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Book 2 Chapter 11

Darcy could not believe his ears. His quiet cousin, weak most of her life had just said what?

“Anne!”

Her smile could only be described as impish. And unrepentant.

“Are only men allowed to talk of such things? Over their brandy while sitting in their clubs?”

“I do not know what to say!”

Anne de Bourgh looked much healthier. There was no denying that. But she had also spoken of some shocking things, personal things, intimate things. Darcy was lost.

“Can you tell me what has brought about this, this,”

Darcy couldn’t even finish his sentence. She took pity on him.

“Despite the constant refrain of my mother, I am never going to marry, to you or to anyone else. I know this and am content. There is no chance that I would survive childbirth, and the odds would be against the baby. The fevers of my youth have taken that from me. But my mind was not weakened. Nor my imagination. But I had three male cousins close to my age and no close female companions. Until now.”

Darcy blanched even paler.

“Mrs. Collins?”

“Yes, dear Catherine. She is perfect. Still young, although older than Georgiana. She is also the wife of the parson at Hunsford. We do not have control, but we do have influence. I asked her and she chose to indulge me. I am never going to know the marriage bed but I can hear about it from my friend. There will be no details William, obviously. But it has been wonderful. And it is not all one way either. I have been able to assist her in managing her husband.”

“Managing?”

Anne blushed.

“We are conducting experiments to see if we can modify his behaviour.”

Darcy wanted to run screaming from the room. His cousin took mercy upon him again.

“William, it has been good for me. I needed a young female friend. We talk about this with each other and no one else. It makes dinner with them so much more interesting when we both know there are subtexts swirling about. And I do not mean this last one to be as bad as it sounds, but it good to get one over on my mother. Her control is not as ubiquitous as she imagines.”

William got himself back under control. It was the perfect moment.

“You must promise me that you will never speak of this again.”

His serious rather than shocked tone stilled her smiles.

“Why so serious?”

“Because just before I came to Kent, Mrs. Collins’ sister Elizabeth agreed to be my wife.”

Fourteen different emotions played across Anne’s face. But it settled on impish happiness. She carefully stood and hugged her cousin. The mind might be razor sharp, but the body was still frail.

“Congratulations. I understand the sentiment. I will not mention this again. Now tell me all about Miss Bennet.”

Darcy spoke for close to an hour. He did not mention the details of Georgiana’s time at Ramsgate but did use it as the starting point for his own tale.

“That is wonderful William. Let us meet again tomorrow, we have been alone for too long and you know what mother is like.”

Richard was once again dragooned into distracting Lady Catherine while Anne and Darcy talked.

“How are you going to deal with mother? I doubt she will be happy.”

“I know she goes on about this childhood engagement but we both know it is a lie. Part of me just wants to tell her to her face, let her rant and rave, and then move past it. Another part wants to present her with a fait accompli, leaving her no avenue of attack. Your thoughts?”