Beauty and Mr. Darcy: A Pride and Prejudice Variation by Courtney Sarah

Author:Courtney, Sarah
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-01-30T00:00:00+00:00

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May 1812

Netherfield Park

Elizabeth

“Come, Darcy, are you a man or a mouse?” Charles waved his hand in Mr. Darcy’s direction. “You cannot keep betting so low and expect to win a game. Has Hurst taught you nothing?”

“I cannot see you as timid, Mr. Darcy,” Elizabeth said with a smile.

He shrugged. “Nor I you, Miss Bennet. Yet your bets are no higher than mine.”

“Ah, but there is a great different in our incomes. As yours is worth many times mine, your bet should be much higher than mine simply to remain even.”

“Like the widow’s two mites?” Jane said, smiling. When they both looked at her with surprise, she shrugged and said, “Well, Mary was not here to say it.”

“Exactly like that, Jane.” Elizabeth narrowed her eyes at Mr. Darcy. “I cannot think that Mr. Darcy is timid in card games elsewhere, or in anything else that he engages in. It must be the present company that leads to his timidity. Perhaps he is afraid of you, Jane.”

He grinned at that, and Elizabeth swallowed hard at the sight. He was a handsome man, with his strong jaw and the way his wavy hair flopped over his forehead just so.

“Well, I did win the last two hands,” Jane said mildly.

Mr. Darcy placed his bet and then took a card. He shifted at the small table, and Elizabeth found herself aware of his height and the nearness of his arm in a way she had not been before. She blushed without knowing the reason.

“I do not care to gamble for high stakes,” he said. “I must take care not to lose Pemberley, after all.” There was merit in that, if true, but had not Mr. Wickham said that Mr. Darcy often ran up debts and left them unpaid? Perhaps that was youthful folly that Mr. Darcy had come to regret?

“There are some men who have done just such a thing,” Elizabeth said, then blushed again. Of course Mr. Darcy knew of such men.

He nodded solemnly. “I cannot excuse it. Losing one’s estate is a travesty. It is not just a personal loss to yourself in the way losing a hundred thousand pounds would be. It is a loss to the tenants who live there, who will now face uncertainty with a new owner. It is a loss to the servants, who may be put out to find other work. It is a loss to one’s eldest son, who will be deprived of the inheritance he was entitled to. Even younger sons and daughters will lose the fortunes they should have had, and his wife will lose her security. And all for what, the brief thrill of gambling for high stakes?”

“I agree,” Charles broke in. “Men who would behave so recklessly merely for their own entertainment may deserve to lose everything, but their family and their dependents do not. It disgusts me.”

“You are careful with your fortune, then?” she asked cautiously.

“I am. It is not for me to squander. I have a younger sister to provide for, and of course .

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