From Admiration to Love by Maria Grace

Author:Maria Grace [Grace, Maria]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780998093765
Publisher: White Soup Press
Published: 2017-12-01T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 6

December 22, 1813

The following evening Fitzwilliam dressed for dinner early, then slipped outside for a long walk before he would be expected in the drawing room. The clouds that haunted the sky early in the day had peeled away, revealing a sunset more pallid than spectacular. The air though was cool and crisp, with no hint of impending storms. That made it good enough.

The sun, low in the sky, cast long shadows against the bare garden stalks. They danced in the light breeze, perhaps trying to tempt him to shake off some of the heaviness he carried. Would that it could be so easy—a few gay steps amongst the crunchy deadfall and it all would slip away. Perhaps it might have when he was a boy, but no longer.

This entire affair with Anne, her suitors, and Lady Catherine—gah! It was not at all what he had come to Pemberley for this season. Was it so wrong to want to enjoy some pleasant company? Instead, he was reminded at every turn that the marriage mart churned around him, and at some point, he would be expected to plunge in himself and commit to being shut up in the parson’s pound. Granted, Darcy and Elizabeth made the married state look quite tolerable, even pleasant. But they were by far the exception, rather than the rule.

If only it were possible to be friends with a woman first, without her having any troublesome notions of courtship or betrothals. To actually be able to get to know her before the parson’s mousetrap sprang, rather than after when it was too late to do anything to correct it.

How was it Darcy managed that? He chuckled under his breath. Most would not believe that making a prospective bride hate you prior to offering marriage an effective strategy, but perhaps there was something to be said for it, if the current Mrs. Darcy was an indicator.

Had he no need for fortune, he would probably have pursued Elizabeth himself, might even have won her. No point dwelling on that. Jealousy served no one and changed nothing.

Elizabeth had hinted that there was a young lady or two who was invited to Christmas dinner who might be to Fitzwilliam’s taste. Those would be good introductions to have. It might even be fitting to ask Anne’s opinions on their potential as she had asked him. She would probably be amused at the parallel. She always did like such things.

He paused at a barren rose bush. No doubt the gardeners would be cutting back the canes and preparing them for winter soon. The rose bushes had been part of Pemberley’s gardens for a very long time. It would be a shame to lose them.

“Fitzwilliam!” Anne ran, then slowed herself to a hurried walk toward him, dry leaves kicked up in her wake.

While Lady Catherine still remarked unfavorably on her behavior, she had done a great deal to curb its most outlandish aspects since his rebuke, proving him entirely correct. She was indeed better than she had been demonstrating.

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