Brides and Prejudice

Carolynn

"What are you doing?" Lissa hissed under her breath when she saw Jean smile widely at her, her face practically glowing as she saw Lissa and Will together, dancing!

"Trying to find a way to escape," Will said not looking at her, but actually looking over her shoulder to try to concoct an escape plan.

Lissa stared up at him then followed his gaze. Seeing the mass of females, standing on the side of the dance floor, looking rather forlorn, Lissa couldn't help but laugh. Jean wasn't kidding when she said that the mothers were after Will Darcy. "You know if you just talk to them, they'd probably leave you alone." She couldn't help but say aloud.

"Pardon?" Will asked looking down at her confused.

"You may look like some Calvin Klein model from afar, but if you would just talk to them with your pompous demeanor, I'd bet, your bronze pedestal would begin to rust."

"I look like a what?" Will asked spinning the two of them on the dance floor, not realizing that he was defaulting to the waltz that he'd had to learn since he was a child.

Lissa rolled her eyes. "Calvin Klein model," She said tersely.

"Model?" Will echoed.

"Yes," Lissa narrowed her eyes at him. "And don't act so surprised. I can't possibly be the only person that has said so,"

Will couldn't help but grin. "Well I have been told many times that I was handsome,"

"Only a blind person would think otherwise, because they-"

"I've never been told that I look like a model. Much less a Calvin Klein..."

"Yes but as soon as you open your mouth, the affect lessens." Lissa abruptly interrupted, not wanting to swell Will Darcy's ego.

"Good thing then, that I rarely do," Will said, looking straight at her, the determined mothers and their daughters, in the back of his mind. His mind was only concentrated on the female in front of him.

"Then am I the exception? Because you certainly say a lot to me or about me." Lissa remarked harshly as she remembered the insult of her and her sisters. None of them were worth looking at.

"Elisabeth-"

"Please do not call me that, only my mother says that when she's about to reprimand me for something or another." Lissa said offhandedly as she looked down at her feet, just realizing that Will Darcy had apparently lead her into a waltz. Looking up she peered into his Caribbean blue eyes.

In turn, he did the same, peering into her hazel ones that seemed almost golden at the moment from the lights off the dance floor. "Lissa?" He asked, trying her name on his tongue.

Lissa had to blink at hearing her name come so informally from his mouth in his, she hated to admit it, but rather delicious accent. Her eyes lingered over his curved lips, that were in an almost smile.

"Lissa," Will said this time with a lit of amusement in his tone.

Lissa's eyes widened as she realized that she had been staring. Immediately her face flushed just slightly.

"Oh my my, looks like one managed to get you too." A female voice said just to the left of them. "You and Chase,"

Lissa and Will both sharply turned their heads. Lissa could only stare at the lithe blonde before her, dressed just like the corporate women that frequented the coffee shop she worked at in Italy. A crème colored skirt that flared just slightly right above her knees as well as a matching one button crème blazer. A pale blue, ruffled top peeking just under her blazer, the same color as her bright eyes that were looking at them, not quite in amusement, but something more, demeaning.

Will opened his mouth but was interrupted as Chase yelled out his sister's name.

"Carolynn!"

~~~

Will immediately let go of Lissa's waist as he stepped away.

"Carolynn," Will said in shock, almost like as if he had been caught doing something wrong.

Like a wife waiting for her husband to come home, Carolynn merely raised a perfectly plucked brow before she whirled around to face her little brother and... his fiancé.

"Hi Carolynn, we're so glad you made it." Jean said, holding Chase's hand as she came to stand beside him.

"Hello," Carolynn smiled tightly at the much too nice girl that her little brother had managed to fall in love with. She didn't dislike Jean Bennet by any means, but she was much in the boat with Will and didn't believe that her brother was ready to be someone's all. He wasn't exactly done being a kid in her eyes. "So, this, is it?" She said slowly as she looked around the dance hall with a less than impressed look on her face.

Jean's smile fell a little before it was quickly replaced with a small one. She already knew that there was a slim chance that Chase's sister would like it. She thought gulping.

Lissa's eyes narrowed as she looked beyond her sister's façade. "Hi, you must be Chase's sister?" Lissa quickly interrupted.

"Yes. And you are?" She asked, though she didn't look at Lissa, but instead at Will, as if asking him what he was doing with her.

Lissa too raised a brow as she saw the interaction between the two. "Lissa, I'm Jean's sister and the maid of honor." She said with a fake but dazzling smile she developed to deal with even the rudest of customers who made it seem like as if no coffee was ever to their liking, until the eighth time when they simply settled for the first one... again.

"Oh," Carolynn Brigham uttered. So this was the one who was taking her maid of honor role. "So nice to meet you," She said with a tight smile.

"Likewise, Carolynn." Lissa returned with her own smile.

Chase merely grinned at the two, not seeing behind their smiles. But Will could read both of them and only one thought was running through his mind. Those two would be trouble. But he was definitely done being bored in this country town.

Carolynn Brigham and Lissa Bennet were like a vinegar and baking soda. An explosion would soon follow and for some reason he felt that he would soon be in the middle of it, if he didn't watch out.

~~~