by Leenie Brown
To Richard’s surprise, Miss Bingley smiled and said, “There is nothing to forgive. I was here to stand as chaperone. Your reputation is safe.”
“What are you two doing this afternoon?” Richard asked.
“I am continuing my lessons. We have just completed the duties of the footmen and maids,” Lydia replied. “There is a lot to remember, but Miss Bingley is very patient. Surprisingly so.”
“Is that so?” Amusement had been so far from Richard for so many weeks that it was quite refreshing to feel it now.
“Oh, yes,” she assured him seriously. “I fear I had a very incorrect view of who Miss Bingley was. She is not so cross as I had thought when I first met her. She is actually very pleasant, and I hope she will count me as a friend.”
“I was cross when you met me,” Caroline admitted. “I did not wish to be here. I preferred town.”
“Do you still prefer town?” Lydia asked.
Caroline nodded. “To a degree. However, I find that the country improves when the company improves.” She smiled. “I am most happy to be wherever Sir Matthew is.”
“There are two chairs in here,” Richard offered. “If you were both to join me, there would be nothing improper. I would like to hear how you and Sir Matthew are getting on.”
Caroline’s brow furrowed. “You would?”
“I am dreadfully bored, Miss Bingley.”
“Very well, then, I suppose Miss Lydia and I can conclude our lesson for today.”
“But will I know enough before any other guests arrive?” Lydia questioned as she entered the room. “I should hate to be found wanting.”
“You will not be,” Richard assured her.
“She most certainly will not be,” Caroline agreed as she sat down on the small settee that was part of the furniture grouping before the hearth.
“This will not do,” Lydia said, standing before Richard and extending her hand. “We must turn your chair. I refuse to speak to the side of your head.”
Richard chuckled and lowered his feet, which he had just gotten comfortable on the footstool. Then, he took her hand and allowed her to assist him in standing.
“Stand here.” She had pulled him three steps away from the chair.
“I can move the chair,” he argued.
“And so can I,” she replied with a bat of her lashes and a smile. “You will not deny me the pleasure of assisting you, will you?”
“No.”
How could he refuse when she was looking at him so hopefully and with that particular look of delight? He understood precisely why Dash did whatever Lydia asked. Refusing her would take away that look and not even a pup like Dash, who was as unyielding as they came, could tolerate seeing such disappointment.
Speaking of the creature, Dash wandered into the room just at that moment and eyed Richard’s chair.
“Absolutely not!” Lydia said firmly. “The rug is very comfortable, and the colonel must have this chair.”
Dash’s tale wagged as he listened to Lydia, and then as soon as she was done speaking, he sat down and waited for her to help Richard to his chair.
“Come here,” Richard put a hand down in invitation to Dash, who willingly came to him for a scratch.
“Now, lie down,” Lydia said, pointing to the rug.
Dash’s head tipped and looked at the place where Lydia was pointing before lying down exactly where he was at Richard’s side.
“Oh, very well, but do not disturb the colonel.” Lydia moved the footstool into place before taking a seat next to Caroline.
“That is exactly what I mean,” Caroline said with a smile. “You knew precisely what was needed to make Colonel Fitzwilliam comfortable, and you were very direct in giving orders to Dash, even if he did not heed them completely.
“He’d be sacked if he were a footman,” Richard teased.
“Perhaps not dismissed on the first instance,” Lydia replied with a smile. “I would first speak to the butler and have him instruct the footman on what was and was not his place. A lowering of position could be tried first if the error did not correct itself. However,” she sighed, “one must not have servants who are unwilling to do as they should.”
“Well done, Miss Lydia,” Caroline said. “You have been paying close attention.”
“I wish to do well,” Lydia answered.
“Why?” Richard asked.
He suspected he knew. Yesterday, they had not spoken of much except his injuries and how much they had missed each other in the few minutes of privacy Darcy had given them. And not all of those minutes had been used for talking either. Once he had convinced her that she would not injure him by kissing, there had been some time spent doing just that.
“As I said, I do not wish to be found wanting.”
“By whom?”
“Well,” she blinked her eyes as if surprised that he would ask such a thing, “by everyone. I should not wish for them to think you were unfortunately tied to an incapable or improper lady.” She looked down at her hands. “Some might forbid you from courting me.”
“I should like to see them try,” he muttered.
Caroline took Lydia’s hand. “If there is one thing that I have learned from Sir Matthew which I was never taught in school, it is that my success or failure is not judged by the opinions of strangers.” She shrugged when Lydia looked at her in surprise. “You must first find yourself acceptable.”
It was Richard’s turn to blink. Caroline Bingley had always been concerned with the opinions of others for as long as he had known her. Was she no longer so enamoured with such?
“After that, it is only Sir Matthew’s good opinion that I seek for I know that if I am pleased with myself and my effort, and he is equally as satisfied, then I have succeeded. Few others matter a great deal to my happiness.”
“He is wise,” Richard said.
“Excessively so,” Caroline agreed.
Richard looked at Lydia. “Are you pleased with yourself?”
She shrugged. “I am not certain.”
