Fire and Cross by Enid Wilson

Author:Enid Wilson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: romance, murder, mystery, france, detective, fire, historical romance, regency, regency romance, spy, jane austen, darcy, pride and prejudice, fan fiction, mr darcy, elizabeth bennet, pemberley, fitzwilliam darcy, pride and prejudice sequel, sexy romance, forced marriage, jane austen sequels, jaff, enid wilson, fire and cross, garnet cross
Publisher: Enid Wilson

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The Manor of Stoke Newington was situated on the north eastern outskirts of London. Many expensive and large houses had been constructed to accommodate London’s expanding population of newly-enriched merchants.

Mr. Harvey, whose family had been in the jewellery business for many years, had done well to be able to house his family and certain of his relatives in this area.

As Darcy’s carriage trotted at a steady pace along the High Street, he regarded the shops absent-mindedly. However, the carriage was pulled to a sudden halt that nearly sent him to the floor. He held on to the window and the top of the carriage to steady himself and glanced outside in time to see a buggy hastening past them.

Darcy did not see the man behind the horse but to judge from his own driver’s curses, the reckless driver seemed to be a young dandy with fair hair. Darcy shook his head at the foolish behaviour of the other driver and felt lucky that his injured body was not further harmed.

Darcy met the young jeweller in a neat sitting room.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Darcy, my uncle has sent word ahead.” Pierre did not rise from his chair but smoothed the shawl covering his legs. “I apologise for selling an imitation of your father’s garnet cross. It was very generous of you not to send the magistrate after me. I shall answer all your questions truthfully.”

Darcy nodded and began. “Mr. Harvey said that you sold the imitation to a lady. Can you describe the woman?”

“Yes, the tradesman’s daughter called herself Jeanne. She was a light-haired woman with fair skin, tall, probably nearly as tall as you, and of sophisticated manner. She favoured feather and silk. If not for the slip of her tongue that showed her knowledge of commerce, I would have taken her for a woman from high society. We met in the Charing Cross Inn around late March. She was accompanied by a young man and brought a drawing of the garnet cross.”

Darcy frowned. The description matched Miss Bingley. He had not foreseen that she might have an accomplice. Who was he? “What is the name of the man?” he asked. “What is he like?”

“He introduced himself as Nicolas. He had a figure very similar to your own, Sir. Very handsome and charming. Fair hair with a moustache. His gentleman’s clothes were neat and of good quality.”

“How did they know about you?”

“Nicolas seemed to know about my uncle’s jewellery shop. They sent me a note at the shop, saying that they had heard about my work and requesting a meeting at Charing Cross.”

“Why did they want you to work on the imitation if they already had the sketch? They could get anyone to accomplish the forgery. I imagine you did not offer your service cheaply.”

“With so many years of apprenticeship with my uncle, I charged a high fee for my imitation. They wanted me to work on it because they wanted it to appear as genuine as possible and they did not have the design of the back of the garnet cross.

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