As Darcy’s house was across from the coastline on Strand Way, Richard led the two footmen behind a low sand dune topped with vegetation right across from the home. They lay down on the grasses that covered the dune so their heads would be hidden unless one was looking for them. To Richard, it was just like a reconnoitre in the army. Find a position close to the lines of the French and watch for the enemy to see whatthey planned. It was not a long wait before the foe made an appearance.
His first instinct on seeing that damned wastrel George Wickham entering Fitz’s home bold as brass was to unsheathe his sabre and charge across the road, sinking his sword into the libertine’s chest, all the way down to the hilt. Richard took a deep breath. He reminded himself that he first needed more information before he dealt with the dissipated waste of a human being. Seeing the kiss told him all he needed to know about the two having a prior acquaintance. ‘Damn Fitz and his pride!’ Richard thought. Had he checked the characters, Giana would never have been in any sort of peril.
“You,” Richard looked at one of the two footmen, “go around the back of the house, and if that bastard who just entered the house attempts to escape out of the servants’ door, do whatever you have to in order to detain him.” The large man nodded.
“You will accompany me. We will make a frontal assault.” The second man nodded his head as well. Richard nodded to the man he had instructed to be at the rear of the house. The footman left and made his way towards the servants’ door. As soon as Richard stood, the other footman did as well.
When they reached the front door, Richard was pleased it was not locked; in fact, it was slightly ajar. He looked in and saw the woman who had lied her way into her position watching the goings on in the drawing room intently through a cracked open door.
“We will enter with stealth,” Richard whispered as he removed his cravat. He told the man how he wanted him to grab Miss Younge. “As soon as we grab her, you use this to stuff into that woman’s mouth, gagging her to keep her silent. Then secure her in a parlour, and find something, like a curtain cord. With it,you will tie her wrists and if needed, her ankles, and make sure she is completely secure while I deal with that miscreant who is importuning my ward.” The man nodded. Richard pushed the door open very slowly. He thanked his lucky stars that the hinges were well greased, as there was no creak or any other noise.
The Younge woman was so intent on listening to whatever was being said in the drawing room that she never heard the approach of the two men. As he had been instructed, the footman clapped his hand over her mouth while his other arm locked her body against him.
While the shocked woman’s eyes were huge and round like saucers as soon as she was held, when she saw the cold fury on the Colonel’s face, her look became one of fear. Before she could make a sound, the footman had stuffed the Colonel’s cravat into her mouth.
Richard looked into the drawing room. The bugger was close to Giana but not touching her. Now he could hear what was being said.
“Georgiana, never have I been so affected by a woman before. My heart will break if you do not agree to elope with me,” Wickham tried one more time. He could not believe his charm had not overwhelmed the little mouse’s defences. “If you truly love me, you would not refuse me.”
“I do love you, George, but Fitz will be so happy to gain you as a brother, he will not object,” Georgiana responded. “I have heard my Aunts Elaine and Anna speak of the scandal with an elopement, and I will not do that to my family.”
“Just think how surprised Fitz will be…” Wickham froze as the door flew open, and there, he saw his worst nightmare. Richard Fitzwilliam with sabre in hand.
Self-preservation took over; thirty thousand pounds and revenge on the prig for not paying him more money be damned. Wickham grabbed the young Darcy, who was still in shock at seeing one of her guardians in the room. With a final effort, he pushed her towards the Colonel, knowing he would want to know the mouse was well and not give immediate chase. He opened the servant’s door and ran out of the room as if his life depended on it, which it did. Thank goodness, Karen had given the servants the day off so there would be no one to stop him. He flung the back door open, and before he could break for freedom, his world went black as a rather large fist crashed into his face, dislodging the four ivory teeth.
The footman was gratified when the man the Colonel told him to stop at all costs fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes. He had taken a length of rope from the stables, which he used to tie the prone man securely.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
One second, she had been speaking to the man she thought she loved, and who claimed to have loved her, and the next George grabbed her roughly and threw her to the ground in front of Richard, who looked furious.
Giana burst into tears. “What is going on? Why is my fiancé so scared of you? Why are you here?” she managed between sobs.
Richard re-sheathed his sabre and scooped his ward up from the floor. He saw the footman who had been stationed at the back door standing in the servants’ door to the drawing room. The man nodded, so Richard knew the blackguard was in custody.
“Take him to the parlour near the entrance where his partner is, and I will deal with them when I have spoken to my ward,” Richard instructed.
The man nodded and disappeared back the way he had come.
“Richard, what is going on? Where is your cravat?” Giana asked as her tears slowed to a trickle.
He guided Giana to a settee, though not the one she had been sitting on with Wickham. Then he sat next to her after handing her his handkerchief to dry her eyes. “Firstly, tell me how, in the days since Fitz left you, only about a sennight ago, you seem to think you are engaged to that dastard?” Richard queried as gently as he was able.
“The same morning Fitz departed, Mrs Younge…” Giana stopped when Richard interjected.
“She is not Mrs anything; she is a Miss who forged her characters.”
Giana was almost as shocked by this news as she had been by what had occurred a few minutes past. “She and I went walking, and I thought, by chance, we met George…Mr Wickham. Over the next days between the two of them convincing me I was, I thought myself in love, but when he wanted to elope, I refused.”
“I heard that, although agreeing to marry anyone was badly done, especially as you are not out yet. Surely you knew that neither Fitz nor I would have approved without having spoken to your suitor and deemed him suitable and of good character before he could even call on you? And once we did, Giana dear, it wouldnotbe before you are out.”
“I was so confused; I did know that. With my companion’s encouragement, as someone I believed Fitz and you trusted, I thought I had tacit permission. Also, Mr Wickham was Papa’s godson, and Papa loved and trusted him, did he not?”
“Regarding your companion, that is a discussion I need to have with your brother.” Richard paused and cogitated. “Giana, your father was blind to Wickham’s true character, and believe me, many tried to warn him, not the least of whom was your brother. Did Fitz ever warn you about George Wickham’s vicious propensities and want of principal?” His ward shook her head. “I will not go into sordid details which are unfit for a maiden’s ears, but the man is a seducer of maidens, a thief, a liar, and runs about the country leaving unpaid debts, just to name a few of his crimes.”
“If he is so very bad, why did my papa not cast him off?”
“Because, as I said before, Uncle Robert, who was such an intelligent man, would hear nothing against his godson. I am sure you do not remember meeting my Bennet cousins in the summer of 1800 at Snowhaven. They are your relations as well through marriage. You were four and you liked them all. Especially Lizzy, whose middle name is the same as your familiar name and that of my Aunt Anna.”
