Desperate Hearts: A Pride and Prejudice Variation Page 5

  Lady Catherine, knowing full well how imperative it was to put an immediate stop to this insult against her own daughter Anne, to whom Darcy was engaged ever since the two were in their cradles, fairly shrieked at her footman to bring her paper, pen, and ink so she could write to her errant nephew and demand an explanation for his behaviour. If that did not bring a satisfactory conclusion to this folly, she would travel to Town, or to Pemberley, or to Hertfordshire – wherever he may be – to confront her nephew in person.

  Ten: The following Monday – Longbourn

  The two gentlemen from Netherfield rode on horseback up to the front of the Bennets’ house at Longbourn. Watching from the dining room window, Jane and Elizabeth cried out together “They are here!” and ran off to check their appearances in the hallway mirror. Patting down a few stray hairs and smoothing their skirts, the sisters met the gentlemen as they entered the house.

  Bingley asked if the ladies would care to take a walk along the paths through Longbourn to admire the beautiful autumn foliage. It was agreed, and after donning their spencers and bonnets, Jane and Elizabeth each took the proffered arm of her respective suitor. The three younger girls agreed to walk with them, and so the party set out for a leisurely ramble. When they were out of sight of their parents, the three turned toward Meryton, away from their sisters and their beaux. This, of course, had been their scheme all along. Although Mary did not wish to join her two younger sisters in their flirtations with the officers of the militia, she did want to stop by the bookshop to see if a book she had recently ordered had been delivered.

  After the two couples had been abandoned by the younger girls, and now unchaperoned except for each other, Darcy and Elizabeth began to walk a little faster while Bingley and Jane slowed down their pace, and soon enough they were out of each other’s view and hearing. Darcy led Elizabeth off the path to a bench beneath a large chestnut tree. He took out his handkerchief and brushed some dead leaves and twigs off the seat so Elizabeth could sit down. Elizabeth leaned back on her hands and breathed in the clean, sweet air. Darcy turned to her and began to speak.

  “As much as I enjoy seeing you every day, I am sorry, Miss Elizabeth, but I have pressing business in Town. Bingley and I leave early on the morrow. Depending on how quickly I can finish my business I may not see you for several days, perhaps a week.”

  Elizabeth sat up on the bench and invited Darcy to join her, which he did with alacrity. He took one of her hands in his, and solemnly pronounced his growing affection for her. “Surely you cannot help but notice my attentions to you, Miss Elizabeth. They have been too marked. Now I must know your own feelings. Do I in turn hold your affections? Dare I hope that your feelings are in accord with mine?” he asked hopefully.

  Elizabeth looked down shyly, then back up at her handsome suitor. “Yes, Mr. Darcy. I believe we are in accord regarding our affections for one another.” She smiled demurely, and then looked away again with maidenly modesty.

  Darcy’s grin lit up his face. “Then may I presume that you will miss me while I am gone, just as I shall miss you?”

  “Yes, I shall, sir,” Elizabeth smiled coyly up at him.

  “Then I shall hurry my business and return back here as soon possible. As long as I know you are waiting here for me,” Darcy waited breathlessly for her answer.

  “That I shall be, Mr. Darcy,” Elizabeth replied. “You can count on it.”

  Eleven: Darcy’ townhouse, London

  “I do not know how you ride such long distances on horseback, Darcy,” Bingley complained when they were settled into Darcy’s study with a bottle of good brandy after returning from their appointments of the morning. “Even with two days’ rest I still feel the effects of that blasted ride. I am inclined to take a carriage back to Netherfield; it is far more comfortable!”

  Darcy looked condescendingly at his friend. While Darcy had been riding proficiently since he was a boy studying with riding masters, Bingley was somewhat new to horses. “You are welcome to take one of my carriages if you like, but you need to ride more often to get conditioned to the saddle, Bingley. Otherwise you will never make much of a horseman! Will you ride with me tomorrow when I take Paris out in the park?”

