Imperative: Volume 2, A Tale of Pride and Prejudice (10 page)

“I suppose that it was.”  Sophie looked at the box with a little more tolerance.  “It
is
beautifully done.  But Colonel, the next time that you feel a need to sneeze, maybe wait to open it when ladies are not present.”  She tapped the box in his palm and he closed his hand over her fingers for a moment.  Sophie drew in a breath, but did not withdraw her hand before he let go.  Their eyes met.  “Will you be visiting your cousin for long, Colonel?”

“As long as I can.”   Richard offered his arm.  “Shall we join the others?  You brothers have been gone for some time.  I do not want any talk to swirl around you.” 

“Oh.”  Sophie laughed nervously, “Nobody ever talks about me.”

“Because you are so proper?”

“No.”  Her nervousness faded.  “Because I have a sharp tongue.”

“You are just protective.”  Richard shrugged and Sophie stared.  “I find that quite attractive.” 

“Oh.” 

“What happened to that sharp tongue you professed to have?”  Richard’s smile was broad and he took a good appreciative look at the blushing woman on his arm.

“I am sure that it will return before too long, Colonel.”  She promised.

“Good, I think that you will need it.”  He lifted his chin and following his gaze, she saw dozens of pairs of eyes watching their descent.  Darcy whispered something to Elizabeth and her hand went to her mouth as she laughed.  Richard leaned closer to Sophie.  “I think, Miss Kelly, that you have finally given them something to talk about.” 

Chapter 4

“I
s this a good idea?  Albert is just barely presentable now.  Will this not be an enormous temptation?”

Lord Matlock looked around the crowded ballroom and watched his son sharply.  “Look at his eyes, Grace, they are darting everywhere.  Who is that approaching him?”

Lady Matlock watched, poised to intervene.  “I do not know him, but Albert seems to be doing well . . .” She looked at her husband and saw his worry.  “You have heard the whispers about Matlock!  We
have
to bring him out.” 

“I know, I know.  I hear comments daily from those fools in Parliament.”  He growled.  “I just pray that he can hold his own here.”

“This is not the club or the places he would go to gamble, this is a nice social occasion.  If only we had Darcy and Elizabeth here to serve as distractions!  Look at poor Cathy; she is distancing herself from us as much as possible.  I hope that showing Albert with Anne will quiet them all.”  She tried to convince herself of the fact and met the raised brow of another peeress with a haughty glare of her own.  The other woman backed down.

“Where is Anne?” 

“Over there, with Catherine.” 

The earl and countess watched their niece standing stiffly by her mother’s side as she talked in her carrying tones her opinions of the ballroom.  “Who is she preaching to?” 

“I do not know her . . .”  Lady Matlock studied the woman looking raptly at Lady Catherine.  “No, I take that back, Manning, yes, that is the name.  You know them, they have that son of theirs . . . He went around with Darcy.  He took his tour with them?  I remember distinctly George coming to visit you one afternoon just before he died.  He had been at White’s and Mr. Manning was there complaining about Darcy leaving the rest of the boys touring Scotland to go to Sommerwald alone.”

“That is it.”  Lord Matlock laughed and relaxed a touch.  “He was complaining that they could have stayed there for free, instead he was footing the bill for his son wandering around drinking himself into oblivion.”  His wife looked at him and he shrugged.  “It is what one does when one comes of age, my dear.” 

“Hopefully young Manning has grown out of it.”  Her eyes moved back to their son who was about to be greeted by a man.  “If only ours had.” 

Miles Peterson stood beside Gladney and facing the dancers, spoke emotionlessly, “I hardly recognize you.” 

“Nonetheless, you approach as if you do.”  Gladney settled his restless gaze upon the man and watched as he drew out a snuffbox.  He could feel his heart rate increase as the lid was opened.  The anticipation was exquisite.

“Would you like some?” 

The box was offered and immediately disappointment flooded his body when he saw that the contents were tobacco.  Licking his lips, Gladney drew in a deep breath.  His palms sweating, he took out a pristine white handkerchief and wiped them.  “No, thank you.  I have ruined enough handkerchiefs.”

“That is why I use coloured silk!”  Peterson breathed in the pinch, and in a practiced movement, brought out his handkerchief to capture the sneeze.  Smiling, he sighed.  “That is better.”

