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"It is so dreadfully boggy," said Lady Catherine de Bourgh in an unnecessarily loud voice that carried to the entire party. "Anne, when you are mistress of Pemberley, you shall drain it and put down good solid earth in its place."
Anne de Bourgh's cheeks colored and she looked away, adjusting her bonnet and pretending not to hear. Unfortunately, turning away from her mother meant looking directly at her cousins.
Her stern and unyielding elder male cousin did not move a muscle. He, too, was apparently pretending not to hear. His little sister, her gentle and understanding cousin, met Anne's eyes and gave her a sympathetic smile.
No one replied to Lady Catherine, and she was thusly permitted to pontificate, at length, on the tastelessness of having marshland on one's estate.
It was not a marsh. It was a brook that spilled over its boundaries because of recent rains, and pooled in a low area next to the road. Anne wished desperately to convey to her cousin that she understood this and was sorry for her mother, but she couldn't do it. She was tongue-tied and overwhelmed in the presence of both her mother and her forbidding cousin.
"I do not wish to be mistress of Pemberley," Anne confided in her more empathetic and kinder cousin in a low voice after supper. "I shall have my own estate in good time. And I do not wish to marry your brother on any grounds! He frightens me."
"Oh, do not be frightened of him!" lamented Georgiana in her soft voice. The girls had their needlepoint out, as a distraction for their hands, but they were in a corner with their heads bent together so that no one else might hear. "I know he appears stern, but he is compassionate and understanding in truth."
"I do not wish to marry any man," Anne said boldly, more boldly than she would have dared speak to any other. "They are all so terribly frightening, brutish and hard."
Georgiana lifted her eyes from her needlepoint to give Anne a bewildered stare. "But you must marry a man," she said. "And my brother is really ever so kind. He is not a bad choice, even if it is your mother saying so."
"I shall not do it," Anne declared, but her face was hot and her voice was still very low. She thought she would die if her mother overheard such a sentiment.
"What are you whispering about, over there!" Lady Catherine's imperious voice rang across the room. "Come, Georgiana, and sit at the piano. This room has been silent long enough, and I must judge whether you have been diligent in your lessons."
Anne met Georgiana's eyes again and they both suppressed a smile. They did not wish to provoke Lady Catherine into asking what they were smiling about, but even Lady Catherine would not be able to find fault with this music. Georgiana's playing was perfection itself!
Anne lost all thoughts of her embroidery, placing her elbow on the windowsill and her chin in her elbow. She sighed as she listened to her cousin play. It was taste, talent, and beauty united, and if Anne were of a different sort, she might have been envious of the display.
Instead, she was only covetous of the performer.
"Georgiana," Anna said that night, having followed her cousin to the hallway leading to their bedroom doors. "Are you not nervous about the prospect of being married?"
"No," Georgiana said, blushing bright red. "I find it thrilling. How can you not? For if a man is quite beautiful, with pleasing manners, a soft tenderness to his every word—how could you dislike it so, Anne?"
Anne took Georgiana's hands in hers, and leaned against the wall, suddenly losing her energy to stand upright.
"A man shall never please me to look upon the way you do," Anne said, soberly and entirely sincerely.
"Anne—" Georgiana said, and then was cut off when Anne pulled Georgiana to her. Hands tangling in her curls, Anne drew Georgiana's head lower, and planted her lips on Georgiana's.
Anne did not know what she'd expected. Georgiana's lips were cold; it was early yet in the spring, after all. Georgiana let out a little gasp of breath, and she did not move her lips under Anne's, but neither did she shy away.
Anne lingered, savoring the strange but intriguing sensations, then eased up on her grip of her cousin's hair.
"If a man ever makes me want to do that," Anne said emphatically, "then I shall reconsider."
She lifted Georgiana's hand to her mouth, and planted a kiss on the back of it, ignoring her dumbfounded expression.
"Good night, Georgiana," Anne said, and slid away until the darkness of the corridor absorbed her.
***
Only a year or two after that spring visit to Pemberley, Anne was in the dreadful position of being forbidden to visit Pemberley ever again.
On the one hand, Anne was gleeful because the news that Fitzwilliam Darcy was married meant that Anne was safe from him.
On the other hand, her mother was more insufferable than usual, and it also meant Anne would not be permitted to see Georgiana again.
They exchanged letters—of course they did, Lady Catherine continued to approve of what she saw as Anne's attempts to influence her younger cousin for the better. But to her dismay, all Anne learned was that Georgiana adored Fitzwilliam's new bride.
