As Lord Killsworth headed the table with Lady Huntington and Lady Killsworth flanking both his sides, Sarah Jane did her best to stare at her peas while an affable gentleman chatted with her regarding the differences of beans.
Anthony tried to corner multiple times before they entered the dining room for supper. But Sarah Jane had dodged all oh his attempts as graceful as a bull. It was obvious that she was avoiding him, but he couldn't even begin to fathom why. If Anthony hadn't been so confused about her behavior, he might have had the chance to be furious with her. What the hell is wrong with her?
Sarah Jane looked like the very picture of light and happiness as she received their guests. Seeing Anthony's handsome face and debonair virility made her want to crawl into a ball and cry. She didn't know what to say to him. If she finds out that he was indeed having an affair with the duchess, she didn't think that she would survive it.
Sarah Jane avoided him as best as she could, letting herself fly to a corner after corner, and in the process, accidentally bumped a misguided gentleman staring at the potted plants.
"I apologize," She began, out of breath from having escaped Anthony's direct gaze. Sarah Jane was out of sight even before he had a chance to walk towards her direction.
"What a lovely accident." The man tore his attention from the potted plants and remarked cheerily at the happenstance. "Sir Samuel Burberry, at your service, my lady." He bowed over her hand and dropped a kiss that was barely felt.
She nodded encouragingly and introduced herself, tightly securing her hand under his arm until they were invited to enter for supper.
Now, Sarah Jane thought wryly as she stroked her peas, she was beginning to regret the decision to stick to Sir Samuel Burberry's side. She was quickly realizing that he is a man who fancied himself to be a very engaging enthusiast of the arts and sciences. Within minutes, she was absolutely bored to death.
Anthony had not once stopped staring at her as they ate. And because of that, Sarah Jane found herself to be at the end of many curious gazes from the table.
She was helplessly in love with him, and she felt that all he wanted to do with her was to give her away to one of these fools. He was so blind, so arrogant, and so irritatingly stubborn that it caused hurt for them both.
Why in god's name did the creator make such obtuse and difficult creatures, she would never know.
Thankfully, her dinner companion had been blissfully oblivious to the entire affair. Sir Samuel Burberry is an avid pursuer of all things green, which includes the gardens and the peas on their plate. He studied and talked about the fate of trees past autumn, the frogs by the pond, which to him sounded a bit odd at different times of the day, and the moss that gives out a peculiar scent after a steady downpour.
Why he was seated at this table, so near the hosts, even when his rank was infinitely beneath them, was a rather confusing puzzle Sarah Jane didn't wish to dwell on either.
She stabbed one pea, smiling sweetly at Sir Samuel, and nodding at whatever he was explaining at the moment. He was in the middle of a lecture about an experiment which crossed fat peas with small peas, and Sir Samuel was particularly interested to know if he could produce both fat and small peas within the same plant. Sarah Jane resisted the itch to roll her eyes. The only pea variety she was interested in are the edible ones.
Suddenly, a strange phenomenon of swift silence befell the entire table as every conversation paused at the same time, granting them a short unnerving respite from dinner chatter. Lady Thistlewicke then called Anthony's attention to break the spell of silence, presumably to open another topic of conversation. Sarah Jane couldn't help but steal a curious glance.
Lady Thistlewicke was a good friend of Lady Huntington, but now they seem to have formed more of an alliance than a friendship.
"When you have the time, my lord, I should like to show you my daughter's watercolors. She has become quite the accomplished artist. Her hyacinths and waterfalls had been remarked upon by a famous French artisté!" Lady Thistlewicke ended with a flourish as she took a glass of wine to her mouth after swallowing a forkful of quail. Her shrill voice propelled the conversations to resume once again.
Lord Killsworth nodded, keeping his eyes at Sarah Jane as she pushed her food to the edges of the plate, barely eating anything.
He had enough of this night. If he didn't respect his mother so much, he would have kicked all the guests out of his house. All Anthony wanted was to be granted a short audience with Sarah Jane so that he may explain to her that their situations have changed, and he would very much like to marry her if she was quite inclined to accept him.
He sighed, noting how the friends of Lady Huntington seem to be beleaguering him with activities of their unmarried daughters more than usual tonight. Wasn't he deemed unsuitable for marriage? A titled peer without wealth to boast of, a long heritage to speak of, and a blackened reputation to boot. Only widows and married women with a scratch to itch were interested in him since his return, and all these attentions were highly unwelcome.
What had caused the change? Were there no more unmarried gentlemen this early in the season?
Grimacing, he glanced the room for Lady Thistlewicke's daughter out of politeness. She wasn't a beauty by ton's standards, but she looked quite uncomfortable in her yellow dress—its color did nothing for her features. The way her mother was selling her to all unmarried gentlemen had forced his mind to conjure an unpalatable image of an ugly girl with browned missing teeth. Her countenance was then a pleasant surprise.
A parent should never be this desperate for male attention for their daughter, it was decidedly more unattractive than anything.
Anthony returned his gaze to Sarah Jane, who had, in fact, returned to a new habit of pushing more food to the edges of her plate. Her mouth pursed slightly and moved as if she was about to say something to the chattering gentleman beside her. The man didn't seem to notice that she wasn't listening, and continued merrily with some uninteresting tale as she continued to whisper...
Was she counting the peas?