“My mother would be after you for doing that before the ladies.”

“Since when have you worried about appearances?”  Peterson laughed and turning, looked him over.  “What are these rumours I hear about Matlock?  Have you really drained the coffers?  Is your father going to sell the debts?  I suppose that the earldom does not go with it . . .”

“It is all rumours and conjecture by a gossip hungry crowd.”  Gladney said dismissively.

“I do not think so, this is too much . . .”

“I have some gambling debts to pay.  How that is blown out to Matlock being on the brink of ruin I will never know.  Something small grows to something ridiculous.”  Peterson shook his head and Gladney shrugged.  “Let us experiment then. “Shall I tell your wife about your riding bareback through Hyde Park?  And I do not mean without a saddle?” 

Peterson’s eyes widened.  “You would not dare!”

“Then stop baiting me with your snuff box and tales of the rumours you hear.”  His voice was becoming louder and a few heads had turned in his direction. 

“Oh no.”  Lord Matlock spoke and started off towards his son, but was surprised to see that Anne was ahead of him. 

“What are you bellowing about, Albert?”  Anne demanded and took his arm.  “Are you in your cups already?  Will I have to call for our carriage to be found and take you home?  Who knows where it could be at this point.  The driver is probably drunk himself.”

“You think that I am drunk?”  Gladney stared down at her.

“What other reason is there for you to be drawing attention to yourself?”

“I am doing no such thing.  And I am not drunk.”

“Prove it, then.”  She challenged him. 

“Fine.”  He took her out to the dance floor and they stood across from each other.  Anne’s haughty bravado faded.  “Can you dance?”

“You know that I cannot.”  She whispered in a panic as the eyes of the room found them again. 

“And you know that I am not drunk, and yet you bellow that out before the same onlookers.”

“You were creating a scene.” 

“And you cared enough to stop me?”  Gladney demanded.

“I . . . I do not know.”  Confused, Anne looked at him. 

“Show me that you trust me.” 

“How am I to do that?”

“Dance with me.”  The music began and, awkwardly, terribly, Anne tried to move through the steps that she did not know and had never observed, let alone practiced.  But they managed to survive and at the end, she was exhilarated with the attempt and heard nothing of the whispered remarks regarding her performance and his tolerance as her partner.  Gladney noticed his parents standing with Lady Catherine and the expressions on their faces.  For the first time he noted that none of them looked at him and Anne with avarice.  He actually saw what could be called parental pride. 
Interesting.
  Holding out his arm, he offered to lead her away.

“Oh.  Must we stop?” She looked back at the dancers preparing for the next set.

“I am afraid that my feet require respite.”  He noticed her face colouring.  “But we managed to get through it.  I would suggest some lessons before we make another attempt.” 

“Another?”

“Unless you do not want to?”

“Can you manage to be in this atmosphere again?  I saw you staring at that snuff box.”

Gladney saw the familiar intolerant stare and shrugged.  “If I have a distraction, I may be fine.”

“Am I sufficient distraction?”  Anne demanded.

“I do not know.  Do you care to find out?”  His lips lifted slightly as she hesitated and he nodded as people returned to their conversations.  “Or do you want to meet someone else?” 

Anne looked around the room at the men and knew that the few who spared her a passing glance only did so for Rosings.  She looked back to her cousin, who still possessed some of his handsome visage and carriage, despite the ravages of the drugs.  “I suppose I will have to settle for you.”

“A ringing endorsement.”  He raised her hand to his lips.  “I will buy you an engagement gift tomorrow.”

“You do not have any money.”

“Then I will take something from Mother’s jewel box.”  

Anne rolled her eyes.  “The sentiment is overwhelming.” 

“I imagine that it is equal to yours,
my dear
.” 

Cathy watched her brother and cousin across the room and started when her dance partner spoke.  “I am sorry, what did you say?”

“I said that it looks like the rumours I heard are true?  Miss de Bourgh is to marry your brother?”

“I . . .” She looked away from them and back to Manning.  “Oh yes, of course.” Nodding, she shrugged.  “I do not know why anyone would be surprised.”  She shot her brother another glance.

“Her mother would be for one.  I remember hearing her talking of Darcy marrying your cousin.”

“Where did you hear that?”  Cathy’s head swung around.

