This book is available to listen to on YouTube. It is also available as a download with a paid Patreon subscription and is available in some other places as well (see the Audiobooks page on my website at this link).
If you haven’t subscribed to my YouTube channel yet, I’d love it if you would even if you only plan on listening to these stories here.
The description of this book and how the audiobook was made are below.
Happy Listening!
<3 Leenie
About the book:
The course of true love never did run smooth. Sometimes, it must circumvent ridiculous relations and troublesome former friends.
Having come to the realization that Miss Elizabeth Bennet is the perfect lady for him, Fitzwilliam Darcy sets a plan to eventually secure her hand in marriage.
Elizabeth is amenable to his proposal, and so begins a courtship that is more of a formality than something which is actually needed to determine if the two lovers wish to pledge forever to each other.
Unfortunately, not everyone is as agreeable that the wedding should take place, and they do their best to cast shadows and present stumbling blocks.
(This book has a prequel called An Accomplished Lady (of the best sort). It can be found in my Teatime Tales collection.)
About the Sweet Possibilities and Extras Collection:
Hallmark-style romance meets Pride and Prejudice in these sweet, kisses-only regency novels. Each of these stories is a stand-alone Darcy and Elizabeth variation, but each of them also has a sequel Mary and the Colonel story that follows them. Those sequels can be found in my Sweet Extras collection.
About the Audiobook:
This story is read by Christopher, an authorized voice replica (AVR) made available by the voice actor, through the Elevenlabs library. While this is a digital narration, the voice actor does receive compensation whenever his voice is used. In other words, offering AVR voices on Elevenlabs is one way that some voice actors have chosen to diversify their income. And I am so glad that Christopher has chosen this option because I quite enjoy listening to him read me my stories. I hope you enjoy his performance as much as I did while getting it ready to share.
Editing of the audio to produce this performance was completed by me, using the Elevenlabs program.
Happy Canadian Thanksgiving and welcome to one of my favourite months of the year! October is just beautiful here – the cool temps, the sunny days, the colours of the leaves! Sigh. It’s too bad that October only happens once per year. But then, if it happened more often, it wouldn’t be so special I guess. 🙂
Our garden is still growing. This weekend (Saturday morning to be precise), we hope to get some plastic attached to the large hoop house to see if we can extend the growing season for a few weeks and get our roma tomatoes to ripen. I just picked the first almost fully red one this past week, and I have seen a few changing colours so maybe it will be possible? This year is about experimenting, seeing what happens and learning as we go.
I have been settling into my part-time writer identity fairly well. (See this post if you want more info about that.) I have just completed my first full week of delivering for Uber Eats each morning for a few hours and then coming home to put in a few more hours at my writing job. I’ve been working towards doing this every day, so it’s nice to see that I was capable of doing it. And I expect it to become even easier to do as it just becomes a new routine.
As part of my new business plan, I have identified two core activities to do each day in my writing life. These top priority items are 1) one 30-minute writing time block and 2) one 1-hour audiobook production time block each day. So far, I’m finding this manageable. So with all that in mind… let’s get into my writing and audiobook news and all the regular Saturday Broadsheet info.
But first…
While we’re speaking of business plans, my friend Rose has some business news that she shared this month in the Sigh-worthy Romance Tearoom. You can see her goodbye/hello message here.
Okay, now on to my news.
IN WRITING NEWS
I have started sharing Lydia’s story on my Patreon page each Thursday. This past Thursday, chapter 5 posted, and I need to re-read and schedule chapter 8.
This week, I focused my 30-minute writing time slots on Harriet and the Colonel’s story, as well as writing this newsletter.
Next week, I’ll be back to Lydia’s story.
IN AUDIOBOOKS NEWS
If you subscribe to my website or my Substack, you already know that I have completed adding all 69 of my eBooks to ElevenReader. And since that project is done, I have started sharing links to my audiobooks on YouTube on my website and Substack. (They are already all on Patreon.)
The plan at present is to share one YouTube audiobook video each week. This past week, An Accomplished Lady (of the best sort) was the audiobook that was added.
I have been working on producing Not An Heiress as an audiobook and have been sharing that story as a by-the-chapter audiobook on YouTube. Yesterday, Chapter 7 posted over there, and after I complete this Saturday Broadsheet, I hope to complete the second pass of Chapter 8 so that I can get that made into a video and have it ready for next Friday. Chapter 8 is the final chapter in this story except for the epilogue, which I hope to have out the next week after Chapter 8, but Monday is a holiday, so it might be delayed a week.
