May 10, 2025
Today, we’re going to start with a link to the Free Clean Romance event that I’m taking part in this weekend. It ends tomorrow, so if you missed yesterday’s email about it, here’s your chance to take a peek at (and download) the books that are included. I did see at least one other P&P variation in the list, as well as a contemporary sports romance inspired by Persuasion.
PERSONAL UPDATE
I have started some physiotherapy with the hope of my therapist helping me overcome what remains of the long covid symptoms. I also am doing some exercises for my knee because I stepped wrong and hurt it.
While these things are good and promise good things to come, they are also causing my dysfunctioning nervous system some grief which in turn leads to exacerbation of some symptoms until the nervous system realizes I am not actually trying to harm myself by adding new routines to my life. It’s a process and not a quick one. (It takes something like 66 or 67 days to create a new neural pathway. So definitely not super quick.)
The goal I have set with my therapist at present is to be able to walk a mile without it causing me any malaise afterward.
WRITING and AUDIOBOOK UPDATE:
Ugh, do I have to include this section. LOL << That’s how I feel about it this month as nothing seems to be moving forward quickly. Part of that is due to an increase in brain fog and exhaustion (because of the new therapy) and part of it is due to the fact that I am working on getting new eBook files for the Willow Hall series created and distributed.
I don’t use the formatter that I was using when the books were first published. That means I have to fiddle with the computer files I do have to make them right to upload to the new formatting program that I use. It’s not hard work. It just takes time. I have gotten the first three books completed, and I’ve been able to keep to my schedule of getting one book relisted and added to the library at Patreon each week. I’ll have all the Willow Hall books, including the sequel and the box set relisted everywhere by the end of May.
I have been working (nearly) daily on creating the audiobook for An Accomplished Lady (of the best kind) and hope to have that ready for distribution to my patrons and via YouTube by the end of next week.
I have not yet taken any of the audiobooks down from Kobo to move them to Findaway Voices just yet because I’m still waiting to see what happens with His Beautiful Bea, and they’ve now announced that changes are coming. So, interesting times. 🙂 Will I add An Accomplished Lady to Findaway when it’s done? I’m not sure at this point. I need to do a bit more investigating there.
IN THE TEAROOM (on Substack)
In case you missed it, it was Zoe Burton’s turn to post in the SWR Tearoom this month. She told us a story about her sister. You can find her article here.
LEAVING KU
The Dash of Darcy and Companions Collection of stories will be leaving Kindle Unlimited on June 22, 2025. Please make sure you’ve downloaded the stories you want to read with your KU subscription before then. For your convenience, all the stories can be added to your KU reading library in two box sets. As far as I know, they will remain in your KU reading library until you return them – even after they are no longer in the KU program.
eBOOK DEALS
Arguing with Mary is just $0.99 (USD, CAD, EUR, GBP, AUD, and NZD, with all other currencies also reduced) at all retailers this month. This book is a sequel to With Quill and Ink.
With Quill and Ink is free everywhere until Monday because it is part of the promotion that I linked to above.
APRIL’S PATREON FREE READ
If you follow me for free on Patreon, there is a series starter or novelette that can be read for free each month. This month’s series starter read is And Then Love. (This is book one in the Willow Hall series.)
APRIL’S PATREON MEMBERSHIP PERKS
Each month, I am offering an eBook or two to download and keep to my $2 or more Patrons, and every time there is a new audiobook finished, I also make a link to download that available to them. (So An Accomplished Lady will be there at some point this month.)
This month’s eBook offerings are His Darling Friend and And Then Love.
SOMETHING NEW TO READ
Well, I did not get a very large response to the question I had last month about whether or not I should write another Harriet and the Colonel story or just an epilogue.
But the majority of the votes/comments that I got were for a second story, and since I figured those who didn’t reply were fine with whichever choice, that’s what it will be. I will write another story for Colonel Fitzwilliam and his lady.
This time, we’re going to pick back up in this story after Elizabeth and Georgiana have been rescued. (You’ll have to read Oxford Cottage for how that happens in detail.)
The working title for the story is The Colonel’s Lady.
Chapter 1
Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam rested uneasily in a chair in the library at Netherfield. Miss Elizabeth and Georgiana had been returned. Wickham had been thwarted, and both he and Mrs. Younge were on their way, bound, to London. They would be disposed of quietly.
He took a sip of the port in his glass.
Disposed of was the right term. Wickham and Mrs. Younge were not the first ne’er-do-wells to have been apprehended by the network.
More than one had been found to have died in their sleep at Newgate before a proper trial had even been sought. They had not died of natural causes, of course, but they had found their just end.
And many others had found themselves passengers with an escort to various parts of the world. Far, far, away from England proper. More than a few of these individuals had been “lost” at sea.
It was all done quietly and in as tidy a fashion as could be done. One day there was a troublemaker in society. The next, there was not.
