Coming Soon
Her Affections and Wishes
Available September 1, 2026
A harsh refusal healed. But a fresh proposal could put them both in deadly danger…
Elizabeth Bennet harbors regrets. After curtly rejecting an unwanted offer of marriage, the lively young lady worries that she’s failed to live up to her own ideals. So when she accepts an invitation to a house party, she’s delighted to spot her would-be suitor among the other guests.
Fitzwilliam Darcy is striving to soften his blunt edges. Promising to watch over a friend’s younger brother, the dashing gentleman is thrilled when the dreaded duty brings him face-to-face with the lovely woman. And hoping she’s willing to look beneath the surface, the proud man devotes himself to proving that his desires remain unchanged.
Agreeing to a quiet engagement, Elizabeth blissfully dismisses the string of potentially fatal accidents that start dogging her steps. And though Darcy admires his beloved’s attempts to see the good in everyone, he fears someone is trying to thin the competition in the marriage mart.
Will their blossoming reconciliation be cut short by an invisible hand
This is a full-length, closed door Pride and Prejudice variation
Excerpt
In the scene below Elizabeth has grown to love Darcy as they are both staying at the Woodcote estate, but she's disappointed. The group has just played a series of parlor games with kissing forfeits, but Darcy avoided her the entire time...
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Darcy forgave her for all the vitriol of her treatment of him and even took her reproofs to heart, but he could not suffer to touch his lips to hers in a game. Darcy might not resent her, but her being here pained him. And her desire to kiss him when he did not want her made her disgusted with herself.
She could not stay at Woodcote if her presence injured him. She thought too well of Darcy now to want to hurt him, regardless of how she had previously, foolishly, tried to vex him.
When they broke up for the evening, and in twos and threes called for candles and went to bed, Elizabeth caught Darcy in the lobby above the grand entrance hall, next to an assortment of vases and statues. She pretended to want to share his candle until their ways parted. It was better to talk to him now, otherwise tomorrow would be a torment to them both.
“Mr Darcy?” she stammered. “You must be angrier with me than I realised and—”
“Angry?” he repeated in a tone of confusion.
“I thought we understood one another better now, but if I was wrong, I must arrange a way to go home. I hold you in too much esteem to injure you with my presence.”
“I do not understand you. I hold you in a great deal of esteem, as well.”
That soothed her, but esteem was not love. “You spent all evening evading…me,” she finished weakly, not realising until now how awkward this would be.
Darcy stopped walking, and utter perplexity washed over his face. “I chose you first for several games. I sat next to you and—”
“You avoided kissing me,” she interrupted. “You avoided being paired with me for the forfeits,” she corrected in a quieter voice.
His confused look fell away, and a more intense one replaced it. He took a slow breath. “Did you want me to kiss you?”
There was no suitable answer to that. The truth was mortifying to say, but a lie would create something insincere between them. A deep resounding “yes” formed in her chest and almost burst from her lips, but she could never admit it.
“I do not blame you for not wanting to,” she whispered, avoiding answering his question. “If you cannot stand to give me half a kiss in a game, you must dislike me immensely after what happened at Hunsford.”
Darcy took a step nearer, and she felt near to trembling. A smile flashed on his lips. Or did she imagine it? The Darcy she knew was too reserved for anything like a smug smile. But she had been wrong about him being stern. Darcy gave her heated looks and admired her person and talked openly with her. Or was he just triumphing that the woman who rejected him now regretted losing him? It would be only natural, even for a good-hearted man like him.
Who knew what was on his mind. Her own thoughts were all in a muddle and her breath came out in short pants. Darcy’s candle flickered in his hand as he moved closer to her.
“Half a kiss?” he repeated in a low voice that struck her all the way down to her stomach. “Miss Bennet, I won’t kiss you by halves, I promise you. If I ever kiss you, it will not be a half kiss as part of a game.”
He then handed her the candle, wished her a good evening, and strode away into the dark.
