The last rays of late afternoon sun slanted across the rug as Charli climbed back in through her bedroom window.
Thankfully her father’s Mini was still gone, which meant he hadn’t yet returned from the church fête. She went to her dressing table and sank down on the bench, staring at her reflection in dismay.
Her hair was a mess and her mascara ran in black streaks down her cheeks, and her sundress was crumpled and stained with grease. Her hand was unsteady as she scrubbed the mascara and make-up from her face, and she couldn’t seem to stop the tears that kept leaking from her eyes.
At least nothing had happened. She was still a virgin; she hadn’t slept with Ciaran. But her father had no idea how very close she’d come to disgracing herself.
She’d done a stupid thing, Charli realised, chasing after an older, more worldly man like Ciaran Duncan. Harry was right. As far as Ciaran was concerned, she was just a kid, and that’s all she’d ever been…
…a stupid, inexperienced girl who’d offered herself up on a plate to a man who didn’t care about her in the slightest.
The thought of what might have happened had Ciaran not let her go, had he forced himself on her, brought fresh tears to her eyes.
How could she have been such an idiot?
Charli grabbed a tissue and blew her nose. Well, she’d learned her lesson. She wouldn’t be panting after Ciaran Duncan – or any other older man, no matter how famous or gorgeous he was – ever again.
***
‘I thought I told you to wait in the car,’ Hugh said to Holly in a tight voice. ‘This doesn’t concern you.’
‘Holly?’ Ciaran looked at her, and the ring glinting on her finger, in surprise. ‘So the rumours are true. You’re engaged to Darcy.’ He tilted his head back. ‘You didn’t waste any time.’
She ignored him. ‘Where’s Charlotte?’ she asked Hugh. ‘Is she all right?’
‘She’s gone – home, I hope. She’s fine.’
Hugh brushed past Ciaran and made his way across the deck to the boarding ramp. ‘Let’s go.’
‘Haven’t you anything to say to me, Holly?’ the actor asked. ‘“Hello”, at least, or “nice to see you?” After all, if things had worked out properly, we’d be married right now.’
‘I thank God every day that we’re not.’ She waited as Hugh came down the ramp to join her. ‘Luckily I found out the truth about you before it was too late.’
‘I loved you, you know. I really did.’
‘I doubt that.’
As Hugh put a hand on the small of her back, Holly turned away, and left.
The walk back to the hire car was silent. Once she was settled inside and her crutches were stowed on the back seat, Hugh got in and started the car.
‘Is it true, what Ciaran said?’ she asked quietly. ‘Did you come between him and your sister?’
He put the car in gear and pulled out of the car park. ‘Yes,’ he said grimly. ‘I did. I told you that. I did what was best for Phoebe, to protect her from him. He didn’t love her, he only wanted her trust fund.’
Holly was silent as they drove slowly through the darkening village streets, still crowded with holidaymakers and families. ‘I understand that. But what if he did?’ she said finally. ‘What if Ciaran really did love her, as he says, and you were wrong, and you put a stop to their happiness?’
‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ he snapped. ‘Ciaran lies as easily as he breathes. And you know nothing about it.’
‘No.’ She eyed the hard planes of his face in the fading light of the car’s interior. ‘But he was younger then; perhaps he was a different person. I’m not the same person I was at eighteen. Perhaps he really did love your sister.’
‘And perhaps he didn’t.’ He pressed his lips together.
But Holly couldn’t let it go. ‘Let me ask you this, then. If you had it to do over, would you? Would you still put a stop to your sister’s relationship with Ciaran? Or would you allow her to make up her own mind?’
He didn’t answer.
And that, Holly thought with a sinking heart, was answer enough.
***
The minute the church service ended on Sunday morning, Holly returned with Hugh to Cleremont and hurried upstairs to change for the Bennets’ garden party.
She’d decided on a beige silk sheath dress and pinned a fascinator to her hair, tilting the brown and black feathers forward at a rakish angle. Finally, she slid her feet into kitten heels and picked up a clutch.
There was a knock on the door. ‘Are you ready, Holly?’ Hugh enquired. ‘It’s time to go.’
‘Just a moment,’ she called out, and rummaged through her wardrobe for a cardi and draped it over her arm.
Although she was unaccountably disappointed in Hugh after what he’d told her about Ciaran and his sister, and although she didn’t feel much like socialising, Holly made up her mind to do her best to enjoy the garden party.
‘Ready,’ she said as she opened the door and joined her fiancé.
‘You look very nice, darling,’ Hugh said in approval as he took her arm. ‘Very stylish.’
