Much Ado About I Do by Nora Kipling

Author:Nora Kipling [Kipling, Nora]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Heart Candies Publishing

Chapter 21

At the very least, Mrs. Warren made sure that Elizabeth was introduced properly to everyone, and Lizzy was able to spend time in the company of all sorts of people as the evening progressed.

True to her word, Mrs. Warren did not lean upon Elizabeth to perform, and when she’d been invited to do so, she demurred.

In one particular instance, however, she was in the process of declining a rather enthusiastic young gentleman with a shock of red hair that seemed to defy Newton’s own laws by sticking up more than it ought to have done, when she found her excuses failed to put him off.

“Ahh, but Miss Bennet, surely in the future then, you wouldn’t say no to showing us how they play in the country,” said Mr. Barton, with a wry smile on his face. He quite nearly was elbowed by the fellow that accompanied him, who coughed softly. She realized that they were poking fun at her, and she lifted her head, cheeks flushing. If only she could have escaped- but she was alone with them for the moment, as Mrs. Warren had been walked across the room by another guest.

Elizabeth could not simply march off unaccompanied, not on her first evening in the ton. It would be unseemly, moreso even than suffering the company of two gentleman who wished to mock her for being a country miss.

“Miss Bennet,” Mr. Darcy’s smooth voice cut through her thoughts as she tried to ferret out a method of escape. She turned and looked up, and was caught like a wild creature staring at the lamplight of a shepherd. His hair was lightly tousled from the evening, and he was wearing a rare, rather diverting, smile across his lips. “I do believe you once were offered to me for a dance, and rather abruptly decided that you had no intention of dancing at all. I recovered from the injury, indeed, and I do wonder… well, I trust that might not be the case, this evening?” He held out his hand for her, and her breath stuttered to a stop in her throat. The snickering of Mr. Barton and his associate faded from her awareness.

“I- I did not think we were intending to dance, this evening,” she said, but then the pianoforte struck up a lively tune, more suited to the employment of dancing than to rapt listening.

“Plans change,” Mr. Darcy said with another one of his smiles that did curious things to her belly. She willed her stomach to behave, and then curtsied, taking his hand. He lead her to the floor, and they began a quadrille with a set of other couples. She focused on the movements, much more refined than in Hertfordshire, and she felt for a moment as if she were struggling, and failing to keep up.

She faltered, fear clawing at the base of her spine and making her legs clumsy and slow.

“Shhh, easy,” Mr. Darcy murmured as he came up to her in the measured paces of the quadrille, taking her hand and pulling her in.

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