The garden party was well underway as a knock sounded on Charlotte’s door. ‘Charli?’ her father enquired. ‘May I come in?’
Hastily, she wiped the tears from her face and sat up, her expression guarded. ‘Yes, come in, Daddy.’
He entered and came to stand beside the bed. ‘Why haven’t you come downstairs and joined us?’ he asked, and frowned. ‘Everyone’s asking where you are.’
‘I don’t feel well.’ She avoided his eyes and fidgeted with a tassel on one of her toss pillows.
‘I’m sorry to hear it. Well, perhaps my news will cheer you up.’ He sat down on the edge of the bed, his weight making the mattress sag, and smiled at her. ‘There’s someone downstairs I’d like to introduce. He’s quite keen at the prospect of meeting you.’
Her heart began to hammer against her chest. Oh, no. No, it couldn’t possibly be Ciaran, could it…?
‘Who is it?’ she asked, although she feared she knew the answer already.
‘He’s an old friend from my seminary days, Ralph Knightley. I’d very much like for you two to get acquainted.’
Relief flooded through her. Thank God! It was only one of Daddy’s boring old pals from his days at seminary, not Ciaran.
Mr Bennet stood up. ‘So I’d appreciate it, poppet, if you’d come downstairs and let me introduce you.’
‘I don’t think I’m up to it,’ Charlotte managed after a moment. ‘I really fancy a lie down.’
‘I must say, that’s not the reaction I was expecting,’ her father said with a frown. ‘You were so excited about this party! And now, when I tell you an old friend from my school days wants to meet you, you “fancy a lie down”?’ His frown deepened as he sat back down. ‘What’s really going on?’
If her heart had been racing before, it positively threatened to beat out of her chest now. She mustn’t make Daddy suspicious. ‘Nothing. I told you, I’m not feeling well.’ She took a deep breath. ‘But if it means that much to you and you give me a few minutes, I’ll take an aspirin and get changed, and then I’ll – I’ll come downstairs and meet your friend.’
‘Very good.’ He beamed and patted her hand. ‘You needn’t stay long if you don’t wish to; merely pop down and say hello to our guests – Major Knightley in particular – and then you’re free to go. Oh – and the cast and crew from that film are here, too. Pride and Prejudice.’
Her heart beat faster. ‘From Cleremont, you mean?’
‘Yes. So get yourself changed and get downstairs.’
Charlotte watched him leave, and wondered how in the world she’d got herself into such an almighty fix.
Ciaran Duncan was here at the party. How on earth was she to avoid him?
She dragged in a breath. She’d only ever imagined sharing a few kisses with the actor, perhaps a bit of heated groping in his trailer or in the cabin of his yacht, that’s all. But he’d obviously expected more.
Much more.
Why did Ciaran have to show up here, today of all days? Surely he wouldn’t have the cheek to accost her in front of everyone here – in front of her father! – or tell him that she’d been on his yacht at the regatta yesterday, would he…?
No, she thought, her legs shaky as she pushed herself off the bed. He wouldn’t do something so stupid. Ciaran wouldn’t want to risk drawing unwanted attention to the fact that she’d been on his yacht any more than she did.
Feeling marginally reassured by the thought, Charli tore through her drawers and wardrobe, determined to choose a properly demure dress to wear to meet her father’s friend and equally determined to avoid Ciaran Duncan.
***
Hugh sat on the wide arm of an Adirondack chair on the Bennets’ terrace and balanced his plate on his lap. Of his fiancée, Holly, there was no sign.
Not that it would matter even if she were here, he reflected with a scowl, and speared a cherry tomato with his fork. They’d not exchanged two words since they’d arrived at Litchfield Manor. Nor had Lizzy spoken to him since their heated exchange by the blackthorn bushes a few minutes ago.
Bad enough to have one woman angry with him, he fumed, but two – bloody hell, but it was unpleasant. A misery, in point of fact…
‘Ah, Hugh – here you are.’
Harry, bearing a plate loaded with prawn salad and tomato chutney, dropped into the chair his brother was perched on and regarded him quizzically. ‘Where’s Holly?’
‘Your guess is as good as mine,’ Hugh replied. ‘She’s upset with me, and so is Lizzy. It seems I have not one female angry with me, but two.’
Harry laughed. ‘Well, you never did do anything by half.’
‘I’ve done a stupid thing,’ he admitted, and set his plate aside. ‘Two stupid things, as a matter of fact.’ Briefly he relayed Lizzy’s part in the riding accident that had led to Holly’s injury. ‘I took her to task for her part in the whole debacle, quite emphatically, and now I realise I overreacted. She behaved recklessly, yes, but not out of spite. I suppose I owe her an apology.’
‘Then that’s what you need to do. Find Lizzy,’ Harry said as he popped a prawn in his mouth, ‘and apologise.’
Hugh nodded. ‘Yes. I will.’
Harry wiped his mouth and eyed him. ‘Why’s Holly mad at you, then? What did you do to piss her off?’
He hesitated. How to explain? An answer proved unnecessary when his mother bore down on them with Lady de Byrne in tow.
‘There you are, darlings,’ Lady Darcy said. ‘Your godmother has deigned to come to the Bennets’ party today. Your father will be so pleased! Harry, be a dear and go and fetch Lady Georgina a plate.’
‘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.