“You know very well what I mean! I know she was with you! Bring me Georgianaat once!”
“Georgiana? Why, no, she is with Darcy. With me! What a preposterous notion! I am bound for my regiment, Aunt, and I do not believe my cousin would be allowed to remain with me in the barracks.”
Lady Catherine rose shakily on her cane, seething red. “How dare!I will have none of your insolence, Richard Fitzwilliam! I came here to settle a matter of the very gravest importance, and I require the entire family’s support!”
“Anne has decided to sell Rosings?” the earl guessed, placing a little extra emphasis on his niece’s name. Catherine still pretended Anne was a child. “About bleeding time. She will never get what it is worth, though—too many repairs needed in the village.”
A thin line of froth began to form at the corners of the lady’s mouth.“I am speakingof the purported engagement ofyournephew—Fitzwilliam Darcy, in case you decide to wilfully misunderstand me—to a country nobody of no status whatsoever! He has betrayed my Anne and gone against the express wishes of the entire family!”
Fitzwilliam, standing behind his father’s shoulder, raised his hand. “Not mine,” he put in helpfully.
“Obstinate boy!Be silent. I am ashamed of you!” she thundered. Turning back to her brother, she continued her diatribe. “That chit has lured him on with her arts! No doubt she has compromised his honour and devised some scheme for his entrapment! She has made him forget his place, what he owes to his family!”
“And just what is that, dear Sister?” The earl crossed his arms, levelling a flat stare at her. “Respect? Filial devotion? What a pity he has not at present any source of inspiration for such noble sentiments.”
“He is promised to my Anne!There, now what have you say to that?”
The earl narrowed his eyes, and his hands fell menacingly to his sides once more. He stepped nearer, his words coming in a dangerous hiss. “I think you and I both know why that would be a bad idea, Catherine.” He held her gaze in a steely lock, unflinching and unblinking.
Her nostrils flared, and her eyes widened even further if that were possible. Richard could see the thin red veins lining the white orbs. Mad energy seized her, and she shot a thin hand out to her brother’s collar. “You know nothing of the kind!” she screeched. “Anne deserves to be a Darcy, and itwillbe so!”
Grimacing, the earl wrenched her wiry grip from his clothing and took a long step away from her. “I will not support you in this, Catherine. Go back to Rosings!”
He turned on his heel and began to march out, but she followed him. “He will never be received anywhere! He will be the laughingstock of all London! You cannot seriously deny the claims of duty, honour and interest! Fitzwilliam Darcy of Pemberleymustmarry within his own sphere, and hemust keep his word to Anne!”
The earl continued walking, his voice carrying over his shoulder. “He has made no promise to Anne. As far as station, from what I hear, the young woman is a gentleman’s daughter, so she must be suitable.”
“Suitable, my eye!” she stormed after him. “Iwillhave satisfaction! I insist you provide me a carriage at once! I am leaving for Hertfordshire at first light to put a stop to this charade!”
The earl stopped and turned, at last, a tiny curl to the corner of his mouth. “Take your own carriage—or did you fly down here on your broom?”
“Buffoon!” she snarled. “This incompetent staff sent my carriage away! They can do nothing right! It will be an entire day, perhaps two, before mine is assembled again. I require your coach.”
“No, Catherine! Not a single wheel nor bit of harness will I lend you to wreak your mischief. Let Darcy alone, or you shall have me to deal with!” At those last words, the Fitzwilliam men departed the house, leaving the refined lady in a towering wrath.
Chuckling, Richard held the carriage door for his father while the older gentleman mounted the box. “You poked the bear tonight!” he laughed as they were seated.
The elder Fitzwilliam grunted. “I would be lying if I said I hadn’t enjoyed that at least a little. I wonder, though, at that carriage of hers. Odd that Darcy’s staff would have sent it away.” He fixed his son with a penetrating stare, a little sparkle in his eye.
“Indeed!” Richard stroked his chin thoughtfully, gazing out the open window of the carriage to avoid revealing his self-satisfied grin.
“What of this girl, Richard? Tell me, is she respectable? I’ll not see Darcy wed to Anne but tell me at least he has not attached himself to some odious bumpkin.”
“You know Darcy better than that. ‘Insupportable!’” he mimicked his cousin’s best stodgy tone, drawing a snort from his father.
“Is she quite fetching?”
“Devastatingly so—at least to Darcy’s mind, I should think. She is just the sort to fix him. Perhaps she is not a conventional beauty, but she is quite striking and terribly clever. I imagine he likes her wit quite as well as her face.”
“But not impertinent? Dear heavens, anything but a brazen, uneducated snippet. Or a fortune hunter! There would be nothing like that to prove Catherine right!”
“Not at all. Well… perhaps she is a little impertinent, but quite delightfully so. She is utterly ladylike, Father. Very respectable, I should say.”
“You said Darcy acted rather on the spur of the moment. Do you think his attachment to her is an enduring one? I should hate to see him make such a move, only to regret it.”
“I never saw a more promising inclination. He is eaten up by it, Father. Poor Darcy! You know he has so little patience with feminine wiles and foibles, and at last, he has found a woman who is completely artless and forthright—so much so that she has made him work for every ounce of her regard, without respect for his pocketbook. Whether she causes a sensation in London remains to be seen, though it is possible I suppose. He cares nothing for that, Father. She fascinates him, and he will have no other at this point.”
The earl leaned back against the carriage seat, straightening his jacket front with a jerk. “I had expected he would do better—farbetter, it was to be hoped. There was Lord Ellsworth’s daughter, not to mention Miss Chesterton, with her fifty thousand, but I could not get the boy even to call a second time.” He sighed in resignation. “I collect he has no political ambitions, and Pemberley is quite solvent. Monk that he is, I suppose I ought to be grateful he has taken marriage into his head at all,” the earl grumbled.
