Dash of Darcy and Companions Collection – Page 2

Walking Dress (c. 1803/1804)

Fashion Plate (Walking Dress). England, early 19th century, between circa 1803 and circa 1804. Possibly from Madame Lanchester’s 1803-1804 *La Miroir de la Mode*. The drawing was copied and reused in October 1812 in *La Belle Assemblée* with a fur-trimmed pelisse and other slightly changed details. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Mary saw the horse only a moment before it rose in the air. She had been so caught in her imagination and so certain the horses would stay to their path racing along the adjoining field that she had not expected one of them to approach her. With a startled cry, Mary jumped to the side, but not with any sort of grace. Her ankle rolled, sending her sprawling on the ground. The hedge snagged her bonnet as she fell, yanking it from her head and freeing a hairpin or two so that a portion of her hair fell in waves to her shoulders.

“Blast,” she muttered as she sat up and rotated one wrist and then the other. They hurt but had not sustained any significant damage from catching her on landing. Her gloves, however, were not so fortunate. One had a rip across the palm, and both were covered in soil, as was her skirt, which she flicked quickly to cover her legs.

“Are you injured?” Fred knelt beside her. “I did not see you there.” He took Mary’s arm as she attempted to rise with some grace.

“My glove is ruined.” She winced as she stood. “And my ankle…ooh,” she moaned a bit as she tried putting her weight on it. It was tender but not broken.

Fred wrapped an arm around her waist.

Mary pulled away. “Sir, please.”

“I only wish to help.”

“Then fetch my hat while I straighten my clothing and assess if there are any further injuries.” She gave him a stern look that begged him to comply. It was the look she had used with limited success on Lydia. Thankfully, this handsome young man did not seem so stubborn as her younger sister and complied. Mary brushed dirt from her skirt and took a limping step. Her left hip was nearly as sore as her ankle.

[from A Very Mary Christmas by Leenie Brown]

*A Very Mary Christmas* is one of the five novellas in this Cottage Collection.

MAILING LIST PATREON

Walking Dress (1814)

Fashion Plate (Walking Dress). Rudolph Ackermann. England, London, August 1814. Hand-colored engraving on paper. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

“I had thought her father would bring something for her to wear.”

“If she wakes before he arrives, she cannot get out of bed.” He intentionally looked away from Bingley as he said it. He could feel his face and ears growing warmer as he thought of why she could not get out of bed. His shirt was plenty large and hung to her knees or nearly so, but the way it draped around her body and its ability to only mask what lay beneath made it far from decent. “She is not exactly dressed for company.” He pulled his hat down as Bingley chuckled softly. “I will rinse her clothes in the rain as best I can and then wash them in the water you prepare.” He opened the door and stepped outside.

Darcy placed a bucket of rainwater inside the door and waited while Bingley found a basin and then emptied the water into a large pot for heating before returning the bucket to Darcy.

Darcy tugged the door shut and returned the bucket to where it could collect water and be reached without venturing too far into the rain to retrieve it. Then, he placed Elizabeth’s clothing on the portion of the woodpile that was exposed to the wind and rain where the roof of the structure built to keep the wood dry was broken and partially missing. Bingley would need to fix that as soon as possible if he wished to have a place to escape his sister and enough wood to keep him warm and fed while hiding.

Darcy rubbed the fabric of Elizabeth’s stockings, trying to help the rain remove the stains of mud and blood. Then, setting them aside, he attended to her chemise and petticoat before working on her dress. Try as he might, he could not keep his mind from wandering to the wearer of the garments.

from Waking to Mr. Darcy

*Waking to Mr. Darcy* is one of the five novellas in this Cottage Collection.

MAILING LIST PATREON

Intro to Van Eyck (Sarah Jeffrey)

We are starting a new month of Mondays and a new theme for these posts. This month I will be sharing music that could have been played by Georgiana, and I’ll be pairing every song selection with a quote from some book in which Georgiana has either been the heroine or has been more than just a walk on.

Today, the video is different than any I have shared before. While this video contains music, it is really a music lesson. I thought it might be fun to learn about a composer from well before Georgiana’s time period. If you choose to listen to the video, you can do as I did pretend you are Georgiana sitting under the tutelage of a music master that Darcy has hired for her. 😉 (We know she played the piano, but she might have played more instruments than that. I can see a recorder showing up in some story of mine in the future. 🙂 )

The following excerpt is from Enticing Miss Darcy in which Georgiana is nervously entering her first season.

While most of the books in my Dash of Darcy and Companions collection of Pride and Prejudice inspired stories have one companion story, Unravelling Mr. Darcy has two companions. Enticing Miss Darcy is the second companion story. (Becoming Entangled is the first companion story.)

Georgiana is the heroine in this story, and Jack Ralston (a character I created) is the hero who has found himself relegated to the position of good friend. However, with a little help from various friends and relations, Jack might be able to move out of the friend zone, and Georgiana just might learn to trust her heart.

MAILING LIST PATREON

Phaeton with Canopy (c. 1755)

[Description: “Phaeton with canopy”, draft by Johann Michael Hoppenhaupt der Ältere (the elder), 1745.] Johann Wilhelm Meil (1733-1805), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

I know the image above is a phaeton and the vehicle below is a curricle, but when I saw this drawing, I couldn’t help but think that it was the very sort of carriage the scheming Miss de Bourgh from Becoming Entangled would drive. 🙂

“You are Alistair’s friend, are you not?”

He nodded.

“And you do know the counties of England, do you not?”

Again, he nodded.

She stood. “Then you will be perfect.” She paused, furrowed her brows, and pursed her lips as if uncertain about something. “Unless, of course, it is not something you are brave enough to do.”

His brows flew halfway to his hairline. “Is it dangerous?”

A small smile played on her lips. “Not if we do it correctly. Now, if you would be so kind as to help me back into my curricle, I must be on my way to the parsonage. I do not wish to be late. Mrs. Collins will be waiting.”

[from Becoming Entangled]

MAILING LIST PATREON

From This Moment On (Shania Twain)

Let’s begin our week with a love song and story pairing, shall we? The moment in the story I’m pairing with this song has been a long time in coming. Both Darcy and Elizabeth wanted this moment to happen five years earlier than it did, but in this variation of their story, it did not happen that way.

The snippet below is from the proposal that happens in chapter one. Yes, you read that correctly. They are going to start this story out with a proposal and then work their way through the reason they had to wait five years for this moment.

Finally Mrs. Darcy is the first book in my Dash of Darcy and Companions Collection and is a stand-alone short and sweet novella.

It is currently free in ebook format at all retailers.

MAILING LIST PATREON