The Library at Strawberry Hill

Bibliotheek van Strawberry Hill te Twickenham, Jean Godefroy, 1784. Rijksmuseum, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

I love libraries! How about you? They’ve always been one of my favourite places since I learned what they were. I even worked at the library during my college years and while going to work wasn’t necessarily “fun,” I did enjoy the environment — quiet and book filled. 🙂

Today’s excerpt from With the Colonel’s Help takes place in a library. It’s a shorter excerpt since I didn’t want to run the risk of sharing too many spoilers. While this lets you know that there is some trouble that has happened, it doesn’t tell you how or why, so I hope it’s more of a teaser and not a spoiler. 🙂

Enjoy!

(P.S. This ebook is currently on sale everywhere.)


An Excerpt from Chapter 9

…While Jane and Richard continued their conversation regarding Mr. Bingley, Darcy pulled yet another book from the shelf, flipped through it and with a nod of satisfaction declared this to be a book he suspected Elizabeth would enjoy.

Elizabeth took the book from him and paged through it. “A fine selection,” she said as she closed the book and gave him a smile of delight. “Mr. Coleridge is very good.”

“That he is,” Darcy agreed with a smile. It was so very pleasant to be once again in a library discussing books with Elizabeth. He had not done so since he was at Netherfield, save for those few moments in Rosings’ library when he had given her the book she returned to him today. He sighed. “Has Bingley called?”

Elizabeth nodded. “He has.”

“I sent him a note regarding your sister’s being in town and my apology for having been so grievously wrong. Richard delivered it for me.” He motioned to a pair of chairs in one corner of the room.

“You have not seen him?” Elizabeth asked in surprise as she took a seat and glanced to where Jane was talking with Richard. Jane said something that caused Richard to turn and look in Elizabeth’s direction. Then after giving her a nod of his head, he led Jane to a place where they could sit while continuing their discussion.

“I have only seen you since arriving back in town,” Darcy admitted. “I have not wished to see anyone else.” He blew out a great breath. “It was good of you to come, but I do not see how…” He paused. “I do not see a way…” He shrugged. “You cannot continue to borrow books forever.”

Elizabeth nodded her understanding as her eyes swept the shelves. “Not for lack of items to borrow.” She lifted a brow and gave him a small smile. “If only I could borrow each and every book,” she added sadly. “I would read them rapidly so that I might return regularly to retrieve a new one.” She blushed under his close scrutiny of her face. It was as if he were attempting to read her mind for the desires that lay behind her words.

“And when you had come to the last book, what then?” he asked. The fluttering of hope he had felt earlier was stirring and increasing in his chest.

She arched a brow. “Is your library complete? Would you not add to it with time? I cannot say that I would expect you to be satisfied with what is here and never increase your holdings by even one new volume of work. Why, what will you do when Wordsworth or Coleridge put out a new collection of poems? Shall you leave them for others to read and have no curiosity to read them yourself?”

He chuckled. “You know me well. I will certainly add to my library in time, but what if I did not?”

“Do you doubt my determination, sir?”

“Never, Miss Elizabeth, but I should like to know its extent.”

Her eyes followed her hand as it ran nervously over the cover of the book she held. “I dare say I could read this book a thousand times over.” She lifted her eyes to him. “And each of the others as well.”

His lips parted, and his brows furrowed. Was she saying what he wished or was his mind merely twisting her words to its purpose? Had he indeed won her affections? There was only one way to know. “Do you wish to see me so often or just my books?” He watched her lips tip up, and her eyes spark with impertinence.

“Might I not wish to see both?’

“If you had to choose,” he pressed on. He needed to know if her heart was engaged as his was. If it was, then come what may, he was going to find a way to win Mr. Bennet over and claim Elizabeth as his wife.

Elizabeth swallowed. She had spoken of her heart to her sister, and Jane, much to Elizabeth’s surprise, had urged Elizabeth not to hide her feelings if an opportunity should present itself. Jane had endured much because of being circumspect. She had tried to guard her heart against hurt, but her doing so had been the very cause of her own grief. Elizabeth had promised to not do the same, and so, as she drew a breath, she gathered her courage and replied, “I would choose you.”

A smile spread across Darcy’s face. “You would choose me?”

She nodded.

“And I would choose you,” he replied. “Forever and always you. If you would have me.”

Her lips trembled, and tears gathered. It was so very wonderful to hear such things, but reality was not such that she could choose him, nor could he choose her. Her father would not allow it.

He grasped her hands. “I will find a way if you will say that you will be mine. I love you, and I always shall. Please give me a reason to hope. Would you marry me if you were free to do so?”

A tear crept out of the corner of her eye and raced down her cheek as she nodded. “I would.”

He lifted her hand to his lips and gave it a quick kiss. “Then, I will find a way. I promise you. I will find a way.”


