One Winter's Eve

by Leenie Brown

  “If you would follow me,” the man said after they had deposited their outerwear with a footman and maid.

  Richard stepped into the sitting room and froze. The cad he had been hoping to avoid and two other officers sat in one corner of the room with three young ladies — two of whom he assumed from their appearance to be Elizabeth’s sisters. He glanced at Georgiana. She seemed to be flustered but not overly so. He greeted Mrs. Bennet and listened to her introductions. Elizabeth and Jane, he knew, then there was Miss Mary, Miss Lucas, Miss Maria –Miss Lucas’s younger sister — Lady Lucas, Miss Lydia, and Miss Kitty as well as Captain Denny, Captain Saunders, and the vermin, Wickham.

  “Mr. Wickham,” he greeted after he had greeted the rest appropriately. “It has been a while since we last saw each other.” He held the man’s gaze. There was a satisfying uneasiness in Wickham’s eyes. The last time they had seen each other Richard had threatened to kill the fool.

  “Indeed, it has been some time,” Wickham agreed. His gaze shifted from the colonel to Georgiana. “I trust you and your family have been well.” There was a slight twitch of his lips when he said it.

  Richard wished to yank him from his seat and explain to him exactly how his family — Georgiana, in particular — had been since their last meeting, but he would not. He would muster some civility and refrain from turning the fellow into mincemeat for the Christmas pies.

  “We have been quite well, have we not, Cousin?”

  Richard could feel Georgiana’s hand pressing more firmly on his arm. However, her voice did not waver, her cheeks were rosy, and her smile was convincingly pleasant. He returned her smile. “Indeed, we have been most excellent.” He gave a nod of his head, a sort of dismissal and, following Georgiana to a settee, took a seat beside her.

  The young lady to his left, Miss Mary, if he remembered correctly, looked at him with a puzzled and somewhat disapproving look on her face. “You did not inquire after his family,” she said.

  “He has none,” Richard replied. Even if Wickham did still have a family, Richard would not have cared to trade pleasantries with the man. He deserved no such kindness in Richard’s opinion.

  Miss Mary’s eyes grew wide, and she returned to reading her book.

  That Miss Bennet was rather dull, Richard thought as he turned to greet Elizabeth and Jane. Greetings and pleasantries out of the way, he turned his attention to watching the other end of the room. The younger Miss Lucas and Miss Lydia seemed rather enamoured by Wickham and his friends. That was not good. They were pretty young ladies, and from the sounds of their giggles and exclamations, they were not perhaps the most quick-witted youngsters, making them precisely the sort of young ladies Wickham would prefer to have in his pocket — as well as his bed. Darcy needed to speak to Mr. Bennet. If Darcy did not, he would. No matter how silly a chit might be, she did not deserve to fall victim to Wickham.

  ~*~*~

  For thirty minutes, Caroline listened to Mrs. Bennet prattle on about this neighbour and that — as if Caroline was actually interested in the comings and goings of the neighborhood. With any luck, she would be back in London in January and would find a proper gentleman to take her far away from this hamlet and its annoying matrons.

  When she was not attempting to pay attention to Mrs. Bennet and Mrs. Lucas, she was watching the youngest Bennet flirt with the three officers. Kitty tried to follow Lydia’s lead, but it was evident that Lydia was the more well-practiced of the two.

  How a mother could allow her daughter to behave so was beyond Caroline. A demure smile, a flutter of lashes, a welcoming look accompanied by some light conversation were acceptable means of bringing a gentleman along in his affections. But throwing one’s self at him, fawning over his every word, and touching his person every time she found what he said to be delightful was beyond improper. How could Charles wish to see that sort of a young woman presented as his sister!

  Yes, it would most certainly be best if she secured a husband before summer. It would likely be impossible to be perceived by society as a worthy match with such connections as Lydia Bennet heaped upon the ties Caroline already had to trade. Her father’s birth she could not avoid, but Lydia Bennet she could and would.

