1. Lady Rebecca Fitzwilliam, the sister I invented for Colonel Fitzwilliam in my debut novel Happier is back, and sassier than ever!
2. After widespread illness kills Jane’s horrible husband, Mr. Bennet, and many others, Elizabeth resides in London with Jane and her in-laws.
3. The mischievous Fitzwilliam siblings enjoy pranks, public debauchery, and playful wagers.
4. About halfway through the book, Lady Catherine does something so evil butso hilarious – I can’t believe it took me 15 novels to think of it!
5. I snuck in a Monty Python reference, and I’m not the least bit sorry.
6. Lady Susan Vernon slaps one of the Bennet sisters (and not the one you
think!)
7. Jane Bennet has depth, agency, and an angsty growth/healing arc that shines as much as the Darcy & Lizzy love story.
8. Mr. Bingley is desperate to prove himself worthy, though at one point he gets a little too carried away.
9. Mrs. Bennet has a way of making Elizabeth go feral with rage (and rightly so!)
10. With a swoon-worthy Darcy and a smitten Elizabeth, there are lots of sweet smooches in this book – but nothing spicier.
***
Read an excerpt
When Elizabeth looked over at her sister, she could see that Jane had gone pale, the joy she had radiated all day now drained from her face. She cast Elizabeth a look of silent pleading. “Surely Jane need not marry again if she does not wish it,” Elizabeth said to the dowager countess.
Lady Augusta shook her head. “Poor Richard cannot manage Thomas’s affairs forever!” Her son grimaced. “Poor Richard was glad to give up his constant peril in the army and live a life of ease looking after the little earl’s holdings. I should rather remain in the service of a child than sell myself to the highest bidder amongst the debutantes.”
“Oh, I think you are a little old for a debutante,” his mother sniffed. Jane plaintively pressed her lips together; Elizabeth could well imagine what her sister was thinking. After all the torment she had endured at the hands of the man forced upon her by the rapacious Mrs. Bennet, Jane wished never to marry again – certainly not without the deepest love, respect, and above all, trust.
Lady Augusta, for all her imperiousness, was fond of her children, her stepdaughter-in-law, and even Elizabeth, whom she had come to consider one of her own brood. And she had known what her stepson was, what Jane had suffered.
She patted Jane’s cheek tenderly. “I have a good man in mind for you, my dear.” Richard groaned. “I can guess who you mean, and he will not accede to your wishes so easily, Mamma. He has never capitulated to Lady Catherine.”
“Pish! That is because that ghastly woman resides entirely in a realm of her own delusion, and nobody would have her insipid daughter! But our Jane is the loveliest, dearest creature in the world. And he ought to wed before it is time for his sister to enter society. I think them eminently suited in disposition. Look, even Rebecca agrees with me.”
Rebecca could not conceal her hilarity, which was often the case. “Forgive me, Mamma – I smile because I think it preposterous! Darcy is duller than dirt!” Richard snorted with laughter. “You only say that because he would not have you the season you came out.”
“I would not have him – or any man! I hope you will excuse me from any matrimonial schemes, Mamma. You know I must end a spinster and keep you company in your dotage.”
“Say dotage again, Rebecca, and I shall reconsider my leniency toward your determination to drive men away as if it were your vocation.” Lady Augusta lifted her gaze heavenward and gave a long-suffering sigh, though she could not hide her bemusement; she loved to vex ‘her young people.’
“It is my great calling,” Rebecca drawled. “And I cannot like your notion of matchmaking for poor Jane. You may throw Richard to the dogs – by which I mean the women he fancies – but cannot Jane simply re-enter society and make merry, and only wed if and when she meets a man she likes?”
Elizabeth and Jane each gave the woman they called sister a look of gratitude. If they were to rejoin the first circles their relations belonged to, they could depend upon Lady Rebecca as their staunchest defender.
