When Harry and Holly arrived at Cleremont, the reporters and news vans were gone.
‘What’s happened?’ Harry asked Higgins in a low voice as the butler let them in. ‘Not that I’m complaining, but where’s everyone gone?’
‘A bank employee just threatened to jump off the Longbourne bridge,’ Higgins said. ‘The media left quick smart. Everyone else is in the drawing room.’
Holly glanced over to see that the doors to the drawing room were closed. She heard the rise and fall of voices.
‘Shall we go in?’ she asked Harry doubtfully as she eyed his bruised jaw and swollen eye. ‘Your mother…’
‘No.’ He grabbed her hand. ‘Kitchen first,’ he commanded, and pulled her along behind him towards the baize door by the stairs. ‘I can’t deal with Mum and Dad and Hugh just now.’
A few minutes later, he sat slumped in a chair at the refectory table as Holly held a bag of frozen peas to his jaw. He winced. ‘Bloody hell, but that’s cold!’
‘That’s the idea. Hold it in place.’ Holly went to the sink and tore off a length of paper roll and dampened it, and leaned over him to clean the dried blood from his face.
‘Ouch,’ he complained, and drew back. ‘That’s my skin, Holly, not a – a dirty baseboard you’re scrubbing.’
‘Sorry.’ She gentled her attempts to clean his face. ‘I never knew you were such a baby.’
‘And I never knew you were such a sadist.’
‘Do shut up,’ Holly admonished him. ‘You want to be cleaned up properly before we see your mother, don’t you?’
‘Just try not to take my skin off in the process.’
Five minutes later Holly straightened and surveyed her work with satisfaction. ‘I can’t hide the bruises, or your swollen eye, but at least the swelling’s gone down and the blood’s gone. You don’t look half as bad as you did.’
He stood up. ‘Thanks. I think.’
Lady Darcy surged to her feet as they entered the drawing room. ‘Harry,’ she cried, and brought her hand to her chest in horror. ‘Your face! What’s happened?’
‘He and Ciaran Duncan exchanged blows,’ Hugh said from his seat on the sofa.
‘Again?’ Lord Darcy eyed his youngest son with disapproval. ‘This is getting to be a habit with you, Harry.’
‘Ciaran provoked him,’ Holly said, and laid her hand on Harry’s arm. ‘He nearly persuaded Charlotte to run off with him to Paris.’
‘“Nearly” persuaded?’ Lady Sarah echoed. ‘So I assume the Bennet girl changed her mind?’
‘She did, thank God,’ Hugh confirmed. ‘Mr Bennet was furious.’
‘One can hardly blame him,’ Lord Darcy said. ‘I don’t know how he manages those girls on his own.’
‘Emma and Lizzy have the good sense to stay out of trouble,’ Hugh said. ‘It’s Charlotte who keeps poor Mr Bennet at his wit’s end.’
‘That girl will end up pregnant and unmarried one of these days, mark my words,’ Lady Sarah predicted darkly. ‘She’s far too pretty for her own good.’
Hugh pushed himself to his feet. ‘If you’ll all excuse me, I need to go upstairs and change.’
‘Me, too,’ Harry agreed, and looked down at his torn, bloodied shirt and grass-stained trousers with regret.
Lord Darcy rose and tossed the paper aside on the chair cushions. ‘Another Darcy family scandal narrowly avoided, thank God. I’ll be in my study self-medicating with straight bourbon should anyone need me.’
Lady Sarah stood as well. ‘I think I’ll pop over to Rosings and make sure Lady Georgina’s all right. I hope all of this upheaval hasn’t proven too much for her.’
As Harry and his parents filed out of the drawing room, Holly turned to Hugh. ‘Will you stay for a few minutes longer? I… I need to talk to you.’
Surprise skimmed over his face. ‘Of course.’ He waited as she sat down on the sofa and seated himself next to her. ‘What is it?’
‘I hardly know where to begin.’ She stared down at her hands. ‘A lot’s happened since you brought me here to Cleremont.’ She met his eyes. ‘I’ve come to realise, over these last few weeks, that you and I…’
‘You want to break our engagement.’
Holly blinked. ‘No. Yes,’ she added, flustered. ‘Yes, I want to break the engagement, and release you from your obligation to me.’ She took off the ring he’d bought her with trembling fingers and held it out to him. ‘I care deeply for you, Hugh, and I always will. I hope we can remain friends – good friends.’
