Arguing with Mary, page 1
This book is a work of fiction. All names, events, and places are a product of this author's imagination. If any name, event and/or place did exist, it is purely by coincidence that it appears in this book
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Arguing with Mary ©2021 by Leenie Brown. All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews, without written permission from its publisher and author. Purchase only authorized electronic editions and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Thank you for supporting the author’s rights.
ISBN: 978-1-990607-05-9 (ebook)
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Contents
Dedication
Dear Reader,
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Before You Go
More Books by Leenie
About the Author
Connect with Leenie
To all those of us who at some point in our younger lives were told to "stop arguing" by an exasperated parent.
I hope you enjoy reading the verbal sparring in this book as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Dear Reader,
The novelettes, such as this one, found in the Sweet Extras Collection are grouped together because they are all sequels to Sweet Possibilities stories, and grouping them together under a series title makes them easier to find and match with the book they follow.
Each Sweet Extra is, in and of itself, a complete story, which can be enjoyed on its own. However, for maximum enjoyment, it is recommended that you read the Sweet Possibilities story that precedes the Sweet Extra.
While these Sweet Extras novelettes are offered for purchase at all the retailers who sell my ebooks, they were, at one point, also given as gifts to my mailing list subscribers. If you would like to become part of my treasured group of readers who receive emails from me and the occasional gift, you can subscribe at this link: leeniebrown.com/subscribe.
Happy Reading,
Leenie
Chapter 1
October 5, 1811
Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam took one step into Netherfield’s stables and stopped as a stall door at the far end of the stable rows opened, catching his eye. That was odd. It was early. He had not expected that anyone would be tending to the animals at this hour. In fact, he had assumed he would have to see to the saddling of his own horse after he checked to make certain that the stable master knew that Mr. Hurst’s carriage would be needed in an hour.
As he stood just inside the door, looking down the row of horse enclosures, a rather feminine face peeked out from behind that stall door. Had he stumbled upon a clandestine meeting? He stepped half a step backwards toward the door, hoping the shadows there would hide him, just as a slim but curvaceous lady clad in trousers and a shirt, both of which were three sizes too big for her, moved out of that stall and into the dust-filled rays of early morning filtering through the window at the end of the building.
How in the world had she managed to sneak out of the house without being noticed? As far as Colonel Fitzwilliam knew, this particular young woman and her disapproving scowl were assigned to the same room as her mother. A mother, he added to himself, who was keen to know everything that was going on at all times. Mrs. Bennet was an enthusiastic collector of interesting tales. She did not always get the details correct when she relayed the anecdotes she had collected, but she always had a fascinating story to tell.
Despite Mrs. Bennet’s fondness for knowing all the comings and goings in her realm, at the length of a stable corridor away from Richard, her daughter, the youngest who was with her at this house party, tucked her hair into a cap as a tall and broad groom, likely the owner of the clothing Miss Mary wore, appeared at her side. Richard was certain that Mrs. Bennet had not sanctioned either that outfit or this meeting.
“Are you set, miss?”
She nodded.
“You can only be gone for half an hour. The colonel will be here soon enough to get his horse, and we do not want to be discovered.”
Richard chuckled to himself. It was too late for that.
“I’ve saddle Malcolm for you as requested,” the groom continued. “Are you certain you want to ride him again?”
Miss Mary poked at a strand of hair that wanted to escape the confines of her cap. “There will be no one racing nearby to set him off, and I promise to stay between here and Longbourn, where the land is familiar to me.”
Was she planning to ride that same horse that had run away with her just three days ago? Familiar land was not going to keep a horse from bolting. What was she thinking?
“I still don’t like the idea, miss.”
Neither did Richard.
“I will be well, Sam.”
“May I come with you?” There was an almost desperate pleading tone to the man’s voice.
Why was this fellow allowing something he obviously did not think was a good idea?
Miss Mary shook her head. “You will be needed here. You said yourself that the colonel will be here soon to get his horse.”
Cunning lass!
The groom shook his head slowly. “You know if Alice were not so fond of you and your sisters, and I were not so fond of her, I’d have sent you back to the house.”
“I know, and I thank you for the horse and the clothes.”
“Are you sure you want a lady’s saddle? You could ride astride in trousers.” The two moved toward Richard, and he retreated into the shadows a step further.
“I must be able to keep my seat when riding properly. How am I to learn that if I practice by riding astride?”
Again, the poor groom, whom the colonel guessed was caught between two demanding women, shook his head slowly. “I’ll tell you what I told my wife. I don’t like it, and I’m certain Mr. Darcy would not either.”
“Mr. Darcy is going to marry Lizzy. All will be well.”
“I would feel much better about this if you would let me ride with you. What if Malcolm does decide to take his head without your permission? He did it the last time you rode. Are you certain you won’t take a mare in his place?”
