Imperative: Volume 2, A Tale of Pride and Prejudice by Linda Wells Page A

glance.
    “Her mother would be for one.  I remember hearing her talking of Darcy marrying your cousin.”
    “Where did you hear that?”  Cathy’s head swung around.
    “From Darcy!”  He laughed and then it faltered under her stare.  “He did not take it seriously, well this was years ago, of course, we were in school.  Marriage was the furthest thing from his mind.”  Cathy said nothing and Manning brightened when they came together again.  “I just met him and his new wife as a matter of fact!  When we were heading for London, they were on their way North.”
    “Oh.  And my cousin was with them, of course.”
    “Yes . . .” His brow creased.  “I had forgotten about her, she did not have much to say.”
    “She never does.”  Cathy shrugged.
    “We invited them to play cards with us that evening at the inn, and she stayed in her room.”
    “She is only fifteen.”
    “Only fifteen!  Oh well, that settles that.  She looked quite . . .” He cleared his throat when Cathy stared again.  “. . . grown.” 
    “I am certain that she did.”  Cathy said coldly.  “Did you care for my cousin’s wife?”
    “Yes, oh yes, Mrs. Darcy was lovely, and she certainly brought out a side to Darcy I had never seen before.  Quite surprising, I hardly knew him.  He was obviously very attached and happy.”  He watched her face and cleared his throat.  “If I may say, Lady Catherine, I believe that the way your hair is dressed is quite attractive.”
    “Oh.”  Cathy blushed and touched it.  “Thank you, Mr. Manning!”
    “It reminds me of Mrs. Darcy’s hair, of course hers is quite curly . . .” He saw the glare returning to Cathy’s eyes.  “. . . but I understand that curls are quite out of fashion.  My sister reads all of the magazines . . .” Seeing her softening again, he quietly vowed to himself to never speak of any member of the Darcy family again to anyone. Especially to a jealous cousin!  
     
    “I THINK that our evening was a great success.”  Mrs. Kelly said as the family sat down to breakfast.  “It was certainly a wonderful surprise to include the Darcys and Colonel Fitzwilliam.”
    “Mrs. Darcy reminded me of you when we were first married, Aggie.”  Mr. Kelly smiled across the table at her.  “She was teetering between two worlds.”
    “Mrs. Darcy is hardly like me.  I was from your circle.  That poor woman has gone from an estate the size of Sommerwald to one that is five times as large.  I was very impressed with her comfort and poise at Mr. Darcy’s side, and clearly she had his admiration.”
    “She was speaking to him with her eyes.”  Robert noted.  Mrs. Kelly smiled and looked at her husband, who cleared his throat.
    “If you had stared at her any more I think that Mr. Darcy would have throttled you if his eyes were any indication.”  Stephen smirked.
    “I thought that she was lovely.  She looked so . . .” Feeling the gazes of his family upon him, particularly his father’s, Robert tried to explain himself.  “She seemed . . . happy . . .”
    “She is on her honeymoon, of course she is happy.”   Mrs. Kelly gave him a pointed look and poured out some tea.
    Stephen laughed.  “Some honeymoon with the colonel appearing.” 
    “I liked him.”  Mitchell declared.  “I wanted to hold his sword, but I was afraid to ask.”
    “And a good thing, too!”  Sophie admonished him.  “That is a true weapon and no little boy should be wielding such a thing.”
    “I am not a little boy!  I am fifteen, I could be . . .” His mother’s stare quickly shut his mouth.
    “It was an impressive weapon; I imagine he has used it enough times.”  Stephen said thoughtfully.  “He seemed . . . I do not know, but he looked like he could take anyone down without a thought if he was so moved.”
    Mr. Kelly scanned the table and sent an unspoken message to Mitchell to start eating.  “Obviously or he would not have achieved his rank, let alone