When Colonel Fitzwilliam's disclosures are interrupted by the bearer of distressing news from Longbourn, Miss Elizabeth Bennet is compelled to accept an offer she would have otherwise dismissed out of hand. An offer of marriage from the all-too-proud Mr Darcy.Yet how is she to live with a husband she hardly knows and does not love? Will she continue to feel trapped in a marriage of convenience while events conspire to divide them? Or would love grow as, day by day and hour after hour, she learns to understand the man she married, before she loses his trust and his heart?
Given the 'early marriage' premise, the issue of growing affection and intimacy is central to the story. The relevant scenes are not graphic, but the novel does address mature themes. (2023 cover. Storyline unchanged).
Excerpt from 'Mr Bennet's Dutiful Daughter' - a journey from duty into love. ((c) Joana Starnes. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.)
His hand came up to cup her cheek, his fingertips stroked her hair and he smiled again. A heartbreakingly warm smile.
"There is so much I do not know of you. What joy it will be to learn everything about you."
"There is a great deal I do not know about you either. It was quite a surprise to hear that you were contemplating kissing me as far back as November."
"I should have. How foolish of me to have lost five months of happiness."
"I am glad I make you happy," she said quietly, and found with some surprise that she was in earnest.
"You know you do. More than I thought possible," Mr Darcy whispered hoarsely and reached to lift her off the sofa and bring her to sit on his lap, ensconced in a tight embrace. Elizabeth wrapped her arms around his neck, abandoning herself to his kisses, only to find guilt welling afresh when his lips left hers for long enough to whisper, "My love, you are everything."
'You must not think that! Or if you do, do not say it!' Elizabeth felt the strongest urge to caution him. 'Do not give me so much power over you.'
How strange it was to hear him openly avow it five months later. It was as if everything he had held in check was offered without hesitation, unstoppably coming in one rush after another, now that there was no reason for concealment. It was overwhelming to discover that all this wealth of feeling had been there for so long, yet she had noticed nothing.
Her heart lurched, jolted by a sharp pang of compassion - the last sentiment she had imagined Mr Darcy would inspire in her, and for the least expected reason: did he not see that it was dreadfully unwise to reveal quite so much of himself to her? That it would make him vulnerable in the extreme, and place him in the greatest danger, were she so heartless as to use it against him? Surely he did not think her equally in love, to trust her with every hidden feeling! What a shock it would be to him if her true sentiments and her misgivings should ever come to light and hurt his feelings, to say nothing of his pride! What a burden of responsibility on her, to carefully conceal them from so astute a man!
How odd indeed that she should fret so much over sparing Mr Darcy's feelings, after spending months with the firm conviction he had none. Not for her, nor for the world in general. How aptly he had put it, all that time ago, when he had remarked that her greatest fault was her propensity to wilfully misunderstand...