by Leenie Brown
Delighting Mrs. Bennet
A Pride and Prejudice Variation
Leenie Brown
Leenie B Books
Halifax
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews, without written permission from its publisher and author.
This book is a work of fiction. All names, events, and places are a product of this author’s imagination. If any name, event and/or place did exist, it is purely by coincidence that it appears in this book.
Cover design by Leenie B Books. Images sourced from Deposit Photos and Period Images.
Delighting Mrs. Bennet © 2018 Leenie Brown. All Rights Reserved, except where otherwise noted.
Contents
Dear Reader,
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Before You Go
Loving Lydia Excerpt
Acknowledgements
Other Leenie B Books
About the Author
Connect with Leenie
Dear Reader,
Once upon a time…well, actually, a couple of years ago, I began a weekly writing exercise on my blog (leeniebrown.com) and called it Thursday’s Three Hundred. What was supposed to be just a few minutes of practice – just three hundred words a week – quickly took on a life of its own and became something much grander.
To date, those writing exercises have produced one short story (Hope at Dawn), a four-book series (Willow Hall Romance), a stand-alone novella (With the Colonel’s Help), the first book in this series (Confounding Caroline) and now, this novel that you hold in your hand.
While some things about how I create these stories have evolved since that first writing exercise, the tradition of posting a portion of a work in progress continues each Thursday. In fact, there is a new story posting there now.
Chapter 1
“How is he?” Darcy stopped pacing the sitting room as his physician, Mr. Westcott, entered.
“I have seen worse.” He cast a glance at the others in the room but spoke to Darcy. “Mr. Royston had some difficulty setting the bone. I would not move him for at least two weeks.”
“He may stay where he is, of course,” Darcy assured Mr. Westcott.
“I suspected you would say that.” Mr. Westcott turned his hat in his hand and smiled at Darcy. “I have left instructions for Mr. Bennet’s care with Mr. Abrams, and he informed me that he would find someone to assign to my patient.”
He reached down and scratched the head of the black and tan dog standing at his side. “A fine mess you made, lad,” he chided.
The dog cocked his head to the side and seemed to smile, utterly unaware of the damage his racing about in a frenzy of fun had caused.
“Stick to chasing rats,” Mr. Westcott added with a pat for the happy beast’s head.
“I have never had a pup that was so difficult to train,” Darcy apologized. He snapped his fingers at the dog and was completely ignored. Every other dog which had come into Darcy’s possession had learned to stop and look when they heard his snap, but not Dash.
Dash was his own dog. It was not that he was incapable of learning commands. No, he was an intelligent beast, wily even, and adept at finding all kinds of mischief into which to toss himself with abandon. He was just unwilling to follow a command unless he determined first that it should be followed.
“Strength of character is not so bad a thing.” Mr. Westcott patted Dash’s head again. “It is a great asset once it has been properly directed.”
Darcy sighed. “That is the struggle.” He looked at Dash and made a clucking sound while tapping his leg.
Dash tipped his head so that one ear flopped up as he looked at Darcy and paused for a moment before deciding that standing at Darcy’s side would be the thing to do. And he almost made it to Darcy’s side before being distracted by a pair of pretty slippers.
“He’ll come around,” Mr. Westcott assured Darcy. “He’s young.”
Elizabeth pulled her feet under her chair and, bending forward, scratched Dash’s ear while he looked from her hidden slippers to her face and back.
“Our patient is well-settled?” Mr. Westcott asked Mr. Royston as he entered the room.
“He is, sir. He will likely sleep for some time.”
“At present, the more sleeping he does, the better,” Mr. Westcott said. “I shall return tomorrow, but if anything changes, you know where you can find me.”
“Two weeks,” Elizabeth said to Dash as Darcy walked to the door of the sitting room with Mr. Westcott and his assistant. “My father must stay in bed for two weeks, and who knows how long after that it will be before he is walking properly.” She leveled a severe look at the animal which was happily accepting her attention. “You were a very naughty pup,” she chided.
Dash ducked his head and looked up at her with sad eyes.
“Do not think I will fall for that,” Elizabeth said with a chuckle. “You are still a naughty pup.”
“Perhaps if you did not scratch his ear while reprimanding him, it might have a greater effect,” said Mrs. Gardiner.
Elizabeth sighed. “I cannot help it. His ears just beg to be scratched, and if I do not scratch them, he will attempt to chew my slipper with my foot still in it.”
“I should send him to John at Pemberley,” Darcy said from the doorway to the drawing room. “John always knows how to get an animal to mind.” He shook his head. “Of course, Georgiana would be sorely displeased if I did. However, I do believe he will be confined to Georgiana’s sitting room when we have guests take a tour of the house.”
He blew out a breath and crossed the room to sit with the ladies. “I must apologize for the damage Dash has caused. There are no words for how dreadful I feel.” How did one make amends for his dog tripping a gentleman and causing him to tumble down the stairs, resulting in a broken leg?
