The Other Elizabeth Bennet

By Meg Osborne

A case of mistaken identity...

 

Rarely poised to listen to gossip, Fitzwilliam Darcy can't help but be concerned when he learns that his friend is entangled with a "Miss Bennet" related to the Elizabeth he has heard dreadful rumours about. What he doesn't expect is to find himself unable to control his own heart when they first meet.

 

Elizabeth Bennet is mystified by Mr Darcy's mention of her "adventures in London" and when she has the chance to return to the capital she is determined to discover the truth and clear her name. She might not care what the haughty Mr Darcy thinks of her but she certainly doesn't want all of London talking of misdeeds she hasn't committed. 

 

Unexpectedly reunited, can Lizzy and Mr Darcy overcome malice, mischief and misunderstandings and admit their true feelings?

 

The Other Elizabeth Bennet is a sweet regency retelling of Jane Austen's beloved Pride and Prejudice.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Meg Osborne
• Release date: Jun 9, 2017
• ISBN: 9781386391845

Meg Osborne

Meg Osborne is an avid reader, tea drinker and unrepentant history nerd.  She writes sweet historical romance stories and Jane Austen fanfiction, and can usually be found knitting, dreaming up new stories, or adding more books to her tbr list than she'll get through in a lifetime.

Book preview

Chapter One

Ifear my brother is mere days away from making a very foolish match. I can do little, being merely his sister, but I know he thinks well of you and values your opinions, Mr Darcy, and so I implore you to come at once to Netherfield and keep him from a decision we might all live to regret...

Fitzwilliam Darcy tossed his letter aside with a sigh. It was the third such missive he had received in as many days inviting him to visit Netherfield Park and spend time with the Bingleys. At least now Caroline had moved on from sending him long, flowery descriptions of the great house, the grounds, the exquisite county of Hertfordshire rendered dull without his intelligent company... When that did not instantly summon Mr Darcy forth, Caroline had changed tack and mentioned their neighbours. Such kind, friendly folk, albeit dreadfully countrified. There is not an ounce of sophistication between them, suggesting, Darcy had thought with grim amusement, that Caroline Bingley herself was a model of sophistication herself. He had still not gone. Now, it seemed, she had determined to employ the very trick that might encourage him into action: Charles Bingley's alarming propensity to fall in love at the drop of a hat, or a handkerchief, or a teacup. Darcy could list half a dozen such accidents - engineered, he did not doubt, by the young Miss in question and with the distinct aim of catching the eye of the handsome bachelor worth a rumoured five thousand per year. Charles was too good-natured to ever suspect such scheming, but Darcy and Caroline - who noticed the schemes arguably because she had so often employed them herself in her own quest for a husband - were on hand to educate him and more recently to extricate him from the ballrooms and dining tables of London to the altogether safer country location of Netherfield Park in Hertfordshire. Apparently, neither Caroline nor Darcy had counted on scheming young ladies residing in the countryside.

Staring blankly out of the window of his study, Darcy debated for a moment before making his decision. He would go to Netherfield. Not because Caroline had ordered him thus - his features darkened at the suggestion of his doing anything at the request of Caroline Bingley - but because his friend was clearly in need of support and sanity, both of which Darcy was well-equipped to bring.

And in any case, it is not as if London holds such great attractions. He replayed his evening, which had been spent sitting in this very chair, attending to the letters from his staff concerning one of his properties in the north. He might have done precisely the same at Pemberley, or at Netherfield Park, for that matter. It would require far less of him in terms of society, for despite his best endeavours there were only so many invitations that could be refused in London without causing offence. In Hertfordshire he would be a stranger, and able to defer the majority of their socialising to Charles and Caroline, and had that lady not said there were few enough people in their locality worthy of getting to know?

He slid the letter back into view, running his eyes over it once more. Some mention of a name had nettled him, poking into his memory in a way he could not quite answer.

Charles has been captivated by a Miss Jane Bennet, of Longbourn, the first of four sisters - four sisters! - who are all as silly and scheming as she is. There is some relief to be felt that it is the eldest, Jane, and not her sister, Eliza, who has captured my brother’s fancy, for despite Jane being apparently the greatest beauty in the county, Elizabeth is esteemed also to possess a striking prettiness as well as an intelligent wit, which recommendations I confess do not speak well of Hertfordshire’s womenfolk.

Eliza Bennet - Elizabeth Bennet. Darcy frowned. Why did that name strike him as familiar? He did not recognise the sister’s, although he had come across plenty of Janes in his life. Longbourn, too, was foreign to him, but Elizabeth Bennet...? Realisation struck him like a blow, and he lifted the note closer, scanning Caroline's words with intensity, as if there might be some truth, some confirmation of his fears scratched with her pen that he had missed on his first or second perusal. But no, the words had not changed. Elizabeth Bennet was little more than beauty and wit.

