2

Autumn, 1803

Longbourn, Meryton

“How well you look,” Elizabeth cried as Captain Oliver Lucas released her from a warm embrace. She had taken off running across the meadow as soon as she caught sight of him approaching Longbourn with his sister, and hurled herself indecorously into his arms.

Olly laughed. “I must be looking very well indeed, if you could not wait another moment to greet me properly. But then when has your impertinent friend ever done anything properly, Charlotte?” He winked at them both, and kept one arm firmly wrapped around Elizabeth’s shoulders.

“Our Lizzy has only grown in impudence since you went away,” Charlotte teased.

“And beauty,” Olly said.

Elizabeth laughed. “Aye, and everything but good sense.”

“I do not believe that for a moment,” Olly said, smiling down at her. “Charlotte’s letters have been full of your antics and accomplishments – and your own irreverent nonsense, which I was always delighted to find enclosed. The picture of my step-mother was so rude and so poorly drawn, but so amusingly accurate – my shipmates said I ought to frame it.”

“Oh, I recall I was very cross with her that day – she had worked Mamma into such a state!” Elizabeth blushed with equal measures of mortification and wicked glee at the notion that Olly had shown his fellow officers the nonsensical doodles she often bid Charlotte include in her correspondence.

“Then I hope you have your sketch pad at the ready, for she is sure to do her worst in the coming weeks,” Olly said with a grin. “I trust she told you the news about Netherfield?”

“I have fled the house to escape Mamma’s speculation about it, and yet here you are, no doubt eager to encourage her,” Elizabeth cried, giving her friend a playful nudge.

“Yes, here I am, ready to be thanked! Your mamma will think me quite a hero – not because of any of my valour at sea, but because I am personally responsible for the sudden influx of eligible gentlemen in Meryton. I can just hear her now….” Olly shifted his posture, striking a feminine pose and expression as he altered his voice in an impression of Mrs. Bennet. “Five single gentlemen, and my five dear girls all out at once! I shall have them all married and settled by Saturday next!”

Elizabeth chortled and shoved him a bit harder this time, noticing how solid and muscular he had grown; she smiled appreciatively at him and blushed again. “Yes, and that includes you, Captain, which is just what you deserve for inciting such a frenzy.”

Olly captured her hand and raised it to his lips. “I am no stranger to arousing speculation, fair lady,” he said with a dramatic flourish.

This was precisely why Elizabeth had set out to greet Olly before he reached the manor. He had ever been as a brother to her; though she had been out for above a year before he went to sea, there had never been a modicum of romance between them, despite her mother’s hopes for a match. Elizabeth knew it would be more on her mother’s mind than ever before, and while she had no wish to fuel these hopes and then disappoint them, in some corner of her mind Elizabeth had cherished a curious sort of optimism. She had wondered if perhaps there could be more between them now.

But no, she already felt certain that it could not be so. He looked at her just as he ever had, as if he would sooner throw mud pies at her than make love to her. The feeling was mutual, and she found she was relieved that their familiar camaraderie had not altered.

As they began ambling toward Longbourn together, Charlotte observed, “My incorrigible brother means to be in league with our mammas, Lizzy. I think it a ghastly trick, but perhaps you might dissuade him.”

“Not for all the world,” Lizzy said, failing to restrain her mirth as she attempted a serious expression. “I am advised by my mother that we shall all starve in the hedgerows if Papa does not call on our new neighbours and inform them that they are all quite welcome to any or all of his daughters they choose.”

“A matter on which I have the most decided opinions,” Olly quipped with the same feigned solemnity. “I am the authority on such matters until they come amongst us, and then you shall see for yourselves that I am entirely correct in all my presumptions.”

“I hope you have a handsome friend for Charlotte,” Elizabeth teased. “My sisters and I cannot expect to have all the good fortune of your solicitude.”

As Charlotte rolled her eyes, Olly gave her an energetic squeeze. “But of course I do – I cannot neglect half my heart! Captain Darcy has an elder brother – we were most amazed to find we are both twins! I am sure we are far too different to have become friends were it not for such a coincidence. His twin must be for mine, I am certain of it. The elder Darcy is master of two grand estates, a widower with a young daughter who needs a mother, and if he is half as handsome as his brother, I shall heartily approve of the match for my dear sister.”

“Rich, handsome gentlemen do not marry twenty-six-year-old spinsters,” Charlotte drawled. “Not even the widowers.”

“Not when they think so meanly of themselves,” Olly said with a little pout.

Elizabeth arched an eyebrow. “A gentleman of such circumstances in life must be in want of a wife, whether he is handsome or not. Despise me if you dare, Charlotte, but I must take up your brother’s cause and promote the match. It is quite safe for me to do so, as Mamma has already decided that Jane is to have Mr. Bingley.”

“She wishes her favourite to be settled so near as Netherfield, of course,” Olly said, again affecting his impression of Mrs. Bennet as he cried, “She cannot be so beautiful for nothing!”

Elizabeth smiled. “What do you know of him?”

“He and I have corresponded a little after an introduction through our mutual friend. I have heard that he called on Father when he came to see the place – so you must have already heard that he is handsome and affable. His letters were both full of enthusiasm for his scheme, he seems quite devoted to all his friends who are to accompany him, and he was delighted to learn that several families in the neighbourhood boast of beautiful daughters. The tone of his letters were as if we were already old friends, which I quite liked; his open temper must be just the thing to suit Jane’s reserve.”

Charlotte shook her head with affectionate amusement at her companions. “I wonder that Lizzy does not ask after your plans for her.”

“I should rather hear anything else,” Elizabeth laughed.

