A Wife for Mr Darcy

Wales for his enormous appetite in just about everything. But he was at his most eloquent when speaking of Pemberley.

“By the end of the London season, I am so eager to be free of the noise, the dirt, the smells, and the intense scrutiny that I go directly to my estate in Derbyshire. I am very much like a man who has been breathing through a narrow funnel for months on end, but who suddenly finds his lungs filled with pure oxygen. As far as I am concerned, Pemberley is as near to heaven as you can get on this earth.”

When the last notes were played and the final steps taken, Mr. Darcy escorted Lizzy to the table where they were to dine. Miss Darcy was already seated and was talking to Caroline Bingley and Mrs. Hurst, who soon departed to see to their duties as hostesses. Knowing about his intended courtship with Miss Montford in London, Lizzy was puzzled by his request that she meet his sister. She was not alone in her confusion, as Mr. Darcy was equally incapable of answering the same question.

Chapter 14

Georgiana Darcy was eager to meet the woman who seemed to have captured her brother’s attention, if not his heart, and Lizzy was equally interested in meeting the young woman who brought a smile to Mr. Darcy’s face whenever her name was mentioned. Georgiana had the dark Darcy hair and gray-green eyes, but little else. She was perfectly lovely and carried herself with a confidence that belied her eighteen years. But her youth was evident once she began to speak, as she talked with the enthusiasm of one who was experiencing everything for the first time.

“I am very pleased to make your acquaintance, Miss Darcy, as I have heard so much about you from Mrs. Hurst and Miss Bingley,” Lizzy began.

“Oh dear!” Georgiana said with a sigh. “Now I know my virtues have been exaggerated, and my shortcomings ignored.”

“Well, their enthusiasm for their subject is a compliment in itself.”

“How kind of them, but let us not talk about me, but of the dance,” Miss Darcy said, blushing. “I just love to dance.”

“Of course, our country dances are nothing to the splendid balls of London.”

“But I enjoy them so much as they provide an opportunity to meet new people. By the end of the London season, there was not one story I had not heard three or four times. I do not know why I was surprised by that, as everywhere I went I was with the same people,” and Georgiana quickly glanced at Caroline and Louisa. “It is different in the country. Every year at Pemberley, we hold a harvest festival and dance. Unfortunately, because of all the rain, we were unable to host it this year. I was sorely disappointed as I find our neighbors to be refreshing in their frankness.”

At that moment, Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner joined the party, and Lizzy was pleased to introduce them. She was proud of her uncle who had abandoned the safe career of a country solicitor to strike out on his own in London and had successfully established a company for the importation of coffee from plantations around the world, a topic that proved to be of interest to Mr. Darcy.

“A coffee broker! Why, coffee is my favorite brew, although I must confess I was better off before I had ever drunk a cup. Now, I cannot start the morning without it.”

Mr. Gardiner smiled and confessed to the same addiction. “My wife limits me to four cups a day and nothing after 7:00 at night as there seems to be something in the drink that keeps one awake.”

“Mrs. Gardiner, do you share our weakness for coffee?” Darcy asked.

“No, sir. I do not look to start new bad habits. I have enough already, especially my taste for sweets and chocolate, but I do have something in common with you as I spent my early years in Lambton. My father was the assistant to the apothecary. You would not remember him, as you would have been too young. I remember your parents with great fondness, and I am deeply attached to Derbyshire as it is the most beautiful county in England.”

“Mrs. Gardiner, we are in complete agreement with you,” Georgiana answered enthusiastically on her brother’s behalf. “Will and I spent six weeks there after the end of the season. The views are both spectacular and inspirational. I am no poet, except when I visit the Peak, and any talent I have with a pen falls away as soon as I set foot in London.”

“Mr. Gardiner and I are to visit the Peak in three weeks’ time, and we are trying to convince our niece to join us,” Mrs. Gardiner said.

“You really should go, Miss Elizabeth. The inn at Lambton offers comfortable accommodations, and if you mention our acquaintance, the Culvers will treat you royally.”

Lizzy assured Georgiana that she would give the matter careful consideration, but at that time, the first notes of the fiddle announced that the dancing would resume. She had promised the dance to Mr. Collins, while Mr. Darcy had found a more skilled companion in the parson’s betrothed. Georgiana graciously accepted an invitation from the aptly named Mr. Short, who was as tall as he was wide.

I like Miss Darcy very much, Elizabeth thought. If she were not a Darcy who lived in a mansion in faraway Derbyshire, they might easily be friends. But she was a Darcy and her brother was the lord of the manor, and nothing could change that.

When Darcy wasn’t dancing, he was much in demand with the local gentry. They were impressed with his knowledge of the day-to-day running of a farm. At his father’s insistence, he had served something akin to an apprenticeship to the elder Wickham as Darcy’s father had emphasized that the financial well-being of the family was directly dependent upon the sound stewardship of the land and a good working relationship with their tenants. As a result, there had never been so much as a hint of discontent at Pemberley.

Before claiming his dance with Elizabeth, Darcy went out onto the terrace. If there was any doubt of an attraction between the two before this night, their time together had put an end to all pretenses. However, he had a legacy to preserve, and he could almost feel the eyes of Baron Roger D’Arcy, the first Darcy to set foot on English soil, upon him. But at that moment, his feelings for the lady were such that he wished that his ancestor had stayed in Normandy so that he might not feel this heartache.

“There you are, Darcy. Hiding from the ladies, are you?” Bingley said with a laugh in his voice. “I would imagine you have worn out your boots by now.”

Darcy shook his head and smiled at the only man of his acquaintance who seemed to never have an unhappy moment, and at this particular time, Bingley was the perfect antidote for his dark thoughts.

“I must say it was damned decent of you to dance with Miss Mary Bennet. Not the best dancer. Missed a few steps here and there. But you would have hardly known it from the pleasure she had in being asked by the towering figure of Fitzwilliam Darcy. Are you done for the night?”

“No, I have one more dance with Miss Elizabeth.”

“Darcy, have you given any consideration to…”

“No,” Darcy said, interrupting him. “Let me stop you there as there is nothing to discuss. By the end of the week, I shall be in London,” and after patting his friend on the back, he returned to the ballroom.

While waiting for the musicians to begin the dance, Darcy admitted to his partner that he was enjoying the Netherfield ball as much as any dance in London during the season.

“Perhaps you had grown tired of too much deference,” Elizabeth suggested.

Darcy laughed out loud. “You have the most remarkable observations, Miss Elizabeth. Too much deference? I had never thought of it in quite that way. But, yes, I was bored to the point of exasperation.”

“But you are to return to London?”

“Yes,” he said with genuine regret. “Things are not always as one would wish them to be. Sometimes, our destiny is determined long before we are born.”

“Forgive me for asking a personal question, but during our time together at Netherfield, you mentioned that your mother and Lady Catherine were half sisters.”

“Yes, Lady Catherine’s mother was born a Denby; my mother’s mother was a Devereaux.”