“Mary, Mr Darcy, but it is no wonder you do not recall. I am after all blessed with a surfeit of beautiful, unmarried daughters, Colonel Fitzwilliam.” Mrs Bennet had not particularly regarded the other man with Darcy before, his not being in uniform was a cunning trick, but discovering that he was both a colonel and closely related to the very wealthy Mr Darcy had her immediately turning her matchmaking sights upon him.
Elizabeth closed her eyes in despair. The evening promised to be quite possibly the worst of her life.
CHAPTER SIX
Somehow, Mrs Bennet managed everyone out of the house and the three girls back into the carriage. Colonel Forster promised silence and to ensure the same of his wife - though Elizabeth doubted that was even possible unless he planned to gag her. She barely refrained from saying so, forcing himself to bite her tongue. Instead, she found herself back inside the carriage with Georgiana now sobbing on her shoulder instead of Colonel Fitzwilliam’s, Mr Darcy and his cousin riding their horses behind as John turned the horses for Longbourn at last.
It was pitch dark by now, and the rain had begun again. The horses were weary, but eager to be back in their warm stable; John had to hold them to a steady pace. Elizabeth, her arm around a shivering, snivelling Georgiana, privately admitted to herself that she found a certain satisfaction in the thought of Mr Darcy having to ride along behind the carriage in the rain, getting wet. Odious man, jumping to the conclusion that she must have aided and abetted Georgiana running away from home to look for Mr Wickham! He deserved a soaking, indeed.
Mrs Bennet was surprisingly quiet on the journey, but as the carriage turned to progress up the carriageway to Longbourn at last, she stirred and said in quiet, warning tones;
“Girls, let me decide what to tell the others. Miss Darcy’s reputation is at stake here.”
Mary sniffed, and said sharply “You should know that I thoroughly dislike gossip, Mama. I have no intention of speaking of the matter to anyone at all. Miss Darcy must take responsibility for her own actions.”
Georgiana’s sobs, which had quieted, returned in full measure at the strong note of censure in Mary’s voice. Elizabeth hugged her again, shaking her head crossly at Mary, who folded her hands in her lap and looked away, lips pinched.
“We will say nothing, of course, Mama,” Elizabeth said quietly as the carriage finally drew to a halt. “Jane, of course, can be trusted…”
“And Lydia and Kitty absolutely cannot. I only hope Colonel Forster can keep a muzzle on his wife,” Mrs Bennet said, leaving Elizabeth gaping after her as John opened the carriage door and Mrs Bennet climbed out.
Mr Bennet was waiting at the door for them, his face creased into anxious lines. “Good, Fanny dear, you are safe,” he kissed his wife’s cheek. “I was beginning to grow concerned, you are very late… who is this with you?” as Georgiana came in at Elizabeth’s side and Darcy and Fitzwilliam dismounted their horses at the door. “Good Lord, is that Mr Darcy?”
“It is, Mr Bennet,” Mrs Bennet said, “with his sister Miss Darcy and their cousin. They have found themselves in need of shelter for the night and I have offered the hospitality of Longbourn.”
Mr Bennet gave her an utterly bemused look. She shook her head at him exaggeratedly and he sighed in resignation, turning to extend his hand to Mr Darcy.
“A pleasure to see you again, Mr Darcy.”
“As it is you, Mr Bennet. My cousin Colonel Fitzwilliam…”
Standing in Longbourn’s well-lit hallway, Elizabeth caught her first proper sight of the colonel. As tall as Mr Darcy, he had a pleasant, open face, not quite handsome but made so by the friendly expression he wore as he greeted her father. She tried to urge Georgiana forward, saying “Papa, this is Miss Darcy.”
“I - I do not feel well. I think I may swoon,” Georgiana whispered as she took a step and swayed on her feet.
A most ungentlemanly curse escaped Mr Darcy’s lips as Georgiana did just that, crumpling to the floor before he or the colonel could catch her. He was swift to pick her up after that, though, sweeping her up into his arms and saying “Where can I take her, Mrs Bennet?”
“Uh, uh, our guest rooms will not be ready yet… Hill!” caught off guard, Mrs Bennet flapped.
