Cursing Mr Darcy: A Pride and Prejudice Variation with just a touch of magic (Mr Darcy's Mysteries) by Amy D'Orazio

Author:Amy D'Orazio [D'Orazio, Amy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Quills & Quartos Publishing
Published: 2024-08-12T00:00:00+00:00

The man’s voice was a dull roar in Elizabeth’s ears as her aching head struggled mightily to make sense of what had befallen her. She hurt all over, and motes of light danced before her eyes, clouding her vision as she forced herself into a seated position. The man stood over her, merciless in his chastisement, continuing to scold her for having done…something. Likely, she had broken the chair, although what that could signify when all the house was in such a state, she hardly knew.

“Foolish, foolish girl! You do not know what you have done, the folly in which you have so heedlessly embroiled yourself and with such enthusiasm! Know you not where you are?”

She squinted up at him. His face was a thundercloud, scowling at her fiercely, but he was undoubtedly the handsome man from the painting, now in the flesh. “It is you,” she managed to croak out. “The man from the painting.”

He rolled his eyes. “Yes,” he snapped. “The man from the painting, once known as Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy. And now you, my dear girl, have the privilege of being known as the lady in the painting, once known as the silly creature who heeded not the advisements of those superior to her.”

“I am not in the habit of forming my plans in accordance with the senseless superstitions of villagers. My aunt spent her girlhood in Derbyshire, and we wanted to see the grand Pemberley. Would that we had not gratified such wishes, for it is a dreadful place! I am sure she would much rather have retained just the memory of it as once it was.”

“Yes, I know it is dreadful,” he retorted. “I am hardly unaware of that.”

Elizabeth decided to get to her feet and struggled upwards. At the last moment, Mr Darcy offered his hand, but she ignored it. “Unaware of it? Responsible for it, I daresay.”

“You give your opinion very decidedly.” He turned his back on her, pacing a few steps away. When he spoke again, his words seemed to be primarily for his own ears, though she could hear him well enough. “What sort of girl is this, left alone to roam freely about someone else’s home? To indulge in her own curiosity with such brazenness and temerity?”

He turned back round to glare at her. “Do you not know the danger into which you have placed yourself? Who is accompanying you? Who has charge over you?”

Vexation straightened Elizabeth’s spine. She could not like this man’s frank appraisal of her character, nor the implied slight to her family. It was true, they did not watch over her as they sometimes should, but it was nothing to him! How could he speak so when one only needed to look about to see how grievously he had failed his family!

“You need not worry for me,” she said stiffly. “I shall absent myself shortly. Likely, you are desiring my absence as much as I have come to desire yours.”

“Absent yourself?” He laughed, which enraged her even more.

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