“Certainly not! She is far too inexperienced – forgive me, my dear, but it is the truth. Every fortune hunter in London will be queuing to woo her – it is not to be borne! And is such a one to be a father to my grandson, to shape the character of the young Earl of Matlock? Are the shades of Matlock to be thus polluted? No indeed! Our fortune, our country seat in Derbyshire, our very family reputation must be considered – and protected. Darcy is an imposing fellow, and he will do the job creditably. No grasping, artful puppy would dare work any mischief on Jane with Darcy at her side. And would they not make a handsome couple?”
Jane fidgeted with her hands before looking up at the dowager countess. “You refer to Robert’s cousin, Mr. Darcy of Pemberley?”
“I suppose you never met him – he and Robert did not always get along,” the dowager mused with a forlorn sigh.
“Proof of his goodness, I shall grant you,” Richard quipped. “He and I have always been close, though he seldom comes to London. I can vouch for his good character, though I wish no further involvement in the scheme. Darcy does not like being managed.”
“Perhaps that is why he has not taken a wife already,” Elizabeth said archly. “If he is so grand and handsome, as you say, Lady Augusta, there must be some reason he is single. Pray, what sort of man is he?”
“Silent, brooding, and perpetually displeased,” Rebecca huffed. “He does not like dancing or cards, protested every scheme of mischief in our youth, and never speaks unless he can say something that will amaze the whole room.”
Jane looked stricken for a moment, but offered Lady Augusta a serene smile. “You must think well of him, or you would not make a match between us.”
“He is guarded and cautious, both desirable qualities in my estimation, but amongst intimate acquaintance he can be pleasing when he wishes it. He is exceedingly intelligent and makes an excellent master of Pemberley, which is a grander estate even than Matlock. His sister Georgiana must be sixteen now, I think.
I recall she was always a timid little thing, but he is ever so patient with her. He will not mind your reserve, dearest.”
Elizabeth could see her sister’s hesitance. “But what are his tastes, his occupations? What are his passions and pursuits?”
Lady Augusta looked flummoxed. “Well! Jane is very welcome to ask him, Miss Lizzy! I am only suggesting that she become acquainted with him, after all. And perhaps he may have a fine friend for you, but I beg you would not pester him with your impertinence.”
“You must leave that to me,” Rebecca said flatly. “He will have no patience to spare for you, when I shall be straining the entirety of his forbearance.”
“I am sure you shall, my heart,” Lady Augusta sighed, looking ready to throw up her hands in defeat.
“I am far too beholden to you to be half as difficult as I may wish to be,” Elizabeth told the dowager with a waggle of her eyebrows. “And if Jane likes him, I shall be your fiercest ally in uniting them. If he has a handsome friend for me, I am sure I shall never give you the slightest trouble ever again.”
About the Book
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Elizabeth Bennet enters London society at the side of her favorite sister, a widowed countess….
Elizabeth Bennet and her sister have resided at Matlock House in London with Jane’s in-laws for two years, deepening their familial bond with Lady Augusta - the mother Mrs. Bennet never was - and her mischievous children, Richard and Lady Rebecca. And now, it is time for the eligible countess and her lively, devoted sister to re-emerge in London society….
Lady Augusta is set on finding Jane a husband, and she has selected her favorite nephew, Fitzwilliam Darcy. Things hit a snag when Mr. Darcy unwittingly insults Elizabeth, and Lady Augusta’s plans are utterly dashed when Mr. Darcy realizes that Elizabeth Bennet is the only woman in the world who could ever tempt him.
Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy both face a battle between their sense of family duty and their irrepressible attraction to one another. Tensions rise when Mr. Bingley begins courting Jane Fitzwilliam; when Lady Catherine arrives in London, she makes her own sentiments known, and Elizabeth is swept up in the chaos that ensues.
Elizabeth and Jane make a hasty retreat to Derbyshire along with their friends & family. Springtime in the countryside has both Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingley ready to woo their ladies, but old resentments fan the flames of family pressure, and the lovers are driven to drastic action. How far will Elizabeth Bennet go for love?
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