What Would Lizzy Bennet Do? (21 page)

‘Yes, of course.’ He set his own plate down next to Hugh’s, kissed his godmother dutifully on the cheek, and went off to get her a plate of food.

‘No prawns, please,’ she called after him. ‘I’m allergic.’

He turned back and held up his thumb and grinned. ‘No prawns, Lady G.’

Hugh stood as Lady Darcy went off in search of her husband. ‘Please, take my seat,’ he told his godmother.

‘Thank you.’ She settled herself, smoothing out the skirts of her pale pink shirtdress, and glanced around her. ‘Where is your charming fiancée, Holly? Is she not here with you today?’

‘She’s here, yes. She’s… mingling.’

‘Mingling?’ Lady Georgina asked shrewdly. ‘Or is she, perhaps, avoiding you?’

‘Why on earth would she do that?’

‘You tell me.’

‘We had a small disagreement. Nothing, however,’ he added firmly, ‘that we can’t resolve.’

‘I’m glad to hear it. I hope that’s true, and not merely wishful thinking on your part.’

‘Excuse me, Lady Georgina,’ Hugh said, relieved to see his brother threading his way through the knots of festively dressed guests with a plate of food in his hands. ‘But Harry’s returning with your plate. If you’ll allow me to leave now, I’ll catch up with you later.’

‘Run along, Hugh,’ she called after him in imperious tones. ‘But make certain you patch things up with Miss James, or you shall have
me
to answer to.’

***

Holly detached herself from the group she’d joined – everyone laughing uproariously at some quip Mr Bennet had just made – and turned away to walk across the grass with her glass in hand, intent on escape.

Her heels sank into the soft, springy ground with every step, and she longed to take them off and wriggle her toes in the grass. She normally loved garden parties but felt too disillusioned with Hugh’s actions to enjoy the afternoon festivities.

If only she could overcome her disappointment at what he’d done.

If what Ciaran told her was true, and Hugh had set out to deliberately destroy his sister’s happiness simply because he’d taken a dislike to Ciaran… well, it was the worst kind of prejudice.

‘Holly.’

She turned back to see her fiancé. ‘Hugh,’ she said, her words flat. ‘Why aren’t you with the others?’

‘I saw you walking, and hoped I might join you.’ He paused. ‘We need to talk about what happened.’

Holly shrugged. ‘I can hardly stop you, can I?’ She began to walk, and Hugh fell into step beside her.

‘I know you’re angry.’

‘You could say that.’

‘Initially I didn’t like Ciaran, I admit it.’ He scowled and thrust his hands in his pockets. ‘Perhaps I rushed to judgement.’

‘Fancy that,’ she retorted.

‘But I did it in order to protect Phoebe,’ he forged on, ‘and I won’t apologise for that.’

She stopped and turned to face him. ‘No, of course you won’t, because you’re far too superior and perfect for anything like an apology, aren’t you?’

His face darkened. ‘You miss the point. I’ve just told you I have nothing to apologise
for
. I acted in my sister’s best interests.’

‘No, Hugh –
you’ve
missed the point!’ Holly let out a breath of frustration. ‘Don’t you see – it wasn’t your call to make. You were wrong to interfere in Phoebe’s life. Her mistakes should’ve been her own. You can’t dictate people’s lives.’

‘Why the sudden need to defend Ciaran?’ he demanded. ‘I wonder if you don’t still have feelings for him. You were engaged to him only last year, after all.’

‘Yes, I was, and I still regret it. You know that. He only used me to get his hands on my father’s money.’

‘Exactly as he did when he professed to love Phoebe.’

Holly’s eyes searched his. ‘But you didn’t know that, Hugh. You had no proof, unlike me – I
heard
him blackmailing my father! Ciaran threatened to tell the media all about his affair years before… with my
mother
.’ She paused and dragged in a breath. ‘It was different with Phoebe. You had nothing more to go on than a – a personal dislike for a man you barely knew.’

‘I knew he’d break my sister’s heart.’ His jaw was tight with anger. ‘And he did. And were the circumstances to arise again, I’d do precisely the same thing.’

‘My God, Hugh.’ She shook her head in disbelief. ‘Don’t you see it? You’re judgemental, and stubborn. I can’t reconcile the man I thought you were with the man you are. How could you purposely destroy your sister’s happiness and still believe yourself to be in the right?’

Before he could answer, she turned and stalked away.

***

‘I can see I’m not the only one who’s being antisocial this afternoon.’

