Miss Lucas Read online

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  “Well, at least you’re not here in the dead of night this time.” Darcy almost never came to visit Henry at his barracks and now had done it twice in nearly as many weeks, so he supposed he deserved the teasing. “I hope congratulations are in order?”

  “They are.” Darcy smiled when he said it, which was a bit more joy than Fitzwilliam had ever expected Darcy to achieve in his marriage.

  “Come in and let me pour you a drink while you tell me all about it.”

  When they had settled in their chairs, Darcy explained. “Aunt Catherine seized upon the idea that I was going to propose to Elizabeth, so she decided to arrive unannounced at Longbourn and make her disapproval of our match known.”

  “And your Elizabeth didn’t give her the answer she was looking for?”

  “Rather the opposite. Elizabeth refused to tell Lady Catherine that under no circumstances would she accept my proposal, which should have been simple considering that it is almost word for word what she told me when she rejected me. Lady Catherine came to Netherfield to complain about upstart young women starting rumors and tried to get my word that I wouldn’t have Elizabeth, accidentally giving me hope that Elizabeth’s opinion had changed. I renewed my proposal to Elizabeth the first moment I had anything resembling privacy, and she accepted.”

  Fitzwilliam tapped their glasses together. “You have my heartfelt congratulations, cousin. If anyone deserves a happy ending, it’s the two of you.” They both took sips and Fitzwilliam leaned back in his chair. “Now, tell me, what brings you here when you ought to be with your Miss Elizabeth?”

  “I’m on my way to Pemberley to retrieve Georgiana and bring her with me to Meryton.”

  “And of course, gathering her will require several conversations with the housekeeper about preparing the house for your Lady’s arrival.’

  Darcy raised an eyebrow, took a sip, and declared, “It’s good that it gives you a few days to prepare so you can join us on our way back to Meryton.”

  “Are you getting married so soon?”

  “Soon enough, but at this point I’m rather more concerned with the opinion of my new relatives.”

  “You were a bit too blunt with them before you were smitten by their daughter?”

  “To be honest, I’m not sure I could offend them. Elizabeth likes me and so Mr. Bennet is prone to think as well of me as he thinks of anyone. As for Mrs. Bennet, she still thinks well of Wickham, so that’s a rather low bar.”

  “What are you concerned about then?”

  “That by the end of this I’ll despise them so much that for the rest of my life family functions will be painful.”

  “They’re going to be painful no matter what because they involve other people.”

  “And yet, I hold to hope that perhaps they might not be so bad in the future.”

  “Charming. Foolish, but charming. So you want me to come along to make them more palatable to you rather than you to them.”

  “Yes. I rather think this a situation that requires a more delicate touch than is in my ability.”

  “I’ve been making nice with people on your behalf since we were children, I don’t know why I’d stop now.” Darcy paused and stared and Fitzwilliam over his glass, as though weighing him for whatever came next. “What’s wrong?”

  Darcy set down his glass and gave Henry a look that he had grown accustomed to seeing on the face of Darcy’s father. “I think perhaps you should take leave now and join me at Pemberley for a few days before we depart.”

  Fitzwilliam rose halfway from his chair. “Did something happen to Georgiana?”

  “No. I simply think it’s time you come to Pemberley and decide if Hawthorn House might be to your permanent liking.”

  Fitzwilliam was grateful he didn’t have his drink in hand or he might have spat it out in shock. “What?”

  “Hawthorn House. When we were young it was occupied by the old parson with his five children, but I imagine that it might be to your tastes.”

  Henry finally finished standing. “I don’t need a house from you, cousin.”

  Darcy remained seated, refusing to be intimidated by Henry’s glower. “Perhaps you don’t need one, but I believe you rather would like one.”

  “We discussed this before. I won’t accept charity from anyone, even you.”

  “It’s not charity, it’s you and I doing one another a favor. I do you the favor of not charging you the rent, and you do me the favor of a happy wife.”

