Abduction & Acrimony by Abbey North

Author:Abbey North
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Published: 2020-06-14T04:00:00+00:00

7

They arrived at a fashionable time, not too early and not too late. Lizzy was surprised by her mother’s restraint. She’d expected Fanny to be waiting on Mr. Bingley’s doorstep an hour before guests would be accepted, but they arrived shortly after the ball had begun.

Mr. Bingley approached immediately, and he seemed to be quite enchanted with Jane in her lovely pink and yellow-striped dress Madame St. Croix had sewn for her over the last few days. He took Jane’s hand and kissed the back of it quickly before standing up, his admiration clear in his gaze. “You look quite fetching this evening, Miss Jane.”

“Thank you, Mr. Bingley. You are most handsome as well.” Jane’s cheeks flushed, and she looked away for a moment, clearly overwhelmed.

Lizzy eyed them with approval, almost surprised to see Mr. Bingley interacting with Jane in the same way he always had. She had feared Darcy’s words would’ve carried more weight, and she’d half-expected Charles to be aloof.

“Pardon me a moment,” said Mr. Bingley. “Lord Lucas is gesturing for me.”

Jane smiled and excused him before turning to Lizzy. She looked like she wanted to giggle madly.

Lizzy squeezed her hand in a reassuring fashion before looking around. She tried to find Miss Georgiana in the crush, but she didn’t see her. With Jane accompanying her, she moved deeper into the room, hoping she’d overlooked Georgiana in the corner. She almost ran into Caroline Bingley, and they both stopped at the last moment to prevent a collision. “Excuse me,” said Lizzy, her heartrate slightly increased from the near miss.

“Of course,” said Caroline in a condescending fashion. “It must be difficult to watch where one is going when they are gawking at everything around them as though they had never seen something so delightful before.”

Lizzy managed to restrain the urge to respond in kind. Instead, she kept her voice level when she said, “I was looking for Miss Georgiana. We had such a delightful walk the other day, and I was hoping to speak with her again.”

Miss Bingley clearly did not like that. “You have spent time with Miss Georgiana alone?” She sniffed. “I rather wonder why Mr. Darcy has not put a stop to that.”

Lizzy gritted her teeth. “Have you seen Georgiana?”

She sniffed. “I have not yet, but I suspect she is making every effort with her appearance. No doubt, she wants to look exquisite for tonight.”

“Is there something special about tonight?” asked Jane.

Caroline leaned a little closer, lowering her voice in a conspiratorial fashion. “I cannot say it is officially going to be a special night, but Georgiana would be eager to make a good impression on my dear brother, would she not?”

“She would?” asked Jane, her voice little more than a whisper.

Caroline nodded. “Of course. It is hardly a secret that they share a deep affection for each other. I should not be at all surprised to find out there will be announcements coming soon.” With those words, Caroline nodded at both of them and moved on.

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