He had no part in that. His role was merely to sort out the victims from the perpetrators. He wasn’t even sure who decided what happened to the men and women they caught. It wasn’t Lillesley. That much he knew. Someone with more power sat above his friend.
He sipped his port again. Truth be told, he did not want to know.
“I hear you are leaving soon?” Richard’s mother said as she entered the library.
He nodded and smiled. “I only need to speak to Darcy and Father.”
“It is good to see your smile.” She tousled his hair as she was wont to do all his life. It was her way of letting him know that he was still her little scamp. “It is a relief to have this ordeal over with.” She took a seat across from him.
“It is.” His blew out a breath. “I did not know Mrs. Younge knew Wickham.”
She smiled sadly and nodded. “I know you did not, and so does Darcy. We all know you would never knowingly put Georgie in danger.”
He nodded slowly. That was true, but despite that fact, he had, in fact, put his cousin and charge in grave danger. Of course, he doubted that such a thing would ever happen again. He would ask far more questions about his assignments going forward. Lillesley was a good friend, but even a good friend had to earn back his trust once it had been broken.
Besides, he had read the letter that Darcy had received from Lillesley. Therefore, he knew that his friend had felt his part in the kidnapping of Elizabeth and Georgiana fully.
The library door opened, and both his father and Darcy entered. He stood.
“I am off in an hour,” he said. “However, I did not want to leave without once again apologizing for not checking Mrs. Younge’s credentials as you wanted to do.”
Darcy shook his head. “You have apologized for that five times now – or is it six? I think we have canvassed it enough. It will not happen again.”
“No. It will not.”
“Is that all you needed to tell me?” Darcy asked. “If so, you have waited for nothing.”
Richard chuckled. “I had another reason. I have finally received permission to ask Miss Phillips to marry me.”
“Oh! That is wonderful news, is it not, dear?” His mother’s cry of delight was directed at his father.
“It is, indeed,” his father replied. “It is about time. I said she would be perfect for you years ago. What finally convinced her brother to see reason?”
Richard chuckled. “He did not tell me, but according to Harriet, he wishes to for me to have to deal with her instead of him. She apparently took it upon herself to prove to him that he did not need to worry about her marrying someone with a somewhat dangerous profession.”
His smile grew tight as he remembered her telling him about finding her brother’s watch. Her older brother, Andrew, had gotten too close to finding answers that someone wanted to keep hidden, and it had ended his life.
“She is a smart lady,” his mother said. She always seemed to know when he was troubled.
“I have extracted a promise from her to keep herself safe for my sake.”
“Then, she will do it,” Darcy inserted. “You were the only one she would never cross when you were younger, was she not?”
Darcy had heard many of the tales about the adventures Richard had gone on as a young lad while in company with Edmund Phillips – now Lord Lillesley. They had rarely ever adventured without a little shadow following them. Sometimes with permission. Other times secretively.
Harriet was born to be a spy. She had a natural bent for deciphering things, reading the lay of the land, and staying hidden – or almost so. He had often known she as there before anyone else had. That did not mean, however, that she was not good at going unseen.
“We will have a dinner in your honour upon our return,” Richard’s father said. “Whenever you are available to join us.”
“I will tell Harriet.” He drained the rest of the port from his glass.
“And when I am returned to town, we will go over all the papers necessary.” His father held up a finger. “Do not leave without the note I am about to write.” He opened the drawer of the desk that stood in front of one of the windows and took out a sheet of paper.
“There is a ring that my mother left for you to give to your wife if you wish to do so. Do not think you do. It is only an option. Take this…” He paused as he started writing. “Take this to my solicitor, and then, go to my dressing room. There is a hidden drawer in the top right hand of my wardrobe. I believe you know where that is.”
His pen stopped as he gave Richard a pointed look. “There is only one ring in there. It is not extravagant, but it is lovely. It has a ring of pearls with a small diamond in the center, and there are golden flowers on each side where the band joins the stones.” He put his pen away. “Everything else in that drawer is for after you are married.” Again, he favoured Richard with a pointed look.
“I am no longer eight, Father. I believe I can be trusted to not use what I find a pirate treasure.” That is how he had used what he had found there those many years ago.
“No, no, you are not, but I am still your father. Therefore, some instructions bear repeating.” He folded the missive he had just written. “Will you tell Lawrence of your good fortune before you leave?”
Richard nodded. “Is he in the house?”
“He went for a ride to the south,” his mother replied. “Look for the biggest tree, and you will likely find him under it.”
“And please say your farewells to both Georgiana and Elizabeth,” Darcy said. “They will both want to know your happy news, and no, I will not tell them for you.”
Richard sighed but nodded his agreement. “You can tell Bingley.”
“I will. And I will also walk you out.”
“I am going to my room first.”
“I figured as much,” Darcy said with a grin as he held open the door to the library so that Richard to exit in front of him.
