Free An Autumn Accord: A Pride and Prejudice Novella Variation (Seasons of Serendipity Book 4) by Elizabeth Ann West

this letter of admonishment with the best intentions . . .” Kitty stared at him, her eyes wide, brimming with tears. She furiously nodded. “And that I am a brother to both of you with the best intentions?” Darcy observed the two younger girls glance to one another once more, but he did not give either a chance to speak before continuing. “Now I would like for one of you to explain to me what possessed you to sign my name in a letter of business to a publisher?”
    The two protectively hunched their shoulders slightly as the master of Pemberley tone inadvertently spilled from Fitzwilliam’s question. For a few seconds, neither girl offered an explanation. Kitty darted her eyes towards her sister-in-law, who appeared set on merely waiting her brother out. But the discomfort was too much for Catherine Bennet to bear.
    “ We worked so hard on my story, finishing the novel this summer. I hoped to ask you or my Uncle Gardiner to assist me with the publication . . .”
    “ An admirable plan, go on to how you deviated from this.”
    “ You ran away to Scotland and her uncle is still too sick for us to put that on his shoulders. So I told Kitty she should send a letter herself. Only the mean publisher threw her manuscript away and wrote back he would not enter into a discussion of publication with a mere woman!” Georgiana did not raise her voice and reported the facts of their collective perspective with an air of disinterest.
    Inhaling sharply through his nose, Fitzwilliam Darcy forced himself to stay calm in the face of such a preposterous accusation. He picked up the second and third letters, one the forgery and the other imploring him to allow the publisher to print [the title of Kitty’s story] in time for spring.  With no intention of the kind, as he had completely forgotten Catherine wrote stories as a hobby, his mind now raced with the possibilities.
    “ Are you going to tell my sister?”  Catherine Bennet had begun to cry softly during Darcy’s silence.
    “ Of course he will, and she will decide our punishment and it will be double the reading and thrice the French.” Darcy raised an eyebrow to his sister, utterly stunned such a tongue wagged in the young woman he still thought of in his mind to be a young girl.  He again inspected the penmanship of the forgery. If he had not known the signature was not by his own hand, he would have thought it genuine. This sparked an idea.
    “ I believe you ladies shall have one hour in which to pack your trunks, you are to accompany me and my wife to Hertfordshire –
    “ Fitzwilliam, we agreed that we were old enough to remain home on our own with the staff for the few weeks you will be gone!”
     “ I’m afraid it will be quite some time before I’m convinced either of you are mature enough to play lady of the house.”  Both girls leaned forward as if to rise from their chairs, but Darcy held his hands up to halt them, “I have not yet issued your punishment.”
    “ There is to be more?” Kitty Bennet asked earnestly as her mother and father had never much concerned themselves with actual punishment for her or Lydia.
    “ While in Hertfordshire, you shall double your reading and triple the conversations you hold in French, and once we are at Pemberley the two of you shall serve as secretary. I find Mrs. Darcy and I shall have a number of letters we will need penned and the two of you will be happy to assist us in that regard.”
      Georgiana opened her mouth to protest, but Kitty grabbed her arm to keep her silent.  “Forgive my impertinence, but what of my novel?”
      Darcy collected the three letters to refold them and lock them back in his drawer. He hoped to avoid discussing the fate of the manuscript, but a direct question deserved a direct query in return.  “Have you considered the consequences of publishing even under a pseudonym?  A lady does not hold an occupation.”
    “ I have no wish to marry, please,  sir . . .”  Kitty