Holly came to a stop a few minutes later, her fingers clenched tightly around the stem of her glass, and glanced up. She’d arrived at the far end of the garden, lost in angry thoughts after she’d marched away from Hugh following their heated words. Other than a tall, elderly man standing further along the wall, nursing a drink, no one else was about.

‘Ciaran,’ she said now, her words flat. ‘What are you doing here?’

He leaned back against the low stone wall, his legs in their white trousers stretched out and crossed at the ankles before him. He had a drink in hand.

‘I was invited, as it happens. All of the cast and crew were.’ He glanced up the grassy slope at the knots of people thronging the terrace and gathered near tables laden with food and drink. ‘For a former vicar, Mr Bennet puts on quite a bash, doesn’t he? He does the C of E proud.’

‘Yes.’ Holly eyed him coolly. ‘I’m surprised he’d let you anywhere near his daughters, though.’

He laughed. ‘Rather like inviting a fox into the henhouse, isn’t it, or a snake into the garden. But I promise, I have no interest in three such lovely, but regrettably respectable, young women.’

‘I should go back now.’ She turned away and brushed past him to leave.

‘Don’t go, please.’ He set his drink aside and reached out to catch her arm – gently – and added, ‘I’ve hardly seen you since that day in Manhattan when you gave me back my ring, Holly. Only stay and talk to me, just for a bit. Please?’ he implored.

She shook her head. ‘I shouldn’t. Hugh won’t like it…’

‘Oh, screw Darcy!’ he said with a scowl. ‘You used to think for yourself, Holly. What happened to that girl? Has Mr Darcy so bewitched you with his high principles and moral superiority, as he does with every woman in his orbit, that you let him dictate your own behaviour?’ He let her arm go. ‘Tell me – will you please him and leave, or please yourself, and stay?’

In answer, Holly pressed her lips together and went to lean against the wall he’d so recently abandoned, careful not to get moss stains on her skirt. ‘Hugh doesn’t tell me what to do.’ She despised the note of defensiveness in her voice. ‘He never has.’

‘I saw the two of you having words just now.’ Ciaran returned and leaned back next to her. ‘Looked quite intense.’

She didn’t answer.

‘Is there trouble in paradise, perhaps?’ He let out a lazy laugh and took a sip of his drink. ‘Said the snake to Eve.’

‘It’s nothing,’ Holly said. But she didn’t sound convincing, even to herself. ‘A disagreement, that’s all.’

‘It must be difficult to argue with such a relentlessly perfect man.’

‘He’s a good man.’ There it was again, Holly thought in dismay, that note of defensiveness. Who was she trying to convince – Ciaran, or herself?

‘Oh, I’m sure he is. But the question is – do you love him?’

She nearly choked on the sip of Pimm’s she’d just taken. ‘What? How
dare
you ask me that! Of course I love Hugh. I wouldn’t agree to marry him otherwise.’

‘Then why aren’t you with him? Why is he sitting over there on the terrace, staring morosely into his drink, and not here with you? Seems like more than a “disagreement” to me.’

‘Let me ask
you
a question,’ Holly said abruptly, and turned to face him. ‘Did you ever really love his sister? Or were you only after her money, as Hugh says?’

The question made him scowl. ‘Of
course
I loved Phoebe. She was my everything.’ He stared down into the depths of his drink with a brooding expression. ‘Have you met her?’

Holly shook her head. ‘No. Hugh says she’s married now, with a family. And she’s happy.’

‘Good. She deserves to be happy. She’s beautiful, with the most generous nature I’ve ever known. I was besotted from the moment I saw her. I wanted to marry her. But like Darcy, I was reading law at Oxford at the time and hadn’t a quid to my name, and so he convinced Phoebe that I only wanted her for her money and connections.’

‘And didn’t you?’ she accused. ‘After all, you nearly married me for the exact same reason – money.’

Hurt played over his face. ‘That’s not true, Holly. I loved you. I know you don’t believe it, but I really did.’ He hesitated. ‘I still do.’

‘Oh, bollocks! You blackmailed my father and threatened to go public with the story of your affair with my
mother
, Ciaran! What a scandal
that
would’ve been! Of course,’ she added bitterly, ‘for half a million pounds, you promised to keep it all under wraps.’

He looked uncomfortable. ‘I was in a really tight financial bind, Holly. I was desperate for cash. I would’ve made the money back after a couple of films; I would’ve repaid your father eventually. It was just a… a sort of loan.’

‘A loan?’ She was incredulous. ‘It was
blackmail
, Ciaran.’

He was silent.

