P&P 200: As Elizabeth’s Betrothed, Darcy Dines at Longbourn
This excerpt comes from Chapter 17 of my first Austen-inspired novel, Darcy’s Passions. 
AT LAST CAME THE DAY when the Bennets welcomed him at Longbourn. In such awe of Darcy, Mrs. Bennet had kept her comments to herself, except to offer him any attention or to mark her deference for his opinions. Mrs. Bennet was beside herself to have two daughters so well placed, having Jane at Netherfield was one thing, but having Elizabeth at Pemberley would be an honor for the whole family. Mr. Bennet sought Darcy’s opinion again on the estate. He and Elizabeth’s father had walked out over some of the property, and Darcy’s sharp eye for details had impressed Mr. Bennet. They also spent time discussing the marriage articles. All in all, it was a perfect beginning for Darcy’s new role in Elizabeth’s life.
“Mr. Darcy,” Mr. Bennet said, as they sat in Longbourn’s library, “Elizabeth has told me of your part in saving my other daughters’ reputations and your dealings with Mr. Wickham. It is my intention to repay you, Sir, for your efforts.”
“Mr. Bennet, Sir,” Darcy knew this conversation was inevitable. “My portion in Mrs. Wickham’s marriage settlements was nothing I could not afford. I freely admit to doing so for selfish reasons. To give relief to Miss Elizabeth was my motivation. It was never my intention for the Bennet family to feel an obligation to repay me. I desired Elizabeth’s affections, not her gratitude. You repaid me ten fold by giving me your daughter, Sir. Give me your respect as Elizabeth’s husband and keep your money, Mr. Bennet.”
Mr. Bennet chuckled. “Elizabeth also tells me you took great amusement in choosing Newcastle for Mr. Wickham’s commission.”
“It was the best I could do on such short notice,” Darcy said with a wry smile.
“Mr. Darcy, your value as a son is increasing by the moment. Of course, you will have to go some to overtake my affections for Mr. Wickham. I am afraid I have a propensity for choosing amusing characters such as our own Mr. Collins and the affable Mr. Wickham as my favorites. Unfortunately, the only foolish thing I can pronounce against you is that you gave your money to two of the most frivolous people in England.” The man winked at Darcy. “However, you have made up for such a grievous fault by falling in love with my Lizzy.” Darcy was not accustomed to such tongue-in-cheek teasing from a gentleman, but he found nothing offensive in the conversation as he settled in to the comfort of Elizabeth’s home. Continue reading
Darkness Falls Upon Pemberley: Prologue
Happy October, everyone! The season of the supernatural is upon us, and that means werewolves, and vampires, and goblins, oh my!
While there aren’t any werewolves and goblins in this story, there are vampires, but I’m not telling you who they are . . . yet.
Throughout the month of October I’ll be sharing a short novella I’ve been writing for fun. For those of you who don’t care for horror and gore, you don’t have a thing to fear. This story is actually a love story, without a drop of goriness in sight. It just so happens that a few of our favorite P&P characters have become vampires. (But it’s really not their fault. You can blame the author and her unhealthy obsession with the undead.)
So far there are six parts, the last of which should be posted on Halloween. I hope you’ll enjoy it.
Best,
Susan
Prologue
Many things are rarely as they seem. That much he knew. It had taken but one evening spent in her company to understand she was like no woman he’d ever encountered. There was something in her air, in her manner of speaking, in the way she moved, and laughed that prevented him from dismissing her as commonplace. Miss Morton, Miss Redgrave, Miss Bingley—the dozens of others—with their simpering attention, banal conversation, and exhausting single-mindedness were commonplace; not Miss Elizabeth Bennet.
Though they’d been acquainted less than a fortnight, Darcy had become thoroughly enamoured with her. For a man used to being his own lord and master, the development of such a strong attachment was unsettling; especially when nothing—not even the inferiority of her situation and connexions—had proven a powerful enough deterrent against the spell she’d woven.
Her intelligence was formidable, and had fanned the flames of his admiration with as much ease as the teasing curve of her lips had coaxed his smile. Her wit and vivacity garnered equal veneration, as did the subtle sway of her hips whenever she entered a room, or danced a reel, or strode confidently through the countryside as though she hadn’t a care in the world.
Her complexion was flawless. Her skin pale and pure, and her dark, glossy locks—whether seen by the glow of a wax taper or the natural light of day—were, to Darcy’s eyes, more luxurious than the finest silk.
His fingers itched to caress her cheek, her bare shoulder, the supple swell of her breast. The hours he’d spent thinking of her, fantasizing about her, wondering whether her body might be as responsive to his touch as he’d imagined had become too numerous to count. Darcy wanted to lose himself in her eyes, to immerse himself in her scent, to brush his lips against the shell of her ear and whisper his deepest desires. Continue reading
Winner Announcement! – Supernatural Jane Austen Series Quiz and Giveaway!
The winner of the Supernatural Jane Austen Series Quiz and Giveaway hosted by Austen Authors is…
*drumroll*
Monica P! – You get a copy of Pride and Platypus!
Congratulations!
Please email me with your mailing address ASAP to get your prize! 
