Goodly Creatures: A Pride and Prejudice Deviation Read Online Free Page B

daily promenade in Hyde Park, she had become determined to be a most fashionable participant. She was even dreaming of eventually becoming one of the few ladies who drove a perch-phaeton. They were set for him to teach her to manage two horses while they were at Rosings for Easter. Her goal to become a ‘first rate fiddler’ was rarely out of her thoughts. Upon observing the ladies who had achieved that appellation, nothing but a boy groom, in a livery of black and yellow stripes would do. A ‘tiger’ to stand behind her had gone to the top of her list for things she must have by the start of the Season. Darcy tolerated her ambition, but Edmund could tell he did not share her enthusiasm.
    Despite his indifference to the theatre, he’d agreed to a night out with the Darcys. All in all, except for that tiresome lecture over his debts and that one incident where he and his stiff cousin argued over the smoking of cigars, his sojourn at Darcy House had been pleasant. At least this evening afforded him the chance to ogle the participants, though the pickings were slim this time of year. As they made their way to the Darcy box, he smiled amiably at those of his acquaintance. When seated, he noticed several ladies and their mamas who eyed him from behind their fans. He laughed with the knowledge that there were plenty of other rich fish in the sea when it came time to get riveted.
    As he surveyed the spectators upon arrival, an unexpected sight set his blood tingling and snapped his sporting instincts into a salute. He could not take his eyes off a very young woman practically hanging out of the box across the way. Even from this distance, there was something about her that did not smell of the ton. Those from the first circle who still occupied the schoolroom always seemed coyly aware of any opportunity to be seen and admired—their mothers and governesses having groomed them to that necessity. This one seemed wholly unconcerned that she was unfavourably calling attention to herself with her exuberant enjoyment. Before the commencement of the play, she too had seemed to be curious about those in the surrounding boxes. When their eyes had met, he had smiled—and he was certain she had blushed.
    Now that her attention was directed toward the stage, his gaze rarely wavered from the object of his delight. As he watched her, he speculated about her circumstances and became inflamed with the provoking thought that this was one he might capture. Her gown was girlish and far from the latest style even for young misses. A profusion of reddish-gold hair, not styled in careful ringlets, but simply hanging in a riot of curls with nothing but a ribbon to repress it was her crowning glory. She was in a box with Sir Gareth Hughes—a neighbour in Derbyshire—accompanied by Lady Hughes and another man and woman. The other couple with this fascinating little pixie were dressed fashionably but they were unknown to him. The woman appeared too young to be the bird’s mother. Perhaps she was with a preoccupied older brother and sister, or maybe a careless aunt and uncle were hosting their country niece. The absence of familiarity would leave her vulnerable. This chit was just the way he liked them—tiny and not at all womanly. Her face, what he could see of it, was dominated by large, expressive eyes, the way children’s are before they grow into their features—eyes so very appealing. How he would delight in seeing them helpless.
    London bored him without funds to pursue his pleasures in earnest, but his only other alternative was Elderton. His father in residence there until Easter, made that an objectionable choice. The Earl incessantly pushed for his firstborn to marry and produce an heir. Most importantly, he ordered him to find a young woman with a large dowry. The last time he had endured his father’s urging, his patriarch had said even a ‘cit chit’ was acceptable as long as she brought at least fifty thousand pounds with her to