  “I don’t believe that you need me living down the street to facilitate conversation between you and your new wife.”

  “No, but it would give her dearest friend a reason to live in the neighborhood.”

  “As I understand it, Miss Jane Bennet is already engaged.”

  “Don’t be coy Henry, not with me. My soon to be father-in-law informed me that Mr. Collins has declared his intentions to come to the wedding.”

  Fitzwilliam forced himself to reply as though there wasn’t a vice around his chest. “A letter which no doubt included that he would be carrying our aunt’s congratulations but not her presence?”

  “Aunt Catherine is claiming illness. If Mr. Collins carries her blessings it will be because he made them up, not because she actually conveyed them. As it is, Mr. Collins was enthusiastic about attending the wedding, and while Elizabeth would rather not endure his presence on such a day, she understands that it must be done. Our wedding party will either have Mr. Collins or Aunt Catherine and he is the lesser of two burdens. However, Elizabeth made clear to me the root of her distaste for the man was because she doesn’t want him to finally propose to Miss Lucas.”

  “Why does she still think that lout might propose?” Henry shouted.

  “Elizabeth overheard Miss Lucas’ younger sisters complaining that since the announcement of our engagement, Mr. Collins has transferred his affections to their sister.”

  Henry dropped back to his chair as though his strings were cut. “Her family didn’t know he nearly proposed before?”

  “I cannot speak to what her parents might know, but Elizabeth believes her younger sisters were entirely unaware of the whole affair. They seem to think that Mr. Collins’ main aim in inviting her to Rosings was to help convince Elizabeth to accept him.”

  “Accept… you mean to tell me that Collins proposed to Miss Elizabeth as well?”

  “Before he nearly proposed to Miss Lucas, yes. Apparently, Miss Lucas shouldered the burden of his company in the awkward aftermath of Elizabeth’s rejection and he took that as cause to transfer his affections, such as they are.”

  Henry needed the facts repeated to be sure he understood such nonsense. “He intended to propose to Charlotte right after he proposed to Miss Elizabeth?”

  “Within a week.”

  “Within a week! What sort of man would do such a thing? And why would she have been tempted to accept him?”

  “I have recently been informed that I lack the sort of experience that might explain to me why any young lady would condescend to marry such a worthless lump. Though I imagine that you know perfectly well why Miss Lucas might accept such an offer since at this moment you are refusing a house out of your own pride.”

  “I don’t want to be the sort of useless fellow who gets a house from his relatives.”

  “Then you will be the sort of man who watches the woman he loves marry Mr. Collins. Is that better, do you think?”

  Henry finished the remainder of his drink. “When did you turn into a romantic?”

  “It’s a recent development but I’m rather enjoying it. I believe we both suspected that for lack of other options I was going to end up married to Anne and our joint dispositions meant we would have no associations beyond our own family.”

  “I would’ve stopped you before I let you do such a thing, and you know it.”

  “And now let me do the same good for you.”

  “My father will never approve.”

  “I find it
difficult to accept such nonsense from you when you’re wearing your red coat.”

  “It’s not nonsense.”

  “Henry, if you don’t want to marry the lady then just say so. Elizabeth would never expect it of you so you needn’t worry about disappointing her or causing me difficulties. Just prepare yourself for the occasional family celebration where you will have to endure the presence of Mr. and Mrs. Collins. Do you think you can manage that? I know I wouldn’t have done well with Elizabeth’s husband.”

  “I haven’t been able to afford such a romantic notion.”

