AN - Well you asked for it. Actually once the idea hit, I've been writing furiously ever since. So far there are five parts complete. It will be about ten to fifteen chapters long, each being one to two thousand words in length.
'You Madam,' Darcy couldn't look his newly betrothed in the eye, 'have managed what many a lady has tried. You Madam,' his voice rose with each word clearly displaying his distress and fury, 'have succeeded where many others have failed.'
Looking on with amusement, Mr Bennet allowed the confrontation to take place. Both his daughter and Mr Darcy seemed to be of a taciturn disposition with tempers to match. They needed to clear the air between them. Then, he hoped, they might begin to appreciate the similarities of character.
'This is not my fault,' Elizabeth rounded on the man. Eyes still alight with indignation the next day.
As if last night had not been embarrassing enough, Mr Darcy arrived before the family broke their fast this morning. Closeted with Mr Bennet in the library for over an hour, Mrs Hill called Elizabeth to attend her father as her nerves finally got the better of her. She'd worked herself up into a furious ball of energy which she needed to expunge on someone, namely Mr Darcy.
Knowing what would be expected of her and accepting that fate were two entirely different thoughts, neither of which Lizzy wanted to consider. She'd hoped the entire situation could be explained away. Obviously her father, perhaps for the first time in her life, followed through on a punishment for one of his five daughters.
'Did you not fall into my arms?' Darcy returned sceptically, almost accusing her of manufacturing the events.
He'd been played, completely and utterly. Oh several had attempted it in the past. His position and wealth made him a target. Fitzwilliam's reluctance to enter society and stoic, severe façade when he did stopped many a mother attempting to lure him. However, it did not stop the attempts altogether.
'You make it sound as if I acted deliberately, when you know I did not!' Elizabeth found her ire increasing at the unwarranted accusation. The moment the man walked into the room, before she'd even met him or been introduced, Lizzy understood his pride and arrogance. He, like Mr Bingley's sisters, thought better of themselves than their surroundings. They'd looked down their noses at the quaint country society. She'd already been inclined to dislike the gentleman before this unfortunate event. 'I believe you are the last man in the world I would ever want to marry.'
'Do you not?' he countered in a soft, hard, uncompromising voice.
'No. I do not know why you would accuse me of such a vile act. You trod on my dress and tore it,' Lizzy hissed in response. 'It unbalanced me and I fell. You could have let me fall then only my pride would have been wounded. This is all your fault Mr Darcy. If you had not been lingering in the hallway, I would never have happened upon you.'
'Very convenient, I dare say,' he seethed, 'not to have seen me as you tripped. I could not, reasonably be expected to see a young lady injured. You cannot claim the area open only to ladies or the hallway dark. I had every right to be there. You careered into me, Miss Bennet, before I trod on your hem.'
'I did not smash down a door,' Elizabeth returned, less embarrassed and angry in the extreme, 'bringing a lady through it and landing atop her for all to see. You are no gentleman, Mr Darcy.'
'ENOUGH,' Mr Bennet roared finally tired of the accusations. He understood the jist of the accident. Still he wondered just how Elizabeth's, ah, flesh became exposed and Mr Darcy's hand attached to it. It must have occurred as they fell through the rotten door. Perhaps a splinter tore her gown allowing her assets to spill out.
'None of this matters,' he returned to a quieter voice filled with resolve. 'Every person at the Meryton Assembly Hall witnessed what occurred. You Mr Darcy, will ride to London tomorrow, beg for a special licence and marry my daughter within a week. I will not be moved on the timing after the spectacle you both created. After the wedding you will remove to London or Derbyshire or anywhere you please until this is forgot. I am sorry, Elizabeth, but this is how it must be. I must protect the reputation of your mother and sisters.'
'I will not marry him,' Elizabeth vowed, a mulish expression covering her face. 'I do not know Mr Darcy and I do not care to know him.'
'The feeling would be mutual, believe me, if this were not necessary,' Darcy responded. He found himself at a loss to understand her anger and resentment. Eyes boring into his betrothed, she should be relieved Darcy accepted his responsibility. He could walk away without consequence. The same could not be said for Miss Bennet's reputation. 'However you will be my wife and act accordingly.'
'I believe,' Mr Bennet tried desperately to hide a smirk at his daughters' antics, 'you know Mr Darcy as well as any woman can claim. As to Mr Darcy, everyone noted the position of your right hand on my daughter's anatomy. Enough now, Lizzy, you will be wed from the parish church. I can only pray you are able to find some felicity in marriage given this beginning.'
'I will return to Netherfield immediately and make ready to depart for London post haste,' Darcy looked shocked at the man's words. It seemed Mr Bennet knew the incident had aroused his baser instincts, and from the sound of it, his daughters as well. Perhaps there would be some redeeming graces to this forced marriage. 'I will return to dine with your family tomorrow night so Miss Bennet and I may come to know one another better.'
'Very good,' Octavius Bennet nodded, dismissing the man.
'You can't mean it, Papa,' Elizabeth cried as Darcy left the library.
'In deed I do,' he returned. 'It is an unfortunate business, Lizzy. If only your sister and Bingley had been the sole witnesses,' at this Mr Bennet coloured and pointed to his chest and groin indicating the extremely inappropriate behaviour, 'we might have been able to hush it up. As it is, half of Meryton saw you exposed and the young man's reaction to it. They will think, well, you know what they will think, even if we know it not to be true. I'm afraid there is nothing else that can be done. You will be Mrs Darcy within a sevennight.'
As the young woman left, Fanny Bennet attacked her second daughter like a bulldog. Undoubtedly the woman listened at the door. Counting down the seconds, his wife of four and twenty years didn't disappoint. Her shouts of glee, for a daughter engaged and to a man of ten thousand a year, could be heard all the way to Meryton.
'We are saved,' she enthused. 'Oh Lizzy, you are such a clever one, to capture Mr Darcy so.'
Closing the door, Octavius Bennet sighed while pouring himself a drink. 'Poor Lizzy,' he shook his head. 'The girl won't get a moments peace. Yet I have the feeling this might all just work out in the end. I believe Darcy to be a good and honourable man. Lizzy will have her work cut out for her in the attempt to tame him.'
What do you think?
