Mr Darcy's Summer Surprise

By Meg Osborne

Romance at Rosings...

 

Persuaded to visit his aunt and cousins by his sister Georgiana, Fitzwilliam Darcy is surprised to run across the very person he has tried for months to, if not forget, avoid - Elizabeth Bennet.

 

Colonel Fitzilliam and Anne de Bourgh have long nursed a secret attachment to one another, but realise that their chances of marriage will be greatly improved if they can successfully match Darcy first, and set forth a scheme with Georgiana and Charlotte Collins to manage what fate appears to have left undone...

 

Mr Darcy's Summer Surprise is a sweet, regency Pride and Prejudice variation novella.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Meg Osborne
• Release date: Jul 20, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393785767

Meg Osborne

Meg Osborne is an avid reader, tea drinker and unrepentant history nerd.  She writes sweet historical romance stories and Jane Austen fanfiction, and can usually be found knitting, dreaming up new stories, or adding more books to her tbr list than she'll get through in a lifetime.

Book preview

Chapter One

W illiam, are you very busy?

Georgiana Darcy did not wait for her brother’s answer and merely took his momentary silence as acquiescence as she strode confidently into his study at Pemberley.

Extremely, Fitzwilliam Darcy remarked, neither looking up from his ledger nor noticing the small circuit she did of his private sanctuary, before selecting the chair opposite his desk and sitting down. He did not notice that she fixed her gaze silently upon him, holding her breath in anticipation until he at last laid down his pen and lifted his head. But never too busy for you. He laid his elbows on his desk, resting his chin on his interlaced fingers and raised his eyebrows at her. Is there something on your mind?

Oh, many things! Georgiana smiled at him before triumphantly extracting a letter from behind her back, depositing it with care before him. In particular, this!

A letter. Darcy quirked his lips. A fascinating invention. I believe it allows conversation between correspondents to occur at a distance of many miles. His smile grew. In silence.

Very droll. Georgiana glared at him, before leaning forward to jab at the letter. Read this and then tell me what you think.

Georgiana - he protested, but his eyes obediently scanned a few lines of delicate writing. He dismissed the author’s great devotion to such feminine delights as a new bonnet and a particular piece of music she was attempting to locate until his gaze lit on the line that must have powered his sister’s intrusion. I am longing to see you again. You and Fitzwilliam must come and stay with us at Rosings, for you know Mama is always most eager to see you both...

He paused, glancing up at his sister for confirmation.

Anne invites us to visit Kent! she announced, with triumph. We shall go, of course, I merely wished to tell you before I wrote to reply -

Wait, Georgiana... Darcy drew in a slow, calming breath. Since when had his sister been so eager to make plans for them both without consulting him? A removal to Kent? It would be an unnecessary upheaval, a delay to his own plans for the summer, many of which involved silence and solitude, neither of which would be attained at Rosings.

You do not wish to see your cousin again? Georgiana’s blue eyes widened, her lower lip trembling as if she was on the very brink of tears. Darcy ought to have seen through the ruse in an instant: it had not worked when she was a child and it did not work now. But he had a weakness when it came to his sister. Georgiana so rarely asked for anything that on those rare occasions she did show some partiality towards person or plan, Darcy was wont to permit it. It does not usually harm me to do so, though, he thought, grimly.

Poor Anne is quite desperate to see us, William. I think it only right we go to her! Unless... She sniffed. Unless you do not care to visit your only cousin...

She is not our only cousin, Darcy reminded her. And I should much prefer to entertain another of our cousins here at home. Why not write and request Colonel Fitzwilliam to spend his leave here, if you are so desperate to be around family?

This idea appealed to him, for he liked his cousin and got on well with him. Richard understood Darcy’s need for calm and quiet, and the two could hunt and ride and have a jolly time together, far away from the watchful eye of their aunt, Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Here was the true cause of Darcy’s reluctance to go to Kent. Not Anne, but her mother.

You did not read the whole of my letter! Georgiana declared, her disappointment giving way to delight as she turned the paper over and tapped a small post-script on its back that Darcy had, indeed, overlooked. He squinted, sensing, from the lack of care given to these words that they were penned in haste, an addendum to the whole but key in demolishing the very last of his arguments.

Colonel Fitzwilliam is coming to Kent and sends his own good wishes that you would join us. What a delight it would be to have all of us under one roof! Do persuade your brother to come, Georgiana, and we shall have a summer’s worth of enjoyments together.

Darcy groaned, seeing the last obstacle he could summon in his favour overcome, and he had barely given a nod of assent before Georgiana snatched up her paper with a gleeful cheer and danced towards the doorway.

I shall write at once and tell Anne to expect us. Oh, how delightful it will be to see her again, and to be surrounded by the beautiful Kent countryside!

It’s not as if there isn’t countryside here...! Darcy called after her. Georgiana? But she had already gone, disappearing down the corridor with the same haste that had brought her to him, her goal achieved and her plans already in motion, leaving Darcy with nothing to do but fall into step beside her.

He turned back to his ledger, making several quick sums. He was determined to waste no more of the day to distraction. If Georgiana was to wrench him from his home and his tasks, he must work twice as hard to ensure all his work was complete before leaving, or risk returning to mayhem.

A summer at Rosings is not precisely what I wished for when I envisaged a quiet, relaxing summer left to myself! he glowered, recalling how the previous year had been one of upset and distraction, being drawn hither and thither by all manner of adventures, mishaps and misfortunes. He had thought, with Georgiana’s rallying after the Wickham debacle, and after Charles Bingley’s marriage to Jane Bennet – news to Darcy who had rather softened to the idea of the match - he had, at last, earned the right to while away a summer at home, pleasing himself and wanting for nothing. Alas, he was mistaken.

