Tag: Pride and Prejudice Variation

[I think she could be reading to an elderly employer or just enjoying herself as she waited to be summoned to do something for her employer. Don't you?]

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He took his wife’s hand again. “I actually had to travel all the way to Scotland just to find her.”

“Scotland?” Lydia cried. “But you do not sound Scottish.”

Lady Matlock laughed. “I am not. My father had died, you see. His estate passed to my uncle, and my uncle thought that it was far better that I take a position as a companion than attend school. As he saw it, I could learn all I needed to about how to behave as a proper lady while earning my keep and costing him not a cent.”

“Fortunately, years earlier, my great aunt had married a Scottish landowner,” Lord Matlock added. “And when he died, she had the great good sense to employ the prettiest companion I have ever seen.”

[from Persuading Miss Mary, book 4 in the Marrying Elizabeth Series]

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Confounding Caroline  ~  Delighting Mrs. Bennet ~ Loving Lydia

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What had his mother done to Miss Mary? Her hair was piled loosely on her head with a few curls arranged in a becoming fashion to frame her face, and her dress was neither somber in color nor fit. Had he ever seen a lady with a complexion so well-suited to that shade of pink?

Lady Matlock coughed softly, and Wes darted a guilty look at her. However, it was not he who was the subject of his mother’s displeasure.

“The lace.” Lady Matlock extended her hand in Mary’s direction.

Surely, she was not going to make Mary discard that lace, was she? The neckline of Miss Mary’s dress was tantalizing enough with the lace where it was.

Mary drew and released a breath in a heavy sigh as she did what Wes feared she would and removed the lace she had tucked into her dress to cover herself.

The effect was pleasing, but…

[from Persuading Miss Mary, book 4 in the Marrying Elizabeth Series]

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Confounding Caroline  ~  Delighting Mrs. Bennet ~ Loving Lydia

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Note: The Travellers' Club was not founded until 1819, which is after the time period of the story quoted below, so this could not actually be Lord Westonbury's club. However, it presented a possibility of what his fictional club might look like, and it has a library noted in the plan so it went with the fact that Wes is reading. :) (Yes, the scene in which this excerpt is found does take place in a gentlemen's club.)

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“Do not tell me you are reading on a fine day instead of riding in the park, taking in the view.”

Lorcan Langley took the seat across from Wes.

“What book is it?” Wes’s long-time friend asked.

Wes chuckled. “You’ll think me daft.”

“Too late, my friend. Most of us already think you to be so.” Langley laughed and Wes joined him.

There was a certain delightful something which could be found in being unpredictable on occasions. It kept one’s friends, as well as one’s mother, on their toes.

[from Persuading Miss Mary, book 4 in the Marrying Elizabeth Series]

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Confounding Caroline  ~  Delighting Mrs. Bennet ~ Loving Lydia

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“I have already explained why you did not know about my guests,” his mother said sternly.

Wes wondered for a moment, before he recovered himself after being caught woolgathering, if she had been reading his mind, for her look was as severe as her tone.

“Yes, I am not to be trusted.” He attempted to keep his tone flat and not one which spoke to his great displeasure with the whole situation.

A small, quiet burst of laughter caught his ear and drew his eyes to Miss Mary, who was diligently smirking at her book. The cheeky lass! What he wouldn’t do at this moment to be alone with her and discover just what she was thinking.

[from Persuading Miss Mary, book 4 in the Marrying Elizabeth Series]

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Confounding Caroline  ~  Delighting Mrs. Bennet ~ Loving Lydia

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