By Consequence of Marriage (A Pride & Prejudice Novel) Page 4

  George wiped his face with his hands and squeezed his temples in exasperation. Why, why was she so doltish? Didn't she learn anything from those high priced tutors Darcy employed?

  "You're forgetting that I've now taken his little sister. I'd run me through without a second glance." Agitated, George stood and began pacing. He needed to think of a new plan. "Georgie, didn't your mother give you that necklace around your neck?"

  Georgiana clutched the dark ruby pendant hanging on a simple golden chain. George had sold a good many of her other jewels when they first ran away, and this was the one he promised never to sell.

  "I cannot, please do not ask me."

  "Georgie." George Wickham flashed his most dashing smile and crouched down to her eye level. Gently he tipped her chin up as she refused to meet his eye and he leaned in to give her a passionate, lover's kiss. Watching her eyes close, he continued to kiss her with the most care he could muster, and slowly snaked his fingers around her delicate decolletage. His nimble fingers undid the clasp and he caught the heavy jewel before it fell to her lap. Pulling back, he noticed she kept her eyes closed and was smiling.

  "Mmmmm, George. I love you so!" Her eyes popped open and sparkled at the man she had chosen as her future husband but her mood quickly soured as her hands grasped her bare neck. "No, please! I beg of you."

  George Wickham held the heavy pendant in his hands and turned over the ornate gold setting. Inscribed on the back were Georgiana's name and the date of her birth. This was just the piece he needed, he hoped.

  "I'm sorry, poppet, it must be done. I must draw your brother out and I see no other way than to sell this little trinket right to the Darcy family jeweler." George grinned at the diminutive woman crying before him, once more hearing the song of thirty thousand pounds croon in his head.

  Chapter Ten

  A familiar face greeted Elizabeth as her eyes adjusted to the low light of the room. The comfortable bed she found herself in proved unfamiliar and she realized darkness fell outside.

  "Jane?" Her voice croaked as she wondered how long she had been asleep and more importantly, where might she be?

  Jane Bennet stirred in the chair next to the bed and shook the last remnants of sleep from her body as she rose to approach the bed. "You're not dead! Oh, Lizzie, you scared us all!" Jane tackled her younger sister in joy as she hugged her fiercely. The sudden movement made pain flood Elizabeth's senses.

  "Ow, ow, pray do not smother me!" Elizabeth uttered in jest, but her joke fell flat as she was unable to mask the intense pain both in her head and her lower leg. Sucking in a breath, she tried to ask Jane what happened.

  "You don't remember?"

  Elizabeth closed her eyes and tried, yet nothing came to her. The last thing she could remember was getting ready for the assembly. "No, are we not going to the assembly tonight?" Elizabeth glanced around again and couldn't place the room. Lucas Lodge? No. Aunt Phillips home in town? Absolutely not!

  Jane frowned. "The assembly was two nights ago," she said softly.

  Two nights? Elizabeth had lost two days and the burning in her throat reinforced her sister's accounting of time. Parched, she motioned for a glass of water from the sideboard. Jane fumbled as she hastened to fetch the drink and hand it to Lizzie.

  "Slow down, you've been quite ill." Jane reassured her sister by stroking her hair.

  Finished, Elizabeth handed the glass to Jane who gave Elizabeth another bottle, one she instantly recognized.

  "No! If I don't remember, I am determined to avoid laudanum!" Elizabeth tried to push Jane's hand away, but her meager strength left her body.

  "I know, that's why I put a few drops in your water." Jane tried to smile as Elizabeth fought against slipping back into unconsciousness. She hated lying to her sister, but knowing Elizabeth as a patient, subterfuge was the only way. The doctor was most explicit if she should wake up, keeping her calm and inducing her to sleep again before she tried to move her broken ankle was paramount.

  Jane leaned over Lizzie and gave her a small kiss on the forehead as her eyelids fluttered one last time. Exhausted herself, Jane collapsed back into her chair and pulled the blanket she had been using around her. Before the stroke of midnight, both Bennet sisters slumbered.

  The morning sun woke Elizabeth a second time, only this time she found herself alone. She tried to move, but excruciating pain in her leg gave her pause. She was laying flat on her back, her right foot elevated upon two pillows. Sighing, she reasoned she must have hurt her foot on one of her walks and perhaps this grand place was Netherfield.

