Chapter 1

Who asks a woman to marry them before they even have a date?

Dumb- dumbs like him. That's who.

He'd just gotten carried away. That fact was irrefutable. But Elizabeth Bennet had that affect on him.

William Darcy stood bleakly atop Mt. Rainer. He wasn't afraid of tumbling off the mountainside, the results of one misstep on the narrow ledge. He wasn't even overcome with exhilaration from his strenuous climb and achievement. Instead, he felt nothing.

That wasn't entirely true. Inside, a low whooshing sound pulse through him. Much like that of sounds heard inside a large shell, sounds of the ocean's waves breaking over and over. This angst was not what he expected to be feeling. No.

He called the vast emptiness inside him mortification. Henry, his cousin, called it heartbreak.

All his life he'd tried to do right. Treat people well, make purposeful, well thought out decisions, and moved forward with light footstep, knowing that his actions affected other. His personal actions affected his sister, Georgiana. He business actions affected people he didn't know but where dependent on him.

This mindfulness of others was a great weight upon him that he took seriously.

The one time he gave into impulse and emotion, such as it was, was to propose to Elizabeth Bennet. He couldn't bear to leave Meryton and not see her again. To bask in the warmth of her fine eyes and feel the life in her quick and happy laugh.

His first hint should have been that neither her warm gaze from such pretty eyes or easy laughter was ever for him. No, he'd been a bystander to those pleasant gifts, yet he'd often been the recipient of her angry stare and thin pressed lips. Why ever had he thought she'd want to spend a lifetime with him when she couldn't stand to spend a full day?

Darcy sat on a large boulder and drank from his Camelback. He knew why.

It had been when they'd gone into the city and for a small blip in time she'd not turn scorn to him, but had been…well…something else. Something more enchanting then she already was.

Then he'd seen her having lunch with Wickham. At first he hadn't been concerned because Elizabeth was a great judge of character. It was her business after all to know the falsities people spun. But she didn't seem to see the dark blight of Wickham's soul. She laughed and touched his arm and Darcy had to get away from it all. Needed time to regroup and strategize. From those quiet moments had come the idea to propose.

Hm. Perhaps he should have waited longer before acting on idea, but his gut rarely led him astray and his gut told him that Elizabeth Bennet was perfect for him.

Only, Darcy had underestimated the depth to which she despised him. That much was clear when she turned him down. Enter gapping hole where heart used to be.

He picked up a pebble and tossed it over the edge. It soared off, free for a brief moment before beginning its free fall. That's where he was, in the free-fall stage. Once he hit bottom he would pick himself up and move on. He'd given into the silly notion of perfect partner and had his own beliefs thrown back at him. All by a woman who he'd kissed exactly once, had never dated, and knew very little about. Come on, who asked a girl to marry them before they'd even gone on a date? What year was this? But he'd looked into her eyes and knew to his very being that one date would never be enough with her.

He should have tried asking her out, gone about getting to know her better. Letting her get to know him, too.

Darcy huffed. He knew enough. He knew she was a fighter, loyal, and brave. She had a clever business mind and could admit defeat and ask for help. She was courageous where he was not. She knew nothing about him. True to his character he'd held as much from her, from all of them, as he always did.

And now he didn't know how to fix it or if it could be fixed. Affairs of the heart were over his head.

The satellite phone in his jacket pocket rang, startling him from his self-loathing.

It had better be an emergency for someone to call his Sat Phone when he had explicitly stated he did not want to be interrupted.

"This better be good," he barked into the phone.

The laughter from the other end was as familiar to him as his own. He'd grown up hearing that laugh.

"Seriously, Anne. I hope you know that I'm trying to be out of the office."

"And since I don't work for you any longer you can assume that this is a personal call instead." She didn't even sound put off by his abrupt manners. Likely she was immune to it.

"Is everyone all right?" He slid from the rock and stood, mentally evaluating the quickest way off the mountain face.

"Yes, everyone is fine––"

He slumped against the rock. "That's a relief."

"If you are asking about your immediately family, that is."

He stood tall again then lifted up his backpack. Taking from the pocket a protein bar, he stuffed it in his front pocket keeping the phone in place using his shoulder. After which, he swung the pack onto his back and headed for the trail down. Maybe the pit inside him had been a warning of something bad- worse than acknowledging he might live an empty life without knowing love.