  “And now you can. The question is: will you? Apparently, Miss Lucas is loved as another sister, better, in fact, than any other than Jane. Though she would not say it, I believe my Elizabeth might value the truths she can speak with Miss Lucas more than her own blood. Regardless, while Mr. and Mrs. Bingley I have no objections to seeing as often as possible, Mr. and Mrs. Collins are a different matter.” Darcy paused to lean forward and force Henry to look him in the eye. “Mr. and Mrs. Fitzwilliam, however, I would be happy to have in my own neighborhood.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  Elizabeth’s pleading dragged Charlotte to the next gathering at Netherfield Park. Jane was a bit too occupied with Mr. Bingley to be of any use to her sister, leaving Elizabeth alone to handle Mr. Darcy’s interactions with the rest of the Bennet family. Charlotte suggested that since these were soon going to be the man’s relatives, perhaps he ought to be left unmonitored. Elizabeth replied with a detailed narration of the last dinner Mr. Darcy had had at Longbourn before leaving to collect his sister, one where Mrs. Bennet had described Elizabeth’s entire romantic history to make her sound worthy of Mr. Darcy, and Kitty had declared that Wickham was still her favorite. Charlotte then agreed that perhaps the man ought to be eased into his new relatives.

  Of course, Elizabeth didn’t see the need to warn Charlotte that Mr. Darcy had brought his own company. Everyone in Meryton knew that the man had gone to Pemberley to retrieve his sister, but it seemed she would not be the only member of the Darcy family to attend the wedding. Mr. Darcy stepped into the party at Netherfield Park arm in arm with Georgiana, followed by Colonel Fitzwilliam in his bright red coat and another man who could only be his father, the Earl of ----.

  At the sight of them, the whole room paused. It seemed even Bingley’s sisters, who were sharing a house with the Darcy relatives, had gone uninformed about their presence. The neighbors were confused at Mr. Darcy associating with an officer after the lack of attention he had paid to the militia in Meryton, but when he introduced his cousin, Colonel Fitzwilliam of the Derbyshire Regiment, the room drew a long breath, checking with one another to be sure they had all heard the man correctly. The sight of the Colonel was met with the same amount of pleasure as Mr. Darcy’s younger sister, though one reaction was far more mercenary than the other.

  As for the Earl, the man was regarded as though he had descended from on high to join them. The neighbors skirted around him, staring from across the room and urging one another to have the courage to approach. Charlotte, on the other hand, had no such desire. While Mr. Darcy settled Georgiana onto a sofa beside their uncle, Elizabeth came to Charlotte and took her hand, unperturbed that Charlotte was no better than their neighbors and could not take her eyes off the family. (She was rather preoccupied in discovering that the Colonel only looked like his father when he smiled.)

  “I didn’t know,” Elizabeth murmured. “I promise. I would’ve warned you if I did.” Charlotte gave her hand a squeeze in acknowledgment and then Elizabeth was swept off by her fiancé to meet his preferred relatives.

  Though her presence was no longer necessary, Charlotte could not make herself leave the party. Instead, she wandered the edges of the room, trying and failing not to stare. The Colonel was as adept as ever at distracting people from paying his cousins more attention then they desired, pulling away conversation when it got to be too much. It must have been a relief to him to turn over half the burden to Elizabeth so that Georgiana was the only one in his care. The Earl was quite adept at handling his own conversation, and considering that all the ladies who sought to make friends with Georgiana were also the ones desperate to catch the Colonel’s eye, the Earl left them both to the observances of the young while he made his own way to all those neighbors who had yet to summon up the courage to approach him. It was a rather convenient arrangement that both Mrs. Bennet and Charlotte’s own mother seemed to consider ideal.

  Charlotte was pleased to see that young Georgiana saved the Colonel from the neighbors’ questions just as often as he saved her. After one particularly clever distraction of Kitty—who seemed to be of the opinion that this officer was the only one better than Lydia’s—Charlotte had to press a finger to her lips to keep from laughing outright. From across the room, the Colonel caught her expression and bit back his own smile into something closer to a vague but pleasant grin. Georgiana saw her cousin’s face and tracked his eyes over to Charlotte, who had not quite gotten herself under control. It was with far more subtlety than Charlotte had expected of a girl so young that Georgiana looked back and forth between them, her eyebrows getting higher. Kitty leaned into the Colonel with no trace of delicacy and the Colonel found himself rather occupied with avoiding accidentally offending his new relatives while keeping Miss Bingley from saying something spiteful to the girl.

