Death Takes a Holiday at Pemberley by Kelly Miller

Author:Kelly Miller [Miller, Kelly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781681310329
Publisher: Meryton Press
Published: 2019-06-14T04:00:00+00:00

She interrogated the servants at Hunsford and was dismayed to find that, in at least two instances, Darcy had been alone in the house with Miss Bennet. What a fool she had been not to suspect the woman’s artifice then!

Anne, when apprised of what she had learned, gave out a shrill cry, “Mother, what does this mean? Is Darcy to marry me or not?” Her daughter’s breath came in pants as she placed a hand upon her chest.

Lady Catherine rubbed her daughter’s back in an attempt to calm her. Anne’s delicate constitution could not handle the distress of such uncertainty. She assured her daughter she had no cause for anxiety; she would handle the situation. A plan of action had already begun to form in her mind. Upon her command, her bags were packed and her carriage prepared. She would confront Miss Bennet first. The woman must be the direct cause of any rumours circulating of an impending marriage between herself and Darcy. She left the next morning for Hertfordshire.

***

The following day

The confrontation with Miss Bennet was maddening on every level. The woman was disrespectful, headstrong, and refused to listen to reason. During a frustrating interview in which the woman persisted in providing rude and evasive responses, she had admitted, at length, that she was not engaged to her nephew. But the wench refused to promise not to enter into an engagement with Darcy!

After the unsatisfying meeting with Miss Bennet, Lady Catherine’s next stop at Darcy’s London residence was still more disappointing. Darcy maintained an unreadable expression as she gave him an account of her conversation with Miss Bennet. She outlined all the ways in which Miss Bennet was unqualified to marry a gentleman of his standing, and she ensured he was aware of the scandalous, patched-up business regarding the youngest Bennet sister’s marriage to the son of his father’s steward. That fact alone should have been enough to turn her nephew away from the woman.

Lady Catherine followed her diatribe against Miss Bennet with a plea for Darcy to foil the woman’s nefarious scheme by announcing his engagement to Anne without delay, but he refused. To her utter disappointment, the wilful dunderhead declared he had no intention of marrying Anne now or in the future.

Her nephew’s declaration, frustrating as it was, did not give her undue alarm. Despite his discouraging statement, he would come to his senses in time. In the past, Darcy had been consistent in demonstrating an attention to duty and honour. He would not make so grievous a misstep as to marry a woman with such abhorrent relations. The brief glimpse she had acquired of the woman’s mother and sisters had been enough to make her cringe. Would he make that slatternly matron his mother-in-law and that gaggle of giggling chits his sisters? Not only would it be offensive to the memories of his parents, but it would also impair the future of his own dear sister.

It was not surprising he resented her as the individual

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