Caroline Bingley: A Continuation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice

by Jennifer Becton

  Caroline could stand no more. Deep within her, she comprehended some veracity in Rosemary’s words. She was willful and rather fearful.

  But she knew her heart, did she not?

  ~**~

  Author’s Note

  I am most indebted to Jane Austen for her creation of the wonderful world and characters of Pride and Prejudice. I would also like to thank my family and friends who contributed to this book and to my life in general: Bert Becton, Marilyn and Robert Whiteley, and Octavia and Ed Becton. I am grateful to my editorial team Beverle Graves Myers and Kelley Fuller Land, both excellent editors and writers. Though any errors within this text belong solely to me, I will—as usual—do my best to foist them upon someone else.

  ~**~

  About the Author

  Jennifer Becton has worked for more than twelve years in the traditional publishing industry as a freelance writer, editor, and proofreader. Upon discovering the possibilities of the expanding eBook market, she created Whiteley Press, an independent publishing house, and Charlotte Collins: A Continuation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, her first historical fiction novel, was published in 2010 with great success.

  She also writes thrillers under the pseudo-pseudonym J. W. Becton. Absolute Liability, the first in the six-book Southern Fraud Thriller series, became an Amazon Kindle Best Seller, and Death Benefits (Southern Fraud 2) will be out in January 2012.

  ~**~

  Connect with Jennifer Online

  Blog: http://www.bectonliterary.com

  Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/JenniferBectonWriter

  Twitter: http://twitter.com/JenniferBecton

  Southern Fraud Thriller Series: http://www.jwbecton.com

  ~**~

  Please enjoy the following excerpt from

  His Good Opinion: A Mr. Darcy Novel

  by

  Nancy Kelley

  Excerpt from His Good Opinion: A Mr. Darcy Novel

  by

  Nancy Kelley

  "I will never understand, Darcy, why you insist on going out in Society only to be displeased with everyone you meet."

  Fitzwilliam Darcy poured two glasses of brandy and handed one to his friend before he took the chair opposite him. "I go out because it is expected of me, Bingley. You know that."

  Charles Bingley pointed at him. "Ah, but that does not answer the question, does it?"

  Darcy conceded the point with the barest shrug of his shoulders. Here, in the comfort of his own study, there was no need to pretend. "I admit that I find little in Society of which to approve."

  "Only because you are determined to disapprove." Bingley protested. "What of the young lady you sat out with tonight? Let me hear your opinion of her."

  Darcy ran his fingers down the side of his glass. "Her aunt approached me and said her niece had sprained her ankle, and would I be willing to keep her company? Good manners forbade I refuse, though you know how little I enjoy making conversation with someone I am not intimately acquainted with. I have not your ease of speaking on subjects in which I have little or no interest." His lips curled in disdain, and he took a sip of brandy to wash the sour taste from his mouth.

  "That is a commentary on your own character, not the lady's."

  He ignored the familiar needling. "After two minutes of idle chatter, I inquired after her injury."

  Satisfaction gleamed in Bingley's eyes. "Ah, you are capable courtesy after all."

  Darcy leaned forward, his forehead creased in a frown. "Perhaps you will not be so victorious, Bingley, when you hear the rest of the story. She did not understand what I spoke of. When she returned to her aunt shortly thereafter, she did not have a limp. The entire incident was manufactured so she could gain my attention. No doubt they have heard that I do not dance often —"

  "Or ever."

  The leather chair creaked in protest when Darcy stood. He took Bingley's glass and strode to the table, glad to have something to do, even if it was only refilling their drinks. This topic never failed to rile him, but he found a measure of calm in pouring the liquor into their glasses.

  "They sought a way to get time with me, and they found it. You wish to know why I so seldom give my good opinion to those I meet; it is this dishonesty, this deception of which I cannot approve. I cannot—I will not—marry a woman I do not trust."

  Bingley took his refilled glass, and Darcy noted his frown with some vexation. "You are being a bit presumptuous, Darcy. How can you be so certain she wished to marry you? It was simply a dance."