  While Elizabeth and Darcy had eyes for no one but each other, and Georgiana and Fitzwilliam made quite the good pair at handing their barrage of questions, the Earl found himself alone before the fire. Even Charlotte’s own dear father had only exchanged stilted hellos with the man before he retreated, overawed by his grandeur. Charlotte had half a second’s wondering if the reason Lady Catherine dominated conversations was because people would not speak to her otherwise. The man seemed unperturbed by the isolation, accepting whatever Mrs. Hurst and Miss Bingley brought him in their attempts to be good hostesses before their courage failed them and they too retreated.

  It took Charlotte an unforgivably long moment to realize that the Earl had stopped watching the ebb and flow of the party around him and instead was staring straight at her. She glanced behind herself to make sure that she was really the object of his attention. When Charlotte looked back, the Earl had an eyebrow raised as though he was disappointed it had taken her so long. Charlotte flushed at his focus, certain for some reason she could not name that the Earl either knew everything about her history with his son or had made some accurate assumptions.

  Charlotte’s first impulse was to wander off into some other conversation, putting a room full of people between herself and those knowing eyes. The Earl’s self-certainty was his strongest resemblance to Lady Catherine and Charlotte felt as though she was the one who was sixteen, throwing herself at a red coat and the Earl was sitting in judgment over her. That more than anything told Charlotte that the man had at least some good awareness of what had transpired between her and his son.

  Though Charlotte was mortified at the thought, she did not give in to the impulse to drop her chin and cower away. It was impetuous of her, but instead of leaving the Earl be, Charlotte looked at Elizabeth, who was laughing at some comment Mr. Darcy had murmured under his breath. Then she looked at Georgiana, who was watching Miss Bingley with wide eyes as though she had never seen her friend behave in such a manner. Finally, Charlotte looked at her own siblings. William, Maria, and Henrietta were all ignoring whatever uncouth thing Miss Bingley had said to instead asking the Colonel another question. And so for the first time in living memory, Charlotte Lucas chose to be reckless and walked across the room to sit down beside the Earl.

  “And how is the night treating you, Miss Lucas?” He did not pretend not to know her on sight.

  “Better than I had expected.”

  “I confess that I had expected to have your introduction earlier in the evening.”

  “I imagine that Mr. Darcy would have managed it were he not so pleasantly occupied.”

 
“And you could not have managed it yourself?”

  Charlotte had heard people speak of someone looking through them, as though the viewer could see straight into their soul. She had never given such statements much credence and now she felt as though she owed them all an apology. Quite against her will, Charlotte told him the truth. “I did not think it was my place.”

  In a motion so spectacularly like his son that it made Charlotte smile, the Earl raised an eyebrow at her. “I take it you know better now?”

  Charlotte did not have time to contemplate the implication before the Colonel stepped before them. “Father?” Fitzwilliam cleared his throat and gave her a short bow. “Miss Lucas.”

  The Earl rose from his seat and waived his son down. “Here Henry, keep Miss Lucas company for me. I believe it is time I make the rounds again.” Father and son shared a long look that Charlotte could not begin to interpret. But before he stepped away, the Earl pressed his palm to Colonel Fitzwilliam’s cheek and gave him some sign that Charlotte was not at an angle to see. Whatever it was, it caused the Colonel’s eyes to widen and left him standing there for several long moments after his father had walked away. Charlotte ought to have told the Colonel he did not need to stay if he had matters to attend to, but she couldn’t bring herself to bid him be anyplace else.

  Soon enough the Colonel sat beside her, though neither of them immediately spoke. As was so often the case, the Colonel summoned up his courage and went first. “I believe that meeting new relatives might actually be more difficult than meeting new commanders.”

  “Only because you must remain yourself with new relatives since the relationship will be permanent. With new commanders you can pretend to be what they’d like for the duration.”

  “Yes, that terrible complication where you must not only be yourself but not create a bad first impression.”