Free Christmas With Mr Darcy by Victoria Connelly Page A

blond heroes at all, are there?’ Katherine said, enjoying the conversation immensely. It was just the sort of conversation she wouldn’t be able to condone at Oxford.
    Everybody looked thoughtful for a moment.
    ‘There’s Daniel Craig,’ Rose suggested.
    ‘Hmmm,’ Roberta pondered. ‘I’m not at all convinced about a blond Bond.’
    ‘Colin Farrell went blond in Alexander ,’ Gemma said.
    ‘And there was Dan Stevens in Sense and Sensibility ,’ Katherine said.
    ‘But he was more feminine again - if you know what I mean,’ Roberta said.
    ‘Apart from that wood chopping scene,’ Mia said with a little giggle.
    ‘Julian Sands was very blond in A Room with a View ,’ Katherine said.
    ‘And all of the Scarlet Pimpernels have been blond too,’ Warwick said, pulling up a chair to join in. ‘And Sean Bean as Sharpe.’
    ‘Okay! Enough heroes already!’ Sarah said.
    ‘Oh, you can never have enough heroes!’ Doris Norris said with a smile as she took another sip of sherry.
    ‘I'd like to see Richard Armitage as Mr Darcy,’ Kay said. ‘I really do think that he’s the forgotten Darcy.’
    ‘What about Henry Cavill?’ Mia said.
    ‘As Darcy? Oh, no! He’s far better suited to play Wickham,’ Kay said.
    And the conversation went on.
    ‘I wonder what the next adaptation will be,’ Rose said. ‘I’m still waiting for a really good Mansfield Park . I don’t think anyone’s quite nailed it yet.’
    ‘But does it really matter if it’s good or not?’ Mia said.
    ‘What do you mean?’ Rose asked.
    ‘I mean, it doesn’t matter how bad an adaptation is. It’s still Jane Austen and that means it’s a hundred times better than anything else that’s on the television that evening.’
    Rose nodded. ‘You’re right. A bad Jane Austen adaptation still beats anything else by a mile.’
    ‘Yes but that Lost in Austen was just preposterous!’ Mrs Soames said. ‘Falling into the plot of Pride and Prejudice ! It’s ridiculous! Surely it would have been more realistic to have her finding a portal back to Regency times.’
    ‘Yes but that’s been done by so many books already,’ Roberta said. ‘I read two of them last week alone.’
    ‘Anyway,’ Kay said, ‘haven’t we all wanted to find ourselves in the midst of the Bennet family and meet Mr Darcy?’
    ‘But for that – that – heroine to end up with Mr Darcy!’ Mrs Soames said.
    ‘So, you stayed with it until the end, then?’ Kay teased.
    Mrs Soames looked a little embarrassed. ‘Well, there was nothing else on.’
    ‘I think it was absolutely wonderful,’ Doris Norris said. ‘And just what so many of us have dreamed of for ourselves – a happy ending with Mr Darcy.’
     

Chapter 11
    Dame Pamela was the first up on Christmas Day. It was still dark and she turned her bedside lamp on. Warm light filled the room as she placed her feet in her sequinned slippers. She didn’t feel good. Her heart was racing and she’d had the most terrible nightmare that the Christmas tree had crashed down in the hallway, trapping several guests under an avalanche of baubles.
    She yawned and got washed and dressed, blow-drying her hair and applying her make-up.
    ‘How did my face become so old ?’ she asked the reflection that stared at her from out of the dressing table mirror. Beside the perfume bottles sat a silver-framed photograph of Dame Pamela in her much-loved production of Sense and Sensibility . She’d played Marianne Dashwood and had captured the hearts of every red-blooded man in the country. She picked up the photograph and stared at it, noting the flawless skin and the red-gold ringlets before returning her gaze to the ghostly face in the mirror once more. There was only one thing for it – more make-up.
    Twenty minutes later, she was fully made-up and dressed, choosing the rich burgundy velvet gown trimmed with black lace. A pair of ruby stud earrings and her favourite ruby ring were chosen. Perfect for Christmas Day.
    Leaving her