She is so lively and pert—almost impertinent at times—and her manners are so easy and open, nothing like anything I've ever known before! She is beautiful and radiant, and brings out the best in my brother and I. Everything in Pemberley is brighter for having her around. She has coaxed me into so many walks, I have learned more than I ever knew about the grounds of my own home and I am happier and healthier than ever. She is so kind to me—so patient with my shyness and foibles—and I think with her at my side, I might not fear the London season so much after all!
Anne seethed at these letters. A black, ugly jealousy rose within her at the thought of her cousin's worship of another woman. Anne had met Fitzwilliam's bride briefly, when she visited the Collinses, and the fact that Georgiana's words were true—she was spirited and impertinent and lively—only made it worse.
Anne was a dull, invisible sort of person. She knew this. She was frequently too weak to walk around the grounds, unlike the new Mrs. Darcy, and the mere idea of traveling to London exhausted her until she had to lie down.
It was undeniable that Georgiana was better off with this Mrs. Darcy in her life. And indeed, Anne never wanted to be Georgiana's sister.
But it hurt all the same. It was an effort of will like never before to force herself to reply cordially to Georgina's letters. It was clear that Georgiana could never again be coaxed to leave Pemberley and her new best friend in favor of subjecting herself to Lady Catherine. And being prohibited from visiting Pemberley herself, Anne despaired of ever being happy again.
***
"Anne!" Georgiana cried, throwing herself into Anne's arms. "My dearest cousin, my darling Anne, are you well? How are you holding up?"
Anne clung to Georgiana, burying her head in her neck and wrapping her in a tight embrace. Her eyes were dry and she did not cry, but she held Georgiana very close and did not let go for a long time.
When Georgiana finally pulled away, she brushed a finger along Anne's cheek, wiping away one lone tear. Anne had not realized it was there.
"I am doing as well as can be expected," Anne said. She glanced around; they were both under the scrutiny of various family members, and Anne could not say all that was in her heart. "Thank you for coming so swiftly."
"My condolences," Fitzwilliam Darcy said, taking Anne's hand and pressing a kiss to it. His look was kinder and gentler than she'd ever seen from him before, and she wondered why she'd been so afraid of him in her youth. "Your mother was a force of nature and she will be greatly missed."
Anne suppressed a highly inappropriate urge to giggle. Was he being deliberately ironic? No one, least of all him, would miss Lady Catherine. Anne herself was not sure what she felt, but it was not the case that she would miss her mother.
She hadn't known her cousin had it in him to tease so.
"It is hard to lose a mother, even one you had a difficult relationship with," Fitzwilliam's wife added, her eyes wide and sympathetic. "I hope you know we are here to support you in any way you need."
"I am ever so relieved you hurried here to arrange all the logistics," Anne confessed. "I am quite overwhelmed by all that needs to be arranged and thought of."
"My brother will take care of it all," Georgiana declared, then tucked her arm in Anne's. "Come. You'll have enough to do when the rest of the family arrives. I haven't seen you in ten years and I want you all to myself for a bit."
Transfixed, Anne stared at Georgiana. She had grown up and filled out. She was livelier and lovelier than ever. Her eyes were sparkling and her cheeks blooming.
Anne led herself be led wherever Georgiana wished, without complaint.
"You can tell me how you're really feeling, if you like," Georgiana urged, taking Anne no further than a small stone bench halfway down the garden. Georgiana chose the spot well: it was not a taxing walk for Anne, but it was well out of earshot, and hidden from the rest of the party by the shrubbery.
"I don't know how I'm feeling about my mother," Anne said honestly. "She... loved me, in her own way. She wished me well, although she didn't understand me."
Georgiana took both of Anne's hands in her own. "I know she is your mother and you must be feeling some sense of loss, but for my part... I am beyond glad to see you again, instead of being forbidden your presence."
Anne felt her cheeks grow hot, and she felt flustered for no reason she could name. "But... it sounded like you have been happy. At least after that dreadful business with the steward's son was cleared up. You have been so busy with your new sister and all your London seasons."
"I have been happy!" Georgiana agreed enthusiastically. "I am three times the person I was when last we met. I am not even distressed when I think about Wickham anymore. I have friends, and many new sisters, and life has been so kind to me. But I missed you, and I am so glad to be here."
