Page 86 of I Thee Wed (Pride And Prejudice Variation #2)
A carriage bearing the de Bourgh crest entered the yard, where the Darcys stood waiting to greet them. Richard hopped out, smiling at his cousins, then turned and handed Anne and Mrs. Jenkinson down from the conveyance.
Georgiana flew from the house and threw her arms around Richard’s neck. “Richard, I have missed you.” She stood back and looked him over. “You received no injury at the hands of that smuggler gang?”
“No, little cousin. I am very well, as you see.”
She turned to Anne, embraced her fair cousin, and kissed her before taking her arm to walk toward the entrance. “Anne, we will spend our holiday at Windermere, and we shall have such fun together.”
“Richard!” Lady Helen, abandoning her customary elegance, allowed herself to hurry and embrace her younger son.
“You are here.” She held him back to look at him.
“And you are well, no injuries.” She brushed away a tear.
“Do not mind me, son. I have been so worried about you, but I see that you are perfectly well.”
She turned to Anne. “Shall I take you up so that you may rest? The trip from Kent to Derbyshire is long and tedious.”
Richard took his mother’s arm. “My cousin is very well, mamma. I have taken prodigious care of her over the past five days of our journey.”
Elizabeth approached the elderly companion and offered her arm. “Mrs. Jenkinson, shall I take you directly up to your rooms so that you may refresh yourself, or will you take tea first?”
The elder lady met her eyes. “I am exhausted by the journey, Mrs. Darcy. I want nothing better than to go upstairs and take a long nap.”
Elizabeth regarded her with sympathy. “Then that is what you shall do. Come, I will direct Mrs. Reynolds.”
Darcy and Phillip watched from the entrance. When Richard reached them, Darcy clasped his shoulder with evident affection. “Richard, I am so glad to see you alive and in one piece.”
Phillip drew his brother into a brief embrace, then grinned. “So, the smuggler gang did not carry you off to France in a fishing boat. Brother, I mean to hear every detail.”
Richard laughed, gratified by their warmth. “Very well, but let us have brandy first.”
The three withdrew to Darcy’s study and settled in to hear Richard’s tale.
Meanwhile, the women gathered in the drawing room to take tea with Anne. Lady Helen, always direct, regarded her niece. “My dear, you look quite changed. I see color in your cheeks, and you look very well. The Scottish air has agreed with you.”
Her willowy niece laughed, something she had never done before in Lady Helen’s presence.
“Richard insists upon walking me out every morning, whether I wish it or not. He declares it is good for my health. Perhaps he is right, for I find myself with more appetite than ever.” She glanced down at her form.
“I have gained weight. All my gowns had to be let out.”
Lady Helen’s eyes warmed. “I see that you have curves, my dear. Your new figure is lovely.”
Anne smiled. “I fear I was sadly underweight before. I blame mother’s French chef and his complicated sauces and creams, which do not agree with me.”
Her aunt studied her, satisfied. “You look very like your namesake, Lady Anne. She, too, was tall and willowy, but with a most attractive figure, as you now possess.”
The young woman flushed. “Thank you, Aunt Helen. You are very kind.”
Georgiana was studying her cousin’s features. “You do have a beautiful figure, cousin. I can scarcely believe my eyes at the difference in you.”
Laughing softly, she said, “I am indebted to Richard for any improvement. My cousin is unyielding when it comes to his wishes.”
Elizabeth covered her mouth as she laughed. “It is a family trait.”
Anne turned to her hostess. “You look remarkably well yourself, Elizabeth.”
“Thank you, I am indeed very well. But you must be fatigued from your journey. Would you like to rest before dinner? I shall send hot water an hour beforehand, but if you would prefer to go up now, I can take you.”
Anne sighed. “Yes, I believe I should. I am exhausted, but only because Richard insisted we leave by seven o’clock this morning. He would not remain another night at an inn. He said he wanted to sleep here at Pemberley in a clean bed, and not in lodgings with questionable sheets.”
Elizabeth grinned. “That does sound very much like a military man.” Rising, she held out her hand. “Come, I will take you to your rooms.”
“Aunt, I promised Mrs. Jenkinson that if she escorted me here to Pemberley, she might have a holiday for the rest of our visit, and that you would be my chaperone on the journey to Windermere. I never asked either of you if that was acceptable. Elizabeth, may your household accommodate my companion while we are away?”
Elizabeth took her cousin’s arm. “Of course. Mrs. Jenkinson can be no burden in a house so well-staffed, especially when the entire party will be absent on holiday. And both Lady Helen and I will act as your chaperone.”
In Darcy’s study, Phillip leaned forward and addressed his brother. “Well, Richard? You promised us every detail. I want to hear about the smugglers.”
“We tracked and fought against the gang for weeks after Darcy abandoned me for his wife. The final attack came in the dead of night with dragoons and half a dozen excise men. The smugglers were moving kegs through a barn near the coast. They fought like the devil with clubs, knives, whatever they had to hand. One fellow came close to cracking my skull with an oar.”
Darcy raised his brows. “And yet you sit before us whole, still able to drink my brandy.”
“Only just,” Richard replied, laughing. “The dragoons pressed them hard, but the gang knew every ditch and hedgerow. We caught most, though not all. Their leader slipped away, but we tracked him down, and three days later, we had him. We broke their net in my corner of Kent, and French brandy by the keg will not cross through our borders for some years to come, if I have anything to do with it.”
Phillip laughed. “Ah, did you drink all the brandy yourselves?”
Richard smirked. “We did break into a keg and each took a swallow in celebration. For the Crown, of course.”
Darcy studied his cousin’s face. “Trust you, Richard, to find a way to celebrate with your men in the midst of blood and intrigue.”
Richard shrugged. “Better to laugh than to brood. The work is foul, but it is work that must be done. Smuggling feeds on desperation, and it leaves honest men ruined. Still, I am not sorry if this is my last campaign against them.”
Darcy sighed. “Then let us hope Anne proves your salvation.”
Phillip raised his glass in salute. “To Anne.”
Richard lifted his glass. “If Anne is indeed my salvation, then I shall owe Elizabeth no small debt for contriving it all with this trip to Windermere.”
“Elizabeth has contrived more futures than she admits.” Darcy grinned at his cousins as he lifted his glass. Then his manner grew serious, and he addressed Richard directly.
“Richard, you must find a way to persuade Anne that you will be constant. She knows your reputation for loving and leaving beautiful women. Say or do something that convinces her you will not trifle with her, nor prove unfaithful. I see how she looks at you, but she is holding back. You must make her trust you.”
Darcy poured each man another drink. “Constancy. That is all the advice I shall ever give you, I swear it. Put it down to my father, for it was the last counsel he ever gave me.”