Page 70 of I Thee Wed (Pride And Prejudice Variation #2)

“Fitzwilliam, how was the conversation resolved between your aunt and the three ladies who intended to spread damaging rumors about us?”

The three Darcys were sitting in the carriage, traveling back to Darcy House in the early hours of the morning.

Before he had drawn a breath, Georgiana interrupted him. “Brother, those women descended on us like street ruffians. I was never more astonished in my life.”

Darcy looked first at Elizabeth and then at his young sister. “Some of this information will be embarrassing. If it becomes too graphic for your sensibilities, please let me know, and I will stop.”

The two women looked at each other nervously, and then Elizabeth answered for both of them. “Very well, Fitzwilliam. Please tell us.”

He began the tale. “Since these ‘street ruffians’ chose to insult Elizabeth in your presence, Georgiana, I feel completely justified in sharing these secrets with both of you. The information is very damaging and must be kept private unless any of those women attempt to drag our names into scandal.”

He took a breath and continued. “Lady Harrington’s mother had an affair with a footman when she was newly married to the Earl, who, by the way, is thirty years her senior.

It was hushed up at the time, and because the child she bore was accepted by her husband, the imbroglio was hushed.

Young Lady Harrington, who accosted you this evening, has known the truth of her parentage since she was a young girl.

One would expect that knowledge of her own skeletons would promote discretion and compassion, but in this case, it has done no such thing. ”

Georgiana gasped. “She is a natural child? How dreadful for her. No wonder she is so fierce.”

Elizabeth huffed. “She is a tyrant. I can’t believe that she will mind her tongue.”

Darcy continued. “Lady Stanhope’s brother was caught stealing a priceless Colombian emerald necklace during a house party in Surrey.

His hosts never prosecuted him, nor is it known by many, because Lady Carlyle, the hostess, agreed to the cover-up.

Now that old Lord Carlyle has passed, only she and my aunt knew the full story.

When they started digging discreetly, it was believed that he had stolen jewelry that had gone missing from other estates over the previous nine months. ”

Elizabeth looked at him, brows raised. “And the family still receives invitations?”

“Lady Carlyle stipulated that Stanhope had to leave the country for five years. The hope was that maturity would provide the cure.”

Elizabeth asked, “And did it?”

Darcy shrugged his shoulders. “It has only been three years, and he is still living abroad, so that remains to be seen. As for Miss Winston, she carried on with her dance master for nearly two years. He is the handsome, third son of a Yorkshire squire who was hoping to marry an heiress. She did not fall with child, and the family was able to cover up the indiscretion. Her loss of virtue has never been discovered.” He grimaced.

“Some poor sod will discover it on their wedding night.”

Elizabeth shook her head, resigned. “How much easier life would be if people were kind. Instead, we are compelled to wield secrets like weapons, merely to defend ourselves against injurious tongues.”

“If any of them trouble you again,” Darcy said, “you now know enough to silence them. Though I hope it never comes to that.”

There was a quiet moment in which the sounds of the horses’ hooves and carriage wheels were all that could be heard.

Then Georgiana said, “Brother, who was the lady in the scarlet gown? I cannot believe Aunt Helen invited a woman of ill repute to your ball. She told Elizabeth she had been your lover for years and would not give you up just because you were married.”

Darcy turned sharply. “What woman? Elizabeth, a scarlet woman?”

Elizabeth hesitated. “She came to me near the end of the evening. Since she didn’t come through the receiving line, I did not know who she was, but she was as bold as brass, and her dress was seductive.

She said things about you that I knew were false, but she did manage to unsettle me.

She claimed she had been your mistress for seven years. ”

Fitzwilliam shook his head. “My mistress? I have never had a mistress. I do not know of whom you can be speaking. What did this woman look like? Was she young or old?”

Elizabeth answered. “She is beautiful, with raven-black hair, a striking figure, and she is at least forty years old, if she is a day. There was something theatrical about her. I assumed she was someone you once rejected.”

Darcy stared out the window, silent for a moment.

Then he chuckled. “It had to have been Lady Selkirk. When I was a boy of nineteen, she was already a widow, though she was only one and thirty. She propositioned me to be her lover. I have since learned that she has propositioned many men over the years. I was young and impolitic.” He looked at Elizabeth and grinned.

“Darling, you know firsthand how my tongue has landed me in trouble.”

He shook his head. “I called her a fossil. I remember how stunned she looked. And just that fast, she flushed with embarrassment, and then she was purple with rage. Lady Selkirk was used to getting what she wanted, and what she wanted was very young men. She has hated me ever since, because I walked away from her in front of a group of my friends and she lost face with them on account of my rejection.”

He looked at the two women. “I meant no disrespect or insult. I merely didn’t think, and what popped into my head popped right out of my mouth, and she has never forgotten.

” He added, “Aunt Helen would never have invited Lady Selkirk to her ball. Katerina is a pariah, and my aunt will not have her near either of my two cousins. She must have stolen into the house after the ball was at its height.”

Elizabeth sighed. “She said cruel, hurtful things, Fitzwilliam. I did not believe anything she said of you, but she made me feel like I was not woman enough to hold on to you.” Elizabeth’s eyes began to sting.

“Then Elizabeth called her a liar. And something much worse,” Georgiana added.

Darcy raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

Elizabeth replied, her voice thickened, “A liar and a strumpet.”

Darcy laughed, and he threw an arm around Elizabeth’s shoulders and drew her closer. “Well, well. Our ball was far more exciting than I could have imagined, but we managed to survive it.”