Ann Herendeen by Pride / Prejudice (v5)

Author:Pride / Prejudice (v5)
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: a cognizant original v5 release october 06 2010
Published: 2010-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

“NEVER FALL IN love with a woman,” Fitz declared, falling onto a sofa at the Brotherhood of Philander. “Never.” It was more than he could bear, a month after returning to town, the combined assault of Charles’s nervous, uncomprehending smiles at Fitz’s displays of temper and Miss Bingley’s conspicuous relief that no betrothal to Miss de Bourgh had been announced. Ordinary society had become insupportable; the flirtations and intrigues that had been merely annoyances before Fitz’s disastrous infatuation and rejected proposal now affected him like torture. Determined though he was to avoid any stain on his reputation, it was only among this equally vulnerable company that he could unburden his heart, confident that nothing of his misadventures in Kent would leak out into town gossip.

“It’s safe to assume you’re preaching to the converted here, Darcy,” Monkton said. “Besides, Carrington has already treated us to a most interesting course of instruction in that very subject. If you deigned to visit occasionally, you might have spared yourself having to recapitulate the lessons.”

“How comforting to find oneself among sympathetic friends,” Fitz said. “I was visiting my aunt in Kent. Always go at Easter.” He sat up. “What’s this about Carrington? Other than you, Monkton, there’s no one here less likely to succumb to feminine charms.”

“I thank you for the compliment,” Monkton said.

“We none of us credited it at first,” Pierce said. “But he needs an heir, you know. In line to inherit the earldom when his uncle Newburn dies.”

“I saw the rather uninformative notice of the marriage in the papers,” Fitz said. “But I supposed he made the standard arrangement. You talked as if he were in love.”

“He is,” Witherspoon said. “At least, I believe he is.”

“So do I,” Verney said, “which is particularly gratifying as I am the one who introduced them.”

“Anyone can see it,” Pierce said. “Despite the, ah, missteps attendant on any such hasty bargain, it looks as if they are on their way to reaching an understanding that would be the envy of most love matches.”

“Yes,” Monkton said, “even I am forced to admit that Carrington seems to have achieved the impossible—convinced a beautiful, intelligent lady to ignore all the promptings of her better judgment and accept his somewhat tarnished hand—and heart—in matrimony.”

That’s about right, Fitz thought in disgust. Carrington was, in many ways, the most dissolute of all of them, even Monkton, and the least likely to comply with society’s dictates. No one on first acquaintance suspected unnatural or irregular desires in so strikingly virile a figure; there was little incentive for him to curtail his worst excesses. Yet he had succeeded in an endeavor he could not have desired for its own sake, where Fitz, on his first foray into passionate and genuine love, anticipating the certain victory due to his character and position, had suffered ignominious defeat. “Then he’s accomplished more than I have,” Fitz said. “Who is the girl’s family?”

“Oh, nobody you’d know,” Verney said. “Mother was my father’s mistress after Mama died. But her father was a gentleman.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.