P&P 200: Bingley brings Darcy. The (second) proposal. Elizabeth confides in Jane
Mrs. Hill rushed up the path from Meryton to Longbourn, anxious to bring Cook the ducks and spices required for the elaborate dinner Mrs. Bennet had planned for Mr. Bingley that afternoon. If only Mrs. Phillips had not detained her, begging that she pass the message to her sister that Miss Bennet’s engagement had indeed hushed the gossip surrounding the elopement of Miss Lydia – er – Mrs. Wickham. Honestly! Has the woman not sense enough not to speak of such matters to the housekeeper? Even one who has been with the family four and twenty years. But Mrs. Phillips and Mrs. Bennet both readily relied on the assistance of the servants to bring them news.
Mrs. Hill’s thoughts were thus occupied when she noticed the approach of two young people. Assuming they to be Miss Bennet and her Mr. Bingley, she took a deep breath and adopted a smile to greet them; but within a few steps, the couple halted, and she realized it was not Mr. Bingley but his friend Mr. Darcy – and in close conversation with Miss Elizabeth!
Her polite smile faded as she stopped walking. They had not yet noticed her, quite seriously engaged and – Good gracious! – Mr. Darcy had taken Miss Elizabeth’s hands in his! A genuine grin now spread across Mrs. Hill’s face as she quietly slipped off the path into the sparsely wooded grove.
Mrs. Hill scurried towards Lucas Lodge then back on 
the path to Longbourn and entered the Bennet house through the kitchen where the cook and a housemaid were at work on the meal preparations.
“Thank heavens, Mrs. Hill!” cried Cook. “You are finally come. I hope you have my mace. It seems we are to have another guest at table today.”
“Mr. Darcy?” Mrs. Hill responded with a sly smile. Continue reading
Is there anything sexier than Mr. Darcy reading a book?
Many thanks to Jane Austen’s Regency World magazine, where this essay first appeared in January. Please check out the magazine’s website and consider subscribing!
Not to make all of you out there in cyber world swoon, but I’m in Brooklyn at the moment at the Jane Austen Society of North America’s Annual General Meeting, so my responses will not be as timely as usual. I’m excited to meet Diana Birchall for the first time, but will be missing the usual Austen Author crowd that gathers at the AGMs.
Without further ado…back to Mr. Darcy…
Let’s face it. If you met Mr Darcy in real life, you wouldn’t go out with him after the disastrous first date. That’s assuming he condescended enough to actually ask you out, and that you, against your better judgment, said yes. Continue reading
Celebrating YOURS AFFECTIONATELY, JANE AUSTEN
Was Mr. Darcy real?
Mike, my late husband, and I set out to answer that question in The Man Who Loved Jane Austen. And I’m continuing the story with Yours Affectionately, Jane Austen. With the coming 200th anniversary of Pride and Prejudice just months away, it seemed the perfect time to delve into the complex nature of the man who became the embodiment of Austen’s most legendary hero.
Pragmatic New Yorker, Eliza Knight would never know if it was the champagne and ambiance of the centuries old southern estate or the man himself, but by the end of Pemberley Farms heritage Rose Ball she is in no doubt that Fitz Darcy of Virginia was Jane Austen’s inspiration for Elizabeth Bennet’s Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice, arguably the most romantic figure in English literature.
Discovering, as the weekend draws to a close that she is falling in love with the enigmatic horseman, Eliza’s emotions are in turmoil. Darcy has spun a tale of love and romance in Regency England so compelling that she cannot believe this passionate, handsome man is in love with her and not Jane Austen.
Rationalizing that Austen has been dead for centuries Eliza takes her mother’s advice and risks it all for the love of a man she’s known less than a week. But things are happening in the quiet hamlet of Chawton, England that could change everything.
Will Jane Austen be the wedge that divides Eliza and Fitz or the tie that binds them?
Here is a taste of YOURS AFFECTIONATELY, JANE AUSTEN
CHAPTER 5
Although the sun was fully up in the Virginia summer sky, it was not yet hot. Fitz found jumping exhilarating; the cool morning air caressing his face, and Lord Nelson, so strong and graceful, took all the jumps with no effort.
Heritage Week was over so things could get back to normal. He shrugged. Whatever normal is. He realized there was a very good chance that his normal was about to change radically. Eliza’s letter—the one she had found written to him from Jane—had ended his search for the truth of his Regency encounter. But Eliza did much more than give him the letter. Continue reading
P&P200 – Mr. Bennet Hears from Mr. Collins
Mr. Bennet reposed in his library after breakfast, his feet propped up on a stool and a highly enjoyable book before his nose. With the most troublesome of his daughters permanently gone from the house and the most angelic one advantageously engaged, he had little left to wish for but that the peace of his household might last. He did not expect it to, however. Just as the little tyrant across the channel could not seem to behave himself for long, so too his own wife and at least one of his offspring were bound to soon involve him in another round of hostilities.
But the interruption that particular morning came from an entirely different source, and one not at all unwelcome. It was a letter – a letter from his cousin Mr. Collins.
