“Bingley,” Darcy interrupted. “I have no intention of prancing about like a fool. You want to attend four parties each evening and drink wassail and eat fig pudding until it comes out your eyeballs, you are welcome to do it alone.”
“No good, Darcy. You have to come with me.”
“I do not recall that as a condition in our business contract.”
“Good, because I am not talking about business.” Bingley strode closer, that insouciant grin widening on his face. “Youoweme, Darcy.”
Darcy crossed his arms and quirked a brow. “Here we go again. You saved my life. Got me out of French hands, took a bayonet to the shoulder. I have not forgot.”
“Oh! How fortunate. I was worried I would have to remind you.”
Darcy scoffed and shook his head. “Why would you hold back this time? That never stopped you before, when you tried to put the screws to me for some scheme of yours.”
“And tell me when I was wrong, hmm?”
“I…”
“This evening, Darcy. Seven o’clock sharp. I shall have my carriage at your door for Lady Stanwick’s dinner party.”
Darcy squirmed in his chair. “I have my own carriage.”
Bingley was already halfway to the door, but he turned back with a bright-eyed grin. “Yes, but I want to make sure you actually getintoa carriage. I will see you at seven.”
Two
Elizabeth folded her favoriteshawl and tucked it into her trunk with a precise little pat. “I believe that is the last of it. Are you quite finished yet, Jane?”
Jane swirled around and cleared her throat. “Ah… almost, Lizzy. Let me just…” Jane busied herself behind the propped-open lid of her trunk, then closed it quickly, turned the key, and hurriedly sat at the vanity to plump her cheeks.
“Oh, dear,” Elizabeth sighed. “What is it now?”
“Hmm?” Jane turned on the stool. “Whatever do you mean?”
Elizabeth cocked a wary eye at her sister. “You have been behaving oddly since this morning, Jane. If I did not know better, I would suspect that we arenotgoing home tomorrow as expected, and that you know something you are not telling me.”
“Oh, Lizzy! Such a silly notion. I do wonder where Aunt is, though. She said she meant to come up and help us with all our new gowns. I think she just wanted to see them one more time, you know.”
“Well, she deserves to. They were too generous to us, Jane. I daresay I have bought enough gowns and chemises and petticoats to last me five years.” She braced her hands on her hips and surveyed the trunk with a frown. “Or at least until Mama decides we need wedding clothes because some tall, dark, and handsome stranger moves to town.”
Jane glanced at Elizabeth through the vanity mirror. “Well, Lizzy, one thing you must admit is that Mama always likes us to be well-prepared.”
Elizabeth’s eyebrow quirked. “Oh, for a certainty. I wonder if she has my children named for me yet or if she has decided to put that particular preparation off until the next time I dance with someone more than once.”
“Oh, she has a list of names. I have seen it—I believe Lydia has circled the top dozen to claim them for herself.”
Elizabeth snorted. “Jane, I can almost believe that is true. Oh! That must be Aunt.” She closed her trunk at the sound of a knock and stepped to open the door.
Mrs. Gardiner tipped her head cautiously from side to side, surveying the room as she walked in. “My goodness. How did you two manage to fit all those gowns into your trunks in such short order?”
“Mama has taught us well, Aunt,” Jane said with a laugh. “Papa always says Mama could kit out an entire regiment if he gave her just two trunks and four of five stout lads to carry them.”
Mrs. Gardiner chuckled. “That does not surprise me. Well, I see I ought to have come up a bit sooner. I had hoped to catch you before you put your party gowns away.”
“Party gowns?” Elizabeth glanced at her sister, but Jane was already rising from the vanity to move toward her own trunk, and Elizabeth could not see her face. “Whatever for?”
“Oh, nothing much. Your uncle has guests coming this evening, that is all. Rather dull stuff—business contacts, I am afraid, but there was nothing else for it. Tonight was the only night everyone could manage.”
“Business contacts?” Elizabeth echoed, a skeptical note in her voice. “And what, pray tell, do men of business want with a quiet family dinner? If Uncle Gardiner’s partners are half as worldly as he, I should think they would find our company positively provincial.”
