Pride, Prejudice & Secrets

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.

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.

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.

In this diverting Pride and Prejudice short story, what if Darcy had not wounded Elizabeth's pride by insulting her at the Meryton assembly and had danced with her instead?

After a mysterious accident leads to their father’s death, the future for the Bennet girls seems bleak. Elizabeth Bennet finds work in Ramsgate, and one blustery morning, chance brings her together with Georgiana Darcy, a young, wealthy, orphaned girl. When Elizabeth saves her new friend from ruin, she sets off a course of events that alters not only her own life, but the lives of those she cherishes. 

Fourteen-year-old Elizabeth Bennet thought Fitzwilliam Darcy, her friend Georgiana's brother, was the most wonderful, handsomest man in the entire world. When he went to India to fight Britain’s enemies, she made him promise to write her along with Georgie regularly. There wasn't anything improper, since Georgiana and she had sworn to be sisters. When Elizabeth and Georgiana learned that Fitzwilliam was captured, they kept writing letters to him, so that when he was released, he would know that he had not been forgotten by those who loved him.

Fitzwilliam Darcy is in a difficult situation. His father is pressing him to propose marriage to the last woman in the world he would wish to take as his wife. With a fortnight to announce his betrothal, he makes the acquaintance of Elizabeth Bennet, who is in a predicament of her own. Could Darcy be willing to consider Elizabeth as a solution to his problem and to hers? And can Elizabeth ascertain enough of Darcy's character to trust him upon nothing but a first impression? 

Rejected by a sister who has allowed her new status as wife to Mr. Bingley to make her proud, Elizabeth Bennet goes to her uncle's estate in Derbyshire, ostensibly to assist her cousin in her introduction to society. In reality, Elizabeth feels there is nothing left for her in the neighborhood of her birth. Her uncle's estate is small, and Elizabeth must work while there, and though she finds her tasks easy to bear. She quickly becomes close to her young cousin and uncle, though her aunt is a hard, demanding woman.

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.

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.

Pemberley’s ancient halls harbour many secrets. Which one will affect Fitzwilliam Darcy and the love of his life? How is Mr. Bennet to enjoy the comforts of a well-stocked library, when his wife’s premature demise had left him with the task of finding suitable matches for their daughters? And what of a misleading encounter on a muddy lane in Hertfordshire, that renders a country-town assembly rather more tolerable than some might have thought?  

Pride and patriotism lend fervor to greed and cruelty, and Fitzwilliam Darcy is caught at the centre of a decades-old international feud. Taken far from England, presumed dead by his family, and lost to all he holds dear, only one name remains as his beacon in the darkness: Elizabeth. Georgiana Darcy is now the heartbroken heiress to Pemberley, and Colonel Fitzwilliam her bewildered guardian. Vulnerable and unprepared, Georgiana desperately longs for a friend, while Fitzwilliam seeks to protect her from his own family.

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?

Drugged and betrayed in his own household, Fitzwilliam Darcy makes his escape from a forged compromise that would see him unhappily wed. Dressed as a footman, he is welcomed into one of London’s unknown neighborhoods by a young lady who is running out of time and running for her life. Deciding to hide in plain sight, Miss Elizabeth Bennet dodges the expectation to marry the man of her mother’s dreams. When the insolent footman she “found” refuses to leave her side until they can uncover a solution to their respective dilemmas.

Darcy was not looking to fall in love. He thought he had it all: wealth, privilege, and ardent passion for his sport. Then he meets Miss Elizabeth Bennet, and soon thereafter he knows that she is the woman with whom he is destined to spend his life.