The World for Her Favor: True Love Through Time, #3

Chapter 1

PEMBERLEY COMPLEX

NORTH POLE MOON BASE

EARTH YEAR 2122

The ventilation kicked on and Lizzy Bennet’s skin prickled at the slight breeze caused by the high-efficiency system. This shop in Pemberley Complex was more than she and her sister could afford, if they were honest, but they still had no control over the thermostat. No matter. She’d grown accustomed to the chill here.

You know they’re coming to see the moon base and not to irritate you, correct? Jane said. Her voice was strangely muffled due to the pin she was holding between her lips in preparation for her next dart. The glorious cerulean silk she was working with rippled like running water in the soft light of the Bennet Designs workroom, which was crowded with mannequins and bolts of the finest fabrics.

Whether Mother has irritating me on her mind or not, she is about to ruin my first vacation in more than two years.

Jane frowned at Lizzy. Don’t be unkind. The younger girls have yet to see the moon and we should be happy for them that they’re getting the opportunity.

While Lizzy understood Jane’s sentiment, she wasn’t looking forward to the visit from the rest of the Bennet clan. She and Jane had managed just fine on their own here for almost three years now, building their business serving the most fashionable clientele on the moon base. In that time, the Bennet parents had visited once. That visit had failed spectacularly when Mother could not stop running her mouth off at every wealthy man she met. In this day and age, it was not remotely appropriate to attempt to fix your daughters up—perfectly self-sustaining daughters, in fact—with the best match you could find for them.

It was insulting. And she had told her mother so. Father wasn’t pleased, because it put Mother in a mood. All had ended awkwardly and Lizzy had been hoping for a longer gap than eighteen months between visits. There was a reason she no longer lived on the earth’s surface. It was named Mother.

Jane gave a small yelp of pain as she accidentally pricked herself with a pin. She set the blue silk aside. What are you wearing to tonight’s Winter Gala?

Lizzy grinned. The black and silver Mandarin-inspired gown. You know the one.

Jane nodded. She rose and went out to the showroom. I’m wearing this, then. They’ll be good together.

Lizzy looked up enough to see a shimmer of silver flowing over her sister’s arm and then resumed her work.

Jane sighed impatiently and placed the silver gown into her carryall. Lizzy could feel her older sister observing the cape still draping from Lizzy’s sewing machine. She wasn’t quite finished sewing its ornate border. Are you almost done? We have to retrieve them from Bay 42 in less than an hour.

It would take the high-speed to get them there and that only came every twenty minutes. Lizzy glanced at the clock. Give me fifteen more minutes to finish this up.

That doesn’t give us enough time–

I don’t care! They could find their way to us, you know!

Jane set her things aside and left the room, letting Lizzy know just how much she appreciated her attitude.

Lizzy allowed herself one deep breath and then resumed her work, finishing a full two minutes before she had promised.

They were lucky that Bennet Designs had taken off so well. A pair of dressmaking sisters resettling on the moon? It could’ve gone terribly awry. But Jane and Lizzy had nursed a flair for fashion since childhood. They had three young sisters to treat as models and Lizzy had a head for business as well. She kept the numbers and accounts, while Jane handled more of the social aspects and focused on bringing in new clientele whenever they could manage it.

Jane raised her brows at her younger sister when she returned and found Lizzy waiting by the door. The door to the shop closed behind them with a faint hiss and they left Avenue B and crossed to the right-hand side of the main thoroughfare—Corridor 1—to fit into the flow of pedestrians.

Real estate on Corridor 1 was too pricey for them; the Bennet sisters continued to scramble after their payments on Avenue B even with close to three years in business behind them. Their current store was a tight fit, but it was the best choice for them, until they could afford a bigger store on Corridor 1. Now their shop was right off the main corridor near the busiest restaurant district. Possible clientele walked by and saw their portfolio presented on the signboard at the end of the avenue on their commutes each day. When they desired something fancier than the usual moon styles of jumpsuits in an array of muted, boring colors, Bennet Designs would occur to them naturally.

