By Consequence of Marriage (A Pride & Prejudice Novel) Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  © 2014, Elizabeth Ann West. All rights reserved.

  Acknowledgments

  Also By Elizabeth Ann West

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-One

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Chapter Forty-Five

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  Chapter Fifty

  About The Author

  A Winter Wrong Sample

  A Winter Wrong Sample Chapter 2

  By Consequence of Marriage

  The First Book of The Moralities of Marriage Series

  Elizabeth Ann

  W E S T

  © 2014, Elizabeth Ann West. All rights reserved.

  To contact the publisher, please write to

  41 Silas Deane Road

  Ledyard, CT 06339 or email

  [email protected]

  Happiness in marriage is a matter of chance.

  Jane Austen

  Acknowledgments

  This novel series would not be possible without the love and kind support of the Jane Austen Fan Fiction community. I am a proud author member of BeyondAusten.com and Forum.Darcyandlizzy.com. The readers and other authors at both communities make writing in this genre such a joy.

  I also want to say a huge thank you to both April Floyd and Betty Madden. These two women help me push my prose to very best it can be, and both are fantastic to work with. I feel so blessed to have both of them on my team.

  The readers at TheCheapEbook.com are also wonderful friends of my writing and without them, my launches would fall flat on their faces! The “Piggies” are savvy readers with hearts of gold.

  Finally, to my husband who supports me 110%, my super stepson who tells anyone and everyone his mother is an author, and to my five-year-old daughter who insists I do not write stories, I type them, thank you. Mommy couldn’t do this without you.

  Always Smiling,

  Elizabeth Ann West

  ALSO BY ELIZABETH ANN WEST

  AUSTEN INSPIRED

  The Trouble With Horses

  Darcy falls off a horse, Elizabeth saves him and the whole town is talking about it! A sweet historical romance novella.

  A Winter Wrong

  First book in the Seasons of Serendipity novella series. When Mr. Bennet dies of an epidemic, Elizabeth Bennet learns that the kindness of a stranger can be quite dashing! A sweet, historical romance novella.

  A Spring Sentiment

  Second book in the Seasons of Serendipity novella series. It's going to take all of the Bennet sisters to get Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth to march down the wedding aisle!

  A Summer Shame

  Third book in the Seasons of Serendipity novella series. The honeymoon trip of Darcy and Elizabeth is a crowded affair and Jane learns London Society is a scandal waiting to happen.

  OTHER TITLES

  Cancelled

  Original novel, a modern romance told mostly from the male point-of-view. A robotics engineer becomes engaged to his perfect match when a previous one-night stand shows up to return his shirt. Pregnant. And it’s his.

  Visit the Rose Room, an exclusive reading club, for more information and to read free stories. Available free at http://elizabethannwest.com/roseroom

  To my mother, who answers every phone call with “Good morning, Elizabeth. How is your writing going?”

  Chapter One

  A map of London lay spread upon the cherry stained table in Fitzwilliam Darcy's study. Considerable fatigue presented along the heavy crease lines dividing the city into roughly six quadrants. Scribbled notations in the meager margins blurred with street names and two men continued to argue over their next step in a search for the missing Georgiana Darcy.

  "Here. Right here." Colonel Fitzwilliam, a distinguished member of His Majesty's finest, pointed with his thick, coarse fingers clenched together to underline the place name. "Were I Wickham, I'd hightail it to within a block or two of the docks. The men and wares coming and going make for easy marks. They'd find lodgings without considerable questions asked."

  "The docks? George likes high society. I say we inspect the alleys and boarding houses off Bond. How would he explain a dirty, dingy inn down by the wharves to Georgiana?"

  "It's been three weeks, man! They've not the funds for much more than quarters near the docks." The Colonel glared at his cousin. Both were responsible for Georgiana's safety, appointed as co-guardians of the girl since the death of Darcy's father. The current situation would prove their mettle as protectors, if all ended well.

  Fitzwilliam Darcy walked away from the table and collapsed into an armchair near the fireplace. His lanky frame slumped, denigrating his noble upbringing to stand tall in the face of challenge. He rested his elbows upon his knees, his hands massaging the tired skin around his eyes and sagging cheeks. Weeks of slight respite as he and his cousin pursued the ill-matched couple weighed heavily upon his shoulders, his regular business suffering from lack of attention.

  If his horse hadn't thrown a shoe and he had arrived a day earlier at Ramsgate . . . still, he couldn't give up. Not yet. He fervently hoped George Wickham was keeping Georgiana well, if only for the thirty thousand pounds of her dowry. His cousin's concern that they might very well be out of money raised concerns of Wickham selling his sister, but he shook them away. No amount of money from a flop house would equal her dowry so why hadn't the devil come forward to claim his bounty?

  The predicament was beyond comprehension as Darcy attempted to puzzle it out. A large commotion in the hall drew both men from their strategy as a red-faced butler opened the study door. The man made to announce the visitor but the Countess Matlock, Colonel Fitzwilliam's mother, entered, her face flush with anger and lacking concern for lingering introduction.

