A Summer Shame Read Free

Mrs. Bennet trailed off, seeming to become rather alarmed as she considered how long her eldest daughter had remained attached to one man, but not engaged to him. "Have you listened to Mr. Bingley as I have instructed you? Paying him careful attention and displaying your beauty to your advantage? It is odd that he has not yet come to the point . . . I shall invite him over for dinner!"
    "No, Mama, I shall not be here to dine. Lady Matlock has a most careful schedule planned for Mary and me; it will maximize our exposure to the most elite members of society." Jane held her breath as she watched her mother ruminate on what she had said. She did not address that her mother had no invitation to Matlock House, knowing her aunt would never allow Fanny Bennet to conduct such a faux pas.
    The last thing Jane wanted to tell her mother was of the times Mr. Bingley had come to call on her, she had told the servants to send him away. She planned to tell him it would be best if they acknowledged they were not the right match, but she had yet to determine the best way to deliver the blow.
    "That does make sense. Yet, I still do not see how you can finish out the Season without my invaluable guidance. You need me. And I feel bereft and abandoned. First Lizzie marries, and takes Lydia with her, who is to care for me in my old age? I am a poor widow you all wish to send away!" Mrs. Bennet began to wail near the end, resorting to the old theatrics her departed husband always catered.
    "Of course not! You must not think this way." Jane reached forward to pat her mother's arm, causing the sniffling woman to pause her act in wonderment. "I am lucky to have Lady Matlock take me under her wing, as is Mary. But poor Kitty! There is none to help her and she needs your guidance before she can handle a London ballroom. They are vicious, Mama," Jane ended in a conspiratorial whisper.
    "Kitty! That girl spends too much time covered in ink for any man to take notice of her. Why, all this writing and writing. I swear I do not know what has come over her since your father died and left us penniless."
    Jane gritted her teeth behind her plastered smile. Her father had not left them all penniless; in secret, he had invested in their uncle's business to provide for his daughters. He had not provided a largesse for his wife aside from her dowry. "But we must think of Kitty's future. She has a dowry of five thousand pounds now and if she is not prepared, I'm fearful she could fall for a fortune hunter like poor Lydia."
    "Wickham! That scoundrel. I never liked him, you know! I was certain in my heart he was not good enough for my dear Lydia, and now look at what's he gone and done! My poor, poor Lydia!" Mrs. Bennet ranged from indignant anger to wails. Jane's shoulders tensed as her eyes searched the door. She prayed none could hear her mother's commotion. The sooner she moved her mother back out to the country, the better they'd all be at keeping the secret from society.
    "Mama! Please remember, no one else must know," Jane whispered as she resumed packing. The carriage would be here any moment. "Will you please make plans to return to Meryton? Take Kitty, and why not invite Miss Darcy? She has never had a mother and a summer with your affection would be such a gift."
    "I shall think upon it. I will speak with my sister and see how fares my brother's recovery. I could never leave his side as he heals from such a grievous accident." Her mother grazed her hand along the fabric of the pale blue dress she had placed in the trunk, before nodding that she was leaving Jane to her packing.
    Jane bowed her head to hide her smile. She had won. If one could see thoughts in another's mind, Jane Bennet was certain her mother planned to ingratiate herself as a mother-like figure to Georgiana as a one-way ticket to Pemberley, Mr. Darcy's grand estate in Derbyshire. And, after talking with her aunt last night, there was no question that the heavy with child Madeline Gardiner