IN BOOK PROMOTIONS
This month’s $0.99 book is Finally Mrs. Darcy. (That’s $0.99 USD, CAD, AUD, NZD, EUR, GBP, with all other currencies also reduced and on all my regular eBook retailers.)
OR…
You could get Finally Mrs. Darcy as one of your two eBooks to Keep as a paid Patreon member. Memberships start at $2 and unlock access to my full library of 69 eBooks, 14 audiobooks, and new releases first.
The other eBook to Keep for paid Patreon members this month is Unravelling Mr. Darcy, which also happens to be a free read for all free followers until the end of the month.
And now for…
SOMETHING NEW TO READ
In this section, we are on our way to London and taking a stop at a coaching inn.
Please remember that there are sections where previous chapters from all the Harriet and the Colonel stories can be read on whichever platform you subscribe to.
On my blog, look for Harriet and the Colonel in the menu options.
On Substack, look for the Harriet and the Colonel section on the home page.
On Patreon, look for On the Way to a Wedding in the collections tab.
Chapter 4 (part 1)
The carriage rattled to a stop in the courtyard of a familiar inn. It was the one where Harriet and her brother always stopped for an extended period when traveling from their estate to town or from town to their estate. In fact, it was the same inn at which she had stopped with Andrew and her father and mother when they were alive.
“That bench between the inn and the stables,” Richard whispered in Harriet’s ear, “is where Edmund met Elizabeth.”
Harriet smiled. That was her favourite place to sit with a sandwich on nice days when they stopped – Edmund enjoyed it as well. Yes, it smelled a bit of horses out here, but the tree lent a nice bit of shade when its leaves were still attached to its limbs, and the noise of horses, carriages, and the people who worked with them was preferable to the din that could grow quite raucous indoors.
“Are we taking a full half hour?” Richard asked Julian.
“Do you need it, dear?” Julian asked Samantha.
“Oh my, I would love a day and a half,” she replied as she rubbed her back. “I doubt a half hour would be any better than a quarter hour.” She smiled at Harriet.
“Do not rush on my account,” Harriet said. “I posted my message to Edmund at the last inn. It is well on its way to informing him to be careful.” She turned to Richard. “We will take the full half hour and a private room.”
“Does that meet with your approval?” Richard asked Julian.
Julian laughed. “I dare say it must if Harriet has decreed it to be necessary. She does know her sister well. Samantha would press on without a stop at all if she could.”
“This is true,” Samantha agreed. “I do not enjoy travelling overly much. I mean, the scenery is lovely, but the constant bumping along the road does make one grow weary. And in my current state, I find it makes me twice as weary.” She punctuated this with a small pat of her belly. “Harriet is likely wise to force me to take some time away from the carriage.” She sighed. “I am just anxious to see Edmund with my own eyes.”
“I still cannot believe that you have been involved in an intrigue that is adjacent to dangerous people.” This was not the first time Julian had scolded Harriet with a severe look as he had said something similar.
“I was perfectly safe,” Samantha replied. “And Harriet will do her best to keep herself safe, because if she does not, she will never get to marry her colonel.”
Richard chuckled at that just as he had each time Samantha had said the same thing in reply to Julian’s scolding.
“I promised Richard I would be careful,” Harriet replied as always. “And I would never lie to him, nor would I do anything to put my sister in danger.”
“Not purposefully,” Julian grumbled.
Harriet sighed.
“No one is going to be in danger,” Richard said as helped Harriet out of the carriage. “Edmund will be warned in time.”
He had taken Harriet’s troubling thought about Edmund being led into a trap with great seriousness. It was he who had decided that they needed to apprise Samantha and Julian about some of the details of their investigation. The results of doing so had been beneficial, since it had helped them start their journey earlier than originally planned, for both Samantha and Julian were anxious to be certain that Edmund was safe.
Together, the four of them entered the inn, and after a few minutes of waiting, were escorted to private room. It was less than five minutes later that a tea service was set out for them.
Their half hour had stretched to thirty-five minutes before Richard suggested that he and Harriet take a stroll of the yard before they re-entered the carriage.
And that was how they came to be almost to Harriet’s favourite bench when Samuels rode into the courtyard to request a new horse.
“He is alone again,” Harriet said, while Richard lifted a hand in greeting to draw the man’s attention to them. Thankfully, it worked and neither of them would have to hire a horse to ride after him to discover why he was here instead of in town.
“Colonel, Miss Phillips,” Samuels said as he approached them. “Are you headed to town? Lillesley mentioned you would be returning early to prepare for your wedding.” He added a wink to his words to indicate he knew precisely why they were travelling.
