Twixt Two Equal Armies (79 page)

“Oh . . . ” was all she could say and despite having quite happily slipped into familiarity with him so quickly, she blushed.

He simply smiled and tenderly draped the shawl that had fallen down over her shoulder again, taking much time in assuring it was lying snugly against her neckline. Then he kissed her and gently nudged her on, still holding on to her waist.

They wandered out onto the main road leading to and through the village. Baugham was slightly disappointed to note that most of the good citizens of Meryton and its surroundings who passed them as they made their way back seemed in a hurry to be somewhere else out of the chill air and not inclined to take notice of his singular cause for happiness or his beautiful future bride. They picked up their pace, her hand entwined through the crook of his arm, and there rested a contented and peaceful silence between them.

When they spied the roof of Longbourn peeking over the hedges at the end of the lane, Baugham stopped and took her hand.

“Dearest . . . Holly?” he said softly. “May I come in and speak to your mother yet today?”

She smiled at him, neatened the folds of his cravat and straightened the lapels of his coat.

“You had better. If you think I will consent to you going back to Netherfield and leaving me to wonder whether all of this has been a dream, or to fend for myself in this singularly light-headed state you’ve reduced me to, without going inside and making this official with my mother, you are sadly mistaken.”

She fingered the circle of willow still adorning her left hand, “Though, what she will have to say about your choices in jewellery . . . I cannot tell.”

He smiled and, determined to steal one more kiss in the shelter of the shrubberies, he encircled her and drew her close.

“Well, whatever she does, I have high hopes she will congratulate herself on a very well directed lesson in propriety after all.”

Holly was just going to ask him what he meant when he executed his ambition and engaged her in a long, thorough and breathless kiss that effectively emptied her mind of anything except his presence.

M
RS
T
OURNIER PURSED HER LIPS
and let both of her hands rest, obscuring the text of her open book lying in her lap. How long was that daughter of hers going to walk the country lanes in her sorry state? She had seen her slip out after talking to Elizabeth earlier, but when she questioned her niece she would say nothing about Holly’s disappearance.

The bridal couples had departed, and the older generation of the Bennet family was quietly sitting in the parlour digesting the day’s events. Mrs Tournier glanced at her brother in the chair beside her reading his paper. That he had stayed with them, rather than retire to his study, was a testament to the contemplative silence in which they were immersed, each sunk into his or her own thoughts, each unwilling to share them. Even Mrs Bennet was silent, blissfully basking in the great fortune of having daughters sensible enough to attract such wealthy and fine husbands, when the door opened and her niece stumbled in, bright-eyed, cheeks flushed, breathless and followed by an only slightly less animated Lord Baugham.

A stunned silence followed where the older Bennets stared, and the young people exchanged sheepish glances and tried to catch their breaths and composure.

Finally, Mr Bennet folded his newspaper over his knees and gave his sister a look.

“Perhaps you should like to make use of my study, Arabella?”

Mrs Tournier found herself quickly and replied in a calm voice.

“It certainly appears that I should,” she said and abandoned her book.

She stood and walked down the hall and the young lovers trailed after her, aware that their movements were being followed by the other occupants of the parlour — one slightly bemused and one keenly curious. Once they entered the room and the door was shut behind them, there was a strange silence as Holly shuffled with her skirts and his lordship shifted his gloves from one hand to the other and finally deposited them into his hat. Mrs Tournier noticed something peculiar in their postures. They stood a little too close together and there was a little too much eagerness in their avoidance of meeting any eyes.

“Well!” said Mrs Tournier, turning around to face them. “Either you have caused another monumental scene with one of your incomprehensible quarrels or I had better ask his lordship not to take a seat until he has spoken!”

The brightness of Holly’s eyes belied the attempt at calmness in her voice.

“Maman, I believe you should offer Lord Baugham a seat. He . . . he wishes to speak with you.”

The object of their debate could not resist sending her a look he knew spoke plainly of all the feelings he had so recently attained her permission to express.

“I dare say Mrs Tournier is perfectly right,” he smiled. “What I wish to say to her does have a better, more appropriate, ring to it done formally.”

Mrs Tournier, in turn, sent him a look which almost made her daughter tremble, and then settled herself regally in a chair by the fire. But his lordship sent his love a reassuring smile and addressed himself to her mother.

“No doubt the singularly silly grin on my face speaks volumes to a shrewd and impatient observer such as yourself, ma’am. I have a perfectly good reason for it, however, which must speak in my defence. I have asked your daughter if she would honour me with her hand in marriage and, to my great relief and happiness, she has accepted me.”

“Indeed?” said Mrs Tournier, contemplating which of her several honest sentiments she should express first.

“Oh, madam, please don’t tell me you are rendered speechless! Rather let me suggest to you that wonder at how I ever made it to this point, or even self-congratulation on your part, would be far more appropriate.”

Mrs Tournier pursed her lips but could not suppress the twinkle in her eye.

“I only wonder at what my daughter did to finally bring you to your senses, my lord.”

Baugham looked at his betrothed, still steadfastly standing by his side.

“She laughed,” he simply said. “She frowned. She smiled. She crept into my heart and kindled a fire. She had the courage and conviction to look me in the eye long enough for me to see promises of things I never thought I would see. And,” he added with a wry smile, “she bothered me until I thought I should go distracted.”

“Yes,” Mrs Tournier said tartly, “she has a tendency to do that.”

One look at her daughter’s face after his little speech told the woman all she needed to know. The girl was far gone. The both of them were far gone. She leaned forward in her chair and held out her hand to Holly while addressing his lordship.

