“Firstly, I seriously doubt Lizzy will accept his proposal. By the way, he will arrive to make it in little more than an hour. Secondly, do you really think a man who is obviously used to getting whatever he wants, will pay heed when you try to redirect him to Jane, who he has already decided against?”
She had no answer for her husband, but of one thing she was sure, she would do everything in her power to make sure the Duke amended his choice when he called later. That ugly child would not be a duchess!
Bennet knew he needed to distract his wife. “We are to entertain a duke, should you not prepare the house to receive one so high? It is not every day we have a peer of the realm at our house.”
Whatever vitriol Fanny was about to spew was forgotten. Without another word, she lifted her skirts a little and ran out of the study screeching rather loudly for Mrs. Hill to attend her.
By the time Fanny had issued orders to prepare to receive a duke into her house and verified everything was up to standard, there was a scant twenty minutes before the rich man was to call. Her frenetic running around had allowed her to convince herself it was Jane the Duke was calling for.
Unfortunately for her, there was not enough time to have Jane change before her suitor would arrive. At first, Fanny arrived in the drawing room with only a fearful Jane with her.
Regardless of his wife’s opinion about which daughter should be present, Bennet sent Hill to summon Lizzy. Fannyglowered at her husband. She would make him pay for crossing her later.
Barely a minute after Elizabeth sat next to Jane, and gripped her sister’s hand in a show of support, the knocker was heard striking the front door.
Chapter 5
Hertfordshire had not been impressed by the small size of the estate of Longbourn. Even less so by the pile which was the manor house he spied when his coachman brought his large travelling coach to a halt near the front door of the house.
As it was below him to do so, he had Wickham rap on the door with the knocker. The door was opened by a manservant. His lack of uniform and wig told the Duke the Bennets did not even have the wherewithal to employ a butler. This fit with what the vulgar woman had told him at the assembly.
“His Grace the Duke of Hertfordshire, Marquess of Hertford Heights to see Mr. Bennet,” Wickham told the man who opened the door.
“Please follow me,” Hill intoned as he bowed.
Hill led the Duke and his man to the drawing room.
As he walked, Wickham was of the same opinion of his employer that there was no money here. Seeing that told him there would be no resistance to the Duke’s overtures.
Hill announced the Duke and stood to the side. Being almost as wide as he was tall, the guest barely fit through the doorway without touching the doorframe on either side of him. Only years of learning to school his features stopped Hill from smiling at the corpulent man almost not fitting through the door.
The three ladies gave deep curtsies while the Bennet father bowed to him. The Duke did not respond with even an inclined head.
The Duke stopped and looked between the girls standing between their parents. The blonde insipid one was next to her mother. Why she was present, he knew not, but he would soon set things to rights. The lady of the house was smiling like the cat who got the cream, and his soon to be wife stood between the blonde one and her father.
Seeing the defiant look in his intended’s eye thrilled the Duke. He reminded himself he would need to keep his desires in check until she had birthed him an heir and said child had been alive for a year. Then and only then he would take his enjoyment.
“Why are both sisters here? Did I not make myself clear when you called on me as to who it is I want to speak to?” Hertfordshire drawled as he sat on a settee without invitation.
“You see Mr. Bennet,” Fanny hissed. “You have upset the Duke by having that hoyden Lizzy here. If you have spoilt Jane’s prospects, I will never forgive you.”
Jane was praying hard her father had angered the old, very large in girth man and he would leave without proposing to her.
“Did you not tell your wife?” the Duke demanded.
“In fact, I did, Your Grace,” Bennet averred. “Unfortunately my wife did not believe you are here for Elizabeth.”
Before anyone could speak, an outraged Elizabeth, who had paled considerably, did. “I am not ready to marry anyone, and certainly not one as old as this!” she insisted pointing at His Grace.
Rather than injure him, the Duke was even more convinced of his choice at her outburst. She showed no fear at all. His anticipated pleasure when he broke her increased exponentially.
“B-but Your Grace,” Fanny blurted out, “surely you cannot be in earnest. Jane is a beauty and will be the perfect duchess. Miss Lizzy is wilful, disobedient, impertinent, a hoyden, has manly pursuits, and is nothing to my Jane in looks.”
“All of what you listed are in fact the things I am attracted to,” the Duke responded disdainfully. “And if you think the lacklustre one,” he cocked his head to Jane, “is prettier than Miss Elizabeth, then I suggest you need spectacles.”
“I carenotwhat you say, I will never marry you! I know the law! If I do not recite my vows there will be no valid marriage!” Elizabeth said with meaning. She was standing, her arms at her sides and her fists clenched.
Bennet breathed a sigh of relief. He knew his Lizzy would never agree to be married to the man, and neither the Duke nor his wife would be able to blame him if she refused to open her mouth at the wedding ceremony.
