Miss Lucas Read online

  “That doesn’t seem like a likely problem for you. I’m told that we partly owe Lydia and Lizzy’s happiness to your helpful interference.”

  “I’m afraid my presence was less about general helpfulness and more about keeping Darcy from losing his temper.”

  “Is he capable of such a thing?”

  “He is indeed, and it is fearsome when he does.”

  These idly useless questions almost made Charlotte itch out of her skin. She hated that circumstances had confined them permanently to such ludicrous conversation. Charlotte looked across the room, catching the bundle of young ladies still giggling over the Colonel, much to Georgiana’s discomfort. Then there were the mothers having whispered arguments over which of their daughters had the best chance with the Colonel, each of them no doubt lamenting that he was such a gentlemanly fellow for showing any attention at all to Miss Lucas. It was a bit of a struggle not to catch the Earl’s eye since he was watching them both as though he expected something to happen.

  Charlotte was so consumed with paying the Colonel the smallest amount of attention possible that she didn’t notice the way he leaned forward in his chair, arms braced on his knees as he watched her profile with a desperate sort of focus. Charlotte was not the only speaker who had no idea how to push forward their conversation.

  Finally, Fitzwilliam could take the silence no longer and against his better judgment he asked, “Are you well, Miss Lucas?”

  It would have been easy to glibly answer the words he spoke rather than reply to the tone in his voice. “Better than I anticipated I’d be,” she answered with equal honesty.

  “I am glad of that. I can’t imagine you as the sort of woman who’d let your friendship be ruined over an engagement. Especially not one that has made both parties so genuinely happy.” The Colonel glanced over his shoulder at the couple, where Elizabeth was leaned in close to whisper some story and Darcy’s spine was bent to listen. Charlotte was far more occupied with the grin that had spread across the Colonel’s face than with his cousin’s happiness.

  “If I loved Elizabeth less, then perhaps. Or if I was less resigned to my own fate then her easy happiness might make me bitter. But if there is anyone of my acquaintance who deserves such a perfect romance, it is Elizabeth.”

  The Colonel hesitated, but as he opened his mouth to speak he found himself cut off by Mrs. Bennet. “Come, Colonel, we need a fourth for cards. I’m sure you could do with some pretty company.”

  Colonel Fitzwilliam donned something resembling pleasure at a joke he didn’t find funny at all, but Mrs. Bennet’s smile was all teeth. The fine lady meant every word and didn’t seem to think there was anything wrong with such cruelty. Colonel Fitzwilliam looked to Charlotte, who was unmoved, for she had grown inured to such commentary.

  However, despite his displeasure, Colonel Fitzwilliam had spent a lifetime managing politeness with people who didn’t deserve it. “Thank you, Mrs. Bennet, but I’m quite happy where I am.”

  “You needn’t worry about sparing Charlotte’s feelings, Colonel. She is quite aware—”

  “You do me a dishonor to assume that my attachment to Miss Lucas is anything other than heartfelt.” Mrs. Bennet couldn’t have been more surprised if the Colonel had struck her across the face. “Offer my apologies to the ladies for not joining them. I’m afraid I’m not much in the mood for cards this particular evening and shall enjoy this opportunity for conversation.” Mrs. Bennet looked so dumbfounded Charlotte had to bite her lip to keep herself from laughing.

  With a bright smile and a polite little nod, the Colonel turned his back on Mrs. Bennet and asked Charlotte about how his cousin had been behaving. Charlotte answered, and so they would have gone on had the Earl not appeared to escort Mrs. Bennet away. She was so overwhelmed by the man that undoubtedly she would flee him in a moment and retreat to Lady Lucas to complain about Charlotte squandering all the young ladies’ chances.

  “That was a risk,” Charlotte warned the Colonel the moment they were alone.

  “It’s one of the blessings of privilege; people are inclined to interpret the best possible version of anything I say. I would wager that she’s over there reporting not that I’m rude, but that I’m excessively polite and nearly as unsociable as my cousin, despite how charming my father is.”

  “And I’m about to get scolded by my mother for keeping your attention away from the young ladies who all haven’t taken their eyes off you for the entire evening. I would hate to be accused of ruining someone else’s chances.”

  “If they want to talk to me they’ll find it terribly difficult to get past Georgiana.”

  “She’s distracting them on purpose then?”

  “One of the benefits of being a younger sibling is learning from your elder’s mistakes. Georgiana is just as shy as Darcy but she’s listened to the both of us lament his difficulties at idle conversation with those he doesn’t know well, so she’s been practicing. Apparently, other young ladies are the easiest source of conversation. So long as she keeps track of ribbons, music, and other such beauties then she always has a topic to discuss.”

  “I am proud of her for such awareness. I am grateful that my own siblings are young enough that they might learn from my mistakes before they might do them any real harm.” The Colonel stared at her wide-eyed and Charlotte quickly pressed on. “Tell me, does Miss Georgiana enjoy that which she keeps track of?”

  “I believe she’s enjoying the talking, if not entirely the topics.” He answered automatically. “Shall we continue to discuss nonsense, you and I?”

  Charlotte forced herself to look away from him. “What else would we discuss?”

  “Would you like me to stand up and announce my intentions to everyone?” The Colonel half rose out of his seat and Charlotte darted out a hand to stop him, knowing that he wasn’t joking. She grabbed his solid forearm for half a moment before pulling away. Fitzwilliam twisted his arm in her grip and let her bare skin trail across his fingers.

  “You don’t have any intentions to announce. Nothing has changed.”