Caroline patted the hand she had been holding. “You will be. You only lack the confidence that comes with practice.” She turned to Richard. “I was telling Miss Lydia just today when she arrived that I have decided to have her help me plan a dinner for when the countess is here. I will invite all the Bennets, and it will be an elaborate, festive affair.” She smiled at Lydia who was looking a trifle uneasy. “It will be before your sisters are married and will be a celebration of their upcoming nuptials.”
“That is an excellent idea,” Richard said.
“We have not properly celebrated their betrothals,” Caroline said.
“Nor have we celebrated yours,” Lydia said.
“True! I think we should include you and Sir Matthew as honoured guests,” Richard agreed heartily.
“But I am the hostess,” Caroline deferred.
“Only one hostess. I believe you had another,” Richard replied.
“I would prefer to not be celebrated.” Caroline’s cheeks flushed. “Being promised to Sir Matthew is enough. I came into this betrothal…” She paused. “My behaviour was deplorable.”
“I will not press the matter,” Lydia said quietly. “If you do not wish it, it shall not be.”
“I wish,” Caroline whispered while glancing at the door as if checking to make certain they were alone. “I wish to prove myself as a gracious hostess and acquit myself as a proper sister who is happy for her brother and his friend.”
“Ah. You wish to prove yourself,” Richard said.
Caroline nodded. “Do not tell anyone else. Only Sir Matthew will know beyond us.”
“Of course, you may trust us,” Lydia assured her. “What are friends for if not to be trusted with secrets?”
“When I first arrived at Netherfield in the fall, I never thought that you and I would be friends,” Caroline said to Lydia.
“It is most remarkable, is it not?” Lydia agreed.
“Indubitably,” Richard muttere
d.
Dash’s head popped up as a cat crept into the room, slinking stealthily along the door.
“Have you met Oliver?” Lydia asked when she had spotted the cause for Dash’s attention.
“Yes, Bingley introduced him to me.”
“He and Dash are not yet friends.”
Richard chuckled as he watched Oliver move around the room, carefully keeping his distance from Dash.
“The surgeon is here, sir,” Richard’s man stood at the door to his room. “He is waiting downstairs.”
“I will see him in three minutes,” Richard replied.
Caroline rose, and Lydia followed suit.
“Might I have a moment with Miss Lydia?” he asked Caroline.
“If the door is left open, I think it can be permitted,” she agreed.
“Come closer,” he said to Lydia as Caroline left the room. “Give me your hand.”
Lydia held out her hand to him, and taking it, he bent to kiss it. “I need you to know that you will never be found wanting by me. No matter what anyone else might say. I love you.”
She ducked her head and blushed sweetly. How he wished he was able-bodied enough to stand and embrace her.
Lifting her eyes to his, she held his gaze and said, “And I need you to know that to me you shall always be enough. No matter if your coat is red, blue, black, or green.” Her brow furrowed. “I am actually rather fond of blue,” she said with a playful smile that made him chuckle.
“It matters not what your profession or if you can only ever see me when I stand on this side of you, for I love you. Before I saw you yesterday, I did not know if I could love a gentleman who was not handsome.”
Richard’s eyes grew wide. She did not find him handsome? That was a bit of a blow.
“But I did not even think about how you looked beyond the fact that my heart broke for the pain you must have suffered.” She bent and kissed his lips. “And I worried for nothing. You are quite as handsome as you have always been.” She ran a finger lightly down his scar, causing it to tingle as the nerves attempted to come to life. “You are just now more distinguished.”
“Kiss me again.”
“It is highly improper, Colonel.”
However, despite her protest, she did as he asked before leaving him to wait for the surgeon.
Chapter 19
“It is good to see you in the drawing room.” Darcy looked up from the book he was reading as Richard entered the room with his brother standing watchfully at his side.
“I hear Mother is to arrive. I thought it best to look as fit as possible so that she would not send for every doctor in London.”
“And a few from other locales,” Westonbury quipped.
Lady Matlock had never been one to just allow her children to recuperate as the good Lord deemed, as her husband said it. As certain as her husband was about the fact that medication and doctors were not needed for every ailment, she was equally as certain that if doctors and medication were not needed then the good Lord would not have allowed them to exist. Therefore, if her children did not regain their health and vigour within a specified window of time – more or less mutually agreed upon between Lord and Lady Matlock – a physician would be sought.
“In fact, she might have one or two with her when she comes,” Westonbury added as he took a seat after making sure that his brother was comfortable.
“With any luck, it will only be one,” Richard agreed with a half smile. “There is nothing that can be done for me that has not already been done. And so, here I am, and I would appreciate it if you would not hover so much, Wes. Mother will think I am unwell if you do.”
“Have you seen yourself?” Westonbury retorted. “She will think you are unwell whether or not I am watching to make sure you do not harm yourself in your haste to ignore your current condition.”
The room was spinning again, and the sunlight shone more brightly in this room than in his bedroom. Richard closed his eyes. That would help. “I am not ignoring my condition. It will not allow me the pleasure, I assure you. However, I refuse to be limited by it completely. There is a lady…” He opened his good eye and peeked around the room as best he could. No one had joined them. It was just he, his brother, and Darcy. “There is a lady I should like to one day marry. Now, that I am free of my commission, I thought it would be good to consider marrying.”