  “No, I think not, Darcy” Bingley shook his head. “I do not mind not being as good a horseman as you are. I like my comforts too much to spend much time on horseback.”

  Darcy swirled the brandy in his snifter with a thoughtful look on his face. “So, have you reached an understanding with Miss Bennet?” he asked his friend. “Informally, yes” Bingley responded eagerly. I plan to ask her to marry me the next time I call at Longbourn. That way I can speak to her father directly afterwards.”

  “That is certainly most convenient.”

  “What about you, Darcy? Have things advanced with Miss Elizabeth to the point where I can soon expect to call you my brother as well as my friend?”

  “For my part, as you well know, all has been decided for quite some time” Darcy replied. “She is everything I want and need in a wife and in a woman. But I had to be sure that Miss Bennet was also decided. Of late she has given me every reason to believe that her affections are as engaged as mine. When I am next in Hertfordshire I plan to make her an offer. Although I will wait a seven-night after the elder Miss Bennet accepts you, to give you the opportunity to be fussed over by Mrs. Bennet.” Here he glanced at Bingley with a grin. “But only a seven-night; I caution you that I will not wait any longer to secure Miss Elizabeth’s hand. And to become one of the two happiest of men.” He winked at Bingley.

  Bingley raised his glass for a toast. “Then here’s to the Bennet sisters, who will soon be our sisters – and our wives.” Darcy grinned and also raised his snifter.

  Just then the study door opened wider and Colonel Fitzwilliam strode confidently into the room. “What’s this I hear about sisters and wives, Darcy? Do not drink to your joy without your favourite cousin!” Fitzwilliam headed straight for the table with the tray holding decanters and glasses, and poured himself a generous amount of Darcy’s excellent brandy.

  “So who is getting married? And to whom?” he demanded while he began to empty his glass.

  Darcy was quite used to his cousin’s unannounced comings and goings at his townhouse. The Colonel clearly preferred staying with Darcy when he was in town rather than staying at his parents’ house. Bingley grinned widely at his question, but it was Darcy who answered. “If you must know, Bingley will ask Miss Jane Bennet for her hand this week. And I intend to offer for her sister, Miss Elizabeth Bennet, the lady I told you about, shortly afterwards.”

  “So the elusive Mr. Darcy has finally been captured and lured into marriage. How did you manage it, cousin? Was the lady entranced by your skill on the dance floor? Or by your glib conversational ability? Or perhaps she has simply joined the ranks of ladies who cannot resist your personal charms?” The colonel turned to Bingley with a wink. “Did you know, Bingley, that my cousin has been turning heads and causing ladies’ hearts to flutter since he left Eton? Sometimes I like to stand next to him just so I can catch his cast-off admirers – and he does cast off some very attractive admirers” the colonel laughed.

  Darcy shot him a look through narrowed eyes, and replied tersely. “You had better not try to catch Miss Elizabeth.”

  “Oh, so our boy is finally in love!” The colonel smirked and pounded Darcy, whose face had reddened considerably, on the back. “No, I would not think of trying to make time with either of the Miss Bennets. Clearly they are spoken for already.”

  Bingley, who had just checked his pocket watch, returned his glass to the tray and hastened towards the door of the study. “Your very fine carriage will be around any moment to take me back to Netherfield. I believe I will wait downstairs for it. Thank you again, old man. Fitzwilliam? Will you be remaining here as Darcy’s guest for a day or two?”

  “I hope somewhat longer, Bingley, as my leave lasts through next week. And I much prefer staying with Darcy than with my par
ents and listening to their near-constant proddings to get married,” he laughed. “I leave that state to you gentleman. It is a state I prefer not to visit for some time yet.”

  Bingley offered a bow into the room and headed out to collect his hat and gloves; indeed he could see the carriage waiting in front of the house as he passed a footman on the staircase, no doubt on his way to alert Bingley of its presence. After Bingley left, the colonel turned to Darcy. “I heard that you are about to have some new neighbours here, Darcy.”