  “Hasn’t it? If Mr. Collins were to walk through that door right now do you mean to tell me that you’d have him?”

  “And are you telling me that you’d be content to live in a cottage somewhere with a budget?”

  “I confess that Hawthorn House is too large to qualify as a cottage, but since Darcy has declared that he won’t charge us rent I believe that between my income and yours we’ll be fine. I don’t feel quite ready to retire my commission just yet, so if you don’t mind, I thought we might continue on with the regiment for a time, at least until I’m due my next promotion. Our budget will not be excessive, but so long as we keep our heads about us I think we’ll be all right.”

  It was such a startling answer that Charlotte couldn’t help but reply as though he meant it. “You don’t want to rely on your cousin for your finances.”

  “That was my preference, yes. But a few weeks ago in town, I found myself speaking with a charming young lady of two thousand a year and suddenly I caught myself wanting to tell her a truth.” Charlotte swallowed at the thought of the Colonel out there flirting with some pretty girl like all the ones watching him even now. She had no right to her jealousy.

  “It was a harmless thing, some simple and silly honesty that I can’t even recall. But I knew I couldn’t share the words. She would have been mortally offended simply because she thought she ought to be, even though she was too inexperienced to properly understand. I stood there, choking on my own tongue and realized that would be the rest of my life. It was a lovely house, and a lovely girl, and all I could do was miss your conversation fiercely.”

  “I don’t want you to—”

  Fitzwilliam grumbled and took Charlotte by the hand. Before she could summon up the will to mount an objection to his hand in hers, he tugged her from the room, through the hall, and into one of the numerous empty rooms nearby. Had Charlotte looked behind her, she would have seen Mr. Darcy, of all peo
ple, rising to his feet and stopping anyone who might follow them out the door.

  The second they were properly alone the Colonel declared, “You’re afraid that I’ll regret you if we are married, and I know for certain that I’ll regret you if we don’t.”

  “You’re just being sentimental because your cousin is engaged.”

  “Do me the credit of believing that I know my own mind. If you’d like to not marry me then say so, but be warned that your genuine desire not to be my wife is the only justification I will accept. If you’re honestly worried that I’ll grow weary of you, then let me court you. I’ll come every day I have free from the regiment and make myself such a part of your life that you won’t be able to envision me anyplace else. I will spend whatever time I need to make you believe that I would rather have your conversation than all the comfort in the world. I won’t apologize for ever thinking otherwise, but all that I can hope is that you won’t let my mistake ruin our happiness now.”

  Charlotte felt the tears tracking down her cheeks, but wiping them away would require removing her hands from his and that was insupportable. “Aren’t you supposed to be the charming one?”

  “You wouldn’t like me if I was.”

  “I do like you. I love you.” Charlotte choked out the words. Fitzwilliam’s smile could have lit up the sun. “This is insanity.”

  He stepped against her and stroked his thumbs across her cheeks, wiping away her tears. “No, it’s perfection.”

  The lovers were not left alone for long. The Earl found them quickly and after one look sent Mr. Darcy off to retrieve Sir Lucas. The Earl wrapped them both in a warm hug, murmuring quiet words of pride and congratulations into his son’s ear before he dropped a kiss on the crown of Charlotte’s head.

  Charlotte fully intended to remain, but the Earl took her by the arm and led her out past her father as he arrived. “But…”

  He patted her hand. “Some things a lad must do for himself, darling.”

  Elizabeth and Jane were standing just outside the door, reminding their mother that whatever was happening inside was none of her business, while Charlotte’s own dear mother just looked terribly confused.

  Charlotte would later learn that the Colonel had been forced to repeat his marriage request several times before Sir Lucas answered with anything other than, “Pardon?” That was the only reason the Colonel’s blunt statements of love took so long to garner her father’s enthusiastic approval. Mrs. Bennet continued to demand to know what was going on, but her temper was entirely worth hearing the shriek she emitted when Colonel Fitzwilliam emerged and ignored her entirely as he took a knee before Lady Lucas. He told her that he had asked both Charlotte and Sir Lucas’ permission to marry her daughter, and though they had each granted it, he would like her blessing as well.

  Were they anyone else, the wedding of Charlotte Lucas and Colonel Henry Fitzwilliam might have been referred to as hurried, but considering Charlotte’s age everyone assumed they were anxious to begin on children before there was no chance at all. While Colonel Fitzwilliam’s elder brother was apathetic towards Charlotte’s presence, the Earl was so strikingly pleased that one of his sons had finally married that he was predisposed to adore Charlotte. Her own steady personality did the rest.

  Miss Lucas was Mrs. Fitzwilliam within a fortnight, and she rather enjoyed the way her husband’s soldiers stumbled over themselves at the unexpected addition of a wife to their regiment. The men quickly learned that she would not be the key to convincing the Colonel to make their lives leisurely. It was a point of pride to Charlotte the first time one of the officers said she would have made a fine commander all on her own. The town where the regiment was quartered was quite like Meryton, and though there were several whispers from those young ladies who had obviously harbored hopes for the younger son of an Earl, they were soon stymied because Fitzwilliam’s men would not endure anything but praise for their Colonel or his wife. In truth, it was difficult for anyone to murmur things about a man’s choice of wife when both parties were so obviously in love.

  That was not to say the two didn’t have their disagreements. Henry was a bit reckless in his spending, and before they learned one another’s dispositions Charlotte often spoke to him with the same gravity as she had done to her younger siblings. But they were devoted, and so they learned.