“My room, Mr Darcy,” Elizabeth stepped in. “Please, this way. There will be a fire lit, and I can dress her in one of my nightgowns. I’m afraid that Miss Darcy got soaked through when she alighted from the post-coach in Hatfield and has never had the opportunity to dry out.”
Darcy’s face became drawn with worry after hearing that statement, and he followed Elizabeth quickly up the stairs, cradling Georgiana tenderly close. Jane met them at the top, gaping at the sight of Mr Darcy carrying an unknown, unconscious young lady.
“Lizzy… Mr Darcy?”
“Miss Bennet,” he inclined his head politely to her, all the bow he could make while carrying his sister. In passing, he noted that she did not look well, her pretty face pale and drawn. Perhaps she had been ill? Sweeping the observation aside, he followed Elizabeth along the landing and through a door into a surprisingly spacious room, a crackling fire already burning in the hearth.
“Right here, Mr Darcy,” Elizabeth indicated the bed. He laid Georgiana down carefully and then hovered beside the bed, unsure of what he should do.
“Lizzy?” Jane said uncertainly from the door.
“Oh Jane, good, pray come and help me.” Elizabeth beckoned her in. “We need to get Miss Darcy out of these wet things and properly warm again, she was shivering all the way here.”
“She was?” Darcy wrung his hands together, his anger with Georgiana’s reckless behaviour now subsumed beneath fear for her. “Should I go back to Meryton to fetch the doctor, Miss Elizabeth?”
Carefully removing Georgiana’s damp cloak from around her, Elizabeth looked up at him and shook her head, her expression softening a little as she saw the genuine fear and concern on his face. “I think not tonight, Mr Darcy. Let us make her warm and comfortable and perhaps get some hot food into her, and we shall see how she does in the morning.” He did not look eased by her reassurance, so she left Georgiana to Jane for a moment and went to his side, putting her hand on his arm to guide him gently to the door.
“Mr Darcy, you must trust Jane and I to know what we are about. Do you remember how I nursed Jane at Netherfield, when she fell ill?”
“I shall never forget,” he said unguardedly, making Elizabeth blink in confusion. She brushed it aside in favour of reassuring him further, though.
“I shall nurse your sister no less devotedly, I promise you. I will stay with her all night,” she promised, not even certain why she said it. She barely knew Georgiana after all, and Hill could quite easily have sat with the girl. The creeping certainty that Georgiana was somehow the reason for the bad blood between Darcy and Wickham was sitting uneasily on her, though, and she was becoming slowly more certain that she had somehow made an error of judgement regarding Mr Darcy’s character.
“Thank you.” To Elizabeth’s utter astonishment, Darcy picked up her hand and placed a kiss upon the back of it. His tone was deeply fervent as he said “I can think of nobody who I would trust more, to take care of my sister.”
She found herself staring at the closed door as he departed, more befuddled than ever. Jane’s plaintive voice behind her made her turn around.
“Lizzy, what on earth is going on?”
“Dear Jane,” she sighed as she returned to the bedside and began to assist Jane in removing Georgiana’s wet clothes, “I only wish I knew.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
Darcy retraced his steps to the top of the stairs, only to find Mrs Bennet huffing her way up them with his cousin following in her wake, both of them holding lit candlesticks in each hand.
“We have two lovely guest rooms at the back of the house overlooking the gardens, Colonel - oh there you are, Mr Darcy. Do allow me to show you, the fires are not lit yet of course but at least you can wash up a little now - I don’t suppose yo
u have any luggage…”
“I’m afraid we had to depart London in quite a rush, Mrs Bennet,” Fitzwilliam said in his usual smooth, charming way. “And God willing, we shall be off just as quickly tomorrow and quite out of your way.”
Mrs Bennet stopped in front of the door she was about to open, fixed him with an extremely sharp stare. “That will be a neat trick, sir, without a carriage or horse for Miss Darcy.”
Fitzwilliam froze, his mouth hanging open. “Uhhh,” he managed, for once lost for words.
“We will make arrangements in the morning, Mrs Bennet,” Darcy said, “and if I have not said so already, please allow me to express my deepest, most sincere gratitude to you, both for taking Georgiana up when you found her in Hatfield, and for extending your hospitality to us in our hour of need.”