In addition, Lizzy and Jane had been courting favor with some of the wealthiest occupants of the moon base almost since they arrived. It was hard work, for those people did not trust others outside of their social caste. That was one reason Lizzy had been so infuriated by her mother’s attempt to marry her off to the very people she would rather sell on her fashion. She needed those people as patrons, not as husbands.

Lizzy didn’t even know if she wanted a husband. Ever.

For more than three years she and Jane had thought of little else besides building this business. It showed—all of their hard work had started to pay off and business was steady. Lizzy had finally scheduled a long-awaited vacation. And now five more members of the Bennet family were to cram into their apartment for who knew how long of a stay.

Don’t look so grumpy, Jane urged.

Lizzy tried to clear the expression from her face. Jane did not deserve her frustration.

Jane patted her hand with a gentle smile. It will all be fine. Her serene tone told Lizzy she believed her words entirely.

If only Lizzy could.

Chapter 2

Will Darcy allowed himself one deep breath before turning to face his friend Charles Bingley, hoping he had his expression under control. I can think of far better ways to spend our time then attending a gala, for God sake. He hadn’t meant to add that last part, but it snuck out of him.

He and Charles Bingley were old friends and they could usually be frank with each other. Now was a good time, because he had zero interest in attending the annual Winter Gala; he had no taste for affairs put on purely to show off one’s wealth and fashion. And he had less than zero interest in the looks he was sure to receive, the inane conversations he would have to put up with as women threw themselves at the chance to be noticed by Mr. William Darcy, of Darcy Enterprises, one of the most powerful men on the moon base.

Bingley just smiled gregariously, taking Darcy’s reluctance as a challenge. Come on, Will. The most lovely and fashionable ladies in Pemberley Complex will attend and you know it. I would like to meet some of them.

Darcy glared. I don’t have time for nonsense.

We’ve been looking at properties all week. I finally settled on one and I am in the mood to celebrate, Bingley insisted.

Darcy chose not to grumble, he had himself well in hand…until Bingley went on. Besides, you know Caroline must go to the gala. She wouldn’t miss it.

That’s exactly what Darcy was worried about.

Caroline Bingley had been trying to get him interested in her for his entire acquaintance with Charles. He could not stand the woman, but she would not accept his lack of interest. He had been silently dismayed when he’d realized that Caroline would be following two weeks behind Bingley and while he was now resigned to her presence he did not want to be in the same room with her more often than was necessary. She didn’t make it easy. And Bingley expected him to attend a gala, hundreds of people crowded into one large room pretending as if they were interested in each other, on account of Caroline?

Charles must have read his expression, because he burst out, Darcy, you will have fun, I promise! You could use a little time off.

Darcy shook his head. I don’t know how you talk me into these things. Maybe Bingley was right. He had been working overtime frequently in recent weeks.

Pemberley Complex—the whole base—was growing rapidly and the expanding population came with multiplying needs. Darcy’s company Darcy Enterprises was responsible for procuring and shipping materials for building as well as supplies for the colonists on the North Pole Moon Base.

Darcy had lived on the moon for much of his adult life. He had built Pemberley Complex after his father had passed away, in tribute to the great man.

Now he sometimes felt a slave to it. He would not change his life, however. Add to it, maybe, but not change it. Life on the moon was extraordinary. Humankind was still in its infancy in the experience of extraterrestrial life. The knowledge that he was a part of such history pushed Darcy to thrive. So did the challenges of managing supplies for tens of thousands of people.

But this once, for Bingley, he would make time to attend a frivolous affair like the Winter Gala.

Let’s get ready! Bingley clapped Darcy on the shoulder. Caroline would like to dine with us before the gala.

And Darcy saw another hour of his schedule carved away, to be filled with Caroline Bingley’s irksome presence.

This night could not end soon enough.

Chapter 3

The terminal at Bay 42 was crowded, the common blues, grays and creams of working moon settlers occasionally dotted with a flash of bright color, the entire scene undulating like a river of bodies. An interchange connected Bay 26 through Bay 50, so that the throng could move along to whichever bay they required.

This was a busy section of