It was Darcy's birthday tomorrow, his first since his marriage seven months ago, and Elizabeth had been vocal in her frustration at not being able to find a gift to suit him. To her frequent queries as to what might please him, the response was "Nothing, my love, I have you."

They lay in bed, having just retired for the night. The candles were snuffed, the room's only illumination from the moonlight streaming through the curtains.

Darcy found it easier to speak in the dark.

"I have thought of what might please me for my birthday, Elizabeth."

"Something that requires little preparation, I might hope, Fitzwilliam, as your birthday will be upon us in two hours' time!"

"No preparation at all."

A long silence ensued. Lizzy finally asked, "Are you asleep?"

"No."

"So are you going to tell me, or must I guess?"

He took a deep breath.

"Well," he began, and abruptly stopped.

"Well?" she echoed.

"As you seem to...um...inexplicably... take such pleasure from it yourself..." and embarrassed, he stopped again.

Lizzy smiled in the dark.

"Do you want a birthday spanking, William?"

"Yes," in a whisper so soft she barely heard it.

"And you shall have one," she said, picturing her husband's long, lanky frame stretched face down across her lap, his breeches down around his ankles, as she spanked his bare, tightly hewn bottom to a rosy red glow.

She reached over to take his rock hard manhood into her hand, stroking it slowly.

"Mmmm," she said. "Naughty boy!"

Darcy had the entire day of his birthday to think about what they had discussed the previous evening. Elizabeth made no reference to it, although she did grin and pat his bottom as she passed him in the dining room after his birthday dinner. And she had, indeed, presented him with a conventional gift: a leather-bound edition of Milton that he had been coveting.

He was embarrassed to bring up the subject again as they prepared for bed and was convinced that Elizabeth had just been teasing him on the subject of a birthday spanking. He did not know whether he was disappointed or relieved.

Just a few minutes later, he realized that she had most certainly not been teasing him!

"You have been a very naughty boy, Fitzwilliam Darcy," Elizabeth said, trying to keep her expression stern. "So for your birthday, I am going to give you a spanking."

She was looking so gleefully amused, that Darcy was beginning to regret he ever requested this! But every day, every night, with Elizabeth brought new discoveries and sexual delights. And as one of her own most wanton pleasures was receiving a spanking from her adoring husband, although he could not quite understand how something which caused some degree of pain could be pleasurable, his curiosity had been sufficiently piqued to ask her to reciprocate.

She was seated in their bedchamber on an armless chair; her husband - all 6 feet 2 inches of him - stood to her right, looking sheepish and more than a little apprehensive. She turned her head to look at him, her eyes conveniently level with a very noticeable bulge in the front of his breeches.

Lizzy herself had teasingly christened his affliction, which seemed to occur with alarming frequency, "bunchage!" In fact, her most surefire method of earning a desired spanking was whispering the word in his ear when they were in company. It was a little game they played; she would give him a seductive look and let her eyes sweep the length of his body. He would experience a noticeable physical reaction, which was to be expected in a young man of such passionate nature, and she would delight in leaning over him, on the pretext of performing a traditional wifely duty such as pouring his tea. This posture had the dual purpose of displaying her enticing breasts to him (further increasing his discomfort) and affording her the opportunity to whisper, unheard by others in the room, "Oh my, William, your bunchage is showing!" or some variation thereof. He would stare at her, his eyes fiery and unblinking, as he twisted his signet ring, and she knew she would be in for a most tumultuous evening in their bedchamber. And their company would be none the wiser.

Tonight, however, William would be on the receiving end of the spanking, and she intended to make the experience a memorable one for him.

She began to drag her fingernails slowly up and down the front of his breeches.

"Oh, dear," she said. "You really are a bad boy William. Whatever am I going to do with you?"

He was breathing hard, and a low moan escaped his lips. "Good God, Lizzy, have mercy..."

She began to unbutton the front of his breeches, intentionally drawing out the process as long as possible. Even as her fingers worked the buttons, she stroked the outline of his erection through the fabric, and by the time she lowered his breeches to his knees, his manhood was so thoroughly engorged that it pointed straight out at her face! She resisted the temptation to take him into her mouth. Some strategically applied pain now, she knew from personal experience, would lead to even greater pleasure later!

Lizzy delighted in teasing him a bit first, though, wrapping her fingers around his erection and running her hand up and down its length. With the pad of her thumb, she lightly massaged the tip, and he began to leak, his knees shaking.

"Lie across my lap, William," she said seriously. Feeling a bit foolish, he obeyed his wife, whom he towered over in height and outweighed by some 70 pounds. Just the bit of friction against his erection as he settled himself over her knees was so excruciatingly stimulating, he feared he would come in her lap.

"It is your twenty-ninth birthday, William, so it will be 29 spanks plus one to grow on." She reached underneath his body to grasp his manhood. "It seems you are growing already!" she said.

He did have a most taut and attractive bottom, and she had always enjoyed looking at it. She rubbed and patted him a bit first, very much enjoying the feeling of power it gave her to have him at her mercy.

Then she began to spank him, very slowly. Lightly at first, then building in speed and intensity. After a dozen swats, he began to cry out. Although her hand was small, she was stronger than he realized, and his masculine bottom was far less cushioned than her soft, feminine one!

"Ahhh, Lizzy!" he yelled, as his mental count reached 20. He knew full well that his petite wife certainly could not prevent him from rising and escaping the spanking at any time he chose, but it was a matter of pride for him now that he did not. He was determined to stoically bear any punishment she meted out.

Lizzy noted with satisfaction that his bottom was turning a most becoming shade of pink, and as there were only 10...now 9...now 8...spanks to go, she began to spank him harder.

"Owwwww, woman, you are enjoying this!" he exclaimed, twisting and writhing, his erection swelling to alarming proportions against her thighs.

"Yes, Mr. Darcy, I am enjoying it! Not handsome enough to tempt you, hmm? You have waited long enough to pay for that unfortunate remark! This is your reward for being both naughty and haughty!"

He began to chuckle, but only for a moment, as the final 8 spanks, administered to a bottom that was already hot and sore, were by far the most painful, and to his surprise, Darcy felt tears welling in his eyes. He blinked them back; it would not do for his wife to see him cry!

But now that she had finished spanking him, Lizzy began to soothe him, reaching for a bottle of oil she had next to the chair. She dripped some of the oil onto his reddened buttocks; he gasped at the sensation as she sensuously massaged the soothing liquid into his tingling flesh. He began to relax, letting out a deep sigh as she lovingly rubbed and stroked his bottom, finally shocking him by softly kissing each hot, red cheek!

"Poor baby. I just know you are going to behave much better in the future. Come to bed, William, it appears you are in dire need of relief!"

He rose and started to pull up his breeches, which had fallen around his ankles, and she shook her head.

"Don't pull up your breeches, William, take them off! You are most assuredly not going to need them!"

Darcy blushed, but he kicked them off.

Elizabeth led him, wearing just his shirt, to the bed, and pushed him down onto his back. "Oooh," he said, wincing a bit as his thoroughly punished bottom came into contact with the mattress. She quickly pulled her dress up over her head and discarded it, straddled his hips, then lowered herself onto his erection. She was the aggressor tonight, and she had her way with him, riding him mercilessly, and he erupted within 30 seconds of slipping inside her.

"Happy birthday, William," she said with a wicked grin. "When shall I spank you again?"

"For my 30th birthday," he replied.

And then, after a brief pause, "Maybe sooner!"