Anne squeezed Georgiana's hands. "I missed you too, dearest. I will not say I am glad Mother is gone, but it's... not a difficult prospect to be the mistress of my own fate. She left everything to me, and I need never do anything I dislike."
"Such as marry?" Georgiana asked, with a broad and knowing grin.
"Such as marry," Anne agreed. "What a relief! Mother was so severely disappointed by your brother's marriage that it took her too long to consider other prospects for me. And now here I am. I suppose our uncle may have some ideas on the subject, but since my estate is entirely independent, I do not fear him."
"I shall not marry either," Georgiana said, dropping her voice low. It was probably calculated solely against the possibility of being overheard, but Anne found the tone strangely sultry, and it sent shivers through her. "My brother has promised I shall not if I do not wish to, and I have found that I do not wish to."
"You are but five and twenty," Anne protested. "You have plenty of time to find someone."
Georgiana shook her head emphatically, her dark curls bouncing. "Do you remember what you told me ten years ago?"
"I told you many things," Anne said, uncertain.
"You said a man shall never please you to look upon the way I do," Georgiana recited in her low voice, her eyes shining. "And I have come to feel the same. I have dreamt of that night, and now that I see you again—you are real, not some phantom in a ballroom I hardly know. I do not want any but you."
"Georgiana," Anne breathed.
"I am not fifteen anymore, to blush at the thought!" Georgiana cried. "I hope you do not find me too much altered."
"As if I ever could," Anne protested.
Further expression of her feelings become unnecessary; Georgiana pulled her forward and kissed her. The kiss was possessive and heated; Georgiana ran her tongue experimentally against Anne's, drawing a groan from her. Anne's chest fluttered.
"Tonight," Georgiana said, pulling away with a smile. "Come to me, and I will show you I mean it."
Anne was almost too tired, that night, to follow Georgiana's command. It had been a long day, speaking with her family concerning arrangements for her mother's funeral and dealing with a stream of well-meaning but exhausting visitors.
She was unsteady on her feet. Her head was pounding, her eyes stung with fatigue, and the chronic ache in her neck had flared up again. But as she let her maid help her get ready for bed, she closed her eyes and saw only Georgiana.
How beautiful she had looked today! Her rosy cheeks and her ample breasts and the glimmer in her eyes when she looked at Anne!
She had dreamed of Georgiana for years. No one had ever been so dear or so beautiful to her. It felt curiously unreal, that her cousin should be under Anne's own roof and desiring Anne as Anne desired her. Georgiana had surely had much better prospects over the years than skinny, sickly Anne de Bourgh. Yet here she was!
Anne was suddenly aware she was wet and aching, the frequently-neglected place between her thighs urgent and commanding in its intensity.
In the end, there was little question that Anne would go to her: one sort of ache was outweighing the others.
When her maid finally departed, Anne covered her nightdress in a dark dressing gown, took up a cane to help her walk, and passed through the halls like a thief in the night.
She let herself into Georgiana's guest chambers without knocking. She closed the door quietly behind her, and leaned against it to survey the room. All was quiet and still.
"Georgiana?" she asked softly.
"Anne!" Georgina responded. Her voice came from behind the bed curtains. "Come in."
Anne ventured across the floor and lifted a bed curtain just enough to slip inside.
The sight took her breath away. Her cane clattered to the floor, entirely unheeded.
Dark curly hair spread out on the pillow. Cheeks flushed with some strong emotion, and eyes shining with happiness. Shimmering silver earrings sparkled and framed her face, matching the flowing silver chains of her necklace, sitting right above breasts that were creamy and smooth and entirely bare.
Anne let herself look. She let herself look lower, taking in the sight of fingers adorned with more silver rings resting on top of a soft stomach; black curls nesting in the area between her thighs; long, plump legs stretched out in comfort and confidence.
"You aren't wearing anything," Anne breathed out, then hated herself for it. What a strange, awkward thing to say under the circumstances!
"I am wearing all my silver," Georgina said with a mischievous smile. "Do you remember, how you once said—"
"How beautifully silver suits you!" Anne cried. "Yes, I remember."
"Let me see you, too," Georgiana said. Her voice was soft but imperious; it came out sounding like a command.
Trembling, Anne let her dressing gown fall to the floor. Her fingers were shaking as she reached for the skirts of her nightdress and lifted them up. She crawled onto Georgiana's bed, letting the curtain fall behind her, and settled down onto her knees.