  “When did you become interested in Mayfair real estate? Are you planning to buy property?” Darcy teased.

  “Nothing of the kind. I was in White’s last evening and ran into Salvatore di Riccio, the nephew and aide to the Italian ambassador. I struck up an acquaintance with him last year during that little fracas requiring the ambassador to be under twenty-four-hour guard against an assassination attempt. You remember the incident, do you not?” Darcy nodded his head and glanced out the window. The ambassador kept a London residence on the opposite side of the street from Darcy’s townhouse, and Darcy occasionally encountered the ambassador at London society functions.

  The colonel continued: “We sometimes see each other at our club and have a drink together. He tends to have the most interesting gossip about the international set. Last evening he told me that the ambassador is out of town for the next month or so, and Sally – as he prefers to be called – will be staying at his uncle’s house for the week before he returns so he can straighten up some of his affairs. He introduced me to a friend of his, a Mr. Gino Moretti, who on occasion does translations for the ambassador. This friend will be staying at the ambassador’s house for the next couple of weeks until Sally moves in. This Moretti is a very amiable fellow, and from all reports – especially his own! – he is quite attractive to the ladies. In fact,“ and here the colonel lowered his voice and leaned towards Darcy conspiratorially, “he will be in residence with a young lady, if a mistress can be called a lady. He tells me that she is quite pretty and lively. I immediately invited them to join us for dinner here at your house – I hope you do not mind my impetuous nature, Cousin,” Fitzwilliam added with a smirk.

  Darcy froze as his jaw dropped and his face turned a bilious shade of purple. He was ready to light into his cousin about the impropriety of inviting such guests, especially with Georgiana arriving within a fortnight, when the Colonel laughingly continued: “You need not concern yourself, Darcy, I am only making sport with you! I know you well enough to know what a prig you are!” Darcy narrowed his eyes again. “And you cannot think that I would ever do anything to discomfit our Georgie. Anyway, he tells me she prefers to keep to herself. To herself and to Mr. Moretti, if I understand the nature of their relationship correctly,” he snickered lewdly.

  Darcy glared at his cousin in disapproval, and shook his head in disappointment that these were the type of people who were to be his neighbours. Even if only for a few weeks.

  The colonel walked over to the window and looked out towards the ambassador’s house. “It would appear that Moretti has already taken possession” he commented as a small but elegant carriage pulled up in front of the house and a stylish young couple alighted. “Would you care to inspect your new neighbours? Oh my!” he cried. “He certainly is correct that she is a very handsome young woman. Look here, Darcy.”

  Reluctantly, Darcy walked over to join his cousin at the window. He was not anxious to acknowledge in any way this licentious couple. Just then the woman looked up at the window from where they were looking out. He was immediately struck dumb and could not take his eyes off her. That woman! That woman was none other than … oh no, it could not be!

  “NO!” Darcy cried, and backed quickly away from the window. “It is not possible!”

  The colonel turned and approached his cousin. “What is it Darcy? Do you know them?”

  Darcy, who had almost dropped his glass, put it down on the table and turned back to the colonel. “Not them, Fitzwilliam. Her. That is Miss Elizabeth Bennet.” His face had taken on a sickly ashen hue.

  “The Elizabeth Bennet you have been courting? Your Miss Elizabeth?” He turned back to look out the window just in time to see the two of them walking arm and arm into the ambassador’s house. “I do not understand, Darcy. Why would she be here? With him?”

  Darcy looked dazed and shook his head as if to shake off an insect. The colonel put his glass on the table and went over to his cousin, took his arm and led him to the chair next to the fireplace, and insisted he sit down. “Collect yourself, Cousin” Fitzwilliam held his hand on Darcy’s shoulder. “Are you certain it is her?” he asked.

