Author: Leenie Brown

Leenie Brown fell in love with Jane Austen's works when she first read Sense and Sensibility followed immediately by Pride and Prejudice in her early teens. As the second of five daughters and an avid reader, she has always loved to see where her imagination takes her and to play with and write about the characters she meets along the way. In 2013, these two loves collided when she stumbled upon the world of Jane Austen Fan Fiction. A year later, in 2014, she began writing her own Austen-inspired stories and began publishing them in 2015. Leenie lives in Nova Scotia, Canada with her two teenage boys and her very own Mr. Brown (a wonderful mix of all the best of Darcy, Bingley and Edmund with healthy dose of the teasing Mr. Tillney and just a dash of the scolding Mr. Knightley).

Harriet and The Colonel, Ch. 4 (part 1)

Find previous posts here.

Harriet poured a cup of tea for her sister, before filling her own cup and taking a seat at the small table in her private sitting room. The knocker had been removed from the door earlier that morning – at approximately the same time that her brother had discovered her secret mission the day before. He thought he was punishing her, but truly, she was happy for it. This way, she did not have to pretend to be interested in any of the gentlemen who might come to call.

She smiled as she took a sip of her tea. “Edmund has agreed to allow the colonel to offer for me.”

“He has what?” Samantha’s features were the very personification of the word astonishment.

“He has finally seen reason.” That was how she chose to view the events of the past few days – they were merely a lesson in reasonableness for her dear brother. “And he has been restored to the position of my favourite brother.” She placed her teacup gently on its saucer. “Although, I do believe, you might be his favourite sister at present.” She chuckled softly. Edmund would eventually forgive her for her antagonism.

“Please, do tell, dear sister. In what adventures have you engaged since I last saw you?” Samantha asked eagerly. “I find that since I married, I must do all my adventuring from the safety of a sitting room through tales that the less restricted get to live.” She laughed right along with Harriet at such a melodramatic comment.

Samantha may be married, but she still found time to join Harriet in a few fun pursuits now and then. That would likely change once her child was born, but Harriet did not wish to think about that at the moment.

Interior of the billiard room at Lupton House, Devonshire.

If you would like to listen to this post, you can do so on YouTube at this link.

I’ve used this image before for a story connection (or two), but I have several scenes in various books that happen in a billiard room and this room is such a pretty one.

The story scene this time is the first scene in With the Colonel’s Help which takes place directly after he returns from a walk at Rosings during which he had come upon Elizabeth and attempted to show his cousin in a good light by telling her how Darcy helped his friend avoid a poor match.

As we all know, he failed to make Darcy look good, and in this scene, he’s just starting to realize the mess he has made of things in his attempt to help.

Enjoy!

Chapter 1

The sun shone bright and warm on Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam as he stood before Rosings. He turned and looked back in the direction from whence he had come. The slow but persistent twisting of his stomach continued its work in making him feel very uneasy. There was something not right in how Miss Elizabeth Bennet had responded to his information regarding his cousin Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy.

He took off his hat and ran a hand through his hair. The story he had told had been told with an intent to promote his cousin — for it was a viable example of the caring sort of friend Darcy was. However, Richard had the distinct impression that his comments had, in fact, done just the opposite.

BTS: How I upload a story to Patreon collections

Sorry this one is getting posted a bit late today (in the afternoon rather than the morning for me). I managed to pick up a head cold somewhere and so took a couple of sick days. I’m still sick, but I can think a bit better today and my eyes aren’t watering too badly so I can wear my glasses and see. 🙂 And that meant I could get this video sorted out and posted so I could share it here. (Thankfully, I had recorded this before I got sick!)

Here’s what it’s about:

In this What’s Up Wednesday installment, I’m showing you the process I use to upload a book to the Collections section of my Patreon page.

