The Darcy Estate by Bannatyne Mary

Author:Bannatyne, Mary
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-02-08T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWELVE

Darcy ground his teeth. He had considered leaving his carriage at the inn but decided against it. After all, he needed these poachers to see that he was the owner of the estate; a man with the wealth and means to remove them if they did not comply with his order to leave.

Now he wished he had travelled there on horseback. Riding always cleared his mind of what was bothering him, and he needed that clarity now more than ever.

He should have been thinking about how he was going to rid his estate of those men who had impudently considered it their right to loot and steal from his tenants.

He could not focus on those grave offences. Not while his mind was consumed by thoughts of Miss Elizabeth Bennet.

It was infuriating! He needed this time to concentrate on how to best to deal with the trespassers. All he could think of was her.

Against his wishes, he replayed their short conversation over and over in his mind. She had turned down his proposal, but even that fact did little to stop him.

He recalled what had been said. Not just Elizabeth’s words but her aunt and uncle’s too. What had they said? They were touring Scotland and had stopped at the inn. That was it. He had been so surprised that it was only when he had left them that he had realised he did not know whether they were going north or travelling south to return home.

One thing he did know was that that village was not the sort of place that travellers remained for more than a day, if that. It was picturesque, he supposed, but there was little to do and it was indistinguishable from the neighbouring villages. No, he did not doubt that they would be gone soon after first light the next day. He did not know in which direction.

“Blast it,” he muttered to himself. “I was so surprised to see her that I did not think to inquire about their plans.”

“What’s that, sir?” the driver shouted.

Darcy had squeezed alongside the man so that he could see the approach to the estate. It would not do to sit inside the carriage given its restricted outlook.

“Nothing.” He might have ordered the man to call back the men so that he could take one of the faster horses and go on ahead, but they were too close to the Darcy Estate to risk it. The trespassers might hear the horn and realise that trouble was on the way. He preferred to surprise them.

They rode on. It took all of Darcy’s considerable willpower to focus on the problem at hand. They reached the fork in the road and found Burns, the Darcy Estate’s steward, waiting for them on horseback as they had planned.

The carriage driver slowed and Burns rode alongside them.

“Where are they?”

“Still at the copse beside the loch.”

“How many?”

“Ten.”

“I see. Have you watched them as I instructed?”

“Yes, from a distance. It appears one of them is the leader. A tall man.

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