“I would say that you are even on at least one score, Lord Baugham, for you have caused sufficient bother and distraction in this family to consider yourself fully repaid for whatever troubles you may have experienced. I have questions and concerns, make no mistake about that, but since it is obvious that neither of you has room for any thoughts beyond your present bliss, I will defer any conversation on matters of business for another day.

“Well, I suppose if you must have her, I
can
have no objections. I warn you though, Tournier ladies come in pairs.”

His lordship laughed. “Of course! And let us not forget, madam, which of you enticed me first to give up my secluded existence. I shall never forget that first afternoon’s tea, when I was so pleasantly disabused of all my prejudiced notions regarding my Scotland neighbours.”

Mrs Tournier gave a quick smile and shook her head before turning her attention to Holly.

“I know you are happy, Lie-lie, and I am happy for you. You do not need my consent, but as long as your young man there satisfies me of his love for you and his intention to take care of you, you will have my blessing. It is good to see you smile again. You look just like your Papa when you smile so . . . ”

Holly, who had been watching their exchange with her heart in her stomach and a lump in her throat, was completely overwhelmed with emotion when her mother spoke those words and she was only able to choke out, “Oh, Maman . . . ” before the tears came. She dropped to her knees and embraced her mother, still sitting in her chair, laughing as she cried because she knew how silly she was being. After a time, she composed herself enough to loosen her hold and accept the handkerchief offered by a slightly uncomfortable, yet still smiling, Lord Baugham.

“As much as tears distress me, my dear, and in particular, I have found, your tears,” he said while she wiped her eyes, “it must be a remarkable testament to my blissful state that I cannot stop grinning even now.”

He then noticed Mrs Tournier glancing down at her daughter’s hand she was still holding on to with a look of surprise.

“What in the world is this?”

His lordship pulled up a stool to sit beside the chair and answered sheepishly, as he took Holly’s hand from her mother’s and fingered the willow ring.

“This, ma’am, is evidence of the sorry state your daughter has brought me to. I would accuse her of toying with me by her delay in meeting me, if I were not convinced there is not a touch of guile in her. The longer I waited for her this morning, the stronger the realisation became that I did not care to be without her — ever — and all the time I worried she would not come. By the time she finally arrived, I knew I must propose without delay. If she said yes, I would not wait another day to put a ring on her finger and so provide the world with visible evidence of my good fortune. Call it a selfish impulse if you must . . . ” he squeezed her hand and smiled tenderly into Holly’s face, “but it is an impulse I am very glad I gave in to.”

To his surprise, Mrs Tournier only smiled distantly as her hand rose up to the locket around her neck. A few moments’ reflection brought a change however, and with slightly narrowed eyes she turned again to Lord Baugham.

“Well then, with such a happy ending to such a bizarre affair, I trust that you will keep all other . . . impulses you may have under good regulation henceforth?”

Holly blushed scarlet at this and was about to sputter a protest, but his lordship merely smiled.

“You have my word as a gentleman. I will treat your daughter with all the respect, honour and dignity that such a lady as she is, deserves and if she scolds me for my numerous trespasses — old and new — I will only love her more.”

The smells of cooking dinner wafted their way through the house and into the study, reminding Holly that she had been unable to eat very much at the wedding breakfast. More than ready for a proper meal, she scrambled up from the floor.

“You will stay to dinner, my . . . my lord? I shall just inform my aunt . . . ” before giving two separate hands a squeeze and exiting the room.

Holly delivered her message quickly and did not stay around for the inevitable torrent of questions from her aunt, instead she slipped down the darkened hallway into the empty morning room. It was dim and cold, but she needed a moment alone to think and reflect. The events of the day had been so sudden, so wonderful and so surprising that she could scarcely believe them to be real — only the little bit of twisted willow and the very real recollection of the feeling of his arms around her was proof that it all had actually happened. She thought wistfully of Elizabeth, wishing that she was still there so she could share her joy with her dear cousin — but with a smile and a blush, she realised that Elizabeth most certainly would
not
wish to be back at Longbourn this night.

So instead, with the sounds of her Aunt Bennet’s frantic preparations for a distinguished and unexpected dinner guest in the background, she closed her eyes, remembering his words, his looks, his embrace . . . and she allowed herself a child-like bounce or two and a tiny squeal of joy before collecting herself once again and slipping out, returning to the warmth of the occupied rooms. She paused outside the door to the study, smiling as she realised that she needn’t have closed her eyes to see him, he was waiting for her just inside. He turned at the sound of the opening door and looked at her with such affection that she wondered if it were possible for a person to expire from sheer happiness — if it were so, she thought, there was a very real danger she would never live to see the morrow.

T
HE DINNER WAS A QUIET
affair. The events of the day had effectively quelled any need for joyous outbursts and loud congratulations. It seemed, to everyone, there had been an abundance of them already and all were content with sitting back and admiring the one happy couple left for them to study. In keeping with the day’s events, it certainly seemed nothing but logical and right that young love should not completely abandoned Longbourn all in one sweep. Mrs Bennet could not help sending wistful looks down to Miss Catherine, but then the inclination to be content with the more distant family connection to a peer overtook her and that night, when she sent for the after dinner fruit and sweets, she was actually a very happy and fulfilled woman.

Holly hardly looked at her lover all through dinner, but she could feel him sending her frequent looks and smiles between his easy chatter to her mother and Uncle. She smiled almost continually herself and felt a warm glow of contentment inside. The day had been a long one and an evening spent in polite conversation in a parlour was to neither Holly’s nor Lord Baugham’s tastes. Holly felt she needed to catch her breath and Lord Baugham felt like he needed to catch his equilibrium in quiet. It had been a revolutionary day and the feeling of happy exhaustion was enough to send his lordship back to Netherfield earlier than expected.