Page 4 of His Pride and His Prejudice

“Saving the estate you mean,” Jack said.

“Well, yes,” Elliot agreed because that was the truth of it. “For should papa leave us unexpectedly we could all be turned out onto the streets. We will not starve,” he added. “Mama’s funds would see to that, but we would lose Longbourn, which would break her heart. I will do my part by trying to forge a career that would at least allow me to contribute in some way, but I am not in line to inherit. I cannot ensure the security of Longbourn.”

“It is…”

“A burden?” Elliot asked and Jack nodded.

“A heavy expectation.”

“Though when one looks like you do,” Elliot said, trying to lighten the mood. “It is at least an achievable expectation! Mama is convinced it is the reason for your good looks after all!”

“And what would be the reason for yours?”

Elliot laughed. He knew how he was viewed and next to Jack he could not compare, none of them could. “You know I have none,” he said, and with such a complete lack of self-consciousness that Jack laughed too.

“No, maybe not in a conventional way,” Jack said after a moment. “But you are like papa. The looks may be different, but you have a quick wit, Elliot. Enough to catch yourself an alpha mate also if that is what you want, after all papa managed to mate outside of his station with mama.”

Elliot shrugged. “They were a love match, Jack, and they remain very much in love…in their own way at least.”

They paused for a moment, watching the movement of the river. Elliot’s lines remained stubbornly still. The ducks of course, and he could not begrudge them despite the fact his lack of catch would doom them to cook’s very dry chicken for dinner.

“Should we go and have a brief look?” he finally said.

Jack sighed. This was why he had come to the river. Jack might be the oldest, but it was usually Elliot who led the way. “Very brief.”

Elliot helped Jack up, the other man frowning as he brushed the dust from his breeches. It didn’t take them long to walk up to the house, avoiding the formal entrance as they did so and making their way to the high windows of their papa’s small library, which also served as his study and therefore his escape from the rest of the house. The intention, unspoken, was to take a quick look through those windows but there was no need. Before they made it halfway, the front door of Longbourn opened and two men emerged, rapidly followed by an over-excited woman. Elliot reacted first, hastily grabbing Jack, and dragging him behind a sizeable Linden tree.

“Well…” was all he said once they were hidden.

Jack said absolutely nothing at all. He placed a hand on his mouth, rubbing at the small moustache there as he was wont to do when nervous, and watched the scene before them.

“I wish I could accept your invitation, Mrs. Bennet, but I away to London immediately.” The words were carried to them on the Linden-scented breeze.

“You have only just arrived!” Mrs. Bennet said and even from the distance of the tree Elliot could see she was flushed with pleasure at having Mr. Bingley on their estate.

“It is a brief journey, no more,” Mr. Bingley said. “Simply to fetch my guests from London.”

“Guests?”

“For the Meryton assembly. I will count it as my introduction to local society.”

Elliot shot a quick look at Jack. His brother was looking fairly flushed as well. Because of the alpha or because this was the first that they had heard that Mr. Bingley was planning to attend one of their regular assemblies?

“Of course,” Mrs. Bennet said quickly. “I dare say you will soon be inundated with such invitations.”

“I will see your family there?” Bingley asked. “And your sons also? If it is not too forward of me to say, I have heard that Jack is the fairest of all omegas not just here in Longbourn, but it is said across much of England!”

Mrs. Bennet’s flush of pleasure could not have been move obvious and she laughed in delight. “To be sure, Mr. Bingley,” she said. “And it is not too forward of you when you speak nothing but truth.”

“Until then,” Mr. Bingley said with a nod to Mr. Bennet and a slight bow to Mrs. Bennet—both gestures in keeping with their stations.

Elliot noted the gestures back from his parents, their satisfied smiles as Mr. Bingley took his leave, their whispered words as they made their way back into the house.

He took a deep breath and turned to look at Jack. Their eyes met but Jack simply shook his head, face still flushed, before turning and walking back towards the riverbank. Elliot did not follow. He suspected Jack needed his space because one thing was now abundantly clear…someone had finally arrived in Longbourn to rival his brother in beauty…and that someone was Mr. Bingley.

Three

The small town of Meryton was only a mile or so from Longbourn which for the Bennets was less than a fifteen minute walk at a quick pace. As well as being the only place resembling a social hub for miles, it was also home to the assembly rooms where, on the last Friday of every month, a ball was held with all the important families from the area holding a standing invitation. Unlike balls held in London or even the more local cities such as Bath, Meryton did not uphold the rule that omegas had to be twenty-five to attend. This meant that all the Bennet boys attended the monthly ball and had since they’d turned eighteen.

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