Besieged Heiresses by Renata McMann

Author:Renata McMann [McMann, Renata]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Pride and Prejudice & Related Fandoms, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, DramaDramaDrama, Duplicate in Anthology, Kidnapping, Read
Goodreads: 210438724
Published: 2024-03-26T04:00:00+00:00

16. Darcy

“Did your father storm out then?” Darcy asked.

“No. After all, there was still an heiress to woo. She refused him, by the way. He ordered his son to offer for her. With a sense that I never suspected he had, my nephew said he would be butt of the joke if he offered for two sisters in the presence of each other within minutes. I calmed things down a bit by telling everyone I’d met Mrs. Collins and thought highly of her,” Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam replied. “Although the change of subject annoyed people, it allowed them to think things through.”

“Mrs. Collins? The wife of the idiot clergyman of Lady Catherine?”

“Yes. She grew up near the Bennets and was, apparently, a particularly good friend of your heiress.”

Lady Catherine’s last letter said that Mrs. Collins had gone to London with Mr. Collins but he came back without her and said he had no idea where she was. But there was no point in bringing that up.

“What am I going to do, Richard?” Darcy asked his cousin. “I’m not her guardian, yet my fiduciary responsibility means I should be able to protect her from people like Ashworth.”

“And from our family?”

“At least our family is not in debt. It’s an honest bargain.”

“True, and a bargain many women might want,” Richard said. “But you have two heiresses to consider: Miss Bennet and Georgiana.”

At this point a servant came into the room and handed Darcy a tray bearing Harcourt’s card. Before he was announced, Darcy briefly explained that Harcourt was a business associate of Mr. Gardiner who helped him with the estate.

After introductions, Darcy said, “We’ve just been discussing the problems of keeping fortune hunters away from heiresses. Do you have any ideas?”

“None. I never had anything to do with that kind of thing. My only child married someone in trade. I wasn’t all that wealthy then. She died in childbirth and her father remarried when my granddaughter was a year old. I was too busy with my business to worry about her while she was growing up. I arranged for a dowry of five thousand pounds and forgot about her, to my regret. She was recently widowed, and I invited her to live with me. The bulk of my estate will go to my only heir. I have no idea what to do with her when suitors discover that she is likely to inherit more than your sister has. I’m old enough so I can’t be sure to get her through her year of mourning. It will be hard for her. She’s estranged from the rest of her family and knows no one in London. I want to protect her, but I don’t want to isolate her.”

“If she inherits from you, she will be a target,” Darcy said.

“Yes. And she will be especially so if she has no support. Darcy, the real reason I came here today is that I want to know what bribe will make you be her protector after I die. Her family would take all they could from her.

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