“It is not as if you expected it to happen,” Mrs. Gardiner said.
“But if he were better trained…” He stopped his protest at the lift of the lady’s brow and the incredulous look she gave him.
“Babies, which Dash is, do not always mind their parent. Trust me. I know. I have four children, Mr. Darcy, and there are days I wonder whose offspring they are, for surely my children would not behave in such an inappropriate fashion.” She sighed. “But alas, they are mine. However, each possesses his or her own temperament and will. And Dash, I would imagine, is not so very different.” She smiled. “I find biscuits work quite well to encourage proper behaviour.”
Darcy chuckled. “Dash does enjoy biscuits.”
A footman, carrying a leash, came into the room, and immediately, Dash scooted between Elizabeth’s chair and the wall.
Darcy took a small piece of cake from the tea tray, which had yet to be removed from the room after the commotion of a falling father and the doctor being summoned. Crouching down, he extended it to Dash. The cake proved to be far too tempting for Dash to ignore, and soon,
the footman was leaving the room with Dash trotting happily behind him while Darcy returned to his chair and the room fell silent.
“I should like to look in on my father before we go, even if he is sleeping,” Elizabeth said.
“Of course,” Darcy agreed. “Is there any way you might be able to stay with him?” Darcy knew it was unlikely, but he also knew that Elizabeth would wish to see to her father’s care. From the hopeful look Elizabeth shared with her aunt, he knew he was correct.
“I fear there is not,” Mrs. Gardiner answered.
Darcy nodded and again the room fell into silence, save for the ticking of the clock on the table in the corner. In Darcy’s mind, it was not right that a man should be without at least someone from his family near him when he was convalescing. The someone should be Elizabeth. She would, no doubt, know best how to cheer her father and keep him entertained. However, without some sort of able-bodied chaperone to ensure that things were kept proper, it was not possible for her to attend to her father without risking damage to her reputation. His brows furrowed as he considered asking his aunt to come for a visit, but the countess was a stranger to Elizabeth, and that would not do. Perhaps…
“What if your mother were to come to town?” Darcy asked.
“My mother?” Elizabeth’s eyes were wide.
Darcy nodded. “Yes, your mother. Then you and your sister could stay here, and your father would not be alone.”
Elizabeth shook her head, her look clearly telling him that she thought he was not thinking clearly. “My mother will bring all of my sisters.”
“I know,” Darcy admitted, “but I thought you might wish to care for your father, and I cannot think of any other way to make it possible.”
“I would be delighted to care for him,” Elizabeth replied, “but my mother?” She turned to her sister. “Jane, tell him he does not want our mother here. In town. At his house.”
“It is only two weeks,” Darcy argued. “I am certain I could perform the part of host admirably for two weeks.” He was almost certain that was true. Surely, two weeks would be endurable.
Elizabeth sent a pleading look to her sister.
“Our mother is trying,” Jane said. “Darcy House is so peaceful,” she grimaced, “but it would not be after the arrival of our mother.” She paused. “And sisters.”
Darcy knew Jane was correct, but he was determined to do what he thought was his duty.
“No,” he said, shaking his head, “I am inviting your mother and sisters to Darcy House.” His stomach twisted at the thought. The more he thought about it, the more he did not know how he would tolerate so much noise in his home, but it had to be done. His dog had caused Mr. Bennet’s injury, and Darcy would bear the discomfort of Mrs. Bennet’s presence in return.
Chapter 2
Darcy rubbed the back of his neck and reclined in his chair as he studied the letter before him. As much as he had insisted – multiple times – to Elizabeth, Jane, and Mrs. Gardiner that he was capable of tolerating Mrs. Bennet, and as much as he attempted to assure himself that it was true, he was not entirely certain that he had not overestimated his ability to abide so many people in his private domain. He scowled at the dog lying in front of the hearth.
“You look rather displeased,” Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam said as he entered Darcy’s study.
“Do you ever wait to be announced?”
Richard shrugged out of his coat and unbuttoned his waistcoat. “I do not need an introduction. You know me. We are family, and as Aunt Catherine always says, there is no need to tell my family who I am.” He smirked as he tossed both his jacket and his waistcoat onto a chair and crossed to where Darcy kept a decanter of port and glasses.
“You may be known to me, but there are times I would like a few fleeting seconds to gather my thoughts before they are intruded upon.” He nodded as Richard lifted a glass in offer.
“So tell me,” Richard said as he poured, ignoring Darcy’s reprimand, as he often did. “What has you scowling at poor little Dash.”
“Naughty little Dash,” Darcy corrected. “I have a houseguest for the next two weeks, at least, and I was just writing to invite four more guests to join us, all thanks to that naughty little pup.”
The fashion in which his cousin slowly sat the decanter down and methodically turned toward Darcy as if he expected to see something hideous or to be faced with the barrel of a pistol caused Darcy to smile, despite his displeasure with Dash and his misgivings about the invitation which lay on his desk.