Not that he knew what he was going to do rather than command a group of men. But, without the ability to see what was beside him, he was of no use to them.
“Are you certain you are rid of it?” Darcy asked.
Again, Richard opened his good eye so that he could peek at his cousin. “I suspect so. The spinning has begun to improve, but my vision has not.”
“And you fear it never will?” Darcy asked.
“Yes. As did the surgeon when I asked him.”
“Ah! But that was just a country surgeon and not a physician from town,” Westonbury said with a laugh.
Richard sighed. “I will consult such a person when I return to town if Mother has not stashed one in her trunk.” He almost hoped that his mother had brought a doctor with her. He would like to hear what his fate would be from more than one source. It was not that he doubted the surgeon. He just did not wish to believe the man.
“Are we expecting other guests today?” Westonbury asked eagerly.
“Yes,” Darcy answered. “I believe at least four of the Bennet sisters are intending to call.”
“Only four?” Westonbury sounded disappointed.
“You may have to content yourself with tormenting Oliver,” Darcy said dryly.
“That cat can climb all the way to the top of the drapery on that window behind you, Richard.”
“Why you are proud of that fact, I do not understand. Pricks and snags from a kitten’s claws do not add value to the fabric,” Darcy chided.
Richard had heard how Westonbury had clapped his hands close to Oliver, and the startled creature had scurried up the drapes.
“It is almost as if Miss Mary is here,” Westonbury teased Darcy.
“You should take up my commission,” Richard muttered.
“We would be speaking French if he did,” Darcy said.
“He needs something to do. Idleness only leads to mischief,” Richard replied.
“He has an estate and eventually will have Matlock and all its duties.”
“I do bore rather easily,” Westonbury agreed. “There are no soirees here. There is no park in which to see and be seen. It is very dull, except when the Bennet ladies call.”
His lips curled upward in pleasure but not as Richard had seen before. There was a peace to the smile where usually there was restlessness. Wes was always restless. Richard could not put his finger on it, but it was as if his brother viewed the arrival of the Bennets as something more than just a balm to boredom.
“There is to be a dinner tomorrow.” Richard had heard about it from Lydia.
For the past three days since she and Caroline had visited with him for that first time in his room, she had spent at least an hour with him, reading to him or telling him about all the preparations.
“Yes, I am looking forward to it,” Westonbury replied. “I hear there will be music afterward and then we will play cards. Georgie has some new song she is preparing.”
“As does Miss Kitty,” Darcy added.
“Both are doing very well.” He sighed. “Miss Mary refuses to play.”
“Does she? I thought I had heard her practising with Georgiana one day,” Darcy said.
“Very well. She only refuses to play when I am in the room or even in the corridor. She makes Kitty stand guard at the door.”
Richard chuckled. “She banishes you from the music room?”
“She’d likely banish me from England if she could.”
Richard’s head tipped at his brother’s curiously perturbed tone.
“And why is that?” he asked.
Westonbury blew out a breath. “Something abo
ut Sally’s. It is not on the list of Miss Mary approved places or activities.”
“Which is as it should be,” Darcy muttered.
“Do you know what she said to me on our walk the day I met her?”
“I am sure I could not even guess,” Richard replied. He knew, however, that something said in the exchange between the two had made an impression on his brother. Darcy had said so. And as far as Richard knew, Darcy had still not discovered what had been said between the two. Elizabeth had not told him, though she knew. Apparently, it was not the sort of thing Elizabeth wished to repeat. Nor was it the sort of thing Darcy would press to discover. Darcy was patient where Richard was curious. Richard had thought to ask Lydia about it but had not.
“That places such as Sally’s only exist because of men – she did not say gentlemen, she said men – such as me who have no care for anyone but themselves.” He rose from where he was sitting and scooped up Oliver before he could escape. “That was the end of our disagreement thanks to Miss Lydia.” He sat down again and pulled out his watch fob to dangle in front of the kitten in his lap. “Apparently, there are men of honour such as you, Darcy, and even father – since none of you frequent such a place as Sally’s – however, I am not to be counted amongst that number.” He looked up from Oliver to Richard. “Is she always so severe and set in her opinions?”
“I could not say,” Richard replied.
“I believe she is. Elizabeth said it would take a heroic deed to sway her opinion once it is so firmly set against someone,” Darcy inserted.
The statement was met by a short burst of laughter from Westonbury. “Perhaps I do need to take up your commission after all.”
“Perhaps if you started by not provoking her?” Darcy suggested.
Westonbury sighed. “Perhaps.”
“We are not children any longer, Wes. You cannot throw pebbles at the girls you like,” Richard said.
Understanding dawned in Darcy’s eyes. “Oh, yes! I remember you used to torment any girl who caught your fancy. Do you like Miss Mary?”
“No. Yes. I do not know. I only know that it bothers me greatly that she thinks so poorly of me and that her opinion was set before she even met me. Should I not, at least, be given a chance to make a first impression?”