An Accidental Elopement

Chapter One

To celebrate their favorite nieces 20th birthday, the Gardiner's decided to take their Elizabeth on a tour of the lakes. However Mr. Gardiner's business affairs delay their trip until the August following her birthday and limited their travels to Derbyshire.

Elizabeth was not let down by this at all. Derbyshire possessed such wild, untamed wonders that she felt she could stay there forever. Her wish was not to be granted.

The day before the group was to visit Pemberley, a beautiful house with exquisite grounds, Mr. Gardiner received word that his warehouse had received three different shipments arriving at once, all them months ahead of when they should have. He had to quickly return and sort everything out.

Being somewhat let down that she was unable to see the grounds her aunt had spoken so highly of, Mrs. Gardiner promised Elizabeth that she would make it up to her once they returned to town, a special stop to the best bookstore in London.

With that thought Elizabeth eagerly packed her bags for the return trip to town.

Because of the urgency of his business matters, Mr. Gardiner decided that his family should leave that very night. The moon was full and they would be able to cover a good amount of ground before day break.

The Gardiner's carriage sat outside the inn at Lampton ready for its owners departure. Elizabeth and her aunt stepped inside to wait Mr. Gardiner's arrival.

Elizabeth quickly dozed off. Mrs Gardiner, seeing her niece so peaceful, decided not to wake her when she exited the carriage in search of her husband to remind him to not forget one last present they had promised their youngest child.

The closing of the carriage door, marking her aunts exit, startled Elizabeth awake. Realizing her aunt must've stepped out for minute, Elizabeth felt it was her last chance at some fresh air before their journey began.

With that in mind Elizabeth stepped outside of the carriage. The sun was fading fast in the sky and the street was quickly darkening. Despite it being August the feel of fall was already upon them.

Enjoying the crisp air of the North, Elizabeth pull her the hood of her cloak over her head and continue down the street.

'I shall truly miss Derbyshire," she though as she continued on down the lane. 'I hope one day I am able to return.'

On the opposite side of the street a exquisitely handsome carriage pulled up and stopped.

From it stepped down a fine figure of a gentleman. Everything from his impeccably styled hair to the high shine on his boot spoke volumes about his wealth.

"Stay in the carriage Georgiana," said the gentleman. "I will only be a moment in here. I promised our aunt we would bring her some of her favorite chocolates from Mr. Smithwick's store."

He smiled as he closed the carriage door. A smile that did not quiet reach his eyes his sister noticed.

Georgiana felt wretched. She had disappointed her brother and failed to live up to the Darcy family name. Instead of joining his friend Charles Bingley in town to discuss helping him run his own estate, he was taking her to Scotland to visit their paternal aunt.

Her brother was trying to act kindly to her, telling her no harm was done and she was lucky he arrived at Ramsgate when he did but she knew he was unhappy with her almost elopement. She hated having her brother unhappy by anything, least of all her.

Fitzwilliam Darcy had enough to test his nerves and patience without having to add his sister to that list. Georgiana loved to have her brother return home from a dinner party or ball and talk about all the ridiculous women throwing themselves at him, clearly only after his money. They would laugh as Miss Darcy would ask her brother how absurd Miss Bingley's latest hair accessories were. Now she was just another lady who had disappointed him.

She could stand these thoughts any longer and felt that she need to feel the cool air on her face, anything to prevent her from bursting into tears again.

Pulling up her hood she left the carriage seeking a small amount of solitude before the long drive north. Knowing the new footman wouldn't dare stop her, she began her walk down the nearly deserted road.

Elizabeth's stroll didn't last long. She was far more fatigue then she realized and turned back to head towards her uncle's coach. In her tired state she realized she had gotten turned around and wasn't quite sure which direction it was.

Thankfully her uncles footman must've recognized her as he jumped down quickly to open the carriage door for her. Glad that she was closer to the carriage then she had originally thought Elizabeth entered and rested her head against the windows waiting for her aunt and uncle's return. The last thing she remembered before she drifted to sleep was her uncles deep voice commanding the driver to start their journey.

'My my uncle's voice sound deep. I hope he is not getting a cold,' though Elizabeth as she rest her head on her uncle's shoulder as sleep over came her.

Georgiana having final gained some command over her emotions, turned back toward her brother's carriage. She had not noticed how dark it had become. She could barely recognize shops and stores she knew well and hope to quickly find her way back. Noticing the carriage was not where she had left it she panicked for a moment before she realized it had just been moving to the other side of the street.

Making her way quickly over, before her brother noticed she had left, Georgiana practically ran the rest of the way.

As the footman assisted her inside, she laid her head against the cool glass of the window. The last month of stress and emotional turmoil had finally taken its toll on the young girl. Pulling her hood down further so her brother could not see the tears that fell down her cheek, exhaustion finally over took her.

The young girl was unaware of the well dressed older couple that enter and bid their driver to continue on.

Both carriages made excellent time owning to the fact the moon was bright, the sky cloudless and there was little in the way other other travelers to contend with.

It was several hours later, as the sun had just started to rise, that the Darcy carriage pulled up to its first stop at the Scottish boarder.

Once his sister rested her head upon him, Mr. Darcy put his arm around her and pull his sister close to his body and remained that way for the rest of the journey.

Darcy could believe how lucky he was. He had almost lost his baby sister to one of the worst scoundrels around. Having her securely in his arms, he was finally able to heave a sigh of relief.

Darcy followed his sister into a deep sleep comforted by the idea she was safe by his side. Now having traveled all night long they slowly drew to a stop.

Darcy kissed the top of his sister's head to wake her.

"My dear one we're here of you want to awake and stretch your legs", Darcy said softly to his sister.

The body wrapped in his arm had suddenly gone very rigid.

His sister threw back her hood and instead of being met with Georgiana's soft blue eye and smooth golden hair, he saw fiery brown eyes accompanied by a mess of untamed chocolate brown curls. He was also met with an ear splitting shriek and a hard slap across his face.

200 miles to the south the Gardiners were meeting with a similar sound issuing from a young woman they though was their niece.

AN: Hello all. I wanted to attach a few warnings to the story. First if you like long, drawn out, angsty stories that make it seem as though Elizabeth and Darcy will never get there HEA, you might want to skip this story. Rather light and fluffy with barely enough drama to give it a storyline. Also this story is complete but since I am editing it myself the updates will probably be once a week. Oh also the distance they traveled is unrealistic for the time period but makes the story so again if you can't get past that, I would recommend not continuing.

Disclaimer: Pride and prejudice belongs to Jane Austen. This story is protected under copyright law and is not allowed to be used, copies or republished without written consent from the author. (Sorry I have to included this but apparently there have been issues)