“I did not ride a mare the day we went riding as a group.”
Sam muttered a soft oath. “I still don’t know what Seamus was thinking giving a stallion like Malcolm to a lady.”
“I needed a horse. Malcolm was available, and he seemed like such a lovely fellow. How could I refuse?”
Sam and Miss Mary were almost to the door. Richard knew that soon he would be discovered, so instead of waiting for that to happen, he stepped out of the shadows. “Would it make you feel better, Sam, if I rode with Miss Mary?”
Miss Mary gasped and grasped the collar of her shirt, pulling it tight.
Richard chuckled. As if doing that was going to hide the fact that she was dressed inappropriately for a gently bred lady.
“Good morning, Colonel,” Sam said with a nod of his head. “I can have your horse ready in minutes.”
“See that you do, and not a word of this will ever be revealed to anyone by me.”
“Thank you, sir.” The groom turned and trotted down the length of the stables to where Richard’s horse, Regulus, was stamping and snorting.
His horse was not the only creature stamping, for he heard a softer stamp much closer to him.
“Good morning, Miss Mary,” Richard said with a smile. “It is a pleasant morning for a ride, is it not?”
“What are you doing here?” she demanded.
“Now is that any way to greet the person who could relate all the details of your morning exercise to your mother?” He chuckled when her eyes narrowed, and her nostrils flared. She had spirit, even if she lacked sense.
“You do know what would happen to both of us if you tell her, do you not?”
His left eyebrow arched. “What?” Was there something that would happen beyond the lady in front of him receiving a lecture?
“How can you not know?” She looked at him as if he were the stupidest gentleman she had ever seen.
“I do not see how anything unfavourable would happen for me if I were to tell your mother that I discovered you in the stables, dressed…” He gave her figure a sweeping glance. “Rather frumpily in trousers and about to go riding alone on a horse that is unpredictable.”
She squared her shoulders and lifted her chin. “I was not dressing to impress Malcolm. I simply could not get dressed in my riding habit without being discovered. However, that is not the point. My mother will hear that you and I were in the stables alone.” Her brow furrowed. “Well, she will hear that after she finishes scolding me for wearing Sam’s clothes. And then, she will see marriage in our future.” She gave him a pointed look. “I am certain you want that no more than I do.”
He knew what she was saying but rather than admit that she was correct in her supposition, he decided to provoke her further. “I had no idea you wished to marry me.”
Her mouth dropped open. Then, she shook her head. “How does one become a colonel without the ability to reason?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“If I say, I do not want something any more than you do, and then, you say that I want that thing, does that not mean you also want that thing?”
His face scrunched as he wound his way through her logic. His eyes popped open wide. Had he truly just sa id he wanted to marry her?
“Ah, I see from your surprised expression that you have finally found the right path.” She curtsied. “It has been a pleasure, Colonel, but Malcolm is waiting.” She moved to go around him, but he stepped in front of her.
“You should not mount him without assistance.” He looked down into her hazel eyes. The top of her head came only to his chin. Somehow he had thought she was taller. Maybe that was just because her opinions were so large and loud. “I do not care if there are steps,” he added when her mouth opened to speak. “You could end up on the ground before you even begin riding.”
“I am not going to end up on the ground,” she insisted as she tried to sidestep past him. “You dance well, Colonel,” she grumbled when he matched her move.
“As do you.”
“I am not dancing.”
Again, a soft stamp made Richard smile.
“Do you want me to take Regulus outside for you?” Sam asked with a curious look between Richard and the irritated young woman standing very close to his chest.
“I can take him, if you can guarantee that Miss Mary will not try to mount her horse without assistance.”
“I would be pleased to have Sam assist me.” She held Richard’s gaze with a ferocity that he found oddly charming.
“As you wish, my lady,” he stepped to the side and allowed her to exit the stables as he took Regulus’s reins from Sam, who scampered through the door after Miss Mary.
It seemed he was not alone in worrying that headstrong Miss Mary Bennet would attempt to see herself seated on her horse without a morsel of help from anyone. However, to his surprise, when he and Regulus stepped outside into the yard, Mary stood atop the mounting stairs, waiting for Malcolm to be brought to her.
Richard held his place next to his horse and watched as she took her seat rather daintily in spite of her attire. Only then did he remember that he had come to the stable with a purpose other than just riding.
“Sam,” he said as he swung up onto Regulus’s back, “I came early today to ensure that Mr. Hurst’s carriage will be ready when it is called for in an hour.”
“Mr. Hurst’s carriage?” Mary parroted. “Are they leaving?”
“Yes, I have heard they are.” He looked back to Sam. “If you will make sure whoever needs to know is told.”
“The carriage will be ready on time.”
Richard tipped his hat to the man and then turned to Mary. “Up for a race?”
