Page 6 of The Heir and Spare
Arthur nodded. “I was so pleased to come. How have you been? Your estate is well situated, comfortable. I’ve had every need accommodated.”
“Excellent.” He nodded, seeming pleased, but also not needing the praise. “We are just waiting on two others and wewill begin.” He smiled. “We expect all our guests to arrive by late this evening, but the three of you who are here are fortuitous.”
Arthur thought that an interesting choice of words, particularly if he referred to the frowning woman who had arrived recently.
And then they entered. The footman announced, “Misses Elizabeth and Mary Bennet.”
Their curtseys were lovely and well-practiced. They carried themselves with perfect poise. But Miss Elizabeth could not hide a certain stoicism in her expression before she turned her face down to perform her curtsey.
He stepped forward to reach for her hand. She offered it with a completely blank expression. No smile, no surprise, nothing. “Mr. Darcy.”
He bowed over her hand, lightly kissing her knuckles. “Miss Elizabeth?”
She nodded and then turned to her side. “I don’t know if you’ve met my sister Mary?”
It seemed an odd choice of words and action. He’d not met Miss Elizabeth either, had he? Why was she introducing her sister to him? But he shrugged it off and bowed over Miss Mary’s hand next, brushing his lips across her gloved knuckles. “It is a pleasure, Misses Mary and Elizabeth. I look forward to our time together with such an illustrious host.” He smiled.
Miss Elizabeth seemed curious, and with an odd questioning expression she turned to their host. “And you must be Lord Shackley?”
The older gentleman grinned. “Yes!” He clapped his hands together, his eyes crinkling with evidence of frequent smiles. “The daughters of one of my most cherished correspondents. Welcome. I’m so pleased he could spare you.”
He seemed to surprise them with a grandfatherly type hug. “I feel as if you are my own. He speaks so highly and so often of youboth. But you don’t know me yet. Thank you for humoring an old man and coming to brighten my days.”
Miss Elizabeth’s face changed into a beacon of happiness, and Darcy’s mouth went dry. In that moment, she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, surely. Her eyes lit, her smile was large and full, her nose pert, wrinkled just around the end as though finding something so delightful she couldn’t withhold the happiness. He was enchanted.
But when she turned back to him and saw his face, everything in her expression dimmed. He couldn’t account for it, but the difference was so stark, some explanation must be owed.
Lord Shackley cleared his throat and looked between them for a moment then said, “Come, let me give you a tour of my collections as we await one other who has not yet arrived.” He looked at Miss Mary as if to say she might find the new arrival most interesting and then continued his sentence. “You four will certainly find the most enjoyment from my tomes.” He held out his arm toward one section of the wall. “Let’s begin with the masters.”
The room was lined with books as one would expect, and smelled of books which Darcy quite enjoyed. It reminded him of his study at home. But it also held very interesting busts and other items on the shelves. The books were not organized by any sort of size or color, but by subject matter or author it seemed. It made for a more eclectic looking experience. If Miss Elizabeth’s pleased expression were anything to go by, she quite enjoyed it. He tried to, but his fingers itched to start moving things around. The one book taller than the rest for example. What was it doing there? Standing tall, asking to be moved, begging to find a home on the other side of the shelf with the others of its height. He stepped nearer but before he could begin a bit of reorganizing, Lord Shackley directed their attention to a particular book with a dark green binding he held in his hands.
“This, my friends, will become very familiar to all of you.”
They all stepped closer.
Miss Elizabeth brushed against his arm and then flinched away, stepping so obviously far from him he had to wonder again if he’d done something to offend her in some way. He dipped his head in an effort to apologize for accidentally being in her space.
But she wasn’t looking. She was so actively avoiding looking at him that her face was turned away from even their host as he attempted to show them a new set of books.
If it were possible to look somewhere besides at him, she was actively doing it. He stared at her, wondering if she would give up and glance his way.
“What are you doing?” Her whisper sounded soft, but her expression was anything but.
“I’m wondering if you might glance my way again. I want to be ready for it.”
Her lips twitched.
And he smiled. So she had a sense of humor.
At last she turned to him, her eyes smiling. “There. I’m looking. Now, we should be paying more attention to that book with the green binding.”
Miss Mary had it in her clutches and she did look as though she might never let it go.
“Why exactly are we to be so interested in this particular piece of literature?” He wished to sequester the two of them off for a moment now that she was smiling in his direction.
“I believe, if you were listening, you would have heard that we are to create a theatrical endeavor of some sort…a musical or a play or simply a reading.” She crossed her arms. “And we are paired to do it.”
He coughed and then attempted to hide his enjoyment so as not to alienate her again. “Oh? And tell me, how are your performing abilities?”
