When she took her hand away he stood with an immediate urgency that spoke to the inadvertence to his harsh attitude. They were both prideful, that was their folly and she supposed why neither of them would ever be bored ever again; they had the other to argue with. And while words were her territory, actions were his, he grasped her hand to press a kiss to her knuckles and she knew then she would forgive him.

Her name fell from his lips and her grin widened before he offered answer to the proposal she’d made him.

❝ I shall be truly surprised if you ever disobey me again. ❞ She laughed.

Her laughter was enough to see to the ghost of his previous
smile’s appearance once again. Possessed suddenly with a
passion only his wife could invoke, he rounded his desk to
gather her into his arms. He marvelled at his ability to do so,
at her permission and his freedom now that she was his. The
thought provoked him enough to lean down to steal a kiss
from her, to steal the smile and widen his own further.

    “ I am the master of Pemberley, but you, my love, are the master of me. Should
         you repeat this confession, I will, naturally, extinguish the accusations readily. ”