Valerie Lennox

With gentlemen scarce at the Meryton assembly, Elizabeth Bennet means to scold the man in the shadows who refuses to dance. But when he comes into the light, she sees his horribly scarred face and his limp. Fitzwilliam Darcy survived a tragic carriage accident that claimed the life of his sister, and by all accounts of those who knew him, he is much changed. Now, he is a beast of a man, often in a bad temper, owing the pain he still suffers from the injuries he incurred. Elizabeth pities the man until he kisses her in the middle of the dance floor at the Netherfield Ball with everyone looking on. He's trapped her in a marriage that is not of her choosing, and now she must travel with him to the isolated estate of Pemberley. Mr. Darcy knows what he's done is monstrous. But there are monstrous things within him now. He doesn't know what has possessed him to trespass against this beauty that will now be his wife. He knows he is beyond any hope. And yet... she stirs things within him. He will not let her go. This first book in the Happily Ever Collection unites Beauty and the Beast and Pride and Prejudice. Though each story in the collection takes its cue from a fairy tale, there are neither magic nor otherworldly elements in the stories.

Her lips moved against his skin."You're awful. Everything about you is hateful.""And you," he said, breathless, "are the least proper woman in the history of England."Miss Elizabeth Bennet's father is on his deathbed, and his wife is desperate to marry off her five daughters. At the Meryton assembly, Mrs. Bennet schemes to throw Elizabeth together with the rich and elusive Mr. Darcy, hoping the scandal will force his cooperation.Proper Mr. Darcy is concerned primarily with his reputation and would not dare marry someone like Elizabeth under normal circumstances. But with that dreadful situation in Ramsgate threatening to be exposed, he fears for his sister's good name. His hands are tied.Elizabeth thinks Darcy rude and arrogant. She would not marry him if she had a choice.Darcy thinks Elizabeth far beneath him, but he is drawn to her against his will.Together, they summon within each other passionate hatred, a lit match that promises to explode.Dear Reader, while this variation is hardly wall-to-wall love scenes, I fear it is neither clean nor sweet. Be advised.

Mr. Darcy's father lives.Twisted by the machinations of Mr. Wickham, the elder Mr. Darcy has all but disowned his son, who is forced to make his way on his own with no help from his family.Currently, Mr. Darcy is a member of the militia, doing odd jobs like dancing instruction. He is an expert on a new and scandalous dance-the waltz.When Miss Elizabeth Bennet meets him on the road to Meryton with her sisters, she has already heard the stories of his wretchedness from Mr. Wickham, the charming guest of Mr. Bingley, who has set his sights on her sister Jane.When Mr. Wickham's true nature is revealed, Elizabeth finds herself swept up in a plan to help those he has harmed. A plan that involves learning the wicked dance, the waltz. From none other than Mr. Darcy.This variation switches the roles of Mr. Darcy and Mr. Wickham and adds in a few winking nods to the film Dirty Dancing (Nobody puts Lizzy in a corner). Can Mr. Darcy's reputation be restored? Can Wickham's scheming be put to an end? Will Elizabeth and Darcy find their happily ever after?

When Elizabeth Bennet ventures outside the Netherfield Ball for a bit of air, she witnesses something dreadful and confusing: Mr. Wickham clubs Mr. Darcy over the head and hauls him into a carriage. She can

Miss Caroline Bingley is desperate for Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy. So desperate that she devises a shocking plan to trap the two of them together in a room at night. Then Mr. Darcy will be forced to marry her. But when Miss Bingley's plans go awry, it is not she and Mr. Darcy who are trapped together, but rather Miss Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy. Mr. Darcy has been drawn to Miss Bennet since the moment he clapped eyes on her. She drives him to distraction, and now he finds himself stuck here with her in a room they cannot get free from. Miss Bennet is an unmerciful temptation. She will unravel him.

When Miss Elizabeth Bennet is introduced to Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy at a ball in London, she immediately hears whispers of Mr. Darcy's scandalous past. Rumor has it that Mr. Darcy ruined a gentlewoman, who then, finding herself alone and with child, drowned herself. Elizabeth rightly wants nothing to do with the horrid man. His companion, however, Mr. Crispin Burlington, is quite diverting. But what Elizabeth doesn't know is that Burlington is not who he says he is. His true name is George Wickham, and he has entangled Darcy and all those he meets in a scheme of corruption and danger.

A pirate Pride and Prejudice variation On passage back to England from India, Miss Elizabeth Bennet's ship is boarded by pirates. She is shocked to find that she is acquainted with the pirate captain, who is none other than Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy. Elizabeth only met Darcy once, at a ball years ago in Meryton. Darcy left abruptly to hunt down some soldier named Wickham. The two met for a duel and Wickham fell. Rumors said that Wickham had something to do with the death of Darcy's sister, an event that devastated him and left him a drunkard and gambler who had lost much of his fortune. Apparently, Darcy turned to piracy to make back his fortune. But he is no longer the gentleman that Elizabeth knew. Now taken captive aboard his ship, she is entirely at his mercy... For readers who will enjoy something different: a deliciously damaged and dashing Mr. Darcy in need of the redemptive power of love.