‘You used me. You…’ she dragged in a breath. ‘You broke my heart.’

As if sensing her vulnerability, he reached out and took her hands in his. ‘The truth is, I owed money to a couple of pretty nasty blokes. They said they’d kill me if I didn’t come up with the cash.’

Her eyes widened in shock. ‘They… they did? What happened? What did you do?’

‘I managed to scrounge enough money to buy myself some time by calling in a few favours, but I tell you – it was touch and go for a while. I was terrified. I even went into hiding.’

She blinked. ‘I – I had no idea. Why didn’t you
tell
me any of this?’

‘I tried.’ His world-famous gaze, so dark and intense, met hers. ‘Don’t you remember? You refused to hear me out.’

She was silent, remembering. It was true.

‘I still have your engagement ring, you know,’ he added quietly. ‘I kept it, on the off chance that you’d…’ he paused. ‘That you’d change your mind, and take me back someday.’

‘That’ll never happen.’ Her words were firm. ‘I’m engaged to Hugh now, and I love him, and whatever you and I had… it’s gone.’

She retrieved her drink from the wall with a deliberate motion, and after flicking him one last glance, she left to rejoin the party.

Chapter 28

Lizzy made her way through the knots of Daddy’s guests in search of two things: a glass of wine to calm her roiling emotions, and her sister, Charlotte. Where
was
she? It was beyond rude for Charli to hide herself away upstairs like this…

‘Ah, Lizzy, there you are.’ Mr Bennet appeared with the elusive Charlotte trailing behind him. ‘Come along. I’d like to introduce both of you to my old school friend, Ralph Knightley.’

Ralph Knightley?
Lizzy’s thoughts churned at the unwelcome news. What was Mark Knightley’s father doing here? She wondered if Mark had ever chanced to mention her to his father. Had he told his father about their fling – a fling she’d never once mentioned to Hugh?

She bit back a groan. Crikey – this was an awkward prospect she’d never in a million years anticipated.

‘I can’t just now, Daddy. Sorry,’ Lizzy said. Exchanging social pleasantries with her ex-lover’s father was the last thing she wished for at the moment. ‘I’ve spilt a bit of wine on my dress,’ she lied. ‘I need to go in and scrub it off.’

‘I don’t see anything.’ Charli’s eyes raked over her sister’s pale blue dress with scepticism.

‘You wouldn’t,’ Lizzy said sharply. ‘It’s white wine. Excuse me.’

And she marched off into the house.

***

As Charlotte followed her father reluctantly across the grass towards the garden wall where Ciaran stood, Holly passed them on her way to the house and cast a brief nod in their direction. Her face was pale and wan.

Ciaran spotted them, and his eyes locked briefly with Charli’s. His expression was unreadable.

If Mr Bennet noticed, he gave no sign. He nodded politely to the actor as they passed, and drew Charlotte forward to face a tall man of military bearing wearing khakis and a striped blue blazer. A straw boater with a blue band rested atop his head.

‘Major Knightley,’ he announced as he drew Charli forward to present her to his old friend. He beamed. ‘I’m very pleased to introduce my youngest daughter, Charlotte. Charlotte, this is Ralph Knightley.’

‘It’s a very great pleasure to meet you, Miss Bennet,’ Knightley said. He set aside his drink and offered his hand as well as a polite smile. ‘I’ve heard a lot about you from your father.’

‘Yes, and all of it bad, I’ve no doubt.’ She managed a smile, uncomfortably aware of Ciaran standing only a few feet away.

‘On the contrary, he’s quite proud of you and your sisters. And with good reason.’

‘Thank you.’

‘Well, I’ll leave the two of you to get acquainted,’ Mr Bennet said. ‘I’ve other guests to mingle with and strawberry scones to take out of the Aga, so if you’ll pardon me, I’ll leave you to it.’

And, beaming, he departed.

After exchanging pleasantries with Major Knightley for a few more excruciating minutes, Charli excused herself on the pretext of finding her sister and turned back towards the house, leaving Knightley to wander off in search of another gin and tonic.

‘Charlotte! Where are you off to in such a hurry?’

Ciaran pushed himself away from the wall and blocked her path. Short of causing a scene, there was nothing she could do to avoid him. ‘I have to go,’ she said shortly.

‘Surely,’ he said, his eyes on hers as he reached out to take her hand, ‘you can stop long enough to exchange a bit of banal conversation with me. Can’t you?’

She tensed as his fingers closed over hers and mumbled something – hopefully something appropriate, since her wits had gone wanting – in return.