The man smiled his most engaging smile, and she flushed. Bennet scowled.
“Madam, my patroness has sent me on a mission to find a wife from among your daughters. She counsels that it is not good for man to be alone.”
Mrs. Bennet pressed her handkerchief to her lips to hide a smile; her eyes were calculating. He could see she was already preparedto bargain away a daughter to secure her own future. He felt certain he would have the wife of his choosing from among the sisters in this household.
He turned to look at Bennet, who was frowning.No matter,he thought.I always get what I want. It is only a matter of time.His gaze swept the room.It will all be mine, sooner rather than later.
Chapter 1: The Meryton Assembly
“Charlotte, what can you tell of the Netherfield party?” Elizabeth asked. Miss King and Miss Watson both leaned nearer to listen.
“Mr. Bingley told Papa he would return with his party in time for the assembly. He means to bring a close friend from his university days and his sisters.”
Miss Watson clasped her gloved hands. “Is the university friend a single man?”
Charlotte tittered. “He is, my dear. He is orphaned, and his only remaining family is a sister about your age, fourteen or fifteen.” She glanced at Elizabeth with a grin. “And he practically owns half of Derbyshire. He brings in ten thousand a year and possesses a great estate in the north.”
Elizabeth looked at Jane with widening eyes. Jane only shook her head in disbelief.
“I cannot imagine how it would feel to have ten thousand a year,” Elizabeth said.
“I should go to London and buy all the slippers and gowns and bonnets I could wish for,” Miss King replied. Jane and Elizabeth laughed softly.
Charlotte continued, “Ruthie says they arrived at the house late yesterday afternoon, and the sister who is his hostess is as mean as a viper. She nearly snapped poor Angie’s head off when she failed to curtsey deeply enough. Evidently, she thinks herself royalty.”
Charlotte lifted her hand to her chest. “She has some right to think so. Miss Bingley is said to have a twenty-thousand-pound dowry and was educated at a fine seminary for young ladies. We may all come under her censure during her residence at Netherfield.”
Elizabeth turned to Jane. “I hope I do not have much to do with the lady.” She glanced down at her gown. “With a dowry of only one thousand after Mamma passes to her reward, and two hand-me-down evening gowns, she will find plenty to censure.”
Charlotte wrapped an arm around her waist. “Lizzy, never you mind. Your gown may be Jane’s hand-me-down, but I assure you, the men do not even see it. They see only the beautiful woman who wears it. With your lovely bright eyes and lively manner, they will not care a whit for the hem.”
Elizabeth giggled and pointed to the seam. “You mean they will not mind that my hem is mended and the patch is fraying?”
Miss King squeezed her hand. “Lizzy, I had not noticed. Charlotte is right. No one sees your gowns; they are too busy attending to what you will say next, and hoping it is not at their expense.”
The young women were laughing modestly when they noticed the murmur around them fall silent. They turned toward the entrance and saw the Netherfield party arrive.
Charlotte whispered, “The handsome man with the ginger hair is Mr. Bingley, and the elegant redhead on his arm is his unmarried sister, Miss Bingley.”
Elizabeth observed the woman as she surveyed the room, her nose lifted in disdain. “Ah, yes, the viper,” she murmured. Jane moved nearer to Lizzy, the better to hear.
Charlotte went on. “The older couple is Mr. and Mrs. Hurst. She is the eldest of the siblings.”
Elizabeth studied the couple. They were dressed as elegantly as the younger siblings, yet they smiled, nodded, and shook hands with those being introduced. “They look well pleased to be among country folk. I could like that couple very well,” she said.
Then she saw him, the man of her dreams, standing in the entrance, tall, handsome, dark-haired, and elegantly dressed in black with a snow-white cravat. She sighed. “Look. Sir Lancelot has walked into our lives straight out of the pages ofThe Legends of King Arthur.”
Jane giggled. “Lizzy, you can be so dramatic.”
All the young women were now looking at Mr. Darcy. Miss Watson said, “I see what you mean, Lizzy. Look at that unruly lock of hair brushing his brow.”
Miss King added, “Look at his lower lip. It is so plump.” Elizabeth smiled but had to admit, his full lower lip was enticing in a way she had never experienced before.
Her raptures were interrupted by Mrs. Bennet. “Come, Jane. Sir William Lucas agreed to introduce us.” She ran her gaze over her second daughter. “You might as well come too, Lizzy, though I do not know what good it will do. Mary, you come as well.” She turned a firm eye on Elizabeth. “I will not stand for your tricks, Lizzy. Come along.”
Elizabeth rolled her eyes at her mother’s back and followed Jane.
Mr. Collins had been standing in the background observing Elizabeth. When he was introduced to his cousins, Mrs. Bennet had gone on at length about her eldest daughter’s beauty and elegant manners. But the girl, in his estimation, was a simperingninny, with no conversation and, he guessed, no fire in her blood either. Now he watched as his intended was introduced to the London party.
