify her disdain, the other responded, “More like a passing fancy!”

The girls gathered up their things and moved on to the next room, which fortunately was not the music room.

It was not long after Elizabeth’s ban of Darcy from her dressing room that the ban was challenged.

The evening of their next planned outing, a dinner party, Darcy feared a repeat of the theatre incident. He persuaded his wife it would be wise to view her in her gown before their departure so as to avoid any surprises. If he found that his control was in danger, she would have time to change into another gown that was less provocative to his sensibilities.

While a bit leery of her husband’s ability to find restraint, she did see some logic to his request and conceded to allow him into her dressing room but only after she was ready to leave her rooms.

Elizabeth had made an effort to be ready early. She had even consulted with Nancy earlier in the day to find an evening gown that she thought was not too provocative or showed too much cleavage. When all was done except her gloves and cape, she asked Nancy to admit Mr. Darcy.

Darcy entered the room and was completely taken aback by the vision of his wife. He knew then and there that they were going to be late for the dinner but he also knew that his wife would protest and if he was not careful, he would not get what he most wanted, satisfaction within his wife. Schooling his features so as not to show his intentions, he smiled at his wife, “Elizabeth, you are a vision to behold.” Looking at Nancy, he said, “Nancy, you do your Mistress proud.”

Nancy blushed and curtsied, “Thank you, Mr. Darcy.”

Elizabeth smiled at her maid and then at her husband, “Yes, thank you, Mr. Darcy. You look quite elegant tonight.”

Darcy nodded his acknowledgement and turned to Nancy, “Nancy, since we are to leave soon and Mrs. Darcy appears to be ready, you are dismissed.”

Elizabeth looked questioningly at her husband but his face was impassive. He showed no signs that his thoughts were where she feared them to be. Turning to her maid, she nodded, “Good night, Nancy.”

Nancy gave a curtsy and replied, “Good night, Mrs. Darcy.” Turning to Mr. Darcy, she curtsied again, “Good night, Mr. Darcy. Enjoy your evening.”

As she was walking to the door, she heard from both of them, “Good night, Nancy.”

When Nancy exited the room, Darcy went to Elizabeth and took her hand and led her to her dressing table.

She looked at him quizzically as he turned her to face the large mirror above the table.

Standing behind her, he began to unbutton his trousers as he was hidden from her view and she would not suspect at thing until he had gained her ‘approval’ for where he planned to put what he had just loosed from his trousers. Placing his hands on her upper arms, he said, “Look how beautiful you are,” as he gazed into the mirror to meet her eyes.

Sensing he was about to seduce her, she looked into his eyes reflected in the mirror, “Fitzwilliam, we had better leave or we will be late.”

Still looking at her in the mirror, “Elizabeth, we have plenty of time. We have a few minutes before we need to be downstairs.” He leaned down to nuzzle her neck and then went to nibble her earlobe.

“Fitzwilliam Darcy, you promised me that this would not happen again!” she exclaimed as she began to feel her defenses crumbling as he brought his hands up to her breasts and started to massage them. It was not long before he had lowered her sleeves of her gown so that her bosom would be freed from the bodice.

“Yes, Elizabeth, I did but you do not seem to mind now.” He continued his assault on her. Bending down, he took hold of the hems of her gown and petticoats and pulled the back of them to her waist as he brushed his erection against her buttocks. Using his arms to keep the gown from falling back to the floor, he snaked his hand around to that place between her legs that gave her so much pleasure. Rubbing her folds, he slipped a finger in to make sure she was ready for him all the while whispering in her ear, “Yes, Elizabeth, I do not think you mind at all. Look in the mirror, Lizzy, watch us make love to one another. See the pleasure that we give one another.”

Elizabeth’s moans denoted her acceptance to his proposal. Watching him seduce her was intoxicating and when she could not stand it any longer, she bent over and placed her hands on the dressing table to brace herself.

Darcy entered his wife slowly, constantly watching her through the mirror.