"Explain, please."

"Guess who dropped in on Meryton Matchmakers?" Anne's voice lowered.

"You're mother? Is she there now?" His aunt, Lady Catherine de Bourgh had washed her hands of the small matchmaking company. It was unlike her to circle back around.

"Not my mother."

Darcy snorted with frustration. "If not your mother than who?"

"George Wickham. You remember him don't you?" Anne was nearly whispering now and he pressed the phone closer to his ear.

Afraid the wind might have played a trick on his hearing he said, "Come again? Did you say George was there?"

"Yes." This time she came in loud and clear.

Darcy paused and cupped his hand over the other ear. "What could he possible want with Meryton?" In his mind he ran through the options, none of them good.

"He says he wants to meet a nice woman. Date people who want to know the real him and not the famous him."

Darcy mumbled a curse. Any fame Wickham had was all due to the opportunities Darcy acquired for him. Keeping Wickham in a job was a full time position itself. The soap opera he was currently starring in threatened to fire him at least once a week. Of course, they made their threats to Darcy who would then find something they needed and stave off their demands by providing it. More money for set design or advertising, getting some good press from another of one of the businesses Darcy owned, or hiring a personal assistant to keep Wickham out of their hair had done the trick so far. Yet, Darcy couldn't always be there to make life easier for George––or Geo as he liked to be called–– the man had to step up. If he learned his lines and showed up on time a large majority of his problems would disappear.

"A nice woman, you say?" Wickham didn't do nice woman. Not unless they came with a ton of innocence and hefty trust fund.

"I think he has his eye on Elizabeth, to tell you the truth. He follows her everywhere." Anne sighed into the phone. "He's so annoying to have around."

"Elizabeth is allowing this?" She knew about Wickham and his dirty secret. Darcy had shared it with her. A secret he'd not shared with anyone save Henry, his cousin, and only then because he needed a second person to be his sister's guardian should something happen to him.

"He's here, isn't he? And honestly, Elizabeth hasn't been herself lately but I attribute that to all the chaos with getting these meet-and-greet- events going."

"What do you want me to do, Anne? I'm not involved with the company anymore and Elizabeth is a smart businesswoman. She's not going to buy into anything Wickham has to offer." He really hoped this was true. Wickham could be very persuasive.

"It's not her business I'm worried about," Anne retorted. "She seems vulnerable and he seems ready to pounce on that."

The path before Darcy was nothing but switchbacks, anything could be waiting around the next bend. This was also true in life and just like he had his path Elizabeth had hers.

He sighed heavily. "I'm headed back to the city. Keep your eye on things and let me know if something shifts."

"You aren't coming? Come on, man. This guy is a creep. I know it. You know it. We have to tell Elizabeth and her family." Anne sounded as exasperated as he felt.

"She knows it, Anne."

There was a long pause before Anne responded, "Okay, if she knows then I'll just keep my ear to the ground and see if anything changes."

"Yeah, please do that."

They disconnected the call without so much as a goodbye. No, Darcy didn't like Wickham being there anymore than Anne did. But his hands were tied, were they not?

Just in case, he hurried down the path. He didn't want to be stuck on a mountain should things at Meryton take a negative turn.

Author's Note: Hi! I hope that you all are doing well and having a fabulous new year. It's been a few months since I've been able to post (and work on these stories), but its so exciting to be back.

I've decided to write two novellas and one more large novel.

So, we left off with Mary and Colonel Fitzwilliam getting together and Darcy proposing to Elizabeth out of the blue. Now we are going to have them forced to come together to fight Wickham (who has his own secret- be prepared it might make you like Wickham when its all said and done). This will be the 3rd book (novella length) and the 4th book (novella length) will be Jane and Bingley. Darcy and Elilzabeth will be at odds once again as she struggles to forgive his meddling ways. The series will finish with Darcy and Lizzy's story (Book 5- full length). If everyone likes these then I have a few other short stories planned. Kitty needs her happily ever after, right?

Anyway, thanks for your patience. Life got a little hard there for a while and we are learning to live with our new normal. As always I appreciate all your feedback. I'm open to ideas of what you'd like to see happen and what did/didn't work.

Have a great weekend,

XOXO

Kristi

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