“I assure you I have not lost my mind.”
Richard lifted a brow. “You just admitted to inviting five people to stay with you. That is not something you do.”
Darcy blew out a breath and began folding his letter. “I have no choice, and it might actually be more than five people.”
“First, you decide to marry, and now, you are filling your house with guests. Should the home office hear of this, they might rightly send a couple men to ensure you have not been kidnapped and replaced by an imposter.” He chuckled as he placed a glass on the desk in front of Darcy.
“Now, just a moment, young pup,” he scolded as he saw Dash leap into the chair on which Richard had tossed his clothing and begin to circle before lying down. “My clothes are not your bed.” Richard shooed the beast onto the floor.
“I told you. He is a wayward pup. Nearly incorrigible.”
Richard bent and scratched the dog’s ears. “He merely wants more instruction.”
“Why must everyone give him attention when he misbehaves?” It was as if those ears had some sort of magical pull on everyone who came near them.
“He is doing as he is supposed to at present. My jacket is safe; therefore, he deserves a scratch.”
Darcy shook his head. “Your jacket is only safe until you turn your back.”
To prove his point, Darcy said nothing when Dash once again sprang onto the chair and made a bed of his cousin’s jacket, but he did chuckle when, this time, Richard added a curse to his command to get off his clothes.
Dash, apparently, knew that he had crossed some line and scooted back to the hearth with his ears flattened and his tail tucked.
“And you had best stay there for a time,” Richard said to the animal while settling into the chair he always claimed when he visited Darcy in his study.
Darcy chuckled and finished folding and sealing his letter before he made his way to the study door and requested that it be posted express as soon as possible. He was not in a rush to have Mrs. Bennet and her younger daughters descend upon him, but he was eager to allow Elizabeth the opportunity to care for her father.
“What was that about?” Richard asked as Darcy joined him near the hearth. Dash popped up when Darcy approached, but a gruff word from Richard returned him to his place.
“Dash has decided that I am inviting Mrs. Bennet and her remaining daughters to Darcy House.”
Richard cocked his head to the side and drew his eyebrows together until they nearly touched.
“While Mr. Bennet and his family were taking a tour of Darcy House this afternoon, Dash decided to break into one of his racing fits. You know how he gets.”
Richard nodded.
“He circled the hall in front of the guest rooms, tore down the stairs, toppled something in the blue drawing room, and on his way back up the stairs, darted under Mr. Bennet’s foot.”
Darcy nodded in response to Richard’s look and gasp of alarm. “Mr. Bennet tumbled. His leg is broken, and he cannot be moved for two weeks.”
“Dash can be sold.” Richard gave the dog a pointed look.
“Not if we wish to keep Georgiana happy. She is quite attached to him.”
“Females and their dashed sensibilities,” Richard muttered.
“I’d send him to Pemberley were it not for her, but she is doing so well. I should hate to be the cause of any sorrow for her.”
His sister had weathered the devastation of discovering her affections, which had been
incited in an attempt to claim her fortune, had not been returned. It had taken her months to begin returning to the happy girl he had always known her to be. Even if she was more serious now than she had been before the ordeal with Wickham in Ramsgate, she was not so grave and despondent as she had been at first.
“So, the pup stays,” Richard agreed. “As does Mr. Bennet.”
Darcy nodded.
“And you are inviting Mrs. Bennet to care for her husband? I had thought she was a silly woman. Is that not how you described her?”
A great sigh escaped Darcy as he nodded again. “What am I to do? The man needs his family near him, and without a proper chaperone, it cannot be either Miss Bennet or Miss Elizabeth. You know how it would be. Two single young ladies staying with a single gentleman — to whom neither is related but who is courting one of those young ladies while his good friend is betrothed to the other — would cause talk.”
A slow smile crept across Richard’s face, causing a slow burning to creep up Darcy’s neck.
“I will not deny that the idea of having Miss Elizabeth under my roof is not a pleasant one, but I assure you that is not why I wish to have her here. She is her father’s favourite. Surely, he will feel most content if she is near.”
Richard chuckled and nodded. “As will you.” He drained the last bit of port from his glass and then held it out for Dash to lick, ignoring Darcy’s protests. “The mother comes with more daughters, does she not?”
“Most likely.” Darcy blew out a breath. He dreaded the arrival of the younger Bennets almost more than their mother.
“How will you keep them entertained?”
Darcy shrugged. “I had hoped they would bring their own entertainment.” His sister was proficient at keeping herself occupied.
Richard made an uncertain sound of disbelief. “There is also the park and the museum,” he suggested. “And do not forget shopping. There is not a female alive that I know of who does not enjoy a trip to the shops.”
Darcy groaned. Entertaining the youngest Bennets was definitely going to be trying. But, he thought as he emptied his glass, seeing Elizabeth happy would be worth the discomfort. Or so he hoped.