From Pemberley to Manhattan [COMPLETED]

Chapter 84

ONE HOUR IN LONDON

Nat

I had been staring at my own reflection in the vintage mirror for long minutes. I was about to take a shower, and I desperately needed one; yet, I didn't feel like having a shower alone.

Darcy's promise kept hammering against my brain and other body parts, but I couldn't make myself walk to his room, across from mine, and force him to fulfill a vow he'd taken in a time of despair.

On the other hand, our time together would be over in a few hours now. He'd return to his own century and Ethan would come back. It would be our last chance to actually do what we'd been yearning for since... Well, basically since we'd met.

Wow, it was suddenly hot in here...

"Excuse me", a woman let herself in swiftly, holding a silver tray with spaghetti Bolognese and a glass of wine. "May I come in?"

I didn't even need to say yes; my stomach growled embarrassingly loud when I saw the delicious-looking food. She smiled in response and placed the tray on the desk. I dug in unceremoniously, thanking her with my eyes.

"If you wish, I could take your dinner to the gentleman's room, so you can have some company while you eat", she said unnecessarily, since I was already eating (or swallowing) my dinner with her as company. Still, I understood the appeal of her idea.

"Yeah, I guess that'd be nice", my voice was shaking with insecurity, but she certainly didn't share it. The woman, who was in her sixties, with rosy cheeks, white hair and brown eyes, smiled broadly at me, took back the tray (I was still eating, I must emphasize), and left my room even more swiftly than she'd entered it. "I... You..." Yeah, she'd turned me into Tarzan there and then. Me Nat. You Lady-who-took-my-food-away.

By the time I'd washed up a little bit and crossed the hall, she had already vanished. She must be related to the Professor somehow, I was sure.

The delicious smell of fresh tomato sauce invaded my nostrils, and I, like the troll I was, ran to the table for two (why did my room have only a desk for one?) in the center of his room (why was his so much bigger than mine? Oh, Ethan was so going to explain that one when he came back) and continued eating my food as if nothing had happened in the interim. Until I heard it.

Someone was taking a shower.

And, unless the lady-who-took-away-my-food had gone nuts and was having a shower in the Professor's guest room, it was Darcy in there.

Naked.

Wet.

Warm.

Did I mention naked?

Ohmygod. Ohmygod. Ohmygod. Ohmygod. Ohmygod. Ohmygod.

If this were a Hollywood movie, the heroine would be confident enough to enter the bathroom, slowly strip in front of the hot-but-too-slow hero, and enter the shower with him so the couple could have the dot-dot-dot moment we waited for patiently the entire movie. I had to be that heroine.

I was that heroine! Right?!

I drank my glass of wine in one huge gulp. Then I drank Darcy's in two. Not that I needed alcohol to gather up some courage, it was just that... Well, this was Darcy we were talking about, not just a guy from the twenty-first.

And I was about to deflower him.

Wow, talk about a sentence I believed I'd never-ever-not-in-a-million-years use. I wasn't even sure if I could use it when referring to a guy and– Gee, I was totally stalling. I took in a very deep breathe, and walked to the bathroom.

The door was ajar, and I could see the mirror. It reflected the shower, and Darcy in it. He had his back turned towards the mirror, letting the hot water untangle some of his sore muscles. I could help him with that. His pale skin was flawless, and he had the tightest, cutest tushie I'd ever seen in my life.

I took a few steps into the room, still staring at the mirror. I was brave enough to enter, but not enough to stare at him directly. He heard me after a while, and turned his head in my direction. "Nathalie?!" Question, prayer and desire in one word. I was so relieved he hadn't used the "miss".

"I'm here to collect your debt, Darcy." Surprisingly, I didn't stutter and he didn't flinch. Instead, the desire I'd heard in his voice was now in his blue eyes.

The shoes were gone in a second. I then grabbed the hem of the cotton shirt and pulled it off as well. I could see his breathes were shallow now. When I "bathed" myself back in the cabin, they had given me comfortable clothes with lace underwear they probably took from the Parisian apartment. I didn't understand, back then, why they'd given me sexy lingerie to wear in the middle of nowhere, and I even feared they might have cruel intentions for me.

Now I understood. Everything was a preparation for this moment; the fake kidnap orchestrated by my brother and executed by the Professor, the flight to London to send Darcy back home, the rooms so near each other in a huge mansion, and even that lady who had brought me dinner. All had been carefully planned so I would ruin Mr. Darcy's reputation.

Thank you, Ethan.

I took my yoga pants off while Darcy fully turned in my direction. His mouth was hanging open now, and I really wanted to do the same as I saw his proportionality fully awaken. Yet, I kept going, as if his... situation did little to me. Tonight, I'd be the seducer; he'd be the seduced.

When the last piece of cloth was on the bathroom floor and I was completely exposed, he opened the shower sliding doors with a lopsided smile that made me melt like butter in heat.

"Are you sure, Darcy?" Suddenly, I was worried about his virtue.

"I could not be more sure even in two hundred years, Nat."

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