AND…

In the process of getting this video ready to share, I learned a new editing skill. (yay!) You’ll hear me apologize for background sounds that I knew my mic was going to pick up in the background. And did it ever pick them up. (I need a better mic)

I thought that this video was going to be a lost cause. That I was going to have to just scrap it and start over. But then, I searched YouTube for how to remove background noises in videos, and while I did not find one that told me to use the software I had, the steps were the same. Here’s what I did:

I opened the video in Clipchamp and detached the audio.
I downloaded the audio from there and then, uploaded it to the voice isolator on Elevenlabs (that’s the software I use to create my audiobooks).
I clicked the isolate button. Waited. And then downloaded the new file.
Then, I just uploaded the new audio file to Clipchamp and replaced the old audio with one that didn’t have the annoying humming and all that in the background.

This is an exciting new skill for me since I don’t have a door on my “office” and my mic is not super great, so there are frequent sounds going on around me and being picked up by the mic. So, this is one step towards better videos (or so I hope.) 🙂

Anyway… I hope you enjoy this look behind the scenes at one task from my author life.

Enjoy!

Leenie

This video is long — just over 27 minutes! There are links to various portions (chapters) of the video in the description on YouTube if you want timestamps to jump between.

A freebie day you might like to know about

Hi. My other pen name (Annilee Nelson) is taking part in a 50+ book giveaway day today for Christian romances, and I found a few historicals mixed in with listing and thought some of you might like to pick up a free read.

There are also contemporary genres like suspense, small town, billionaire, cowboy, etc., as well as at least one time travel story.

You can find them all at the link below. Remember that these are Christian romances with varying degrees of faith elements in them.

Click here to see what’s on offer: bit.ly/WinterBookBlast

Have a good weekend!

Leenie

What Ifs by Kane Brown (A Musical Story Connection)

One evening, as I was pushing a lawnmower around my backyard, around seven years ago when I was writing Mary: To Protect Her Heart, this song came on the radio station I was listening to as I mowed.

As I listened to its lyrics, I knew that this was the song for Mary’s story.

Why? Because life had been tough for her in some ways – the ways that would make a lady think that men weren’t to be trusted, the ways that skewed a lady’s ideas and expectations of marriage.

Because of that, she was going to need a hero that broke the mold.

At this point in my writing, I hadn’t yet conceptualized Mr. Gabriel Durward as he appears in the story, but that moment with the lawnmower and this song was the beginning of that process.

There is an element of trust that accompanies accepting love from someone and giving it in return. One individual places their trust in another that either the love will not be taken away and so it is safe to accept it, or they place their trust in the fact that the person to whom they are offering their love will not disrespect it, crush it, misuse it, or reject it.

In the excerpt below, Mary Crawford is just at the beginning of possibly trusting Gabe with her heart.

In this portion of the story, we see part of why Mary is so reluctant to trust freely, and we hear Mr. Durward tell her for a second time that he will not let her take on water, which is his way of saying he’ll never hurt her and his way of asking for her trust.

As you read, I hope you can see how the what if questions in the lyrics of the song apply to Mary and Gabe.

Enjoy!

“To get to what I wished to discuss with you. I am a man of business, and I like to know in advance to whom I should speak regarding agreements. I know that you and Miss Crawford lived with your uncle, but neither of you do any longer. Therefore, should the admiration I have for your sister flourish into something that seems to be lasting, should I call on you or the admiral — or Dr. Grant because she is residing with him.”

Mary’s eyes grew wide. She had only just met Mr. Durward, and he was thinking of marriage? She had not even had time to make her desires known to him. She smiled. He was choosing her without persuasion of any sort. It was a novel feeling.

Henry grimaced. “She was handed over to me by the admiral when we left him.”

“It was an ugly scene?” Gabe inquired.

“Nothing was ever pleasant with the admiral,” Mary answered.

Henry shook his head. “What he said was reprehensible. Even in my former iteration, I knew it to be.”

Mary lifted her chin and pushed down the hurt that rose as she remembered her uncle’s words. “He had no use for housing a lady who could not possibly repay him in any satisfactory fashion.”

“He said that?” Margaret cried. “You never told me that.”

“I could not,” Mary answered softly. It hurt her to be so easily discarded then, and the pain of such a thing had not faded in the time she had been away from him. It should not have surprised her that he cared so little for her since he was so unfeeling toward his own wife, but it did.