Still, a visit to Rosings was mildly preferable to a visit to Hertfordshire, which had been the destination Georgiana had hinted at on more than one occasion in the past few months. I wish to see Miss Bingley again, had been her rallying cry. And to meet the new mistress of Netherfield. You know her already, of course, but I am eager to put a face to the name!

This plan he had been only too quick to put a stop to, for to go to Hertfordshire again would be to see Elizabeth Bennet again, and if there was one part of last year he was only too happy to leave consigned to history it was his interaction with, and the very existence of, Elizabeth Bennet.

He winced, realising with a start how tight his grip had become on his pen, such that the thing was at risk of being snapped in two. He let go, dropping it onto the ledger so that it left an unsightly splash of ink that not even the immediate application of blotting paper could erase.

HOW PLEASED I AM THAT you had the good sense to marry a gentleman who lives locally! Elizabeth Bennet remarked, as she walked arm-in-arm with her sister, Mrs Jane Bingley, around the elegant grounds of Netherfield Park, a short - by Elizabeth’s standards - walk from the Bennet home of Longbourn.

Good sense? Jane laughed. "I call it rather good fortune. If Charles had not taken the lease at Netherfield and chanced to attend that assembly at Meryton, who knows but that I would not have married anyone!"

Nonsense! Lizzy protested. You are a beauty, Jane, and sweet-tempered besides. It was only a matter of time before the perfect gentleman arrived to sweep you off your feet. She paused, appearing to consider the matter. But I suppose I am pleased that he happened to be Mr Bingley. You might have done worse in a husband - ouch!

Jane had retaliated against this perceived slight against her beloved by elbowing her sister in the side and the two laughed before peacefully returning their attention to their walk.

"Anyway, I must make the most of you remaining in any way local, Jane countered, turning their conversation back to the letter that Elizabeth had received that very morning. You shall be in Kent before we know it, and gone who knows how long!"

A very short time indeed, Lizzy said. Recall, I do not only go to visit dear Charlotte, but her husband. She pursed her lips. And if we must speak of poor choices for matrimony...

Lizzy. Jane’s voice was sharp with warning that Elizabeth heeded without the need of further censure.

"I am sure Mr and Mrs Collins are very happy together, but heavens knows I should not be content to wed such a man."

How fortunate, then, that it is Charlotte and not you that he chose.

Neither sister mentioned a particularly awkward proposal that Mr Collins - cousin to Mr Bennet and relatively recent visitor to Longbourn - had made to Elizabeth, and which had been roundly, repeatedly refused. He had secured the hand of Charlotte Lucas very shortly afterwards, much to the shock and despair of Lizzy, who had nursed higher hopes for her friend than this. Pragmatic Charlotte had seen an opportunity, however. She had taken it, and to outside eyes certainly seemed content with her lot as wife to the humble shepherd of the Hunsford Parsonage. Lizzy had visited her there once, in party with Charlotte’s own family, but this second visit would be alone and whilst she adored the thought of seeing Charlotte again, she could not claim the same exuberance at being pressed into society with Mr Collins. Or, she realised with a grimace, with Mr Collins’ patroness.

I shall be forced to see Lady Catherine again, she observed, tugging disconsolately at a dark curl.

How delightful for you. Jane’s features remained entirely impassive, but for a tiny glimmer of light in her pale blue eyes that suggested she was teasing her sister. Elizabeth groaned.

You might come with me...? she ventured. Surely Mr Bingley is fond of Kent -

Mr Bingley received no invitation, Jane said, simply. And I certainly do not intend to descend on Hunsford without warning. No, Lizzy. Go alone, or do not, if you object to the visit so very much.

There was a hint of challenge in her voice, and Elizabeth Bennet was not one to shy from a challenge. She lifted her chin, tilting back her face towards the sun and smiling.

Very well. I dare say it will be an enjoyable enough visit, for Charlotte has been coded in her letter and I feel certain there is some news she wishes to share in person. The promise of that is enough to entice me. And I am sure I shall tolerate Lady Catherine all the better now that she does not focus all her ire on me, suspecting me of seeking to seduce her nephew.

She laughed as she said this, making light of the idea, but it was rooted in truth. She had shared only part with Jane, that on her last visit to Kent, several months’ previously, Mr Darcy had proposed to her. If Mr Collins’ proposal had been embarrassing, then Mr Darcy’s had been outright insulting and it was because of this, more than any other reason, that she had kept the secret to herself. Her refusal had been blunt, and whilst she reserved the right to feel anger at his dismissive assessment of her family, she was forced to acknowledge that she had been less than complimentary to him.

Entirely deservedly. Her eyes flew open and she fixed them on Jane, fearing, in the silence, that Jane had somehow deduced the direction her thoughts had taken.

"It shall be all the more enjoyable without

Reviews for Mr Darcy's Summer Surprise

[Chelsea · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was another really fun Pride and Prejudice Variation by Meg Osborne. I love how she wrote Anne and Richard in this story and how we got to see various characters perspectives throughout the book. Georgiana was also fun in this story and I enjoyed how she plotted to bring Elizabeth and Darcy back together to provide an opportunity for her brother to propose since she believed all he needed was the chance and everything would work out. I look forward to reading more by this author in the future.

[Judelbugs Rutter · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Haha a funny and quirky alternative story. I enjoyed reading it very much