Unforgiving Temper by Gail Head

Author:Gail Head
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: romance regency, Fiction, Romance, pride and prejudice, pride and prejudice fan fiction, miss elizabeth bennet, jane austen alternate, jane austen fan fiction, fitzwilliam darcy, pride and prejudice alternate
Publisher: Alpha Connections
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

Darcy followed his friend up the steps of Hartley Park, his eyes narrowing in anticipation as he looked up at the row of windows standing open to the night air. Sounds of merriment from Sir Henry's ball drifted out into the darkness. He stifled a weary sigh. How many more of these dreaded affairs would he have to attend before he would find success? The thought of an evening with a roomful of strangers still brought out his reserve in large measure, but he had to admit he was getting better at it. He had learned a hard lesson in Hertfordshire.

Elizabeth Bennet's frank and honest opinion of his manners had taught him a great deal indeed. His mouth tightened into a thin line. Although it was nearly a year to the day when he had first seen her at the Meryton Assembly, the intervening months – the last three in particular –seemed a lifetime. That he had ever considered her unworthy of his attention was beyond his comprehension.

A well-worn vision of Elizabeth sprang easily to his mind. Her smile, her wit, her fine eyes that sparkled in her expressive face when she found something amusing – they were all an inseparable part of him now. She was the reason he was here, hundreds of miles from London, renewing old acquaintances and facing strangers with growing equanimity.

His visit to Robert Driscoll, an old classmate from Cambridge, was one of many in the excruciatingly delicate scheme he had developed to discover Elizabeth. For more than six weeks, he had been making his way through the western counties on the pretense of a tour of the north country, calling upon families he knew. While he attended the obligatory social engagements associated with the visit, Denham would make discreet inquiries of the household staff to determine if a young lady of Elizabeth's description had been seen in the neighborhood.

It was a cumbersome process; but any more direct approach would have almost certainly alerted Wickham, and Darcy would not run the risk of further harming Elizabeth or her reputation.

There had been no success to date, but as long as there was a great house to be visited, Darcy would persist. The scarcity of news from the eastern coast told him that Bingley was faring no better. Even though their only clue to finding Elizabeth had been the postal stamp on a letter he had never seen, it was enough for him to know she had to be somewhere in the northern counties.

And so tonight he was attending Sir Henry's private ball with his friend, Robert…and unlike the time in Hertfordshire, he would dance. He would not be the man he was a year ago. He had labored hard to practice “performing to strangers” in the months since Elizabeth's painfully accurate judgment laid bare this deficiency in his character. As in other areas of his life these days, he would show himself to be a better man, for her sake.

Entering the room, Darcy flinched involuntarily. “Good heavens, Driscoll, I thought you said this was a small gathering.

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