  So, it was that she entered the carriage in a far fouler mood than she had felt last night standing in the hallway hearing Colonel Fitzwilliam refer to her conversation as twaddle. Her eyes narrowed at that gentleman as he took a seat next to Georgiana. Hopefully, Colonel Fitzwilliam now knew the real meaning of twaddle. If he did not, perhaps he could return for another half hour of torment at Longbourn.

  “Are you well?” Richard asked Georgiana.

  “You conducted yourself so well,” Louisa lauded. “I am not certain I could have been as composed and charming as you were if I had to be in the same room with someone who had treated me so ill.” She clucked her tongue and shook her head.

  Caroline rolled her eyes. Louisa could be exasperating at times.

  “It was not so bad as I imagined it might be, but then, there were friends to talk to, and that made it easier to ignore him.”

  “Why they even allow his sort into their home, I do not know,” Caroline snapped.

  Louisa laughed lightly. “He is a fortune hunter. They cannot fear him, for they have no fortune.”

  “They may not be wealthy,” Richard cut in sharply, “but they are pretty and have skirts he would no doubt like to lift.”

  Caroline’s eyes grew wide, and her mouth dropped open. Gentlemen did not say such things in front of ladies. Did he know nothing of how to behave in fine society?

  “Richard,” Georgiana scolded.

  “It is true,” was his only reply as he turned his attention to the scenery outside.

  “Then someone should tell them,” Louisa whispered. “If he is not looking for a wife but just the benefits that come from a wife, someone should tell their mother.”

  Caroline snorted. “Mrs. Bennet sees her daughters as prizes to be sought by one and all. I doubt she would be inclined to think of Mr. Wickham or his friends in any other fashion than a possible match. Her eldest daughters have, after all, captured men that one would not think were within their grasp.”

  Georgiana gasped. “Miss Bennet and Miss Elizabeth are well-worthy of the gentlemen who have claimed them.”

  “I would agree,” Richard muttered.

  Caroline’s cheeks flushed. She should have remembered that Georgiana considered Jane and Elizabeth to be her friends. “Charles could have done better is all I am saying,” she explained. “He could have had a wife with a fortune and a name well-established in the ton, but he has decided against increasing his standing either in wealth or society by marrying a country nobody. Oh, I agree Miss Bennet is pleasant and beautiful, but she brings so little advantage.”

  “A man who is not reliant on securing a fortune through marriage can do no better than to find a beautiful lady with a pleasant manner to love and to love him in return.”

  Caroline blinked at Richard’s harsh tone. “And a lady, whose heritage is not thought to be good enough but wishes to marry well, could do much better if all of her siblings made matches that were advantageous.”

  Richard crossed his arms. “So, it is all about you.”

  “You would not understand,” she retorted. “Your father is an earl. You were born most fortunate.”

  “Indeed?” His tone was flat and his look hard. “Explain to me how it is so fortunate to have to spend one’s life giving orders that you know will lead to the death of many of the men you command. How is it fortunate to sleep exposed to the elements and to know that your limbs and your very life may be taken on the morrow? You have no idea what it means to be the second born of an earl — raised in luxury but required to live without it once you are grown — unless you can find a woman with a fortune to marry.”

  “Richard,” Georgiana said softly as she placed a hand on his arm.

  He slipped an arm around her shoulder and drew her close to his side. />
  Caroline turned her head away. She had never considered what the colonel’s life must be like. She was not ignorant. She knew there were dangers in his profession, but his reduction in circumstances had never entered her mind.

  “You have no inheritance?” She kept her eyes diverted.

  He shrugged. “It is likely as much as you have, perhaps more, since there will be a house and a bit of land.”

  “And you are free to use that inheritance in any way you choose, are you not?” Feeling her composure and indignation returning, she turned her eyes back to him.

  “I am.”

  “So, there is no brother or uncle to tell you what you may do and when as well as how you might do it?”

