Free What Would Lizzy Bennet Do? by Katie Oliver Page B

you?’
    ‘I went to the Longbourne marina yesterday to get the
Pemberley
ready for the race on Saturday.’
    ‘I told you I already did that,’ Hugh pointed out.
    ‘I know, but I had to make sure everything was in order, didn’t I? Hugh was there, too,’ he told his mother, ‘and he saw Charli. She was on Ciaran’s yacht.’
    Lady Darcy’s eyes widened. ‘Do you mean to say that Charlotte
Bennet
was on Ciaran’s private yacht? Oh, dear. I wonder if her father knew?’
    ‘No,’ Harry said grimly, ‘he didn’t. Which I already suspected, so I went aboard the second the
Meryton
docked and demanded to know what Ciaran was up to.’
    ‘And what did he say?’
    ‘He said it was none of my business. I told him it
was
my business, and Charli was my friend and she was coming with me, and that I was taking her home. She refused, and Ciaran got in the middle, and, well…’ he shrugged. ‘Punches were thrown.’
    ‘Oh, no.’ Lady Sarah paled and reached for her orange juice. ‘I need something stronger,’ she muttered. ‘Orange juice alone just won’t do.’ She picked up a silver bell and rang it. ‘Someone bring me some vodka.’
    ‘It gets worse.’
    Harry’s father glowered down the table at him. ‘How could it possibly get any worse?’
    With a grimace, Harry met his eyes. ‘The
Longbourne Tattler
got wind of it somehow, and there’s a photograph, and it’s on the front page of this morning’s paper. And,’ he added glumly, ‘Ciaran’s threatening to file a lawsuit against me. For assault.’
    Hugh leaned back in his chair in disgust. ‘I’ve no doubt he’s already filed it, knowing Ciaran. This is just the sort of thing he lives for.’
    ‘It just gets better and better,’ Lord Darcy snapped. ‘It’s not enough Duncan dragged our family through the mud once before! What on earth were you
thinking
, Harry? You young idiot!’
    ‘I suppose I shouldn’t have got involved,’ Harry admitted, and sighed. ‘It was incredibly stupid.’
    ‘Yes,’ his father agreed curtly, ‘it was.’
    ‘No, it wasn’t.’ Holly spoke up in Harry’s defence. She turned to him. ‘You did a brave thing, standing up to Ciaran Duncan.’
    Harry’s eye – the one that wasn’t purple and nearly swollen shut – met hers. ‘Thanks.’ He gave her a crooked, but very grateful, smile.
    ‘He’s a womaniser and a nasty piece of work, and I know it only too well,’ Holly said. ‘Charlotte’s far too young to resist the attention of someone like him, and if she falls for his lies, he’ll use her and toss her aside like the – the paper in the bottom of a bird cage.’
    ‘You sound as if you speak from experience, Holly,’ Lady Darcy said, and lifted her brow quizzically.
    ‘No need to go into all of that,’ Hugh interjected, and laid a hand protectively atop Holly’s. ‘It’s in the past now.’
    ‘No.’ Holly regarded her fiancé, and then Lady Sarah, without expression. ‘No, it’s all right. Your family deserves to know. And I’ve nothing to be ashamed of, except for my own stupidity.’
    In as few words as possible, she told them all how Ciaran had romanced her in Manhattan the previous summer, how he’d dazzled her with expensive dinners, private box seats at the theatre, a cruise in New York Harbour on a hired yacht, and repeated declarations of love, until she agreed to his proposal of marriage and wore his engagement ring on her finger.
    ‘It was a beautiful ring,’ Holly finished. ‘I was deliriously happy. But then I found out he didn’t really love me,’ she added, and fidgeted with the stem of her water glass. ‘Not one jot. It was all to do with money.’ She looked up. ‘My family’s money.’
    ‘God, I’m sorry,’ Harry said, and scowled. ‘He’s an arse. It seems some things never change. Take what he did to Phoebe, for instance…’
    ‘It’s most distressing,’ Lady Darcy cut in quickly. ‘
All
of it.’ She gave her youngest son a quelling glance. ‘But