He made no move to take the ring.
‘But the fact is,’ she rushed on, ‘our engagement’s a mistake. Your mother was right – I don’t love you, at least not in the way I should. I loved the idea of you, of being your wife, and I looked forward to being a part of all of this.’ She glanced at the Van Dycks and Reynolds’s lining the walls, the coffered ceiling, and the late morning sun filtering through the mullioned windows.
‘What changed?’ he asked as his fingers closed over the ring. His expression gave no clue to his feelings.
‘Two things, really.’ Holly clasped her hands once again in her lap. ‘One, I realised I’m not ready to take on Cleremont, or my role as the future Lady Darcy. I don’t think I ever will be. It’s a huge responsibility, and one I honestly don’t think I’m up for.’
‘And what’s the second reason?’
She drew in a breath. ‘Lizzy.’
‘Lizzy?’ Hugh frowned. ‘What has she to do with our engagement?’
‘You love her, Hugh. Whether you realise it or not, whether you admit it or not, you love Lizzy Bennet, and I think you always have.’
He stood and walked away, stopping before the windows, then turned back to face her. ‘And on what do you base this – this ridiculous assumption?’
‘I see it every time you’re near her. I hear it when you say her name. You love her.’
For some minutes he was silent, and Holly was sure he meant to deny it.
‘I do,’ he admitted finally, and sighed. ‘I realised I loved Lizzy the day I told her you and I were engaged. She was devastated. Gutted. I knew then that she loved me, and always had. Until that moment, I never realised it.’
‘You need to go to her and tell her how you feel.’
‘I will.’ He glanced down at the ring in his hand. When he looked back up, his face was troubled. ‘But I feel badly that I brought you here to meet my parents and introduced you to my family, and now nothing’s worked out as we thought it would.’
‘No, but it doesn’t matter. I’m just glad we realised it while there was still time to change our minds. And I loved meeting your family. Even your mum… once I got to know her,’ she admitted. ‘She only wants the best for you. Like all mums do.’
‘She’s very protective when it comes to me and Harry. Always has been.’ He grimaced. ‘She means well, I suppose, but she goes about it in entirely the wrong way. I’m sorry for the way she behaved when you first arrived.’
Holly shrugged. ‘It’s funny, isn’t it – she was right all along. Somehow she knew before either of us that we weren’t really meant for each other.’
‘You won her over in the end. I think she might even be disappointed when she learns we’re not getting married.’
‘I doubt that,’ Holly said, and gave him a wry smile. ‘I have to admit, though – there’s one person here at Cleremont – besides you – that I’ve grown… fond of.’ She blushed.
His gaze was steady. ‘My brother.’
Her blush deepened. ‘Oh, God – is it so obvious?’
‘Only to me, and only because I know him so well. Harry looks at you like a moonstruck calf whenever you’re near. But I wasn’t sure if you returned his feelings.’
She hesitated. ‘I haven’t told him… but yes, I do.’
‘Then I’m happy for you. Both of you.’
Her eyes swam with tears. ‘You’re far too honourable for your own bloody good.’ She kissed him impulsively on the cheek. ‘It’s one of the things I love most about you.’
‘I only want you to be happy, Holly. If Harry makes you happy, then you have my blessing.’
She put her arms around him and held him tightly. ‘Thank you,’ she whispered, and held him a moment longer before she stepped back. ‘You know I wish the same for you and Lizzy.’
‘I hope everything works out… for all of us.’
‘It will.’ Holly thought of Lizzy, giving her a passionate telling-off in the middle of the field while Harry looked on, and smiled. ‘I’m sure of it.’
‘Well, I’d best go if I’m to talk to Elizabeth.’ He glanced at the ring and dropped it in his pocket. ‘My luck with engagements thus far has been dismal.’
‘You know what they say – the third time’s the charm.’
‘They also say “three strikes and you’re out”,’ Hugh said, and sighed.
‘That’s baseball, not love.’ She paused. ‘Now that Imogen’s admitted you’re not Billy’s father, will the paper print a retraction?’
‘I expect so. Oliver’s promised to take care of it. He knows if he doesn’t, I’ll sue.’ He lifted his brow. ‘I’m afraid that after tomorrow I won’t be headline news any longer.’
Holly slipped her arm through his and smiled as they headed for the door. ‘No. Sorry, but you’ve already had your fifteen minutes of fame, Mr Darcy.’