And scandal, Darcy muttered, casting the letter down again in frustration. Now he recalled it. He had not met Elizabeth Bennet himself but had certainly heard mention of her during his time in London. She was come recently - come and returned again, if Caroline’s assessment was true, for it certainly sounded as if all five Bennet sisters were settled once more in Hertfordshire. Her visit to the capital had been mercifully short, then, and yet its brevity had not hindered her in her goal to enjoy herself at others’ expense, to flirt and interfere and cause more than one heart to be broken. If this Jane Bennet was a relation of hers, then certainly, Bingley needed to be kept away from her at all costs, lest she be just as damaging as her sister. Hurrying to the door of his study, he turned just long enough to sweep up the pile of letters from his desk and carry them with him. He summoned his butler and explained his intention to quit London immediately for Netherfield Park in Hertfordshire, and was momentarily amused by the man’s shocked reaction. His master was not prone to sudden decisions or swift changes of course, and the demand to leave at once, within the hour, was so out of character that the poor man stood still in surprise for half a moment, until Darcy’s gruff encouragement pressed him to act.

Do you misunderstand me, Fletcher? Ready the horses, see to my cases, I have one last task to see to before I return and will want to leave as soon as possible thereafter.

He shoved the armful of letters into his confused man’s open arms.

And find some safe storage for these, I shall want them with me on my trip.

He did not wait to see Fletcher spring into action, but a murmured Yes, sir, in something that approximated his butler’s usual dry tone suggested normality had been restored and all that Darcy had commanded would be done forthwith.

Darcy, himself, had an errand to run, and he took half a moment to steel himself for the task. It was unfortunate that it was women, rather than men, who were the keepers of information about society, but it could not be helped. He ran through his circle to find the least difficult member and settled on Mrs Amelia Huntington. She was already wed, which would take part of the anxiety out of their visit. There would be no danger of him being seen to show partiality or affection in visiting her above any other. He had a standing friendship with her husband, and - he patted his coat down, and in the end pulled out his own pair of gloves as a prop. He sought only to return a mystery glove that must, surely, belong to Peter? He filed its pair away out of sight, and shook his head, wishing he might resort to plain truth and not this artifice in seeking his information, but he did not want to be taken for a gossip, and calling on friends without an excuse was no habit of his. Even if the excuse was paltry and, in this case, utterly fabricated.

He pulled the door open and began the short walk to the Huntington’s house without another moment's hesitation, fearing if he did not go now he would not go at all, and he needed another set of brains to puzzle out the mystery of Elizabeth Bennet. Darcy had not met her, himself, but he knew that Amelia had, and like her husband, she would be fair in her assessment and honest in her opinions. He did not need to hear gossip re-told, but a true picture of what Miss Elizabeth Bennet was like. He did not intend to face her unprepared.

ELIZABETH BENNET WAS the queen of all she surveyed. Of course, her kingdom consisted of fields, rather than buildings and an army of solitary bees flitting from flower to flower which would win her no wars, but in that instant, she felt certain that even King George could not be any more content. She shuffled her position, angling for a fraction more comfort, and the branch beneath her creaked precipitously beneath her weight.

Don’t you dare! she said, warningly, to the tree that had been her constant companion as a child. I know it has been some years since I climbed this high, but you cannot mean to tell me I am grown too big to do it. I shall simply ignore you. Nonetheless, she did shimmy a little closer to the tree’s trunk and felt rather safer a moment later, with more branches beneath her to hold her weight. Taking one last satisfied look at the countryside stretching out below, she sighed happily and reached for her book, opening it to precisely the page she had left off, and in a moment more had returned to the terrifying battle, the romantic love affair, the desperation of the quest that she had lost many an hour to already that week.

Lizzy?

It was not that she ignored Jane’s voice, rather that she was so content, so lost in her novel, that she did not hear it.

Lizzy, where are you?

On the second call, however, her reading was well and truly interrupted and she was yanked unceremoniously back to the present. The branches were no longer so very comfortable, and something jabbed awkwardly

Reviews for The Other Elizabeth Bennet

[Elin Eriksen · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A light and entertaining fast read.

This Darcy was truly obnoxious which I found highly entertaining.
Darcy had avoided the visit to Netherfield until a certain miss Elizabeth Bennet was mentioned in a letter from Caroline, urging him to come and rescue her brother from the savage Jane.
Recognising the name from the letter, he urgently went to visit some friends for the latest gossip and set out for Hertfordshire to rescue Bingley.
Running into aforementioned lady, the insults fly high but he does start to question the validity in the rumours.
The turn came across as a bit swift in its execution. Compared to the insults given and my personal flair for drama, I would have liked a thorough set down...

Recommend for the entertaining and creative plot.