An Excerpt from Julie Cooper's newest novel--Coming December 16
Who is this man? Elizabeth marvelled, allowing him to lead her onto a heretofore unnoticed path into wilderness, unexplored and unknown. It was undoubtedly foolish to go, especially so eagerly. Yet, she had continuously tried to put him back into the category where once he fitted so neatly—an arrogant stick-in-the-mud. He continuously escaped.
Mr Darcy did not smile often, but when he did, every inch of her leapt into awareness. It was as if a part of him was panther-like, caged and oh-so-carefully controlled—yet patrolling its parameters, putting out its paw, testing its boundaries. Wanting to be petted.
She wanted to test his boundaries as well, although she did her best to resist. It would help if he would treat her the same as did Reginald Goulding, John Lucas, Herbert Long, or Sidney King—or in other words, as a not overly intelligent infant. Had she a fortune of ten thousand, any one of them might have asked to marry her. These young men, the best her neighbourhood had to offer, would admire her, but would never try to know her. They thought they already did.
Mr Darcy pulled her down the path, leading in a definite direction. It did not take long to see his destination. They entered a woodland glade, a smallish meadow surrounded by birch and hazel, with a few gracious old oaks standing sentinel. Mr Darcy removed his greatcoat and hung it upon a convenient branch, doing the same with his hat, as if the tree were a cloakroom. Even, and adding to her confusion, he removed his gloves. Then he gave her a courtly bow.
“Bingley is dancing with your sister, I believe, and has suggested that I cease standing about stupidly, and instead ask the prettiest girl in the room to dance. May I have the next set, Miss Elizabeth?”
She could not help her grin. “That is not a very close approximation of what Mr Bingley said.”
“I vow ’tis what I would have heard,” he said, smiling roguishly, “had my hearing been in working order that evening. But one cannot expect the hearing of a relic to always be acute.”
“One cannot expect a relic to hear anything at all.”
His smile faded as he looked down at her. “A relic might also be blind to what is standing before his very eyes.”
She felt her cheeks heat, and to cover it, she made a show of removing her coat and hanging it on another limb; on impulse, she removed her gloves as well, and turned to face him.
“Do you waltz?” he asked.
“Jane, Charlotte, and I did once, with Hortense Goulding’s dancing master,” she said. “I am certain you will find nothing lacking in my execution, with such training as I possess.”
Mr Darcy held out his arms, and she walked into them.
To hear that some impoverished girl you met a couple of months ago and with whom you have been in close company for a few days is now your affianced bride? Incredible!
Elizabeth Bennet is surprised and delighted when Fitzwilliam Darcy, a wealthy and handsome bachelor from Derbyshire, declares himself to her. Still more surprising are her own feelings for him; a chance overheard conversation had changed her first impression of him enough to see the good man he was…and she had fallen in love.
Having made an unexpected choice, Darcy is certain marital felicity awaits him. Alas, a calamity of unexpected events conspire preventing him from honoring the promises he has made to his intended bride.
What should have been the happiest day of both Darcy and Elizabeth’s lives becomes the source of their deepest heartbreak. Elizabeth is left standing at the altar, her bridegroom having failed to arrive and Darcy is left bereft amid the wreckage of his hopes and dreams.
Only one thing grows more certain each day: Darcy loves Elizabeth and wishes more than anything to forge a future between them. But can abandonment be forgiven? Will they successfully overcome the forces aligned against them to build a happily-ever-after from the ruins of the past?
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