‘Thank you.’
Those were the only two words she said to him for the remainder of the afternoon.
***
‘Is everything ready?’ Mr Bennet asked, his eyes anxious behind their spectacles as he surveyed the kitchen table, crowded now with trays of sausage rolls, bowls of prawn salad and tomato-and-cucumber chutney, and, of course, plenty of sweet and savoury scones.
Emma nodded and handed him a tray of cheese puffs. ‘These are cooled; you can take them outside now. Lizzy, did you set out the pitchers of Pimm’s?’
‘Ten minutes ago,’ Lizzy answered, only just managing to keep the annoyance from her voice. ‘Anything else, Chef Bennet?’
‘If you’d like to oversee all of this instead of me,’ Emma snapped as she flung a dirtied fork in the sink, ‘feel free.’
‘Now, now.’ Mr Bennet paused with the tray of cheese puffs in hand. ‘No bickering, girls. I know you’ve both worked very hard to make this party happen. But we’ve guests today and we need to set a proper example. Let’s be pleasant and try to get along with one another – even if it kills us to do so.’
So saying, he sailed out the door with the cheese puffs held against his chest and a determined smile plastered on his face.
‘He’s right.’ Lizzy sighed and opened the refrigerator to take out another pitcher of iced tea. ‘Sorry. You’re doing a great job, Em. Where’s Charli?’ she asked suddenly. ‘I haven’t seen her since we got back from church.’
‘I’m sure I don’t know. She’s probably under a tree somewhere, flirting with the cutest boy she could find.’
***
But Charlotte was not outside flirting, nor was she outside enjoying the perfect weather. Instead, she lay sprawled on her bed upstairs, still wearing her church outfit and biting her lip as she stared miserably up at the ceiling.
She’d elected to avoid the garden party altogether and remain in her room. She knew Daddy had gone to Cleremont on Thursday to invite not only the Darcys, but the cast and crew of Pride and Prejudice, to attend the party this afternoon, and she knew his invitation had included Ciaran Duncan as well.
The thought of seeing the film star again filled her with dread.
He’d been so angry with her yesterday. And who could blame him, really? A tear slid down the side of her face. She’d led him on in a most unladylike manner and then rebuffed his advances, sending him thoroughly mixed signals and leaving him not only furious, but baffled by her contrary behaviour.
It wasn’t only her fear of seeing Ciaran again that kept her hidden in her room. What if Daddy saw the two of them talking together, exchanging heated words? He would certainly get suspicious, and he’d keep at her until she confessed what she’d done.
No, Charli decided, she couldn’t risk it. Better to stay up here out of harm’s way, and suffer her punishment alone, in silent misery, than face Ciaran Duncan again.
***
‘Hello, Lizzy.’
Elizabeth Bennet looked up from beneath the brim of her sunhat to see Hugh, his expression guarded, standing before her on the terrace with a glass of wine in hand.
‘Mr Darcy.’
‘Lovely day for the party,’ he remarked.
‘Yes.’
‘Not a cloud in the sky,’ he added as he scanned the horizon above the trees.
‘No. I think we are both agreed that the weather is perfect.’
There was an awkward pause. Then, ‘Forgive me, Lizzy, but what exactly have I done to annoy you?’
‘What have you done?’ she echoed, and laughed, as if she were only surprised, and not furious. ‘Not a thing! Only took me to task – more than once – for insisting that Holly ride Thor. You pointed out, and rightly so, that my actions caused her to get hurt.’
He looked uncomfortable. ‘I’m well aware of what I said. Lizzy, I…’
‘For which I apologised, profusely and repeatedly, and suffered the punishment of your anger as well as the penalty of supervising Daddy’s table at the church fête. Not to mention, I nearly missed out on seeing the regatta race altogether.’
‘I’m sorry for that…’
‘But do you know, the more I thought about it,’ she forged on, her cheeks flushed, ‘the more unjust it all seemed, and the more angry I became.’
His expression darkened. ‘You can’t deny that what you did to Holly was wrong,’ Hugh said sharply.
‘No, I can’t. I don’t.’ She glared at him. ‘It was stupid, yes, and I’m sorry. But I’m tired – so bloody tired! – of the moral high ground you stand on. Things aren’t always black or white, Hugh. Sometimes a good person does a bad thing. I made a mistake, I did, and I’m sorry for that. But I won’t have you sitting in judgement of me and finding me wanting. I won’t.’
And as he looked on in astonishment, unable to summon a word in reply to her accusations, she stormed off.