That was not only to keep her from a vitriolic diatribe. But out of view of others, Fanny would find some way to punish Lizzy for the crime of others thinking her beautiful.
“I still do not know what this means for Jane.”
“Why do you try to vex me? When he sees Jane’s beauty he will have no choice but to offer for her and we will be saved! If he is wealthy enough to take the whole of the inn then he will be able to afford to save me…us from the hedgerows.”
Fanny had waved a lace square as the excitement of her Jane being married to a peer of the realm became a sure thing in her mind. “Is that all, Mrs. Bennet?” Bennet queried shortly.
Thankfully his wife had been too far lost in her imaginings to pick up on his tone of voice. “To Meryton! I must purchase more lace!” With that Fanny turned and almost ran out of the study screeching for Mrs. Hill to attend her as she did.
As she had not closed the door, Bennet stood and did so, except this time he turned the key in the lock. He knew his wife had almost as much lace in the house as the local haberdashery, but he had stopped himself from commenting on that fact.
Here they were, his wife screeching for more lace to be added to Jane’s gown while giving orders, only to contradict them not a moment later.
He did not pay the Hills, the long suffering butler-valet and housekeeper, nearly enough money to put up with his wife’s mercurial moods.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
His Grace, Lord Archibald Winston Chamberlain sat in the largest chamber at the god-forsaken inn in this nowhere town.
If only his idiot son had not been discovered to have the pox before the fool died. Had he married, if his son had not been up to the job, he himself would have been able to impregnate the girl. Damn the Earl of Tamarin and spreading the information about Archy’s malady to one and all.
It was thanks to his former fathers-in-law, first the sanctimonious Baron, Lord Maidenhall, and then the Earl of Gryffinwood who had spread the rumours of his so-called mistreatment of his wives which had led to all doors of members of theTonto be closed to him leading him to this backwater.
At almost seven and sixty—in his own opinion—he was a fit and virile man.
The inconvenient truth was he was corpulent, sometimes had a hard time catching his breath, had a ruddy complexion, and partook in many dangerous activities, the most of which was forcing himself on married women.
Like other men of rank and wealth, Lord Hertfordshire believed his money and standing would always protect him from his own actions.
He would lower himself to attend the local assembly this evening. He had to see if there was one, who would come close,to meeting his criteria he wanted in his third wife. He was not confident, but one never knew.
She needed to be pretty, that was for sure, he would not bed a homely woman, but vivacity was, and always would be, the most important thing. Some intelligence would not hurt.
As he thought of what he sought, the Duke salivated thinking of how much pleasure he would take in breaking such a woman—after she had delivered an heir of course. As much as he hated to restrict his pleasure, his first priority was the all-important son. He would do whatever he needed to in order to insure he was not the last of his line. If that meant he would have to tamp down his own inclinations until his son was at least one year in age, so be it.
There was no doubt in his mind he would have his new wife in the family way within a month of his marriage. He had not decided where yet, but he would banish his wife to one of his many estates when she was confirmed with child, that way he would reduce the temptation to begin her education before the boy’s first birthday.
There was a knock on the chamber door. “Come,” Hertfordshire rasped.
His valet and the young man who would do anything the Duke asked of him entered the chamber. Both gave him respectful bows.
“Well?” the Duke prompted.
“The best looking girls in the area are sisters named Bennet. Only two of them are out, one is a little older than eighteen and the other sixteen,” the valet reported.
The fact he was almost fifty years one’s senior and more than that for the other meant nothing to Hertfordshire. “Characters?”
“In my enquiries I discovered the older, a bland, blonde, willowy one with blue eyes, is very serene and far too compliant for you, however, the younger one, dark hair, rather petite with emerald-green eyes may have the gumption you seek,” the younger man informed his employer.
“Then it seems this may not be a complete waste of my time,” Hertfordshire stated as he steepled his fingers in thought. He waved his men away and began to mentally prepare himself to mix with those so far below him at the assembly upcoming.
Chapter 2
Preening like a peacock, Fanny Bennet led her unwilling daughters into the assembly hall. She knew she was still a handsome woman and felt Jane’s beauty was a direct compliment to herself.
Her eyes swept the hall, but unfortunately, she saw no one she did not recognise. She understood the man who would marry Jane was not in attendance yet. Fanny saw her sister speaking to Mrs. Long and Lady Lucas—it still irked that Sarah Lucas was titled. All her husband had done was make a speech to the King and Queen some years ago when he had been mayor of the town. In Fanny’s mind, the fact the King had knighted William Lucas for some ridiculous speech only confirmed the rumours of the Monarch’s madness.
As much as she hated having to call the former Sarah Huntington, Lady Lucas, Fanny did so. Other than herself and her sister Hattie, Lady Lucas was one of the foremost purveyors of gossip in the Meryton area and Fanny would never give up a good source of tittle-tattle regardless of how much she disdained the woman.