  Richard blew out a breath. “I will allow that a female has more strictures and is more reliant on marriage than a man, but I will not allow you to say that my position in society is far superior to your own. You will have comforts equal to what you are accustomed or better when you are married. I will not — unless my wife has a fortune. ” His lips twisted into a bitter expression. “I am relegated to either a reduction in circumstances or the unpleasant task of being what I despise in man or woman — a fortune hunter.”

  “You should marry for love,” Georgiana said softly. “I should very much dislike seeing you marry without it.”

  He pulled her tight again and dropped a kiss on the top of her head. “With any luck, I will find that rare woman who both steals my heart and has a fortune.”

  “For how large a fortune do you wish?”

  “Louisa!” Caroline scolded.

  “What? I am only asking so that I might be of assistance.” She turned her eyes from her sister to the colonel. “How large?” she repeated.

  He shrugged.

  “Twenty? Thirty?” Louisa prodded.

  Again, Richard shrugged. “I suppose nothing less than twenty and ideally far more.” He shook his head. “It sounds so crass to quantify a lady with numbers.”

  “Oh, but you will not decide on fortune alone,” Louisa assured him. “There are other accomplishments that will likely help you choose a wife, not to mention her beauty.”

  Caroline rolled her eyes as her sister asked what Caroline had hoped she would not.

  “And what sort of woman do you find beautiful, Colonel?”

  “I shall point out all the beautiful ladies I see,” he replied with a grin. “Beginning with the three within this carriage.”

  He was likely just being charming, Caroline told herself. It was what any gentleman would say. It did not mean he thought she was beautiful, did it? Did she hope that he did mean it or that he did not? Caroline’s brows drew together. Oh, he was a frustrating man!

  Chapter 4

  “Yes, just there,” Caroline instructed a footman, who was hanging the last of the kissing boughs in the dining room.

  The footman secured the bough and then, gathering his things, left the room.

  Caroline turned a circle, surveying everything in the room. All was now ready. The puddings and pies had been made. Evergreen boughs and holly were arranged around serving dishes and chargers on the table in here, and the Christmas fire was burning in the drawing room. She sighed contentedly. Not an item of all she remembered her mother doing for Christmas had been forgotten. With everything in place as it should be, she found she did not mind being at Netherfield as much as she thought she would. Things were far more festive looking in this grand home compared to her brother’s townhouse.

  “It looks very nice.”

  Caroline’s hand flew to her heart as she jumped at the sound of Colonel Fitzwilliam’s voice near her ear.

  “My apologies,” he muttered. “I did not mean to startle you. I was sent to see if there was anything you required.”

  “I think all is ready,” she answered. “You may report back to the rest that we can now take our ease until time to dress for dinner.” She crossed to the table and moved a sprig of holly so that the berries could be seen better. “Perfect,” she muttered and turned to leave the room.

  “You have a critical eye,” Richard said from where he leaned on the door frame. “That can be both good and bad.”

  Caroline lifted her chin. “How so?”

  “It allows you to see where improvements need to be made. However, it can also allow you to see only the imperfections and forget to notice anything commendable.”

  Her brows furrowed, and she shook her head. She was not the sort to only point out flaws. She moved to leave the room. “I give praise where praise is due.”

  Richard caught her arm, keeping her from exiting the room. “I’ve been thinking.”

  “About what?” The grave, nearly stern, expression on his face made her feel as if she were about to be lectured by the headmistress at her school. Thankfully, she had not had to endure too many of those lectures. However, each time she had been summoned to stand before the headmistress, her chest had constricted just as it was doing now. How foolish! She was no longer a schoolgirl, and Colonel Fitzwilliam was not her headmistress. He was a guest. A fine looking, albeit annoying, guest.

  “You would do far better to notice the commendable and stop being so blasted arrogant.”

  She gasped and tried to tug her arm away from him.