She looked quite surprised, and then gave him a rather charming little curtsy, smiling in an oddly familiar way. It took a moment for Darcy to recognise the expression as twin to the arch look Elizabeth always wore when she was about to say something expressly designed to provoke him.
“Why, that is very prettily said, Mr Darcy. Longbourn is nothing to Netherfield, of course, but we are very proud of it nevertheless. Pray make your way downstairs when you are refreshed. Dinner will be served shortly, and after dinner I believe that Mr Bennet would like to speak to you in his study.”
She pressed a candlestick into his hand before turning on her heel and walking away, leaving Darcy wondering when the other shoe was going to drop. Possibly she was leaving it to her husband. That suggestion of a talk after they dined made him feel uncomfortably like a small boy again, being summoned to his father’s study to account for his misdeeds. A glance at his cousin showed that Fitzwilliam looked quite unconcerned; Darcy supposed that he was quite used to reporting to superior officers after the best-laid plans had gone thoroughly awry.
Opening the door Mrs Bennet had left them standing beside, Darcy found a tiny hallway with two more doors, which proved to lead to two rather handsome guest bedrooms. There were indeed no fires lit, though one was laid fresh in each grate, just awaiting a flame, easily supplied from the candles they held.
A knock at the outer door proved to be Mr Bennet’s man with two jugs of warm water, sufficient for them to wash their hands and faces at least before repairing downstairs. Darcy thanked the man and accepted his burden, pouring the water into the basin on the dresser, noting with pleasure the cake of soap lying atop lengths of clean linen beside it.
Fitzwilliam made quicker work of his toilette than Darcy, and stepped into his cousin’s room, closing the door behind him. “Before we go down, Darce,” he said, “would you please enlighten me as to who the hell these people are and what we are doing here?”
Wiping his dusty face with a dampened cloth, Darcy grimaced. “I daresay I deserve that.”
“All the way here from London, you didn’t so much as mention that you knew anyone besides Wickham in this benighted place, and yet I find you on such close terms with this family that you are willing to accept the lady of the house’s hospitality, right after shaking one of her daughters half to death and accusing her of colluding with Wickham?”
Darcy spun on his heel indignantly. “I did not shake Elizabeth half to death!”
“You certainly accused her of colluding with Wickham!” Sitting at his ease on the end of the bed, Fitzwilliam raised his brows quizzically. “Whatever did the poor girl do to you, that you would believe her capable of such villainy? She seemed utterly delightful, and is clearly concerned for Georgiana despite not knowing her from Adam, unless I miss my guess. Indeed, if I did not know you better, I would say that you fancy her.”
Darcy wheeled around again and grabbed up the length of clean linen lying beside the basin, drying his face with it briskly. “You speak nonsense, Fitz.”
“I see,” Fitzwilliam said, in a tone that spoke volumes.
“You do not see anything!”
“Oh, I see a great deal more than you would want me to, no doubt of that. You fancy the girl, but she’s unsuitable. This house says it all; a simple country manor, pleasant enough but there is no great wealth here. I’ve never heard of the family which means they have no high connections; there is nothing here that would make her acceptable to the ton as a good match for you. You knew straight away you couldn’t marry her - but it didn’t stop you dreaming, and my guess is that Wickham, who knows you far too damned well, saw the way that you looked at her and decided to pursue her to get under your skin. Am I close to the truth, Darce?”
His hands had clamped down onto the edge of the dresser, were beginning to shake. “Far too close,” he confessed at last. “The very first time I saw Wickham here, he had just made her acquaintance. I was unable to keep my countenance.”
“You idiot.”
Darcy closed his eyes, unable to face his reflection in the wavery glass of the old mirror that hung above the dresser. “You cannot imagine how many times I have said that to myself in the last few weeks, along with other names far too disgraceful ever to repeat aloud.”
“So you left, why? I would have thought you would have insisted on staying, to watch over her. Ah, but I have it - she was too much of a temptation for you after all.” Fitzwilliam rose to his feet, began to pace the room, working out the puzzle. “You do not just fancy her. You love her.”
