Page 2 of His Pride and His Prejudice

“I wonder how Mr. Bingley will feel when he realises that his choice of thousands across society has been narrowed down to the five of us here in this village?” Elliot said softly.

Jack shot him a smile. The other boys laughed.

“I heard that!” Mrs. Bennet said. “And your sarcasm is not welcome, Elliot!” She sighed. “You have no compassion on my poor nerves! None of you.”

“You mistake us, my dear,” Mr. Bennet said. “We have the highest respect for your nerves. They are our old friends after all these years.”

Mr. Bennet was so odd a mixture of affection and sarcastic humour that the experience of almost thirty years was not quite enough to make his wife understand his character, and she looked at him now, unsure whether to take offence at his teasing.

“Mr. Bennet…” she began.

“Mrs. Bennet,” he said back just as formally, but it was softened with the smile he reserved just for her.

“A visit,” she said, and smile or not, there was no mistaking the steel in her tone. For Mrs. Bennet’s mind, and lately her motivation for that matter, were less difficult to decipher. The business of her life was to see her sons mated, and Elliot suspected she thought herself well on the way to that goal for at least one of them!

Two

Aweek later circumstances conspired to ensure that Elliot and Jack met on the banks of the river that ran close to the boundary of their estate, which meant it ran precariously close to Longbourn House. There has been more than one winter in recent years when all the Bennet boys had been obliged to fortify the riverbanks, shovels in hand, lest their home suffer the effects of a flood!

Longbourn house itself was not a large home, had only just been big enough for the family and a few household staff over the years. But it had been home to Elliot now for twenty-four of those years and he was feeling quite reflective as he watched a raft of ducks make their way down the river, disturbing his fishing line as they did so, and likely scattering any possible catch that might have been lurking in the depths.

“What are you doing down here?” Jack asked as he settled in next to Elliot.

“Me? I should ask the same about you,” Elliot said because Jack could usually be found indoors, working on his books and papers and outdoors only if there was a walk into the village proper involved.

Elliot on the other hand spent as much time outdoors as he could get away with. As a man of a certain station, agricultural work was supposed to be off limits to him, but someone had to oversee the few workers of Longbourn and Mr. Bennet was past an age to do so. As the second son Elliot had naturally fallen into the role. He enjoyed the physical elements of the labour, and it gave him additional opportunities to be outdoors. So long as Mrs. Bennet didn’t actively spot him at work she was quite happy to pretend otherwise!

When not exerting himself in the fields, walking was Elliot’s favourite pastime, reading not far behind, and he usually preferred to do both alone—though he would always make an exception for Jack.

“I thought some fresh air might do me some good,” Jack said after a moment. “I needed some time to consider matters. And it is very restful by the river at this time of year.”

“The weather has been unseasonably good,” Elliot agreed, more to give Jack a moment to compose himself than anything else. He suspected Jack had sought him out, not least because he was sat on the riverbank and dry though it might be, sitting on dusty floors was not normal behaviour for Jack, and that meant he had something he wanted to discuss.

Elliot leaned back on to his elbows. The ducks were making their way under one of the little cattle bridges that crested the river every so often. The breeze carried a faint hint of Linden flowers. The summer sunshine was hitting the water at just the right angle to make it look like a river of jewels. He turned to look at his brother. Of them all only Jack had inherited their mother’s fair hair. The sun made it look almost golden.

“Papa visited Mr. Bingley,” Jack said after a moment. “He went the day after mama had requested it.”

Elliot nodded slowly, so there it was. “I thought he had said he would not.”

“I imagine mama wore him down.”

“She wears us all down.”

“Indeed, she does.”

They shared a quick smile at the thought of Mrs. Bennet’s schemes, which had been legion over the years. Jack’s smile faded quickly though, and Elliot didn’t blame him. Whatever their mother’s plans, the expectations on Jack were clear. He was the oldest, at twenty-five now of mating age, and the family’s future fortunes—and security—rested entirely on his shoulders.

The issue was of course that Mr. Bennet’s property consisted of an estate of just two thousand a year, which, unfortunately for all his sons, was entailed in default of alpha heirs. Mr. Bennet himself had not been in position to inherit but the lack of any other higher ranked heirs at the time, combined with his mating to Mrs. Bennet, her family being successful betas, had allowed it—though it had been frowned upon and considered very much a last resort.

Mrs. Bennet’s fortunes were in a better position. Her father had been an attorney in Meryton and had left her four thousand pounds, which was cleverly invested and so helped in some ways with the deficiency in Mr. Bennet’s finances.

However, an heir had since been produced from a distant cousin of Mr. Bennet and given that cousin was a beta, he would inherit the estate in the absence of an alpha heir. The only way Jack could possibly inherit as the eldest son would be to mate with a very high-ranking beta or better still an alpha.

“Are you down here planning your mating ceremony? When will it be?” Elliot teased. “This summer, the autumn, surely not the winter? Mama will throw a fit at the thought of you waiting that long!”

“Cease your teasing, Elliot, I will do no such thing,” Jack said.

“Planning to run off then to our favourite uncles in London? A dramatic escape from the alpha who would claim you?”

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