Darcy's Kiss: A Pride and Prejudice Variation by Claire Iverson

Author:Claire Iverson [Iverson, Claire]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Pride and Prejudice & Related Fandoms, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Not in Amazon Library, To Transfer
Goodreads: 49596842
Publisher: none
Published: 2019-06-11T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

When Elizabeth awoke the following morning, she lay staring up at the silk canopy, which stretched over the enormous four-poster. She was not anxious to rise and make her way to the breakfast room, where she would immediately become the continuing object of speculation.

She groaned and rolled over to bury her face in the cloyingly soft pillow. How was she to bear two more days of this? She had never dreamed that others would see Mr. Darcy's rescue as tantamount to a declaration. Did they think he should have ridden by, ignoring her predicament, so as not to compromise himself? Of course, they had guessed that he had followed her, but Elizabeth could only be thankful they didn't know why.

Although most knew of her gunshot wound, general opinion seemed to be that Elizabeth had simply been unfortunate enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time...three times. No one had even imagined the truth.

But what was the truth? she wondered. She was now certain that neither Charlotte or Mr. Collins was guilty, and that both would be horrified if they knew she had even suspected them.

So whom did that leave? Sir William? Colonel Fitzwilliam? Both men had been an unlikely suspect from the outset, and this incident eliminated them as surely as it had Charlotte and Mr. Collins. Whoever had planned this ambush had known Elizabeth would drive into it, and when.

A thought, so obvious, brought Elizabeth upright in bed. She had threatened Maria not to further risk her reputation, or she would be obligated to tell Charlotte. Was this motive? When Elizabeth came to think the matter through, Maria did give every indication of a girl in love with someone she knew her family would not like. There was her sulkiness, the refusal to encourage any of the eligible suitors who flocked around her in town, the girlish giggles with Anne, the obvious unhappiness. Yet how could it be? She was always properly chaperoned, usually by Charlotte and Elizabeth, sometimes by Lady Catherine, who violently discourage ineligible gentlemen. If this unknown man had confidence that he could win Maria's hand, or persuade her to elope with him, he must have cause, which meant clandestine meetings.

Elizabeth's brow furrowed, but then cleared without delay. The answer leaped into her mind so quickly that she could only believe suspicions had already been gathering there. Of course, it had to be those morning walks that Maria so anticipated, and from which she often returned home in almost frantically high spirits, which generally plummeted before the first social occasion of the day. It was Mrs. Jenkinson, Miss de Bourgh’s companion, who accompanied the girls, but she was older and easily eluded. The girls could easily have had romantic meetings in secret.

Elizabeth's first impulse was to leap out of bed and march into Maria's room to confront her. Common sense came to her rescue, however; Maria was certain to deny that she was meeting anyone, and if she fancied herself in love, would refuse to admit that she and her lover were planning a murder.

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