All currencies reduced at all stores until June 30, 2024

Mr. Darcy with Him (Hugh Thomson)

Hugh Thomson (1860-1920), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

As I mentioned in the Saturday Broadsheet, Mr. Bingley Plans a Ball is the May free read for Followers on Ream and Patreon. So, today, for this Story Connections post, I am sharing the first chapter of that novelette with the image above. If Bingley has his way, Mr. Darcy will be with him at Netherfield. However, as you can see below, Bingley has currently returned to Hertfordshire alone to do some scheming on his friends behalf — right after he secures his own happiness, that is.

Enjoy!

Continue reading Mr. Darcy with Him (Hugh Thomson)

Details from a Gentleman’s Study

Images taken by me (Leenie Brown) at Uniacke Estate Museum Park, Nova Scotia

Today’s excerpt takes place in the study at Longbourn so I thought I’d gather a few images of different desks and desk items I’ve taken pictures of over the years when visiting various historical houses. However, I found that I only needed images from one historical house.

These pictures were taken at a Sunset and Shadows a few years ago at Uniacke Estate Museum Park. That evening, those in attendance were allowed to go behind the ropes and into the rooms. We were even allowed to peek inside drawers (that’s how I got the top middle picture) and cupboards. It was wonderful getting to see and photograph the rooms from different angles.

Uniacke Estate was built as a summer home between the years 1813 and 1816. The study is a small room with lots of interesting things in it. More things than I have pictured. The gentleman who owned the home, Richard John Uniacke, was, at one point in his career, Nova Scotia’s attorney-general. So, as you might imagine a study would have been an important room for such a man. And the shelves were lined with many legal books.

I have no idea if Mr. Bennet had any books in his study that would also have been on Mr. Uniacke’s shelves, but I do think he would have loved the little room with it’s desk, chairs, walls of books, and scientific equipment.

It is Mr. Bennet’s study in which the following prologue to Not an Heiress is set. This prologue lays the foundation for the scheme that will play out in the book.

I must warn you a little bit about this book. If you like your reading to be squeaky clean. This one is not that. It’s clean, but it’s closed door/fade to black clean. The hero and heroine do fall into a compromising position or two over the course of the story and we know that impropriety has taken place. There is no sex on the page but there is off the page and before the couple is married.

And if you expect all good-girls like Mary Bennet who read sermons to always be good and beyond the temptation that is presented by a handsome officer, then, this book is going to disappoint you because even good-girls can fall prey to desires when circumstances are arranged to leave no means of escape. 😉

However, if you like a different sort of Lady Catherine who is fun, that you’ll find in this story.

Not an Heiress is set in the spring around Easter a few years after Darcy and Elizabeth are married and is a sequel to Discovering Mr. Darcy in which Lady Catherine with the help of Colonel Fitzwilliam scheme to see Darcy and Elizabeth happily married. In this book, it’s Richard’s turn to find his happily ever after via a trap laid by his aunt.

And as a special treat to welcome spring, today, and today only, Not an Heiress, which is in Kindle Unlimited, is FREE to download in the Kindle store.

Continue reading Details from a Gentleman’s Study

Femme à la lorgnette (Woman with Spyglass) by Henri Nicholas van Gorp

Femme à la lorgnette (unaltered from original Wikimedia Commons post). Henri Nicolas van Gorp, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Today, I’m not giving you a short excerpt to read. I’m giving you the whole first chapter of Assessing Mr. Darcy. This book is the final entry in my Dash of Darcy and Companions collection, and you can download it today for FREE from Amazon. (Today, August 9, only. It goes back to regular price tomorrow. However, it is also available to read in the Kindle Unlimited program.)

As you will see from the chapter below, Mr. Collins is not Mr. Collins in this story, but rather William Bennet.

I think you’ll also figure out why I decided to pair the above picture with this book, but I have to ask: Do you suppose the lady in the painting is spying on her new and handsome neighbours like Elizabeth is? 🙂

Enjoy!

Continue reading Femme à la lorgnette (Woman with Spyglass) by Henri Nicholas van Gorp

“Dance in the City” by Renoir

“Dance in the CIty” by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. The woman is identified as artist Suzanne Valadon. Original is in Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France.

Ok, so I know that this is not a Regency era painting and that the couple is neither dressed or dancing as as a Regency era couple would be. How anachronistic!

Now that we have that out of the way 😉 let me tell you why I picked this image to share today with an excerpt from Delighting Mrs. Bennet. My reasons are pretty basic. First, the couple seems to be enjoying their dance very much, and second, her dress is blue. I know, not exceptionally deep reasons to match this with the excerpt below, but there you have it. 😀 By this point in the series, Darcy has learned to be rather swoony, so I hope you enjoy this snippet from Chapter 8.

[FYI for those who do not yet own this book, the ebook edition is on sale everywhere this month (May 2023). See the book promo page for a link and details, or click the book cover image below to find links to various stores.] Continue reading “Dance in the City” by Renoir