She gasped. “I cannot race. That is the reason I am practicing. I do well when riding at a walk, but anything faster…” she clamped her lips closed.
“Anything faster does what?” he prompted.
She shook her head.
“I promise not to tease you.”
The look she gave him shouted that she did not believe he was capable of keeping such a promise.
“Does it frighten you?” he asked. “That is nothing to be ashamed of if it does. I think everyone has some trepidation the first time they take off like the wind on the back of a rather large and powerful beast.”
She gave him a soft smile. “Why are the Hursts leaving?”
He would have to take her smile as confirmation that he had guessed correctly, and that galloping scared her. He was not sure how she had planned to overcome that fear on her own, but now was not the best time to ask that.
“Mrs. Hurst told several gentlemen that your sister needed to marry to sell her garden. I had warned both her and Caroline about their behaviour before the house party began. My warning was not heeded and upon my mother’s agreement, Mr. and Mrs. Hurst, along with Miss Bingley and Miss Shaw, have been asked to leave quietly this morning.” He glanced at her to see her reaction. There was a softness to her expression that he had never seen directed at him. He had seen her look that way with her sisters and Miss Lucas, but not with him.
“You cared that they spoke about my sister like that?”
He nodded. “Why would I not?”
She blinked. “Is it not obvious?”
“I do not know why you insist upon thinking that whatever is apparent to you must also be evident to me.” And his pride was not sure it could withstand her calling him a simpleton very many more times this morning.
“I guess I assume that if something can be seen by me then surely it can also be seen by everyone else. I am not overly clever, Colonel.”
“That I do not believe,” he retorted. “You have met Miss Bingley, have you not?”
“Yes, but how does that signify?”
“Would you call her clever?”
Her shoulders lifted and lowered. “I had not considered it.”
“I would not call her utterly stupid – at least, I could not do so truthfully – but she is not clever.”
“I still do not follow.”
He smiled. It was pleasant to be the one who had to do the explaining rather than the one needing explanation. “She is what I would think of as a non-clever woman, and there are many more just like her in town, clamouring for the attention of the wealthiest, best-connected gentlemen.”
The way some ladies in the higher circles hunted for husbands disgusted him. Gentlemen were not just bank accounts, houses, lands, and titles. They, just like the women they married, were people. Perhaps they had different roles within their families and society, but they were not so utterly different in many ways.
He glanced at Miss Mary when she did not respond. The expression he met was one of expectation.
“You far outshine Miss Bingley,” he added to complete his explanation.
Her eyes grew wide. “I do?”
He chuckled. “I do not flatter for flattery’s sake unless you are a superior officer, which you are not.”
“Thank you.” A genuine smile graced her face, and her tone was one of near amazement.
“Why do you think so ill of me?” He slowed his horse and hers followed suit. “You were surprised earlier that I would be put out with Mrs. Hurst for sharing about your sister’s need to marry to sell her garden, and just now, you seemed even more shocked that I would compliment you. I do not like to ask for guidance, Miss Mary. I like to think of myself as somewhat intelligent, but I cannot reason out what might be going through your pretty head.”
A skeptical brow arched. “Pretty head, indeed! I thought you did not flatter for flattery’s sake, Colonel.”
“Are you flirting with me to avoid answering the question?”
“I should think not! I do not flirt.”
That was a pity. Flirting with Miss Mary sounded like an exceptionally entertaining way to pass the time. She was not like the insipid debutantes in the ballrooms of London. Mary had a sharp tongue that would not refrain from pushing at the edges of what some would consider improper – not that she would be indelicate. It was just that her remarks to him were rarely demure. And he liked that, mostly.
“How can you say my head is pretty when my hair is stuffed inside a cap with very little care?”
“My question first.”
She scowled.
“I can see you are trying to avoid telling me why you think so ill of me.”
“I am not!” She glared at him before looking away as if too embarrassed to look at him while speaking. “I simply find it hard to believe that a gentleman who forced my sister to attend a house party to find a husband and who, I might add, called the party a ‘marry Elizabeth party’, would care if others spoke unkindly about her.”
Ah! That did make sense. Unfortunately.
“And a fellow who would treat your sister in such a way would never be anything other than an ogre, who is incapable of being pleasant or having a care for anything but himself. Is that right?”
She shrugged and peeked over at him. “Perhaps.”
“In that case, I am a dreadfully sorry to disappoint you. I am not an ogre. I do not always speak gently or with any great finesse, but I am not a monster.” He had cursed himself many times for his ill-chosen words that day in Netherfield’s drawing room when they were beginning to plan the party. “Your sister did find a husband at the party. Will that help you forgive me for my deplorable words?”
He nudged Regulus to walk.
“She could have found him without a party.”
Richard chuckled. “But she did not. They fell in love at the party. Am I forgiven?”