  "Richard! William! Just how far have you two bungled these affairs? Why was I not informed the instant Georgiana went missing?"

  Jaws agape, the men exchanged mutual expressions of surprise at being caught out by Lady Matlock. They had been exceeding careful in their search to avoid detection, or so they had thought.

  "How did you know, Aunt?"

  Margaret Fitzwilliam waved her hand dismissively
at her nephew. "That is not the topic at hand. I can keep this quiet for a little while longer, but you must get out of London in a trice."

  "No."

  She advanced across the room to Darcy. Though she stood a full head shorter than the formidable master of Pemberley the long, pointed finger in his face revealed height was no indicator of intimidation.

  "If you stay just one more day, the whispers of an ongoing search for Georgiana Darcy will be confirmed. Go! Go play the wayward gentleman and visit a friend out in the country. Pretend your sister is in the capable hands of her tutors and you have not a care in the world concerning her wellbeing. Do so and the entire House of Matlock will not sleep until my niece is found. But if you stay. . . I cannot help you. I cannot help her."

  Darcy looked to his cousin, a brother in arms since they were mere lads, and sighed as Richard gave a slight nod. Darcy raked his hands through his hair, then smoothed his mussing as he walked to his desk. Never in the five years since his father’s death had he and Richard, as protectors of Georgiana, faced such a disaster in her upbringing. His sensible side knew Aunt Margaret was the ally they needed, especially if gossip was beginning to swirl. Thank goodness his sister was but fifteen and not yet debuted in society. No one would expect her attendance to teas or any number of balls, though the whole of the Ton was already vacated to their country homes for the shooting season.

  A pile of opened correspondence lay on the left side of his desk in a haphazard array, all social invitations for the autumn. His hand fell upon the one he required and he reread it with one eye squinted, turning the paper at different angles to grasp the contents of the missive. His aunt and cousin regarded him in silence until his aunt could no longer keep her counsel.

  "For heaven's sake Darcy, whoever writes you with such an appalling hand you must resort to theatrics to decipher the letter?"

  "Bingley." Richard answered offhandedly as he skimmed the map of London once more.

  "There it is!" Darcy smiled as he finally found the name of the county he was to visit. He waved the paper in minor triumph before looking annoyed that Richard would continue the search for his sister without him. Before Darcy could utter this sentiment his aunt moved to his side taking the letter from him with the lightest of pressure.

  "Perfect. Hertfordshire is half a day's ride away. We shall send you an express as soon as she is found."

  Darcy gazed at his aunt with the saddest expression she had ever beheld on her nephew. Forced to carry the burden of being the landlord of an esteemed estate at the tender age of four and twenty wore on his handsome face. "Please find her."

  Without a word, she embraced him tightly. Upon releasing the tall man, she straightened his coat. "We shall. You must leave at first light."

  Chapter Two

  The ladies of Longbourn played a symphony of giggles, shrieks, and hurried footsteps above the head of a patient Mr. Thomas Bennet. Father of five daughters, and nary a son, he sipped his port as he practiced his preparation for the evening ahead: a healthy amount of alcohol to brave a local assembly and delight in the folly of his neighbors.

  His door flew open before the visitor could muster a knock and Mr. Bennet startled as he glanced over his glass to find his wife in a fit of nerves.

  “Mr. Bennet! Is the carriage ready? We mustn’t be the last to arrive!”

  As Bennet glanced at the fading sun outside his study window, he met his wife’s query with stern logic. “The carriage shall be summoned the moment you and your daughters are fully prepared and awaiting in the foyer.”

  “But, Mr. Bennet, you do know how the girls love to dally, I really must prefer the carriage be summoned this instant as I oversee the final preparations. Our girls must shine tonight as the county’s finest.”

  “My dear, our daughters are the only jewels of the county.” Mr. Bennet boasted as he grabbed his wife’s hand to kiss it gently, a gesture that always made her girlish youth reappear. This evening it was quickly replaced by the presence of a mature matron in near hysterics over the plight of her daughters’ marriage status.

  “To be sure, yet there is to be Mr. Bingley and I overheard from Mrs. Long he is to bring no less than ten eligible men of significant wealth and means. With your dreadful cousin able to turn us out the moment you heart ceases to beat, the girls must marry well!”

  “The carriage will be called when they are assembled, ready to leave.”

  “Mr. Bennet—”

  “My dear, as you linger fretting about the carriage, the later we are in attendance of this assembly with what, you say, five eligible bachelors?”

  “Ten, Mr. Bennet, I said ten!”

  Mr. Bennet seized his chest in mock surprise, making Mrs. Bennet’s eye widen with fear, before he started to laugh. “My apologies, ten then.”

  With a small growl and a foot stomp, Mrs. Bennet quit her husband’s study to thunder up the stairs. “Girls! Girls!”

