A soft knock at the adjoining door to the bathing room had Elizabeth sitting up in bed. Moonlight, and the hazy yellow from the lanterns on the street below, filtered into her room. She hadn't been able to sleep, perhaps because of the wildness that infected her during the soiree, or because of the light of London that she was still unused to.
"Lizzy, are you awake?" Her sister's voice hissed as the door opened. In she crept, a blanket purloined from her bed, wrapped around her shoulders.
When Jane saw that Elizabeth was awake, she gave the most girl-like giggle and ran to the bed. Lizzy couldn't help the grin that split her face wide, as the two of them returned for just a moment, to their girl-hood mannerisms.
Lizzy shifted over under the counterpane to give Jane room, and soon they were cuddled up, arm to arm, Jane's head resting on Lizzy's shoulder.
"Tonight was more magical than I could have every imagined, and think, it wasn't even a proper ball, or anything of the like, just a dinner out. What will it be like when we've been presented?" Jane sighed, and Lizzy pulled her sister close in for a warm embrace, enjoying the steady presence of her.
No matter how different they would be when they finally left London at the end of the Season, they would always be sisters, and they would always have each other's hearts in mind. No matter how far-flung apart their lives became.
"I will say, the jellied pork was quite delicious, I don't think our cook back home would have had the same result if she'd tried."
"Poor Mrs. Simms," Jane made a face as she spoke. "She would try though, dear heart that she is."
Elizabeth, who's memories of Mrs. Simms held far more 'get out, you!' and 'you've taken the last sweet you'll ever take!' from younger and more mischievous years, did not hold the Longbourn cook in the same esteem.
"And tell me of the colonel, who kept you in such rapt attention all evening," Jane said, rolling onto her side so she could properly look at her sister. Her gaze searched Lizzy's face, who only wrinkled her nose in response.
"A fine man, as men go, kind, with a lot to recommend his sense of humor, but Jane, I'm not going to make eyes at the first man who speaks to me with a sensible tongue in his head. And…" Lizzy hesitated, "he's a colonel, a second son, there's probably a price he must settle for, and I hardly think that my dowery would be equal to it." She tapped her sister on the nose, even as Jane sighed.
Because for all Jane was a romantic, she wouldn't disagree. They might be wearing some of the most elegant and well-cut fashions they ever had, but once negotiations began…
Most men of the Ton would not be as interested, in either of them.
If only Mr. Bennet had been more, hem, focused, with his investments and then tending of the Longbourn estates, each girl might claim more to her name than the meager offerings they had.
But he had not.
And so, Elizabeth assured herself, she would help Jane appear at advantage as much as possible, so that a future husband might overlook the financials and focus more on her face, her figure, her flawless personality.
"He seemed a merry sort," Jane said, and then let out a love-lorn sigh, "and my Mr. Bingley—"
Elizabeth's eyes widened.
"Your Mr. Bingley?" She couldn't help how her voice crept up in surprise. They had been dinner companions certainly, but to hear Jane already have any sort of affection struck a chord inside of Lizzy.
An uncomfortable one.
But this is what they wanted, was it not? For Jane to form an attachment, especially a good one? And Mr. Bingley seemed even more than amiable, even if his sister was intolerable and his choice of a friend in Mr. Darcy was, hmm, lacking.
But last time Jane had gotten wrapped up in a gentleman, petted and cosseted by his pretty poems, his gallantry, the flowers he had brought when pretending to court her…
Last time, Jane's heart had been thoroughly broken, and although the younger, it had been to Lizzy to bring her sister around again. It had been Lizzy who had read to Jane while Jane wept silently in bed when the graceless Mr. Smithson stopped sending poems, stopped arriving with flowers.
It had been Lizzy who'd organized the younger girls into performing plays for Jane, comedic ones, with much laughter and noise, and not a hint of romance to be found anywhere.
It had been Lizzy who quietly, at night, held her shaking sister as Jane felt her whole world had been to torn asunder.
And it had been Lizzy who'd sworn to herself she would never fall in love, never even attempt it, because deep down she believed she was not half so strong as Jane and wouldn't be able to bear it when it all became a falsehood.
"Of course, he's not mine," Jane said, but there was a smile on her face so radiant that even the shadows of the room could not dim it. Elizabeth fought the urge to speak out and warn her sister, but if Jane did not remember the pain of giving her heart over too quickly and too easily, Lizzy was loathe to bring it up again and remind her sister of it.
Perhaps this was the balm that would soothe Jane's soul, and for that reason, Elizabeth kept quiet.
"Tell me of what he said to you tonight," Lizzy said, rolling onto her side and casting her eyes along her sister's profile. Their even being here in London was a dream, and Lizzy didn't want to spoil anything for Jane.
"He told me of his own family some, although we did not speak of Miss Bingley. He has another sister who is married, and he has had the unfortunate loss of both his parents, although that has seemed to make him even more determined to succeed in life." Her cheeks flushed, pink staining them so deeply that it was even visible in the dark of Lizzy's bedroom. "And he confessed to me that he feels rather out of step here in London, that he should prefer a country seat, although he has none to speak of at the moment."
"No?" No family home? Even Mr. Bennet was able to provide them that, for all it was to be entailed away upon his death.
"Well, he does, but he said it is so full of drafts he didn't like to speak of it, and he was sure he didn't want to raise his family there." Jane reached out and grabbed Lizzy's hand. "Should I have any hope of it, to think that he spoke to me of happy families, of where to raise them, of the country instead of town? He could have spoken about the shooting or his fondness for horses, or even an obsession with books—"
"Books would have recommended him strongly to my favor," Lizzy interjected and Jane squeezed her fingers with a low, quiet laugh.
"But families, Lizzy—"
"I suppose future meetings will have to wait until we have been properly presented, and are able to see him at a ball, perhaps Almack's, but yes, it does seem a rather odd turn of conversation for a young man." Lizzy thought on it.
Odd, perhaps, but maybe not so. No gentleman worth his salt in the intelligence arena came to the London Season without a thought for taking a wife. Absolutely, the rakes and the committed bachelors intent on drinking their inheritance and spending time in every Gaming Hell avoided the Season, the fluttering mamas, and the lace-bedecked maidens, as much as they could.
That could only mean one thing… that not only had Mr. Bingley come to London to acquire a wife, but that he had interest in Jane already, given the ease with which he had turned the conversation to plans for the future.
"Jane—" Lizzy said, but the only answer from her sister was deep, peaceful breathing. Jane's eyes were shut, her head lolling to one side, and it was clear that dreams had taken her. Lizzy bit her lip and choose not to disturb her sister, not even to reclaim the bed for herself. They had shared all their lives, one more night was a joy of sisterly closeness, not a punishment.
Instead she laid there, her own eyes drifting shut, until one thought hit her like a bolt.
If Mr. Bingley had come to acquire a wife, then surely, most surprisingly, so had Mr. Darcy.
I am so pleased to announce that Duty and Desire is now available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Apple iBooks, and more, just search for 'Nora Kipling - Duty and Desire'! You may purchase it right away or wait for a new chapter to be uploaded here. Thank you for all your loving support.
- Nora