  Darcy set the decanter down on the tray with a hard clang. "Surely even you will acknowledge that a single woman in possession of no brothers must be in want of a husband."

  Bingley shook his head and laughed. "You can hardly claim that to be a universal truth."

  Darcy ran his hands through his close-cropped dark curls. Has it truly escaped his notice that he too has received such attentions? Though it was this very ability to see nothing but the good in people that recommended Bingley to him, at times his amiable nature bordered on naiveté.

  "Perhaps not universal, but a truth nonetheless." He paced the confines of the study. The paneled walls, usually calming, pressed in on him tonight. London always wore on his nerves, but this Season had been worse than most. "I need to get out of town, Bingley."

  Bingley eyed Darcy over the edge of his glass. "You sound as if you had a plan in mind."

  Darcy stood in front of the empty fireplace and tapped his fingers on the mantle. "I believe it is time I visited Georgiana in Ramsgate."

  "Is that what has made you so tense of late? I know you take great care of her."

  Bingley's insight startled Darcy. "Yes, I imagine so. I trust Mrs. Younge of course or I would not have consented to the plan. Still, I will feel better once I see for myself how she is getting on." He turned back to his friend, at ease for the first time in weeks.

  "When will you leave?"

  "Tomorrow morning."

  Bingley raised his eyebrows. "That is rather spontaneous, Darcy—indeed, it is the kind of precipitous decision you often tease me for."

  Darcy tossed back the rest of his brandy before he answered. "In truth, I have been thinking about it some weeks," he replied. "I just did not realize it until tonight."

  "Well, if you are decided, then I wish you safe travels."

  Bingley rose and shook his hand in farewell, and Darcy retired for the night soon after. He slept well, content with the knowledge he would soon be free of the artifice of town.

  ~**~

  Click here to purchase the Kindle edition and continue reading His Good Opinion: A Mr. Darcy Novel by Nancy Kelley

  ~**~

  Please Enjoy the Following Excerpt from

  A Walk in the Meadows at Rosings Park

  by

  Mary Lydon Simonsen

  Excerpt from A Walk in the Meadows at Rosings Park

  By Mary Lydon Simonsen

  As Lizzy put on her bonnet, her thoughts returned to the previous evening. While playing the piano-forte, she had been unable to determine if Mr. Darcy had been annoyed with her for her little joke in concealing her sister’s engagement. But considering his offensive behavior in Hertfordshire, she didn’t think a little teasing was much of a punishment. Then again, he seemed to be ignorant of just how awful his behavior had been on the night of the assembly.

  Mr. Darcy was waiting for her in the meadows, her favorite spot on the vast Rosings estate. It was here where light and shade met and where the deer came to graze in the early morning when the dew was still on the grass.

  “Miss Elizabeth, thank you for agreeing to walk with me,” Mr. Darcy said as he approached her.

  “It is no hardship, sir. It is something I do every morning.”

  “Yes, I know. I have seen you on a number of occasions while I was out riding, and I know this to be your favorite place.”

  “And do you have a favorite place, sir?”

  “Yes, but not here. It is at my estate in Derbyshire
. At Pemberley, there are formal gardens, woods, and great expanses of lawn, but I prefer visiting those parts of the property that border the Peak where Nature still reigns, and there is not a gardener to be found.”

  “It sounds lovely. I have never been to the Peak.”

  “Then please allow me to extend an invitation for you to visit Pemberley when you are next on holiday. Even if I am not in residence, there are servants who will see to your every need.”

  “Thank you. I shall certainly consider your generous offer.”

  “And now for the reason I asked you to meet me here.” He gestured with his hand, indicating that they should walk. “By way of explanation, the night of the assembly, I was in ill humor because...”

  And Lizzy smiled as if to say that he was stating the obvious.

  “Oh, never mind. The reason is of no importance. What matters is that I am guilty of being rude. Was it really that noticeable to everyone?”

  “I shall let you decide.” Lizzy answered his question by quoting him verbatim. “‘Bingley, you had better return to your partner. I will not dance. At an assembly such as this, it would be insupportable.’”

