Page 5 of Love Drunk for Mr Darcy

"Near it," Anne repeated softly, looking meaningfully at him over the top of her book.

Darcy ignored her, though he became suddenly aware that his cousins were both watching him closely.

Lady Catherine tapped the end of her cane against the carpet. "Well, wherever you have been, sit down. I have something of importance to announce and have already been kept waiting long enough."

"I am afraid it must wait. I intend to leave for Pemberley this afternoon and must make all haste."

The room fell silent. Anne lowered her book fully while Fitzwilliam stepped towards Darcy, a question forming on his lips. Lady Catherine stared at him as though he had announced his intention to join a travelling circus. She barked at him before anyone else had a chance to speak. "You intend to leave this afternoon? Without any warning and when you were to remain at Rosings for several weeks?"

"Yes. An urgent matter has arisen which requires my attention."

"What urgent matter?"

"Estate business," he said, praying that for once she might accept his words at face value rather than digging around like a terrier that had scented a rat.

Lady Catherine continued to regard him with suspicion. "You have said nothing of any pressing business before today, and I cannot believe that your steward is incapable of managing it until your visit is concluded."

"The matter is not one I am willing to delegate."

"What sort of matter?"

"A private one."

His aunt drew herself up. "There can be nothing concerning Pemberley which must be kept private from me."

Darcy thought of Elizabeth’s furious face, beautiful in the full force of her emotion, and felt something perilously close to laughter rise within him, though there was nothing amusing in the situation. "On this occasion, madam, there is."

Lady Catherine’s eyes widened. For perhaps the first time in Darcy’s memory, she appeared too offended to answer immediately. Fitzwilliam lowered his head, while Anne turned a page of her book despite not having looked at it.

"You cannot leave," Lady Catherine said once she had recovered herself. "Whatever this mysterious business may be, it must wait another week. I have decided to hold a ball."

Darcy stared at her, wondering whether the afternoon had not already become absurd enough.

"A ball?" Fitzwilliam said, sounding delighted by the prospect of any diversion which did not see him sat for tedious hours in the overdecorated and over-warm parlour.

"Yes, a ball. There has not been a proper gathering at Rosings for many years, and Anne has been deprived of many of the social occasions enjoyed by other young ladies. Her health prevented a formal presentation in town, but there is no reason she should not be introduced more fully to the best society of Kent."

Anne looked up, a flicker of panic crossing her usually composed features. "I am already acquainted with most of the society of Kent, Mama."

"You have attended dinners and small assemblies, which is not at all the same thing. You have never opened a ball in your own home and it is long past time that you did so."

"My health requires I do not dance," she said, her eyes flitting between her male cousins as though desperately hoping one or the other would intervene.

"Nonsense. Your health has been much improved this spring, and Darcy will guide you through the first set. It will be an excellent opportunity for the neighbourhood to see you together in the position you ought naturally to occupy."

His aunt continued without pausing for breath, already arranging the evening in her mind. "The ball shall take place one week from tomorrow. That will allow sufficient time to invite every respectable family within twenty miles, though naturally I shall be particular. The Collinses must attend, of course. Mrs Collins is connected to several tolerable families, and her friend may be admitted to make up numbers."

Elizabeth would still be at Hunsford. Darcy knew the date of her intended departure because he had heard Mrs Collins mention it at a previous dinner and stored the information away. The knowledge that he might be forced into the same room as her again sent equal measures of dread and longing through him.

"I shall not be here," he said, although even to his own ears, his voice did not sound firm.

Lady Catherine waved one hand as though dismissing a minor objection. "You have already said that you wish to leave, but whatever business awaits you may wait until after the ball. You will open it with Anne, and the matter is settled."

Anne closed her book and looked meaningfully at Darcy. "I would rather not open the ball at all."

"You are nervous because you have not been accustomed to displaying yourself. That is precisely why the evening is necessary. Darcy has known you all his life and will ensure that you acquit yourself properly."

He had spent years allowing Lady Catherine to speak of his marriage to Anne as though it were already decided, believing there was no need to contradict plans in which he had never intended to participate. He had never promised to marry his cousin and had therefore considered his conscience clear. After Elizabeth’s accusations that afternoon, his silence no longer seemed so harmless.