In the months since the renewal of their acquaintance, Mr. Bennet had come to regard Mr. Collins’s correspondence as a priceless source of amusement. He would by no means have given up the association on any grounds less consequential than the impediment that death itself would have constituted. So Mr. Bennet tossed his book aside; the newly arrived missive promised the finer entertainment.
He was not disappointed.
The absurdity of the letter’s style – all affected humility and artificially formal language – was just what Mr. Bennet had come to expect. But the content was far beyond anything he had imagined.
It began predictably enough with an extravagant discourse in congratulation of the approaching nuptials of Mr. Bennet’s eldest daughter. Continue reading
P&P200: Lady Catherine Leaves Longbourn in a Dudgeon
Lady Catherine de Bourgh sat very straight in her seat in the chaise. Her always formidable mouth was compressed into an angry, thin line, and there were patchy spots of red on her cheeks. The waiting-woman, Mrs. Dawson, a widow forced into service owing to her poverty, shrank back onto the other side of the seat. Since tersely directing the coachman to drive at all speed to Mr. Darcy’s London residence, Lady Catherine had not opened her lips; and the speed and energy of the four post-horses she had hired, seemed to promise that they would reach their destination in a very few hours.
It was not until they were quite out of sight of Longbourn, Meryton, and any thing connected with the vile Bennet family, and indeed fast approaching the Hertfordshire border as they pounded down the good, smooth turnpike road, that she spoke.
“I am excessively displeased,” she said. “My journey has been for nothing.”
Mrs. Dawson might have said that her employer’s displeasure was evident, but she knew much better, and only murmured a sympathetic sound, inviting her Ladyship to say more.
“That girl. That pert, uncouth creature. I tell you, she intends to marry my nephew!”
“The Colonel, do you mean, my Lady? That will be too bad, won’t it?”
“No!” Lady Catherine exploded. “Don’t pretend ignorance, Dawson. That is as good as insolence and I shall not brook any such thing. You know very well I mean Darcy, and that Pemberley will be – rooo-hooo-ined!” At this point she gave a great glottal gulp and reached for her lace handkerchief. Continue reading
P&P 200 – Darcy Learns of Lady Catherine’s Confrontation with Elizabeth Bennet
On Saturday he returned from an afternoon outing to discover his aunt’s chaise and four before his townhouse. “Mr. Darcy,” on cue, his butler approached privately, “although I told her you were not at home, your aunt, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, insisted on being admitted. She demanded, Sir, to await your return.”
He looked beyond Thacker’s shoulder to where Lady Catherine likely held court. It was a favorite maneuver of Her Ladyship–one of which Darcy was well aware. “You were correct to admit her, Mr. Thacker. Would you have tea brought to the drawing room?” he said authoritatively.
“Yes, Mr. Darcy.”
Darcy did not like uninvited visitors; his aunt knew his distaste for such intrusions upon his privacy. He supposed something could be amiss. Could something have happened to Anne? He certainly hoped not. He strode into the drawing room expecting to find his aunt in tears. Instead, she was agitated; she was angry; she was demanding. “Lady Catherine, what brings you to London? I was unaware of your plans to travel. Please tell me my Cousin Anne has not taken ill again.”
His aunt ceased her pacing. “Darcy, you came at last; I am so distressed–such an inconvenient situation!”
No Anne. What supposed crisis could Lady Catherine have conjured for his attention this time? Irritated, Darcy said, “Aunt, I could possibly empathize with you if I knew of what you speak.”
“Then you have no knowledge of it? I suspected as not.” Her voice rose in volume with each subsequent phrase. Continue reading
The Cajun Cheesehead Chronicles
Mr. Darcy’s P&P POV (the abridged version)
Part 5
Greetings, folks. Jack Caldwell here. This is Part 5 of my little work-in-process. For Part 1, go here, Part 2, here, Part 3 here, Part 4 here.
The completed story will be eventually posted in its entirety at Austen Authors’ The Writers Block and at my own Ramblings of a Cajun in Exile. But you don’t want to wait until then, do you?
Remember, comments are required.
~~~
PART 5
Chapter 15 –
WTF? WICKHAM? Wickham is in Meryton? What the devil is he doing here?
When I rode up with Bingley to greet the Bennet party, I almost fell off my saddle at the sight of that reprobate! Looking at his snide expression, the vision of Georgiana’s devastated face came directly to my mind. Oh, how I wish I had throttled that bastard in Ramsgate! I could not stand to be in that degenerate’s presence another instant, for if I did not ride away, I should have leapt off my horse and gave that deceitful disgrace of a man a piece of my mind. No—better yet, a kick in the bullocks.
Charles, of course, berated me for my behavior in Meryton, and I was forced to put him off with an abrupt apology. He knows I dislike that weasel, but he knows nothing about of how that scoundrel damaged my family in Ramsgate. And I mean to keep it that way. Charles cannot keep a secret to save his life.
Blast it all! Did Wickham know I was here? Is he after more of my money? Blackmail—is that his scheme?
No. He knows if he even breathes a word about Georgiana, Colonel Fitzwilliam will hunt him down and skewer him with his sabre. And it will not be in a duel, either!
Well, if my father’s good-for-nothing godson knows what is best for him, he had better stay out of my sight! Continue reading
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