Page 54

“If you do not do as I tell you, then you will watch me openly pay two waiters a guinea each to pour a full glass of red wine over this hideous dress.”

She saw that Hurst was half cut and it was not yet noon. She finished with a vicious attack of her own.

“Once you are in the carriage you can take off the dress so that your brother in law can try and squeeze the wine out of it. Remember; be quiet, smile, leave.”

She strode away. Only to be taken aside by her heavily pregnant sister.

“What did you say? No one could hear the words but the facial expressions were not happy.”

“Miss Bingley wanted to inform me that I was a disgrace and that my presence here was disgraceful. She was taken aback when I disagreed with her.”

Hardly the most truthful of responses. It might have captured the high-level intentions but not much else.

“She made the mistake of referencing Mr. and Mrs. Bennet. She provoked my intemperate response.”

Jane was not quite the Jane of old. She had to stifle a giggle.

“You will have to tell the true words when we are back in London.”

“Will you be okay next week?”

“We will be fine. Geoffrey has already had words with Mama. He is very solicitous about my condition and Mama was slapped down when she demanded that I stay so that she could drive me all over the neighbourhood just so she could show off my pregnancy. Every lady already knows what a pregnant woman looks like and they are all here today and will all be here next week.”

She pulled Elizabeth close, well as close as was possible at seven months pregnant.

“I am sad that you will not be there.”

“I have spoken to Kitty, sorry Catherine. She knows she will be in my heart. And after the last three days it is better for all if I am not there. Come let us find your husband and get you a seat.”

Eventually she recovered her position next to Mr. Darcy.

“I see Miss Bingley wanted to introduce herself.”

Disingenuous in the extreme.

“You sir, are a.”

Elizabeth stopped with a smile.

“She never actually introduced herself. I knew who she was, having been warned by her brother, his new wife, and you. She appears to be a bully. I verbally punched her on the nose and she scuttled away. Mind you, I was unpardonably rude. Although I will not be making my apologies. After all, I am not a gentleman.”

Lucas Lodge was treated to Darcy’s loud happy laugh.

“There is no possible way to answer that so I will merely move on. How much longer will I have the pleasure of your company? Another half hour?”

“About that. If the carriage makes the outskirts of London by 4.00 there are sufficient streetlights to allow me to get back safely.”

“Where in London are you residing?”

Elizabeth had wondered, fleetingly, if this tall handsome man had any interest in her. It was always going to end at this moment.

“I live with my aunt and uncle on Gracechurch Street in Cheapside. My uncle is the proprietor of Gardiner Import/Export.”

It had been nice talking to an educated gentleman. Who happened to be tall and handsome! His next words shocked her.

“Will you be home if I call on you on Tuesday morning?”

“At Gracechurch Street?”