Gabe wore the same expression as the one Mary had seen him wear when addressing Lady St. James. He was offended, and her heart thrilled a small amount as she realized that, presently, he was not offended on his own account but on her behalf. Perhaps. Just perhaps, she had found a gentleman whom she could trust with her heart.

“I will not say what I think of such a man while in polite company.” Gabe shook his head and blew out a breath as if struggling to contain his displeasure. Then, he smiled a small, kind smile at Mary and said, “I am very sorry you had to endure that. No lady should be so treated.”

Mary ducked her head as she thanked him. If she kept looking at his earnest, concerned-filled dark eyes, she would not be able to keep her tears where they belonged.

Had she ever felt so treasured? She was positive she never had. She could easily lose her heart to Mr. Durward, but she mustn’t. Not yet. Not until she knew that she could trust him completely. She would not willingly present her heart to any gentleman, no matter how kind and charming he appeared, and allow it to be crushed.

“Then if or when the time should come, I will call on you,” Gabe said to Henry.

“I would appreciate that,” Henry replied. “However, I am certain Dr. Grant’s permission could be sought in my stead. He would not let any harm come to my sister. Of that, I am certain.” Henry shifted positions, becoming even more comfortably positioned. “Now, tell me about you. I have heard that you have only lived in England for a few years.”

Gabe nodded. “I was born in India and lived there my entire life until I set foot on that first company ship. Then, my world expanded, and I was given the opportunity to see many places, including London.”

“And of all the places you saw, you chose to live here?” Henry asked. “I would think that there would be many more interesting places in the world in which to take up residence than London.”

Gabe shook his head. “I took one look at her on that first foggy, dreary day and knew I would return. I could have chosen another colony in which to set up my business, but no other port spoke to me as this one did.” He shrugged. “I do not know why exactly. Perhaps it was because the company is here, and so I wished to position myself as one of its rivals, set to take up what, I believe, it is destined to lose at some point in the none too distant future. Perhaps it was something else – the history, the architecture, the vibrance, or the idea that the heart of the empire beats from here. It could have been a dozen reasons I suppose. I have not paused to ferret them out. I only know that by the end of the short time that I was here, I knew I would come back. This was where I was meant to be.”

“Do you always make such quick decisions?” Margaret asked.

Gabe shook his head. “Not always, but I do not attempt to take too long in deliberations either. If one is not quick to decide things, one might lose out on a very profitable venture or place his money where it cannot possibly make him a return.” He chuckled. “I sound like a rather boring old fellow. Tom tells me I need to find something other than business upon which to think. I have always thought he was wrong, but I am not so certain any longer.”

“Have you been to the theatre?” Henry asked.

“No, I have not been. Tom has managed to get me to attend various soirees, and I do enjoy touring the museum and the occasional ride through a park, but I must admit I have not attended a play – though I have read a great number of them.”

“Then, I will secure an invitation for you and Mary to join myself and some friends one night.”

Mary shook her head. He could not mean she was to attend a play with Miss Linton.

“Miss Linton is a forgiving sort of lady,” Henry assured her before she had even spoken. “Mrs. Kendrick, Mrs. Barrett, and Mr. Linton might be less so, but is it not right that you prove yourself changed to them?”

Sit in a box with people toward whom she had behaved so dreadfully? The thought was perhaps the most terrifying one Mary had ever had to ponder. Mr. Edwards had been so cutting in his remarks to her at that ball. She was not entirely sure she was up to playing such a role.

“I would be delighted to join you if Miss Crawford will join me.”

Mary knew that Mr. Durward could see the fear she felt when she looked at him in surprise, for his eyes were filled with concern.

“Please,” he said softly. “I shall not let you take on water, Miss Crawford.”

Mary sucked in a breath and expelled it. How could she do anything other than grant him his wish when he was so gallantly offering his protection while looking at her with that intense, caring expression that caused her to shiver? “Very well. I shall do my penance.”

Her agreement settled the matter, and it was decided that soon, perhaps in a day or two, they would all attend a play.