DUKE – Eselle Teays

Not only did Mr. Wickham tell extremely unsavory tales about the rich, arrogant man, but Mr. Wickham, handsome and charming in manners and speech, had shown a partiality toward her. She was not pleased about the unfamiliar warmth permeating her body when she and Mr. Darcy had any verbal interaction, and thus she had displayed as much hostility toward him as she could muster, as had been duly observed by her papa and Jane. Were the hostile feelings truly only pretense on her part?

There was no arguing against that warmth, even during heated and contentious debates, such as the dispute over Wickham during a dance in the Netherfield ballroom. “The Netherfield ball—that was a long time ago,” she murmured into her fluffy feather pillow. Then, the incontrovertible truth raised its righteous head: “He is married! Stop being silly!” For the first time, a twinge in her heart made her wonder whether a cruel twist of fate had put her on equal footing with him when it was too late.

Over on the other side of Mayfair, the subject of her reflections was also sleepless. His was a feeling of lightness—he had finally resolved the restlessness in his soul since he left Hertfordshire. Finding himself truly in love for the first time made him giddy, so much so that all the obstacles standing in his way to attain his love seemed inconsequential. Being married precluded him declaring his love to his heart’s desire, but even this insurmountable obstacle revealed a noble feeling he had not thought he possessed: he could bear the worst of agonies and make the most selfless sacrifice for her sake.

He now recognized and denounced his previous folly —prioritizing conventional prejudices such as wealth and connections before true love. If Elizabeth were still an impoverished country miss, he would have rushed back to Hertfordshire to offer for her. But Elizabeth could marry another while he was bound in matrimony! This realization made him sigh involuntarily. Elizabeth was now daughter to a duke.

The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author. No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher. ISBN-13: 9798267323086 Independently Printed Cover design by: Eselle Teays Library of Congress Control Number: 2018675309 Printed in the United States of America OceanofPDF.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENT All characters and some excerpts from Pride and Prejudice belong to Jane Austen.

All verifiable historical characters, buildings and events, and characters and events from literary works of the period appearing in this story are borrowed purely as vehicles in a work of fiction, which does not claim any degree of historical accuracy. I wish to thank the readers at fanfiction.net, where this story was posted. Most of all, I wish to thank Elaine C. for expertly proofreading and editing the story before publication. OceanofPDF.com CONTENTS Title Page Copyright Acknowledgement Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34 Chapter 35 Chapter 36 Chapter 37 Chapter 38 About The Author Books By This Author OceanofPDF.com E CHAPTER 1 January 1812 Longbourn, Hertfordshire lizabeth Bennet felt dispirited, an unfamiliar emotion to one not made for melancholy.

She sat in the window seat of her bedroom, looking out at the lifeless brown garden this gray winter’s day. In her hand was a letter from Jane, who had been in London since the New Year, staying with her Aunt and Uncle Gardiner near Cheapside. Elizabeth had read the letter to her mother and sisters when it first arrived.

Even Mrs. Bennet’s ever-optimistic conviction that her beautiful Jane could catch a rich gentleman—if not a lord— wavered. “What is this sad business of Jane? She simply could not be so beautiful for nothing!” Mrs. Bennet lamented pitifully. Only Elizabeth knew how deeply Jane’s heart had been touched by Mr. Bingley.

Her mother saw only Mr. Bingley’s annual income of four or five thousand pounds that would surely save her from the hedgerows when her husband died. In the letter, Jane wrote with ill-concealed ennui that the Bingley sisters were cold and almost uncivil when they returned Jane’s call three weeks later.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

Book Information

• Unique ID: 9b59556d4fff367d
• File Extension: .pdf
• File Size: 3,344,872 bytes (3.19 MB)
• Title: –
• Author: Unknown
• ISBN: 9798267323086
• Pages: 301
• Language: English (en)

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• Total Words: 99,597
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