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“This was a lucky idea of mine, indeed!” said Mrs. Bennet more than once, as if the credit of making it rain were all her own. However, the next morning, with breakfast scarcely finished, a servant from Netherfield brought a note from Jack explaining that he had taken ill due to the excessive rain and would not be returning until he was well again.
“Well, my dear,” said Mr. Bennet when Elliot read the note aloud. “If your favoured son should have a dangerous fit of illness—if he should die even—it would be a comfort to know that it was all in pursuit of Mr. Bingley, and under your specific orders.”
Mrs. Bennet waved his words away. “Oh, I am not at all afraid of Jack dying. People do not die of little, trifling colds. As long as he stays there, he will be taken good care of. Why, Netherfield has dozens of servants who can see to his every comfort!”
Despite her words, Elliot was anxious. Jack had never fared well when ill, and Elliot was concerned about how quickly this illness had arrived. He looked out of the window onto the gloom of the day and resolved to visit his brother immediately. It was not far to Netherfield, a few miles at best, and Elliot could walk it in less than an hour. He declared his resolution to the room and Mrs. Bennet gasped.
“How can you be so silly,” she cried. “Yes, the rain has ceased, but to think of such a thing, in all this dirt! You will not be fit to be seen when you get there.”
“I shall be very fit to see Jack, which is all I want,” Elliot said. “Besides, I do not wish to avoid the walk. The distance is nothing, when one has a motive, only three miles. I shall be back by dinner.”
“We will go as far as Meryton with you,” said Christian and Louis because of course they were planning another visit to Mrs. Phillips to ferret out any new gossip on the militia.
Elliot accepted their company, and the three of them set off together. The day was indeed gloomy. It was not raining yet but the darkened sky certainly suggested it would at some point. The ground underfoot was also waterlogged in numerous places and what should have been a quick walk to the crossroads which would send Christian and Louis right to Meryton and Elliot left to Netherfield, took them almost the better part of a half hour. Louis spent quite a bit of their shared walk considering Captain Carter, the officer he seemed to be smitten with, until Elliot had no choice but to give his brother another talking to about what was considered acceptable behaviour.
“What is wrong with any of the young people in Meryton?” he demanded. “Why can you not fix your attentions on one of them?”
“They are dull, Elliot,” he said. “Everyone here is dull! Some of us hope for more excitement than an artistic apprenticeship in Meryton!” He scowled. “And Jack has received all the fortune in looks and position, so I have no choice but to cast my net wider.”
“You must be sensible of your reputation,” Elliot said. “Your behaviour impacts us all. We cannot risk a scandal.”
“I am the very youngest son,” Louis replied. “No one will care if I create a scandal.”
“They will,” Elliot insisted. “You would risk ruining us all.”
“Any scandal I make would be quickly hushed up,” Louis said, and Elliot feared there may be some truth to that. “Especially if mama succeeds in wedding Jack off to Mr. Bingley. Five thousand a year and connections to gentlemen like Mr. Darcy? The scandal would be forgotten in no time!”
“Jack is not wed yet! You must be sensible,” Elliot insisted, and Louis smirked at that.
They parted ways soon after and Elliot scowled through most of the rest of the walk. He worried about Louis and his exploits, as he had done for some years now. He was concerned about Jack and how ill he might be. And though he scarcely wanted to admit it to himself, Elliot was also a little bit apprehensive about seeing Mr. Darcy again.
He crossed over a stile and recalled the expression on Mr. Darcy’s face as he had agreed to dance with the words, indeed, I would be willing. What a ringing endorsement that was! Elliot had rarely felt so vexed and uncomfortable in his life. Part of him was worried that Mr. Darcy thought he was trying to beg a dance, chasing him in the same way the last of the ambitious mamas were, and had offered for no other reason than obligation. And the other part feared that Mr. Darcy had no opinion at all and had not cared ether way. Which was worse? Elliot did not know but he was mortified regardless.
And that scent! Elliot took a deep breath, trying to fill his lungs with the smell of the mud, and the rain, and the fields surrounding him. He had always loved the smell of the outdoors. It had always been his favourite. But he was beginning to fear that there was one that could quickly replace that.
It made no sense!
How could he enjoy that element of a man that he did not feel disposed to like at all? Because he did not like Mr. Darcy, he was half convinced of that now. Why else did being around the other man make him so uncomfortable?
His heart racing a bit faster than it should have been, Elliot moved through field after field at a quick pace, jumping over stiles and springing over puddles, with impatient activity. He tried to put all thoughts of Mr. Darcy from his mind, not an easy task given each step brought him closer to the man in question, and indeed Elliot soon found himself at last within view of the house, with mud-splattered boots and breeches, dampened hair, and a face glowing with the warmth of exercise.
Twelve
Charles had taken to pacing up and down. It was highly distracting, and Darcy wished he would cease. But, from the moment they had returned from dinner and realised that Jack Bennet was installed in the principal guest suite upstairs, Charles had been, and continued to be, a mixture of impatience and excitement.
Darcy understood it. Jack Bennet was currently the object of Charles’ attentions, and indeed Darcy was beginning to suspect that his friend had developed a definite tendre for the young omega. It was not a full-blown passion yet, and Charles was not at the point of claiming Jack as his mate, but it may well be headed in that direction!
To that end, Darcy felt vaguely sorry that Jack was unwell but also slightly annoyed that it was interrupting the plans they had made for the coming days. He was also oddly pleased that Elliot had not been invited to dine with Charles’ sisters to suffer a similar fate, and not least because Darcy was beginning to suspect that he might feel a similar measure of excitement and that was insupportable!
“I wonder if I shouldn’t check on Jack again?” Charles asked.
“You certainly should not,” Caroline Bingley replied smartly to her brother. “One visit this morning is more than sufficient!”
“I imagine he is quite bored up there,” Charles suggested. “Full of the headache…and hot…and ill.” He visibly shuddered.
“He is likely sleeping,” Mrs. Hurst said. “I would be, were I so indisposed.”
“Yes,” Caroline agreed. “And besides, the guest suite is luxurious. Allow him to enjoy that.” She smirked at her sister. “For who knows when such an event will occur again.”