“Have you seen my brother recently?” Harriet asked as one might when coming upon a common acquaintance, but with a greater reason to ask than it being just a nicety.
Samuels nodded. “I was at Lillesley house just yesterday.”
“And he was well?” Harriet pressed.
Worry filled the man’s eyes. “He seemed to be. Is there a reason he might not be?” He glanced to the right for a moment before turning his attention to their left. “Have you learned something?”
“Nothing that I am sure you do not already know,” Harriet replied.
“[name] has a connection to Wickham,” Richard said softly. “I do not know if Lillesley knows that.”
Harriet’s mouth popped open on a small gasp. “That is important, is it not?” she said to herself more than the men with her.
“It is,” Samuels agreed. He shook his head as his cheeks puffed out and then, he expelled a breath. “Even more so now,” he added.
Nervous butterflies began a jig in Harriet’s belly. “Why do you say even more so now?”
Samuels knocked his hat against his leg, as if he were trying to rid it of dirt from the road. “He is why I am here.” He looked very much like he did not want to admit anything further, but he did. “No one of our lot has seen him in two days.”
Thank you so much for being my readers! Have a lovely weekend!
(There’s a new part of this story dropping Saturday in the Broadsheet, so it’s time to give last month’s part it’s own post so it can be found more easily.)
Four hours later, the various aspects of travel had been sorted, dinner had been eaten, and a fire crackled in the hearth of the drawing room where Harriet sat snuggled into Richard’s side on a sofa, while Julian softly read a story to his wife on the opposite side of the room.
“This is lovely,” Harriet whispered. It was cozy and tranquil with a distinct domestic air. In her opinion, it was perfect and a lovely glimpse of the future. “The only piece that is missing is Edmund,” she continued, “and someone with whom he can share a quiet evening.”
“Perhaps that should be your next assignment,” Richard teased.
Harriet laughed softly. “It has crossed my mind, but I would not have liked for him to have pushed me at anyone –”
“And yet, he did attempt to do so,” Richard interrupted. “How many times did he mention this gentleman or that one to you before some soiree?”
This was true. Her brother had put in a valiant effort to find her someone to marry who was not Richard. “He mentioned and suggested, but he did not force me to dance with them or go on drives or anything like that.”
“Yes, well… I am still somewhat put out with him about his refusing to let me court you for so long. Not that I do not understand why he chose to do as he did, but I did not appreciate being kept from you.” He lifted her hand and placed a kiss in her palm. “I might still be waiting if it were not for your interference. And that is why, I think perhaps it might not be so bad a thing to offer some assistance to your brother in this – maybe not to the point of concocting schemes that put anyone or their reputation in danger, but surely, you could discover someone who might fit nicely into his life.”
“I cannot believe you are suggesting that I play at matchmaking. You have always despised such things, or at least that is what you have said in the past.”
“I have never been so happily matched as I am now, and I find that I very much wish for my dearest friend – for you brother is still that to me – to be as content as I am.” Here, he pulled her closer and kissed the top of her head before punctuating his point with a contented sigh.
“I would like for him to be loved as I am and you are,” she agreed.
“I would assist you if needed,” he offered.
“And I would be happy for the help,” she said. “But first, we must marry, and that cannot happen until our current assignment is done.” Hopefully, it would be over soon. While she thoroughly enjoyed figuring out puzzles and the prospect of helping her brother and his men rid the world of horrid people, she was rather eager to be Mrs. Fitzwilliam and settled into a life with the man at her side.
He hummed his agreement, while tightening his hold on her for a moment, but said no more. Harriet also did not feel a pressing need for conversation, so the two of them sat in silence, just listening to the lilt of Julian’s voice and the snapping and crackling of the fire.
Lack of conversation did not mean that all was quiet, however. In her mind, Harriet was busy going over all the pieces of the investigation as things had transpired so far. Of course, she was not certain she knew all the details. It would not surprise her to learn that Edmund had withheld some information from her. After all, he had withheld information from Richard about Mrs. Younge’s relationship with Mr. Wickham. And if he would withhold information from his best man and friend, he would definitely withhold it from his sister.
“Are Mrs. Darcy and her maid, as well as Miss Darcy recovering well from their ordeal?” she asked as her thoughts had brought them to mind.
Richard nodded. “They seem to be. I think being able to vent her spleen on your brother did Mrs. Darcy much good.”
“I am glad to hear it. I still cannot believe he did not tell you about Mrs. Younge.”
“He will not make that mistake again,” Richard assured her.
“I hope not,” she muttered.