"Go on," Georgiana said, giving Anne a nudge with her leg.
In one swift stroke, Anne lifted the cotton over her head and tossed it aside. She shivered to be so revealed, although the night was not cold. She wanted, badly, to cross her arms over her chest and hide, but Georgiana was looking at her with such affection and trust that she managed to refrain.
"Gorgeous," Georgiana whispered, feeling Anne's leg with the pad of one of her feet. "I have dreamed about this for so long!"
Anne giggled, almost nervously. "Oh, so have I!"
But now that it was here, she felt as though she could not move.
Georgiana sat up and put an arm around Anne's shoulders. She drew her down onto the bed until they were lying side by side. Georgiana stared at Anne's face for a moment, and then leaned forward and kissed her again.
They kissed for a long time, Georgiana's hands roving gently down Anne's side. It was sweet and tender, with no urgency or hurry, and it only increased the ache between Anne's thighs.
Georgiana eventually broke off the kiss, moving to nibble at the soft skin of Anne's throat. Anne gasped, the sound loud in her own ears. Georgiana didn't hesitate, but moved lower, pressing kisses down Anne's collarbone and on the edge of her breast.
Then Georgiana lightly kissed a nipple.
"Oh," Anne cried. "Georgiana!"
Georgiana lifted her head to shoot Anne a confident smile, and then lowered her mouth to Anne's breast. She licked and sucked, lighting a fire in Anne. The trembling growing more pronounced, Anne pressed against her mouth, seeking more.
"Oh," Georgiana cried, moving slightly away to nestle her head in between Anne's breasts. The cold silver of her earrings was a soothing contrast to the hot fire inside her. "These are ever so beautiful, I adore them. They fit you perfectly."
Anne threaded her hand through Georgiana's dark hair, rubbing the curls in between her fingers.
"They are nothing so nice as yours," Anne objected. Georgiana's bosom was full and gorgeous and felt very nice against Anne's chest. Anne's heart was pounding and she was certain Georgiana could hear it.
"Shh," Georgiana said, and she started kissing her way lower.
Heat flooded Anne and she squirmed underneath the touch. It was so intimate, so very shocking, and so very delightful. She gasped as Georgiana's tongue darted out and felt her most sensitive spot.
"Oh, my love," Anne moaned. She had not let go of Georgiana's hair, and now she tangled her hands in the curls as Georgiana enveloped her in wet heat. Every muscle in her legs trembled and Anne wanted to cry out much louder. She put a finger in her mouth and bit down on it hard, throwing back her head against the mattress, and writhed. It was a hundred thousand sensations; impossible to survive and impossible to imagine it stopping. Her legs shuddered and the pressure built, until she thought she could bear it no more. She thrust, hard, seeking rougher contact against Georgiana's mouth and squeezed her eyes shut as the pressure released and the waves crashed over her, everything throbbing and leaving her gasping, her heart pounding.
"I love you too," Georgiana said softly, raising her head to grin at Anne. She was wiping off her mouth with a hand. "I have my whole life."
"Let me take care of you now," Anne pleaded, moving her hand to Georgiana's shoulders to try to pull her up even with Anne.
"Just give me your palm," Georgiana whispered huskily.
She let Anne pull her up, and took Anne's hand and guided it to the cleft between her own thighs. Anne felt her; she was dripping and hot. Anne palmed her as she'd asked, and Georgiana ground against it, hard and wet, her panting loud in the quiet room. Anne pushed harder, wrapping her other arm around Georgiana's shoulders and kissing her again. Georgiana broke off the kiss with a soft cry as she pushed against Anne's palm one final time and shuddered in Anne's hold, whimpering and limp and utterly undone.
Georgiana relaxed in Anne's arms, nestling her nose into the crook of Anne's shoulder and sighing contentedly.
"This could be the rest of our life," Georgiana murmured. "I will ask my brother if I may come live with you—he will not deny me."
"It would not be so very odd, would it?" Anne asked, marveling. "My cousin to come keep my company after the tragic death of my mother."
"No," Georgiana said, sounding very pleased. "It's quite perfect."
"You are quite perfect," Anne said, causing Georgiana to giggle. "No! I am serious. You are all I've ever wanted."
"It took me a bit longer to get there," Georgiana admitted, "but when I saw you again this morning! Oh! How fine you looked, how wondrously, beautifully you. I can never ask for more."
Anne kissed the top of her hair. "And we shall never have to."