“From Darcy!”  He laughed and then it faltered under her stare.  “He did not take it seriously, well this was years ago, of course, we were in school.  Marriage was the furthest thing from his mind.”  Cathy said nothing and Manning brightened when they came together again.  “I just met him and his new wife as a matter of fact!  When we were heading for London, they were on their way North.”

“Oh.  And my cousin was with them, of course.”

“Yes . . .” His brow creased.  “I had forgotten about her, she did not have much to say.”

“She never does.”  Cathy shrugged.

“We invited them to play cards with us that evening at the inn, and she stayed in her room.”

“She is only fifteen.”

“Only fifteen!  Oh well, that settles that.  She looked quite . . .” He cleared his throat when Cathy stared again.  “. . . grown.” 

“I am certain that she did.”  Cathy said coldly.  “Did you care for my cousin’s wife?”

“Yes, oh yes, Mrs. Darcy was lovely, and she certainly brought out a side to Darcy I had never seen before.  Quite surprising, I hardly knew him.  He was obviously very attached and happy.”  He watched her face and cleared his throat.  “If I may say, Lady Catherine, I believe that the way your hair is dressed is quite attractive.”

“Oh.”  Cathy blushed and touched it.  “Thank you, Mr. Manning!”

“It reminds me of Mrs. Darcy’s hair, of course hers is quite curly . . .” He saw the glare returning to Cathy’s eyes.  “. . . but I understand that curls are quite out of fashion.  My sister reads all of the magazines . . .” Seeing her softening again, he quietly vowed to himself to never speak of any member of the Darcy family again to anyone.
Especially to a jealous cousin!
 

“I THINK that our evening was a great success.”  Mrs. Kelly said as the family sat down to breakfast.  “It was certainly a wonderful surprise to include the Darcys and Colonel Fitzwilliam.”

“Mrs. Darcy reminded me of you when we were first married, Aggie.”  Mr. Kelly smiled across the table at her.  “She was teetering between two worlds.”

“Mrs. Darcy is hardly like me.  I was from your circle.  That poor woman has gone from an estate the size of Sommerwald to one that is five times as large.  I was very impressed with her comfort and poise at Mr. Darcy’s side, and clearly she had his admiration.”

“She was speaking to him with her eyes.”  Robert noted.  Mrs. Kelly smiled and looked at her husband, who cleared his throat.

“If you had stared at her any more I think that Mr. Darcy would have throttled you if
his
eyes were any indication.”  Stephen smirked.

“I thought that she was lovely.  She looked so . . .” Feeling the gazes of his family upon him, particularly his father’s, Robert tried to explain himself.  “She seemed . . . happy . . .”

“She is on her honeymoon, of course she is happy.”   Mrs. Kelly gave him a pointed look and poured out some tea.

Stephen laughed.  “Some honeymoon with the colonel appearing.” 

“I liked him.”  Mitchell declared.  “I wanted to hold his sword, but I was afraid to ask.”

“And a good thing, too!”  Sophie admonished him.  “That is a true weapon and no little boy should be wielding such a thing.”

“I am not a little boy!  I am fifteen, I could be . . .” His mother’s stare quickly shut his mouth.

“It was an impressive weapon; I imagine he has used it enough times.”  Stephen said thoughtfully.  “He seemed . . . I do not know, but he looked like he could take anyone down without a thought if he was so moved.”

Mr. Kelly scanned the table and sent an unspoken message to Mitchell to start eating.  “Obviously or he would not have achieved his rank, let alone lived this long.”

“I thought that he was most affable.”  Sophie said with surety.  Her brothers exchanged glances.

Robert smiled.  “He looked like he would strangle anyone who cut up the Darcy’s peace.  Did you see him watching them?”

Sophie poured some cream over her porridge and looked at her brother curiously.  “What were you doing paying them so much attention?” 

“I was not any different from the rest of the party, everyone was observing them.  Besides, how often do you get to meet the absentee landowner?”

“Every five years, it seems.”  Mr. Kelly murmured.

“Mr. Darcy was very quiet.”  Mrs. Kelly noted.

Sophie disagreed.  “He spoke.”

“Mostly to his wife.”

Stephen nodded.  “Did you see how he always had a hand on her?”

“He must have been afraid of her saying something, like someone I know.”  Robert grinned.