A Lasting Love Affair: Darcy and Elizabeth

When the irritating Mr. Collins proposes marriage, Elizabeth Bennet is prepared to refuse him, but then she learns that her father is ill. If Mr. Bennet dies, Collins will inherit Longbourn and her family will have nowhere to go. Elizabeth accepts the proposal, telling herself she can be content as long as her family is secure. If only she weren't dreading the approaching wedding day. Ever since leaving Hertfordshire, Mr. Darcy has been trying to forget his inconvenient attraction to Elizabeth. News of her betrothal forces him to realize how devastating it would be to lose her.

Miss Elizabeth Bennet befriends Miss Anne de Bourgh, a wealthy heiress. Elizabeth has no fortune, no connections - nothing to recommend her except her wit and charm and her good nature. She agrees to aid Anne in her quest to secure a marriage proposal from her haughty, aristocratic cousin, Fitzwilliam Darcy of Pemberley and Derbyshire. How could Elizabeth know the gentleman has his heart set upon another? Darcy barely acknowledges his cousin's existence. He knows what his family expects of him, but he never suspected that Anne harbored those foolish hopes. He only has eyes for Elizabeth....

One of the turning points in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice is Miss Elizabeth Bennet's passionate refusal and denunciation of the equally passionate but infinitely more repressed Fitzwilliam Darcy. However, unforeseen events can lead to the most unexpected consequences. During a visit with her friend, Charlotte Collins, at Hunsford, Elizabeth falls prey to illness for almost the first time in her life just as Mr. Darcy comes to call. Befuddled by her illness, she misinterprets his proposal of marriage, and a simple nod of acknowledgment is mistaken for acceptance.

Having overcome the many seeming obstacles to marrying Miss Elizabeth Bennet, his former employee and the woman of his dreams, Mr. Darcy must now reaffirm his promise to be a man truly worthy of her affections. Confronted, out of the blue, with the intimate knowledge of her husband's rakish past, Elizabeth too is obliged to reconsider long held tenets that otherwise threaten to tear them apart.

Mr. Darcy is ready to propose on the night of his friend's ball at Netherfield. His ardent admiration for Elizabeth Bennet has grown to consume him and he must have her for his wife. However, within moments after his proposal, he is mortified by Miss Elizabeth's refusal. He is on one knee, struggling to comprehend how his glorious night has gone so disastrously wrong, when Mrs. Bennet finds them.

In this amorous, provocative, and at times tumultuous "what-if" story, Mr. Darcy is a wealthy young man of sense and education, with considerable worldly experience - not at all uncommon for Regency-era gentlemen of his social standing. He is his own master. He enjoys his situation and has no particular desire to marry at all. Darcy's world is turned inside out when he renews his acquaintance with Miss Elizabeth Bennet - her own circumstances considerably diminished pursuant to the sudden and tragic death of her father.

Can a marriage of convenience ever lead to true love? Immediately after Elizabeth Bennet refuses Mr. Darcy's proposal at Hunsford, her father dies, leaving Longbourn entailed away and little fortune to sustain his widow and daughters. Six months later, the Bennet family receives a visitor with a most unusual offer that promises to save the family from financial and social ruin.

An impertinent stranger is thrown into Fitzwilliam Darcy's path and, even though he declares her tolerable but not handsome enough to tempt him, it is all he can do not to think of her. Upon first making Mr. Darcy's acquaintance, Miss Elizabeth Bennet is quite fascinated with him. Then she discovers that the gentleman is haughty and above his company, and she wants nothing to do with him.

Elizabeth always prided herself on his ability to discern the motives of others. She declared Mr. Bingley a fool were he not able to see how much her eldest sister Jane loved him. Determined to discover the true reason for Bingley's hasty departure from Netherfield, Elizabeth goes to town in Jane's stead. Her initial scheme having been thwarted and with nowhere else to go, she turns to the one person who is sure to put her in Bingley's path - Mr. Darcy.

Crushed beyond measure at the rejection of his proposal, Darcy struggles to explain both the facts and his feelings by letter to the only woman he will ever love. Can such a reticent man find the words to enable Elizabeth Bennet to know the man behind the mask? Will she read his carefully crafted epistle once he delivers it into her hand? Will he catch even a small glimmer of hope?

When Fitzwilliam Darcy’s arranged life falls to pieces, his father, Mr. George Darcy, gives him an ultimatum: Marry by the end of the London Season or risk disinheritance. Can Darcy cast aside society’s frigid attitude toward marriage and find true love? Or will his desire to honor his deceased mother’s memory hold him back?

When Elizabeth finds Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy outside Netherfield, alone and at his most vulnerable, she must make a quick decision to bend the rules of propriety to help him or turn her back on someone in need. Her tender heart reaches out to him and his wounded one grabs hold of her well-intentioned support. Discovery changes the course of their lives as Elizabeth is forced to accept a reluctant proposal of marriage from this man whom she has just barely begun to respect.

The course of true love never did run smooth.... When Fitzwilliam Darcy departs Hunsford after his disastrous proposal to Elizabeth Bennet, he does not expect their paths to cross again. Indeed, knowing the lady's true feelings for him, he makes every effort to see that they do not. But when a chance encounter leaves him stranded in an abandoned cottage with the one woman he can never have, Darcy quickly realizes there is more at risk than just Elizabeth's reputation.

Darcy has been bewitched by Elizabeth Bennet since he met her in Hertfordshire. He can no longer fight this overwhelming attraction and must admit he is hopelessly in love. During Elizabeth’s visit to Kent, she has been forced to endure the company of the difficult and disapproving Mr. Darcy, but she has enjoyed making the acquaintance of his affable cousin, Colonel Fitzwilliam. Finally resolved, Darcy arrives at Hunsford Parsonage prepared to propose - only to discover that Elizabeth has just accepted a proposal from the colonel, Darcy’s dearest friend in the world.

One night, to decide his entire life's happiness. Chastened by Charles Bingley following Mr. Bennet's untimely death, Fitzwilliam Darcy determines he will offer marriage to Elizabeth Bennet, but she marries another. Years later, a widowed Elizabeth is mistress of Longbourn, and has vowed she will never marry again. A house party at Netherfield brings them back together, but Darcy will have to win more than her heart if he is to have any chance at making her mistress of Pemberley.