  Just working that much out gave her a headache, though the pain seemed to come on far quicker than usual. Her eyes struggled to focus and she blinked a few times, feeling an intense sense of dizziness. Covering her face with her hands, Elizabeth felt lost. What had happened to her that she was so injured? Where was Jane? She thought she remembered Jane last night before her sister tricked her, or had that been a dream?

  "Hello?" Elizabeth made a soft cry and when no one responded she felt quite stricken. The pain overcame her and she openly sobbed. How much time passed, she didn't know, but she was startled in her grief by the door suddenly opening and a strange gentleman appearing.

  Elizabeth stared at him and he stiffened in embarrassment.

  "Forgive me," he bowed "I overheard your distress and worried you were alone, Miss Elizabeth."

  Elizabeth opened her mouth, then closed it. The man seemed to know her, but she couldn't remember who he was for the life of her. Jane had said the assembly already happened, and if she was lying in a bed at Netherfield, perhaps this was Mr. Bingley! Too proud to admit her memory lapse, Elizabeth decided to play it bold.

  "Thank you, Mr. Bingley. Could you send for my sister?"

  Mr. Darcy eyed her with a quizzical expression and turned to leave. He managed to avoid Jane Bennet as she entered carrying a heavy silver tray. Immediately recovering his manners, he took the tray from Jane and followed her direction to the table beside the bed.

  "Thank you, Mr. Darcy." Jane said with a curtsy.

  He bowed, and cleared his throat. "I heard her crying and worried over her injuries. I did not know you were away. That is, I mean, I was concerned she was alone, but I did not intend to come upon her alone."

  Jane smiled and gave a small curtsy again. She met Mr. Darcy sitting in the chair outside this room far too many times to believe he was as unaffected by her sister's injuries as he pretended. A cool anger still consumed Jane's heart as this man was the very reason her sister nearly died. Racing on the road so close to a town was irresponsible and unforgivable!

  "I am here now. Apparently there was an oversight and the staff was not aware that Miss Bingley had asked for a tray to be brought up." Jane said through clenched teeth.

  Elizabeth watched the stranger and her sister interact and she began to groan. The frustration of not knowing what was going on nor who this man was, and now her complete faux pas for calling him Mr. Bingley swirled in her head. She thought she might vomit.

  "Jane, please?" she pleaded with her eyes to make her sister understand. Elizabeth wrinkled up her nose, the small signal the girls had used since they first experienced an imposition, and closed her mouth lest she turn out the contents of her stomach in front of this man.

  "Mr. Darcy, my sister needs some privacy." Jane said, ushering him to the door.

  Darcy didn't argue as he was still mulling what Jane had said about the breakfast tray. He'd have a talk with Bingley about Caroline. Poor treatment of guests was appalling, and a sick one doubly so! He left the ladies as a man on a mission and after a few moments found Bingley setting up billiards.

  "I say Darcy, fancy a quick game? It seems a poor time to go riding with Miss Elizabeth so ill." Bingley held out a cue stick as Darcy shrugged off this coat.

  "Mr. Bennet returned to Longbourn?"

  Bingley nodded, bending over the table to take his first shot.

  "I suppose the news that his daughter awakened
last night was enough motivation to abandon her to complete strangers." Darcy spat out, scowling as Bingley's first shot was perfect and scored the man a point.

  Bingley added more chalk to this cue. "I should hope you don't see the care in my household as unfit, Darce. Besides, there is Miss Bennet remaining. What an angel to sacrifice so for a sister." Bingley's eyes gazed up at the perfectly white ceiling, in the direction he knew Jane to be.

  Darcy rolled his eyes and took his shot. If Georgiana had been sick, he never would have left her at the home of an acquaintance to fend for her own care. A burning liquid rose up in his chest as he swallowed back down his guilt. Had he not just done something similar in leaving the search for her to others? Shaking his head, his shot went wide. He removed himself from the table to lean against the wall.

  "Bingley, speaking of care. You might want to look into how your staff has been directed to care for the Miss Bennets while they are under your roof."

  Bingley took another shot, narrowly missing a second point. "Caroline takes care of that. I'm sure everything is under good regulation."