  Darcy looked up at him with a woeful, wounded look on his face. “Lionel, I know every inch of her face. I know every hair on her head and her manner of walking, and the way she tilts her chin. I know her smile. I know her eyes.” At the thought of her fine eyes, the first feature that had attracted him to her, his voice started to break. “I love her as I have never loved another. She has completely bewitched me body and soul, and I have courted her – at her pleasure, according to my understanding. Of course I am certain it is her. I simply do not comprehend. When I left her just a few days ago in Hertfordshire she had tears in her eyes when I told her I had to leave for a brief trip to town. I kissed her hand. I … I …” Here Darcy could speak no more. With his elbows on his knees, he dropped his head into his hands. “What has happened to bring her here and to be the … companion … of that man? What am I going to do? I had intended to offer for her when I return to Hertfordshire. I was so certain that she returned my affections. She told me how much she looked forward to my return from town. Could I have so sorely mistaken her attachment to me? Was she lying to me? Was it all a sham, and she had other plans all along? But why? Why would she do it?” He sat there, shaking his head from side to side.

  Fitzwilliam, watching his cousin crumble before his eyes, poured a generous amount of brandy into a glass. “Here, Darcy. Drink this. I think you need it.” Darcy looked up, took the glass, and drained it in one gulp. Fitzwilliam had never before seen his cousin drink this way, but then he had never before seen him in such a state.

  “Do you think something dreadful happened and she needed money?” Darcy suggested. He wasn’t sure if he feared that were true or whether he feared it was not; whether she had sold her virtue out of necessity, or that she had become attached to this man so quickly. Or had they already had an understanding before he even met her? And that she had concealed this information from him? But what would be her purpose? And why on Earth would she agree to such an arrangement? Was it possible she was really that kind of woman? He could barely bring himself to think the word, much less say it: an adventuress?

  What is going on here, Colonel Fitzwilliam wondered. Can my cousin be such a blind fool? Has he been taken in by some mercenary woman and given her his heart, and then she cast him aside for a more convenient offer? Or was she already attached to Moretti and plotted to gain Darcy's money? If this be true, Fitzwilliam mused, she must be quite an actress to take in his cousin, who had been skillfully repelling mercenary young ladies and their equally mercenary mamas ever since he could remember. No, there must be some other explanation, he decided. And as soon as I can get Darcy settled down, I am going to confront Moretti and discover what it is. No woman is going to make a fool of my cousin.

  Twelve: The previous Friday, in Surrey

  Caroline’s carriage arrived at Rington Grove in the late afternoon of a very fine day. Her friend Deirdre and Deirdre’s brother Paul greeted Caroline’s carriage as Caroline was handed down by a footman. Rington was not a massive estate; it was much of a size with Netherfield Park, although somewhat older and more stately. The property had been in the Hetherington family for several generations. Every garden was carefully tended, and the large park hosted several out-buildings and ponds. It was quite a lovely place – although, thought Caroline, it was nothing to Pemberley.

  Deirdre took Caroline’s two han
ds in both of hers. “How delightful to see you again, Caroline! I am so pleased that you accepted our invitation. Miss Bingley, please allow me to introduce you to my brother Paul. I do not believe you have ever met him?”

  “Indeed not, Deirdre” her brother declared. “I certainly would have remembered such a charming lady. Welcome to Rington Grove, Miss Bingley. I do hope your journey was pleasant?” Hetherington bowed and Caroline returned a curtsy.

  “It was a pleasant enough journey, although somewhat tedious as I had no one to talk to. It is much more pleasant to travel in company, is it not? Unfortunately sometimes one must travel alone.” Caroline smiled at her host and hostess.

  “You are here now, Miss Bingley, and I am certain that the weekend will be so pleasant that you will forget all about the tedium of your travels. My sister has several brilliant entertainments planned for our guests. Shall we go inside?” Hetherington started up the steps, followed by Deirdre and Caroline, arm in arm.

  They entered the foyer and after Caroline had handed her shawl and gloves to a maid while retaining her feathered turban, the three crossed to an elegant sitting room decorated in peach and dark green. Sitting on the brocade-covered sofa were two beautifully attired ladies, while two equally well-turned-out gentlemen sat on damask chairs across from the ladies.