  “You have a good memory.”

  “It was a memorable statement.”

  “But did I insult you in particular?”

  “Do you want to hear all that you said or just the part where you commented that you could not dance because Mr. Bingley’s sisters were otherwise engaged, and there was not another woman in the room whom it would not be a punishment to stand up with?”

  Darcy groaned. After so many months, Miss Elizabeth had not forgotten a single word that he had uttered. “But that was a general statement, not one directed at you,” he said, trying to save face after having his own words thrown back at him.

  “That is true, so I shall be more specific. The words you used when referring to me in particular were that I was tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt you. There is more,” she said, looking at him for a sign that she should continue.

  “No, please,” he said, holding up his hand. “You have said quite enough.”

  “Because of your transgression, might I suggest that you start wearing a hair shirt under your own like Henry II did after he had Thomas A Becket killed? Or you could go on a pilgrimage to one of those shrines where the faithful walk barefoot to the top of a mountain. But one is not good for the skin, and the other is very hard on the feet. I think an apology would suffice.”

  “I can see you are having fun at my expense,” he said, smiling.

  He had a beautiful smile, Lizzy thought, and it changed everything about him. A kinder, gentler Mr. Darcy emerged.

  “I must admit that I am teasing you, and you are uncomfortable because it is probably something you are unfamiliar with.”

  “You are wrong, Miss Bennet. Colonel Fitzwilliam gives no quarter in that regard, and his brother, Lord Fitzwilliam, is his equal. And despite appearances, my cousin Anne is not so frail that it prevents her from teasing me, on a regular basis once her mother has retired.”

  After that comment, he extended his arm, and Lizzy took it. Why did he do that? she wondered. And why do I feel as if I am having one of Mama’s episodes of the flutters?

  “I have been in Ireland for the past two months arranging for the sale of some property,” Darcy explained, “and as I mentioned, I have not had an opportunity to see Bingley. However, I am not at all surprised to learn that he is to marry your sister. The last time I saw him in town she was all he could talk about.”

  “He is a man in love. What would you have him talk about?”

  “Of course, you are correct. But then he has experienced something unknown to me. I have never been in love.” And Darcy looked into Elizabeth’s eyes, and she did not look away.”

  “They are to marry in late June,” Lizzy said before finally looking away.

  “That is six weeks from now. That is a long time.”

  “It is little more than a month.”

  “But a month is a long time to be kept from being with someone you love,” Darcy said emphatically.

  “They are rarely apart,” Lizzy answered, laughing, “as Mr. Bingley sees Jane every day, sometimes twice a day.”

  Darcy pictured a smiling Bingley jumping off his horse in front of the Bennet house before bounding up the steps to call on his bride-to-be, and the vision amused him. “Speaking of Bingley, I have been thinking about visiting him.”

  “Before the wedding?”

  “Most definitely before the wedding. In fact, I believe I might be going to Netherfield Park as soon as... When are you to return home, Miss Elizabeth?”

  “In two weeks.”

  “It is possible that I too shall be going to Netherfield Park in two weeks, but I will remain at Rosings until that time.” Darcy moved closer to Elizabeth. The heat from the night before returned, and she felt a sensation that ran through every part of her being. After taking another step toward her, he was so close that their arms were touching. “I have yet to apologize for the unkind words I spoke when I was last in your company.”

  “That is not necessary,” she said in a barely audible voice while staring at her shoes. “I believe you when you said you were in ill humor. That was the source of your...”

  “You are making excuses for me, Miss Elizabeth.”

  “Yes, I am,” and she felt his hand upon her arm. She wanted to step back. She knew she should retreat, but her feet were firmly planted in the ground as if she was one of Rosings Park’s great oaks. “I don’t understand what is happening.”

  Darcy put his arms around her waist and gently pulled her to him, and just before he kissed her, he whispered, “I think you do.”

  ~**~

  Click here to purchase the Kindle edition and continue reading A Walk in the Meadows at Rosings Park by Mary Lydon Simonsen.

  ~**~