The basin hit the ground with an almighty crash, surprising Darcy who did not remember consciously making the decision to sweep it off the dresser. “Shut up!” he shouted, turning on his cousin. “Shut up, shut up!”
“Well, well,” Fitzwilliam grinned broadly. “I never thought I would live to see the day when you succumbed.”
“I have not bloody well succumbed!” Darcy’s fists clenched at his side, his face reddening with temper.
“You are full of horseshit. If you have not succumbed, why are we under this roof? Do not tell me that we couldn’t have quickly found an alternative. Considering how furious you were when we arrived, I half expected you to toss Georgiana over your saddle and hightail it straight back to London!”
Darcy sighed, deflating, crouching to pick up the shattered pottery pieces of the basin, thinking that he would have to replace it for the Bennets. “That would have been impractical, Fitz,” he said, as his cousin came over to assist him. “Mrs Bennet’s offer was truly a Godsend, in the circumstances. The family are perfectly respectable, and I am already acquainted with them. Visiting them for a night or two with you and Georgiana is quite unexceptionable.”
“Provided that they, and everyone else involved, keeps their mouths shut about Wickham,” Fitzwilliam pointed out.
Darcy groaned, passed a hand over his forehead. “Accursed man! What in God’s name was Georgiana thinking?”
“I expect she was imagining a grand romantic adventure, where she was being imprisoned against her will by her overly strict older brother, who was behaving in a quite dastardly fashion to the love of her life. Running away was the only logical thing to do in such exigent circumstances, I am sure.” Fitzwilliam’s mouth twisted. “You should have told her the truth in Ramsgate, made Mrs Younge confess it to her.”
“Foolish me, I thought that denying my permission for the marriage on the grounds of her age and his status would make her angry with me for a time and then forget it all with the distractions of London,” Darcy said bitterly. “I didn’t want to break her heart with the truth of Wickham’s despicable nature, Fitz. Was that so wrong?”
“No, cousin, but we must now reap the harvest which you have sown.” Fitzwilliam placed a hand on Darcy’s shoulder. “Sometimes, it is best to just tell the truth and deal with the consequences, or you must face far more dire ones when your actions come back to haunt you.”
“If only Wickham’s lies would come back to haunt him.”
“As to that, I may have a few ideas.” Fitzwilliam would not be drawn, though, as they made their way back below stairs. “I would like to consult with Mr Bennet first,” was all tha
t he would say on the matter, and with that Darcy had to be content for the time being.
An open door into a well-lit room beckoned them, and they found several Bennets gathered in the parlour, though Darcy saw immediately that Elizabeth was not present. One of the other Bennet daughters was absent too, he thought; were there not five of them? He remarked on that to Mrs Bennet, who reverted to form and tittered at him.
“Oh yes, Mr Darcy, my youngest but one, Kitty we call her, she has a nasty cough at the moment and is not fit for company. But pray, do allow me to present my other daughters to your cousin… Colonel Fitzwilliam, this is my eldest, Jane.”
He was already staring wide-eyed at the lovely blonde, rising to her feet and smiling sweetly as Darcy bowed over her hand, saying how pleased he was to meet her again, before stepping aside for Fitzwilliam to take his turn.
There was a melancholy in those lovely eyes, Fitzwilliam thought, in the way her smile did not quite reach them. She looked very slender, her clothes a little loose on her tall frame, as though she had lately lost weight.
“I am honoured to make your acquaintance, Miss Bennet,” he said politely, bowing over her hand. Her gloved fingers were dainty in his, her voice soft as she responded.
“As I am to make yours, Colonel.”
Mrs Bennet was watching the pair with a calculating look in her eye; Darcy hastily nudged Fitzwilliam’s shoulder, recalling him to the fact that he had not been introduced to everyone yet. Mary bore the introduction with ill-grace; Lydia demanded to know where his red coat was.
“I am on leave at this present time, Miss Lydia,” Fitzwilliam replied, “and not required at all times to wear uniform.”
“That is a pity, because you might be quite handsome in a red coat.”
A Christmas Miracle At Longbourn (The Darcy And Lizzy Miracles Book 1) Page 4