  The eldest Bennet daughters, Jane and Elizabeth, shared the room at the farthest end of the hall. They could hear the familiar final rumblings of the family at large that occurred before any event in which all seven attended. Jane sat before the pier glass as Elizabeth tucked a few more dried roses into the back of Jane’s pinned hair.

  “You are decided then on encouraging John Lucas’ attentions? I thought you were not truly in love with him?” Jane smoothed imaginary wrinkles from her pale blue silk dress as she presented a questioning expression to her sister's reflection in the glass.

  Elizabeth pulled a pin from her mouth with her left hand as her right held the last flower in place. With a quick movement, she shoved the last pin to cross the previous one and prayed it would remain for the evening. She stared at her sister’s reflection and smiled at her handiwork.

  “John isn’t so bad. I am simply maturing. I may not be in love with Mr. Lucas at the moment, but I do admire his countenance and he is a man I can respect. I do so love our home, Jane. If none of us can inherit Longbourn, at Lucas Lodge our family line will continue in the county.”

  Jane rose and collected her gloves from where they lay upon her bed. Sliding first one on and then the other, she carefully considered her sister’s words. “If you shall be happy, then I shall be happy for you.” She made a careful smile and Elizabeth gave her elder sister one last hug.

  Elizabeth laughed with her customary contagious joy. “I shall always find joy around me.”

  Jane blew out a breath and glanced once more at her reflection, practicing her sweetest smile. “I will have to find a husband nearby as well.”

  Elizabeth raised her eyebrows at Jane, knowing that to be quite the task considering the lack of advantageous suitors. Though there was rumor that the newest neighbor to Hertfordshire, a Mr. Bingley, was a pleasant sort of fellow. “We will see that you do.”

  “Girls!” cried Mrs. Bennet, louder and more insistent. With a nod, Elizabeth opened the door and waited for Jane to take her precedence before following down the narrow hall to the foyer below.

  Chapter Three

  The floorboards of the assembly room trembled under the spirited dance of twenty couples, with three of the five Bennet sisters gaily contributing to the merriment. Mary and Kitty looked on wistfully, with the latter pouting and the former perfectly content. As the couples twirled and clapped, it was the keen Mrs. Bennet who first beheld the entrance of the most anticipated guests.

  In the doorway, a man of his mid-twenties stood with a woman of similar height and hair color in front of a slightly older couple. The foursome paused in the entryway before the taller, younger woman in a gown of deep red flicked out her fan and gazed over it's lavishly decorated front with a withering stare. The gentleman on her arm smiled at the raucous hall, in contrast to his sister's dismissive demeanor, before taking confident steps to lead his party further into the room.

  "Mr. Bingley! We are quite delighted at your arrival. I trust the roads were not a nuisance?" Sir William Lucas made haste in approaching the singular, most anticipa
ted guest. Having made acquaintance with Mr. Bingley during the leasing process, he was one of the few local men on familiar enough terms to greet the illustrious party.

  "Sir Lucas! Please allow me to introduce my sisters. This is Miss Caroline Bingley." Caroline made a slight curtsy to Sir William with her nose turned up. "And this is my eldest sister, Mrs. Louisa Hurst and her husband, Mr. Edward Hurst."

  The formal introductions aside, Sir Lucas pressed his suit, subtly suggesting his own daughter Charlotte as a partner for the next set to Mr. Bingley. Being an agreeable sort of fellow, Bingley pleasantly made an offer to the modest Charlotte.

  At the punch table, the winded Elizabeth Bennet joined her sister Jane as John Lucas fetched both women a glass. A flutter coursed through Elizabeth's body as she had truly enjoyed the quick music and her twirls with Mr. Lucas.

  "Lizzie, do you see that Mr. Bingley and his company are present?" Elizabeth searched the crowd demurely until Jane qualified their position more clearly. "There, next to Sir Lucas."

  Elizabeth wrinkled her nose. "I fail to see ten eligible bachelors in tow." Just then, she made eye contact with Caroline Bingley across the assembly room as she made an ill-timed laugh over her own jest.

  "Sssshhhh, you know how gossip is stretched in our county. They look perfectly amiable to me." Jane gave a small smile to the fair-headed gentleman, whom she assumed to be Mr. Bingley.

  "Who is amiable?" John Lucas returned with the punch and Mr. Albert Masters, Elizabeth's next partner. He gave each lady a cooling glass of refreshment while the musicians began to tune up for the next set.

  "Why anyone we've yet to make an acquaintance with! All strangers are perfectly amiable!" Elizabeth beamed at Mr. Lucas, hoping to tease one more smile from the man she'd known since childhood. Her efforts were rewarded as Mr. Masters escorted her to the floor and she happily met John's gaze before turning her attention to the set.

  Before long, the smile on Elizabeth's face was replaced with a serious frown. As Albert spun and clapped with Elizabeth in time to the music, dutifully minding his step and not treading on her toes, a most horrific scene played before her. There was John Lucas, her John Lucas, talking with that deplorable lady and his father! The woman placed her hand on John's arm as they shared a laugh and gazed pointedly in her general direction.