  “Your tirade in the carriage about the Bennets,” he shook his head. “They will be your relations whether you wish for them to be or not, and if you wish to continue as a friend of Georgiana’s, you will need to begin thinking and speaking of her brother’s soon-to-be wife with more respect.”

  Again, Caroline tried to extract her arm from his grasp and leave the room. Other than to instruct her on who was or was not acceptable for Miss Darcy, it was not his place to speak to her about her behaviour. The audacity!

  This time, he moved with her into the room and closed the door behind him. Then, when he was leaning against that door, he released her arm. “I have not spoken to your brother about what you said because I do not think he needs to hear your thoughts about Miss Bennet. I am certain he has heard enough of your vitriol. ” He blew out a breath. “I have been trying to understand you.”

  Caroline folded her arms and glared at him. “Have you now?”

  He nodded. “Ever since Miss Elizabeth challenged me to reconsider my opinion of you.”

  Caroline’s mouth snapped closed, her retort dying on her lips. A strange small pain pierced her heart. She had heard him call her conversation twaddle and had argued with him, yet she had not considered that he did not like her at all.

  “Finding one’s footing in society can be a challenge, especially for someone who has parentage that the elite of society deems undesirable. You said as much today.”

  Caroline shrugged and lifted her chin. She would not retaliate. Her father was a tradesman, but he was well-respected. He was not disparaging her father. He was stating a fact. Despite her efforts to calm herself, her heart raced and that dreaded feeling of tears forming would not go away.

  “To look at you…” He shook his head. “You are beautiful, but to know you?” His eyes swept from her head to her toes and back. “Good heavens, I wish you were as kind as you are beautiful.”

  That was a step too far, and Caroline could not contain her anger any longer.

  “How dare you,” she spat. “Who placed you in a position to reprimand me on anything?” She stepped closer to him, her eyes narrowing.

  “No one,” he replied. “Just me.” He left his place of repose against the door and matched her advance with a step of his own. Did she always smell of oranges and spice? The scent fit her.

  She lifted a brow. “Why?”

  He blew out a breath. “I’ll be hanged if I know.” He had attempted to keep his thoughts to himself, but for some reason he felt compelled to see her improve, to reach her potential. It was likely that glimpse of her thoughtful, quiet nature at breakfast which had done it.

  She shook her head in bewilderment. He was making little sense. How could he not know why he thought i
t his place to admonish her?

  He stepped to the side so that the door was free, but he once again caught her arm as she moved past him. Pulling her close, he whispered, “You are a beautiful, accomplished young woman who does not need to belittle others to make herself look better.”

  Then, before he could do something foolish like make use of the kissing bough which hung just in front of the door, he released her.

  Caroline expelled the breath that had caught in her chest when he had drawn her close and scooted past him and out of the dining room. He had been so close and so tempting even with all his air of hauteur and commanding tone. Those hazel eyes boring down into her own, filled with disapproval one moment and something entirely different the next, were captivating. And there was something she could not describe which seemed to radiate from him and had quelled her anger almost entirely in an instant. She shook herself. He was a frustrating, arrogant, demanding second son of an earl with an appalling lack of civility, she reminded herself. She was not supposed to begin considering him as anything else. She could do better. She would find a man whose profession did not call him away to war. She would be the mistress of an estate as grand as Netherfield if not grander. The season would begin, and she would do her best to secure a proper husband as quickly as possible.

  “Oh, I beg your pardon,” she mumbled as she entered the drawing room and collided with her sister.

  “Are you well?” Louisa asked loudly.

  “Yes,” Caroline answered quickly as she glanced around the room to see if her sister had drawn everyone’s attention. It was bad enough to have been so lost in thought that she had stumbled into another person. There was no need to make everyone aware of it, but Louisa was often lacking in tack.

  “You look flushed,” Louisa continued. “Are you certain you are well?”

  “I am perfectly well. I have just been busy making certain all it ready.”

  “Perhaps you should go lie down. Just until dinner. I should hate for you to fall ill.”