  Darcy stepped up to take his shot, pretending to mull over the possibilities. Instead he was weighing if he should tell Bingley about the breakfast tray. Just as he was about to do so, the double doors between the billiard room and the parlor opened and Caroline Bingley stood there with a triumphant smile on her face.

  "There you two are! Charles, I've been looking everywhere for you and Mr. Darcy. Louisa and I were just planning a fun little picnic this afternoon and wanted you both to be ready at two o'clock."

  Bingley looked to Darcy who returned his stare with an expression of triumph. Clearing his throat, Bingley attempted a deeper tone than usual. "Caroline, your notion is most disrespectful to our guests. With Miss Elizabeth so taken ill, we shall not be going on a picnic."

  Caroline kept her smile plastered in place. "Oh, she's not so terribly ill."

  "Did you call on her this morning?" Darcy interrupted, knowing the answer.

  "Well, no, I have not, but Miss Bennet did say her sister awoke last night, and I simply thought we should be cheered by this strong sign of recovery." Caroline continued to flash a brilliant, self-assured smile towards Charles, confident today would be like any other.

  "No. No, Caroline!" Bingley banged the bottom of his cue stick on the hunter green carpet anchoring the furniture in the room. "This is beyond the pale, sister. Darcy and I shall not join you on a picnic, and I forbid anyone else in my household to partake in such a diversion while Miss Elizabeth is restricted to her bed. Honestly, Caroline, I don't know what's come over you."

  Agitated, Bingley turned his back to his sister and circled the table. He leaned in and took a shot with great force as Caroline quit the room closing the doors behind her.

  "Er, Bingley?" Darcy checked a laugh that was close to breaking free from watching Caroline get a set down and at how incensed his affable friend became at his sister's machinations.

  "What?"

  Darcy pointed at the table and shrugged. "Nothing, old man. You just took my shot."

  It took a moment, but both men began to laugh at the situation as Bingley struggled to rack the balls. "Go on, Darcy. You break this time."

  Two games more passed before Bingley was crowned the day's champion, soundly beating Darcy in both despite the one free win he gave earlier.

  Chapter Eleven

  Within a week, Elizabeth was recovered from her head injury, yet her broken ankle required her to stay abed. Never a spirit easily subdued, Elizabeth passed the time with Jane reading aloud, playing a funny little card game from when they were younger where certain numbers meant you told a truth or lie, and talking of home. Jane tried to interest Elizabeth in some needlework, but the hoop was mostly neglected as Elizabeth Bennet had never understood the usefulness of an embroidered doily.

  After tea one afternoon, while Elizabeth read and Jane sewed by the window, a knock on the door startled both women out of their secret world of sisterly affection. Mr. Darcy appeared with books in hand and bowed low.

  "Since it was my folly to cause this injury, I thought perhaps you'd like some new books, Miss Elizabeth? I inquired of your sister for your tastes and had these brought from my town home."

  Elizabeth's eyes widened as she took stock of the handsome man before her, feeling both pleased and vexed that he brought her books, yet was the very cause of her current pain. Looking to Jane, she nodded and the elder Bennet sister rose to move her chair closer to the bed as Mr. Darcy entered the room. Once settled, Jane returned to her sewing, marring her serene countenance occasionally to glance up and glare at Mr. Darcy.

  "I am touched you sent for books from London. Do you bring gifts to every woman you avoid trampling in the street?" Elizabeth asked, making Mr. Darcy cough uncomfortably at her frankness.

  "Lizzie!" Jane warned her younger sister, but said nothing more.

  "A sound query, but then I should wonder if you are so bold with men who must make haste to avoid you as you meander in the midst of the road."

  His face like stone, Elizabeth was frightened at first she had truly offended him until she noticed his tell. His left nostril flared slightly and Elizabeth couldn't help but giggle. This encouraged Mr. Darcy to smile in return, and the two spent the rest of the afternoon discussing every book from the Odyssey to specific sonnets of Shakespeare. The only break in their delightful afternoon was when Caroline Bingley arrived to announce dinner. Performing another deep bow, Mr. Darcy exited the room to dress, reluctantly leaving the sisters.

  Sighing, Elizabeth slid down in the sheets and laid her arms back. "I suppose if one must stay abed, it is highly convenient for potential suitors to await your beck and call and hold intelligent conversation."