“I read the letter he wrote to Darcy about his part in the ordeal,” he added. “It will not happen again. I believe any chance that it might have, was removed when Mrs. Darcy put her bit of theatre into action at that inn.” He chuckled softly. “You would have enjoyed it.”
“I am certain I would, and it makes me anxious to meet her.” With this said, the pair once again lapsed into silence as Harriet turned her mind to Mr. Wickham.
She had never met him, but she had heard about him. He was charming – dangerously so, according to Miss Cooper. Of course, Miss Cooper was speaking about the fellow’s ability to charm a lady into ruin, but Harriet knew that the danger in his charming ways extended further than that – to life itself. He had orchestrated an abduction that was quite bold and well-crafted to cause pain and financial distress to someone he had once counted as a friend.
What still boggled her mind was why was someone, who could charm his way through life and diabolically scheme his way nearly into substantial wealth, suddenly fearful? If she had to guess – and truly, that was all she could do – she would say that Mr. [name] had something to do with it. But what? And how did Mr. Wickham, who had known Mr. [name] for many years, not know that he was the one for whom they were looking until recently?
Samuels visit before Edmund went to town played again in her memory, and it still did not sit right. In fact, the more she thought about it, the more she knew that Mr. Wickham was playing out some sort of scheme.
“What do you think Mr. Wickham’s scheme is?” she whispered to Richard.
He simply shook his head and said, “I wish I knew, but I do not. Perhaps we will know more when we get to London.” She felt him draw a deep breath before he added, “Your brother would not be the first to underestimate that miscreant.”
She sucked in a quick breath as a terrible thought entered her mind.
“What is wrong?” Richard asked.
She swallowed and whispered as softly as she could, for she most certainly did not want her sister to hear this. Indeed, she did not wish to hear the thought outside of her head. But if anyone needed to hear it besides herself, it was Richard. “What if Edmund is being led into a trap?”
All the Harriet and the Colonel stories such as On the Way to a Wedding are Oxford Cottage companion stories.
This book is available to listen to on YouTube. It is also available as a download with a paid Patreon subscription and is available in some other places as well (see the Audiobooks page at this link).
If you haven’t subscribed to my YouTube channel yet, I’d love it if you would, even if you only plan on listening to these stories here.
The description of this book and how the audiobook was made are below.
Happy Listening!
<3 Leenie
About the book:
By proving his friend wrong, he might just make everything right.
For the better part of an afternoon at Netherfield, Charles Bingley has listened to his sister promote herself to his best friend, Fitzwilliam Darcy. And for the same amount of time, he’s observed his friend trying not to give in to his desire to admire Miss Elizabeth Bennet. When the discussion turns to the qualifications of an accomplished lady, he listens closely and knows, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that marrying such a lady would only bring sorrow to his friend.
After the ladies have left the room, he attempts to address the issue in a friendly sort of manor. However, when Darcy goes a step too far in sharing his opinions of the lady Bingley loves, friendly tactics are tossed aside in favour of a more direct and calculated approach.
About the Audiobook:
This story is read by Christopher, an authorized voice replica (AVR) made available by the voice actor, through the Elevenlabs library. While this is a digital narration, the voice actor does receive compensation whenever his voice is used. In other words, offering AVR voices on Elevenlabs is one way that some voice actors have chosen to diversify their income. And I am so glad that Christopher has chosen this option because I quite enjoy listening to him read me my stories. I hope you enjoy his performance as much as I did while getting it ready to share.
Editing of the audio to produce this performance was completed by me, using the Elevenlabs program.
Below is an image that I found on Deposit Photos that I thought would pair well with Finally Mrs. Darcy since a stack of unopened letters has been keeping Darcy company for five years. Just below the photo is a few lines from chapter 6 where those letters make an appearance.
I also thought that it would be fun to make this image into a jigsaw puzzle. You can solve the puzzle by clicking on the link below the excerpt.
(*That’s $0.99 USD, AUD, NZD, CAD, EUR, GBP, with all other currencies also reduced and at multiple eBook retailers.)
Image was purchased from Deposit Photos.
“There are twenty,” Darcy said as he spread them out on the desk. “All addressed to you. None opened.” He chose the letter from the bottom of the pile…
“Do you have any idea what is contained within this?” He broke the seal. “I suspect it is very much the same as what you have written to your wife – a plea for forgiveness, a begging that things might be restored…
Five years,” he said softly, “is much longer than two days.”
Finally Mrs. Darcy is only $0.99 until the end of October 2026 or included as one of your two eBooks to Keep if you are a $2 or more Patreon member. Links and more details can be found on the Book Promotions page.