"Pardon me, my lady." He cleared his throat as Lady Thistlewicke looked up at him in attention. He looked from matronly Lady to another matronly Lady, unaware that they were all waiting for his attention.
He cleared his throat again, this time looking pointedly at his intended. "Lady Sarah Jane, is something amiss?"
Startled, she stole her attention away from Sir Samuel Burberry's ramblings and faced four curious faces from the end of the table.
What is he doing?
"Ah... nothing is amiss, my lord."
"I have noticed that you haven't been eating your dinner. Does the food not please you?"
"It pleases me, my lord."
"Are you unwell then?"
This time, conversations hushed, giving the pair the space to talk freely while they curiously waited for something to unfold. Their heads fully turned to the person speaking without any hint of concealing their curiosity and interest at the exchange.
Sarah Jane gritted her teeth as she plastered a pleasant grin on her face.
"No, my lord." She drawled, hoping that her irritated intonation was missed by most of the guests.
"I've noticed your distraction, that is all." He said blithely as he dabbed a napkin over his mouth. If she leaves the table, he was very ready to follow her out.
Still grinning painfully, Sarah Jane reached and patted Sir Samuel's stretched hand on the table. "I was only very entertained by Sir Burberry's knowledge of the different species of beans."
"And fruit," He helped cheerfully, before adding, "And that is Sir Samuel to you, my lady. Sir Burberry is my older brother."
She froze, her eyes gazing downward as big as an owl's while her hand tightened on Sir Samuel's hand. How many blunders was she to make before becoming able to get it perfectly right?
Upon having a little hand to hand contact, Sir Samuel started assessing Sarah Jane in a different light. His eyes became filled with admiration for the lady that had actually paid attention to what he was saying. He was grinning from too much satisfaction that Sarah Jane felt it important to immediately withdraw her hand, lest Sir Samuel began entertaining other ideas.
Anthony's lips pressed together, still refusing to take his eyes off of her.
As she felt his gaze hot on her skin, she raised her sights and met his. They stared at each other for a long time, causing uncomfortable coughs from Lady Killsworth and a few clearing of throats to those who felt the palpable awkwardness around them.
Sarah Jane lowered her head again, finally collecting the napkin on her lap and fixing the utensils to the side of the plate. She felt unable to keep the ruse of being unaffected by this insufferable Lord Killsworth any longer.
"As it happens, beg pardon, I am rather feeling unwell." She started to stand, pushing the chair and dragging it across the floor with a painful screech.
A footman hurriedly carried the chair, snatching it from her and she was granted some space to move. She didn't want to see how the others looked at her then. She ducked, keeping her eyes to the ground as she gave an imperceptible and grateful nod to the footman and then finally stepped aside.
Lord Killsworth had already stood, opening his mouth to offer to escort her out. This was his chance to get her alone and she wouldn't be able to escape him without making her behavior a cause for ridicule.
"Sir Samuel, would you be so kind to accompany me?" She spoke to the man so interested in peas, and then made the mistake of looking at the head of the table, where a very confused and almost angry Lord stood, staring her down.
"Uh... I fear that I am unstable on my footing." She said, her voice wavering at the mention of her feigned instability, and then quickly allowed the unknowing man to stand with her and accept her offer to escort her.
"The pleasure is all mine, my lady." He took her arm and placed it in the crook of his as they walked from the dining room.
Anthony sat back in his chair, grumbling that the woman was mad, insane to the bone. His mother darted a curious eye towards him as he calculated the risk of talk if he followed them out. The risk of talk that would affect his mother kept him in his place.
He didn't know what he did to deserve this treatment, but he wasn't going to allow a trifle botanist to interfere with his plans for this evening.
He was going to make her his wife, and he was going to do it tonight.
Sarah Jane found herself easily ensconced with Sir Samuel in the entrance hall parlor as he refused to leave her in such a 'state'. She forced herself to listen to him as he launched another laborious discussion on the hypothesized differences between Spring fauna and flora and Winter fauna and flora. She had already learned much about leaves and the meaning of their width enough to be a botanist herself when guests started to pile into the adjacent room to retire for some sherry and games.
Lord Killsworth determinedly followed behind, his stride fast and savage as he spotted her.
Sarah Jane quickly lowered her gaze, searching for some safe place to hide. She noticed some movement out of the corner of her eye and saw Barnaby reaching for the front door. Who could arrive so late as to miss the supper entirely?
Barnaby opened the front door and conversed with a heavily coated stranger by its crack. Sarah Jane locked eyes with the stranger, feeling as though she knew him from somewhere. He seems to believe the same and he pushed open, forcing the surprised butler to trip on his step.
"Excuse me, sir! I shall inquire if my master is receiving guests at this hour." Barnaby protested indignantly, fighting and pushing against the man on the door.
But the stranger had a much larger built, his shoulders towering over the butler's lanky frame as he shoved the wooden door which forced a creak on its hinges. His broad fingers gripped the panels as he used his knee to push both the door and the butler away from him.
"Lady Sarah" he breathed, causing Sir Samuel to stop his ramblings.
She squinted her eyes, assessing if she really knew this man. As awareness dawned on her, barely recognizing the severely disheveled man, a short breath whooshed from her lips.
"Mr. Collins?"
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A/N: I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long! If you enjoyed this update kindly let me know in the comments or by giving it a vote! Thank you!