Elizabeth could not take her eyes off the image of them in so intimate an act.

Beginning with a slow glissade, he increased his pace as they stared intently in the mirror. When he picked up the pace and saw her bared breasts moving in time with his thrusts, he could not help himself as it caused him to further increase his pace, the more active her bosom became only made him thrust deeper and harder. Both struggled to prolong their climaxes as this new experience in coupling was mesmerizing. However, Elizabeth could no longer keep hers at bay and it wasn’t long before she brought her husband to his. They both had just experienced such ecstasy that could only compare to the time when they were newly wed and lovemaking was new to them.

Placing his arm under his wife’s bust to hold her steady, Darcy took a deep breath and exhaled it. He had just experienced the most erotic and sensual sexual encounter of his life. To watch your self make love was surreal and he was feeling the magnitude of its effect. If such emotions could be produced when they both had clothing on, what would it be like in the nude?

Smiling in the mirror at her husband and sensing what he was feeling, Elizabeth responded, “Yes…yes, it was and, yes, it will be.”

After a few minutes of relishing the impact of how adding the visual aspect to their conjugal activities had affected them, Darcy was reluctant to remove himself from his wife so they could ready themselves for the rest of the evening. Instead his hands went to her breasts as began to knead them aggressively. Elizabeth watched as her husband’s dark hands contrasted against her pale skin as he sent flashes of desire running rampant through her.

Looking in mirror to watch his face, she stated, “I guess we will not be going out tonight.”

“Yes, Elizabeth, we are going out. I promised that I would work harder to meet our goals.” He gave her a deep thrust to let her know how hard he was working or was it that he was just hard. “We will be fashionably late. After all we are newlyweds, it is expected of us,” he stated as he looked intensely into her eyes through the mirror.

“Yes, but maybe I…” Elizabeth looked at her husband in the mirror. How was she going to justify getting him to stay home and spend the rest of the evening in front of her mirror? Images of all the positions that would allow them to view themselves in the act flashed in her head and she wanted nothing more than to practice them in her dressing room. Besides her bare breasts were dangling as he gently pushed her down for a better angle for his thrusts and her naked rear end was exposed to him, she might as well be nude and she wanted to see him without his clothes on. The least her husband could do was to move the full length mirror behind them so that she could view his bare behind.

“I made a commitment to the Marchants and I will not renege. You should be ashamed of yourself for encouraging me to forget my responsibilities,” he laughed as began his second assault on his wife.

In an effort to prove to his wife that he could meet his goals and still satiate their desires, it was not longer for them to reach a second climax. With great sorrow, he removed his now flaccid member from her warmth and began to ready himself for their night out. After he had set himself to rights, he helped her straighten her gown.

As they were about to leave, once again Darcy led his wife to the mirror and wrapped his arms around her waist and said, “Elizabeth, the bloom of our recent lovemaking has produced such radiance in you to make me proud that you are my wife.”

Reaching her hand behind her and caressing his flaccid penis through his trousers, she asked “Fitzwilliam, are you sure you want to go out tonight?” After two such intense couplings she was willing to stay home and further explore the possibilities that her mirror would offer them, especially if they were naked.

“Yes, I may have slipped a bit earlier but I am determined to meet our commitments. Did I not just prove how hard I can work?” Grabbing at her hand, he chided, “Now who is the weak one?”

Elizabeth nodded but she could not help but be a disappointed.

Seeing her regret, he leaned in and whispered, “I do plan on leaving at the earliest possible moment as I believe we need to explore the possibilities of being nude in your dressing room might offer us.”

Grinning, she took her husband’s arm as he led the way to the door.

An adjustment to their time table was made when they were to go out for an evening. After all, it was more often than not that they required a few minutes to themselves before departing Mrs. Darcy’s dressing room. While Mrs. Darcy was always witty and charming during social functions, the taciturn Mr. Darcy was positively gregarious when he was allowed those few minutes alone with his wife.

Onto Part V – The Accident

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