“But alas, you must hear me, for I once vexed you ten times as much on a regular basis, and it has been many years since I have given you any grief at all,” Olly said.

“After your bravery at sea, I suppose you have earned the right to plague me with your matchmaking,” Elizabeth laughed. “But if I yield too easily, you may mistake me for the French.”

Olly threw his head back and guffawed. “Should you not like such a clever sister, Charlotte?”

Elizabeth and Charlotte exchanged a look of surprise at what he seemed to be implying, but then Olly clarified his meaning. “You shall be sisters when I match you with Captain Darcy, Lizzy, for he is the finest man I ever saw, and therefore the rare suitor to be worthy of you.”

“Good Heavens,” Elizabeth laughed. “Did you not just tell me how very different he is from you? From such information I had concluded he must be reticent and rude, and very ill-featured.”

“He is reticent, which is often mistaken as rudeness – indeed, he is prone to giving offence with his awkward gravitas – which I have come to find strangely endearing – I look forward to seeing you sketch his character. However, he is so pleasing in appearance that perhaps you will not mind that he scarcely speaks a word unless he can say something that will amaze the whole room.”

“You mistake me for Kitty and Lydia – they would happily overlook such defects of character to set their cap at a handsome man. I should prefer a man of greater substance, a man of informed opinions and open manners. Above all, I should dearly wish for a man who can make me laugh.” Again Elizabeth felt a momentary wistful pang in her chest that she had not had the good sense to fall in love with Oliver Lucas.

“Laugh at him as much as you choose, Lizzy – you are perfectly lovely when you laugh, and he shall admire the sparkle in your fine eyes.” Olly dodged her elbow this time and gave her a teasing shove as he said, “I find it curious that his friend Bingley is of such a different disposition, so warm and cheerful. I understand his brother is also a merry fellow, though this has been tempered by the loss of his wife. And the other gentleman, this cousin the Colonel, is said to be fond of pranks and japes.”

“Then perhaps the Colonel is for me,” Elizabeth suggested.

“No, no, what I mean is that it appears Captain Darcy prefers gregarious companions. You know I am at ease amongst all sorts of company, and I was one of his only close compatriots. You and I are more alike than any siblings I ever met, Lizzy, and it is very likely that Captain Darcy will therefore find your company quite desirable. Besides, the Colonel is sure to inspire such wild passions in Kitty and Lydia – are they not mad over this news of the militia coming to quarter here?”

“If you had only heard Mamma’s raptures on that score,” Elizabeth sighed, her face flushing with embarrassment. “But what of poor Mary?”

“Ah, but I have not done yet,” Olly said with an air of smug mystery.

Charlotte knit her brow. “But have you not accounted for all five gentlemen?”

“I never agreed that I was amongst them,” Olly replied. “I – forgive me, but my affections are engaged elsewhere. It is to be a great secret, and we need not say a word about it when there is so much else to talk of. But I am a very well-informed fellow, and I shall tell you what I know.”

Elizabeth and Charlotte exchanged a look of significance, each of them applying at once to know more of his secret attachment. Olly waved them away. “It would hardly be a secret if I spoke of it to anybody, and we have both sworn we would not. But what I wish to speak of ought to be of greater interest, especially to you, Lizzy, as it concerns your own family.”

“Whatever can you mean?”

Olly rubbed his hands together, relishing that he knew what Elizabeth did not. “I have heard that Lady Catherine de Bourgh, Darcy’s aunt, was visited by her favourite niece, the beautiful Lady Amelia Fitzwilliam, sister to the Colonel – and that over the course of this visit, the dowager was obliged to warn her parson not to pay such lavish compliments to the young lady. She apparently advised him to direct his amorous attentions in a more suitable direction – Lady Catherine told William Collins to go forth and woo the daughters of the estate he is to someday inherit.”

Elizabeth gaped at him. “Not the same William Collins who is heir to Longbourn?!”

“The very same, dear Lizzy – and would not a parson be just the thing for moral Mary?”

“You really are worse than both our mothers combined,” Elizabeth chided him, inwardly wondering if her father knew of their cousin’s intentions.

Charlotte looked at her brother with as much astonishment as Elizabeth. “Captain Darcy told you this?”

“Certainly not, he is far too circumspect for such idle gossip,” Olly cried. “It was Bingley – I told you he is a very open fellow. It seems his friend Mr. Darcy – the Captain’s twin brother – was married to Lady Catherine’s daughter. That is how he came to inherit the second estate, though the great lady still presides over what passed rightfully from her daughter to Mr. Darcy. And apparently her parson rather worships her – Mr. Darcy was much relieved at his aunt sending her sycophant away on such an errand.”

“What a fine joke when he crosses paths with the man again here in Hertfordshire,” Elizabeth mused.

“I had not thought of it, but I daresay you are quite right,” Olly agreed with a chuckle. “I wonder what Captain Darcy shall make of the parson. Bingley informs me that Mr. Darcy means to give management of his late wife’s estate to his younger brother, as an inducement to leave the navy. They none of them care for the dowager aunt, and rather fear she will pursue them to Netherfield; her parson must be an equally fascinating specimen.”

“It seems we are to receive an abundance of fascinating specimens amongst us,” Elizabeth mused. “Shall I have the pleasure of sketching their characters at the assembly tomorrow?”

They had reached the manor now, and entered with all the same levity, despite the usual uproar in the house. “You shall hear the answer at the same time as your mamma, for she is sure to inquire,” Olly whispered. “And I shall wait to ask you for at least two dances until we are in her hearing.”

Elizabeth gave him one last playful jab as she muttered, “Vexing man!”