Free Christmas With Mr Darcy by Victoria Connelly Page B

bedroom, she walked the length of hallway that led to her study. It was lined with photographs of the great and the good and Dame Pamela nodded to a few of the friendly faces from the world of film and theatre including Sir Laurence Olivier who had once flirted with her at a charity dinner.
    She loved her study first thing in the morning, opening the shutters and letting the first light in. It was a quiet time for her to contemplate the day that lay before her and to browse through some of the fan mail. People really were very sweet. She was still getting fan mail for films she’d made decades ago. Christmas cards too. Robyn had made a couple of cardboard Christmas trees painted in jolly colours to hold some of them and Dame Pamela smiled at them now. She adored her fans as much as they adored her and that had been one of the reasons she’d bought the first edition of Pride and Prejudice – because she didn’t think of it as buying it for herself but rather for all her fellow Austen fans.
    The conference was going so well, she thought. She would hold the memory of her guests’ faces when she’d brought out the first edition of Pride and Prejudice for many years to come. It had been a wonderful, bonding moment between her and the other Janeites and she couldn’t resist opening the safe which was hidden behind a painting of herself in the role of Ophelia in Hamlet . Higgins had told her that it wasn’t a very original place to have a safe but Dame Pamela had adored the idea of having it behind her portrait and wouldn’t listen to any advice. But, that morning, when she removed the painting and entered the code, her heart almost stopped because the first edition was no longer there.
     
    Mia couldn’t help it. She was worse than a child on Christmas morning and was out of bed way before the first streaks of light brightened the land.
    ‘Sarah!’ she whispered in her sister’s ear. ‘Sarah – it’s Christmas!’
    ‘What?’ Sarah muttered something from under her duvet and turned over.
    Mia tried again. ‘We’ll be late!’ she said.
    Sarah was sitting upright in a flash. ‘Late? Didn’t my alarm go off?’
    Mia grinned.
    ‘It hasn’t gone off yet, has it, Mia?’
    ‘Not exactly,’ she said.
    ‘Oh, Mia!’
    ‘But it’s Christmas morning and you shouldn’t spend it sleeping! ’ she chided.
    ‘It doesn’t look like I’m going to get much choice in the matter, does it?’ Sarah swung her legs out of bed and carefully put her slippers on – left then right.
    ‘Presents!’ Mia shouted.
    ‘Not yet,’ Sarah said. ‘Wash and dress first!’
    Mia sighed but then washed and dressed in record time but then had to wait for Sarah who took simply ages to do everything perfectly and in the right order.
    Finally, they were ready.
    ‘Open yours first!’ Mia said, handing her sister a tiny package wrapped in metallic green paper.
    Sarah took the package and opened it neatly, prising the tape from both ends of the package without ripping the paper at all and then unfolding it to reveal a box. She put the paper to one side and placed the box in the palm of her hand, looking at it for a maddeningly long time.
    ‘Open it!’ Mia urged from her home on the carpet where she was sitting cross-legged as if in some yoga position.
    Sarah did and then gasped at the contents. It was a cameo brooch depicting a lovely lady with long flowing hair.
    ‘Oh, Mia! It’s beautiful. Wherever did you find it?’
    Mia grinned. ‘At a tabletop sale in a little village in the Cotswolds. Gabe took us out for the day and we pottered around and found all sorts of amazing places but, when I saw this, I just knew you’d love it!’
    ‘I do! It’s gorgeous.’
    ‘Put it on!’
    Sarah, who was wearing an immaculate cashmere jumper, swallowed hard and Mia immediately knew what she was thinking and leapt up from the floor, opening one of the drawers in which Sarah had folded and placed some of her clothes.
    ‘Here we are,’ she said