  Jane frowned as she selected a nightgown to help Elizabeth change before she herself would attend dinner.

  "If you're not careful, your behavior will cause chatter." Jane hummed to herself as she found the hairbrush and ties in her sister's trunk. When she turned around, Elizabeth was stricken with silent tears and Jane rushed to her side. "Lizzie? Shall I fetch the laudanum?"

  "No," she sobbed, wiping her eyes. "I am not hurt. I simply remember."

  Clucking her tongue, Jane began to pull the pins from her sister's hair and raked her curls gently with her fingertips. "It must have been a frightful sight to see the horse rear up and nearly strike you."

  Elizabeth shook her head. "He said that. That's why I ran away. I remember everything, Jane. The assembly, you dancing with Mr. Bingley, John dancing with, dancing with—" she let out a huge sob as Jane embraced her. "Mr. Lucas will never marry me, Jane. I am not held in his esteem nor do I appear an advantageous match."

  Downstairs, ruffled feathers belonged to one Miss Bingley. The party was delayed waiting for her to join them. Caroline Bingley, famously the last dressed and habitually five minutes late to every dinner call, descended the stairs with her smug demeanor only to appear bewildered when she realized they were awaiting Jane.

  "Are we not all here?" she asked, innocently, as if she had been the one imposed upon.

  "We are yet to be joined by Miss Bennet, and I fear there is something keeping her." Mr. Bingley glanced furtively at the stairs.

  Caroline huffed and began to walk towards the dining room. "A slight foot injury and our lovely country retreat is ruined with two months of playing hospital."

  Darcy finished his private conversation with a maid and as she scurried away to the kitchens, he followed Miss Bingley into the dining room as it appeared all manner of escorts and assigned seating were to be abandoned. "A broken limb is hardly a trifling matter, madam. I once only sustained a sprain as a young lad climbing too many trees and it took many months for the pain to subside."

  Miss Bingley sputtered as her sister joined her side. "How dreadful, Mr. Darcy. I do hope your ankle is well now?"

  Darcy blinked. "Perfectly, madam. As I said, I was but a child."

  "Lord, I'm squashed, how
about some grub, eh Bingley?" Mr. Hurst found a seat and began motioning with his hands to be served. Bingley scowled at his brother-in-law's crude behavior, but nodded to the footman just the same and dinner proceeded to arrive from the kitchen.

  Upstairs, Jane continued to soothe her sister and tried to remind Elizabeth of the wonderful qualities any man would be lucky to boast in a wife, and they were all encompassed in her. As the girls snuggled in bed, a servant knocked on the door with a tray in hand, allowing the two sisters to eat in peace. Jane didn't know for sure, but she suspected that Mr. Darcy had seen to the repast and she found that she had a small amount of respect for a man who would see to the care of others.

  Another week passed before a rainy day brought Mr. Darcy back to Elizabeth Bennet's sick room. He happened to come in on the girls playing their card game and politely asked if he might join.

  "Oh, this game is too much of a trifle for a gentleman of your caliber, sir. Leave it to us ladies." Elizabeth gave the cut in all seriousness. After remembering how she came to be bedridden in the enemy's home, she had sworn off encouraging the attentions of any man, even one so handsomely clothed as Mr. Darcy.

  "And gentlemen have no trifles? Surely Miss Elizabeth you grant us more amusement in life than a destiny of unabated boredom."

  Elizabeth scowled, frustrated that she was stuck in her prone position. She turned to Jane for help, but her sister only gave a slight smile at Mr. Darcy. So much for sisterly support!

  "The game is simple, Mr. Darcy. We each play cards in the middle to make matches of the numbers, if you cannot make a match, then you must play a face card," Jane explained.

  Mr. Darcy pulled a chair from the wall and took off his jacket. He flashed Miss Elizabeth a brilliant smile showing off his dimples as he accepted his hand of cards from Miss Bennet. "And what befalls me when I play a face card, ladies?"

  "A knave and you must tell a lie. A queen and you must pay a compliment. A king and you must tell a truth known to but a few." Elizabeth took his measure as the game began. Much as she wished to dismiss the man outright and return to her father's home in recuperation, something about his demeanor disarmed her.