His Uncle's Favorite by Lory Lilian Read Free Book Online

cousins passed nearby, and he heard their laughter from the dining room; Darcy remained motionless in the hall, staring after them and forgetting to breathe.
    All hope for a peaceful evening had vanished. He could only pray that his uncle continued to mock him and that none of his words was taken seriously—except for the fact that he would put Elizabeth near him at the table. Could it be true? Would he spend the entire evening only a few inches from Elizabeth? Miss Elizabeth, of course, he corrected himself and hurried to the dining room. He did not need the earl’s assistance to make a fool of himself; he had been a fool since the first moment he met her, and neither time nor distance had changed that.

Chapter 3
    Taking her place at the dinner table, Elizabeth paid little attention to her surroundings. Her thoughts were preoccupied with the revelations of the last hour.
    Aside from the unique behaviour of Lord Matlock’s entire family—which included the earl’s amusing but tiresome insistence on her marrying one of his sons—she was puzzled by Mr. Darcy and, more importantly, his intentions.
    Elizabeth had not the slightest doubt that Mr. Darcy convinced Mr. Bingley to remain in London just to keep him from Jane. Mr. Bingley’s sisters must have played an important part in the scheme, but surely, Mr. Darcy had a more powerful influence over his friend. What his reasons were, Elizabeth could not guess.
    Elizabeth’s initial suspicion—and Miss Bingley’s own declaration—about a future connection between the Darcys and Bingley was obviously far from the truth. Miss Darcy’s sincere description of her conversations with Mr. Bingley confirmed that she had no romantic interest in him and that Mr. Bingley’s affections remained in Hertfordshire.
    It was understandable that Miss Bingley—whose main interest in life seemed to be Mr. Darcy and everything related to him—and her sister would not want Mr. Bingley to enter into a marriage that could bring him neither wealth, position, nor any other benefits aside from the love and honour of a wonderful woman like Jane.
    What Mr. Darcy’s interest was in such a dishonourable scheme, Elizabeth could not understand. Was he so selfish and proud that he planned to force a union between his sister and Bingley despite their wishes? Or did he simply despise the entire Bennet family, wanting to be as far from them as possible?
    If she were tempted to accept the worst about that gentleman before their brief interaction, the evening revealed some unexpected details.
    He had appeared quite surprised—even shocked—to see her and Jane in his uncle’s house, but he showed nothing but politeness towards them, much more politeness than he had shown in all the time he spent in Hertfordshire. To Mrs. Gardiner, his behaviour was not merely proper but almost friendly. Surprisingly, he expressed his intention to talk more about Derbyshire with Mrs. Gardiner, the daughter of a small shop owner from Lambton. Though he was obviously influenced by the earl’s friendship with the Gardiners, it was a pleasant change from his past aloofness and disturbingly proud behaviour.
    But the most shocking revelation—one that Elizabeth still could not believe—was the notion that Mr. Darcy had mentioned her—Elizabeth Bennet—in his letters to his sister. She remembered an evening during her stay at Netherfield when poor Miss Bingley insistently begged him to include a few words of admiration from her in his letter to Miss Darcy, and he refused her. Was it possible that he found time and space to put in his letters such things as her playing the pianoforte or her ‘extensive’ reading?
    Were these the actions of a man who only looked at her to find fault and whose long, insistent, reproachful stares only made Elizabeth uncomfortable? If he had such a poor opinion of her entire family, why waste time writing his sister about her in an apparently positive manner as Miss Darcy declared? His