A Rival for Mr. Darcy

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"For God's sakes, Lizzy. You look every bit a miserable wallflower as poor Mary," Mrs. Bennet said to her second born daughter, Elizabeth. She picked up her crystal wine glass and held it to her bronze-colored lips while fixing a glare on Elizabeth she'd almost become immune to. "Sitting there so solemnly. And at your sister's wedding. What would Kitty say if she spotted you moping about?"

Elizabeth snuck a peek at her phone for the hundredth time only to be disappointed once again. Then she glanced over her shoulder looking for Mary. She found her standing in the corner of the room near a large pillar, watching the guests on the dance floor as if they were an assembly of rats apt to scurry after her at any moment.

"The least you could do is smile and pretend you are happy for Kitty. This is her day after all."

Elizabeth was in no mood to accept further nagging from her mother, so she placed a small grin in her view. "Of course, I am happy for her." Her gaze passed around the spacious ballroom, the perimeter enclosing the party in ivory satin drapery. A dozen tables, adorned with soft pastel-colored flowers and ivory candles, housed the lively guests of Mr. Elijah Marshall and his new wife, Catharine. The newly-wed couple had been the handsomest she'd ever seen—even considering Jane's much more elaborate and formal affair. Elijah donned a smart, charcoal gray tuxedo, and Catherine exuded grace and beauty in a cream-colored trumpet gown with a laced, sweetheart neckline. "It was a beautiful wedding." She sighed, wistfully hoping her nuptials didn't turn into such a grandiose occasion. She would have suggested elopement if it were not for the inevitable heart attack it would elicit in her mother.

"Right, it was," Mrs. Bennet said, puffing her chest out and straightening herself in the chair. Her daughter's weddings were like the Oscars, and she had a hand in every victory.

She set her glass down and leaned toward her daughter. "And so many eligible bachelors at the reception. We should be scanning for prospects for Mary."

Though she was the third sister born, Mary seemed destined to marry last, if at all. Watching her sisters become engaged and then marry, one by one, her staunch pride and fervent desire to experience surrendered to a more complacent, and oftentimes, bitter young woman of barely twenty-one. So apparent to Elizabeth that she not only felt sorry for her sister but was compelled to impede the destiny her mother pointed out too frequently for everyone's nerves.

"Mary will look for her own husband when she's good and ready," Elizabeth said with her downward brows aimed at her mother. But her homely sister's bleak future wasn't the only thing souring Elizabeth's mood. Mr. William Darcy had been gone for several days back to his family home. And unfortunately for Elizabeth, her mother's expression clearly acknowledged Elizabeth's sentiments.

"Let's just hope your fiancé comes back...otherwise, Mary might have a shot at beating you to the altar." A sloppy chuckle spilled out of her like a cough. "Wouldn't that be mortifying?"

"Of course he's coming back."

"Well," she huffed. "To miss such a momentous occasion and leave you so unattended is typical of Mr. Pompous—"

"Mother! You know perfectly well he had to be away."

Mrs. Bennet smirked a reply.

"His sister is ill. Would you have me drinking and delighting in music and dance whilst one of my beloved family members had taken ill?" As it was, the only thing that kept her mind from missing William was delving into her studies. Marrying a distinguished and wealthy gentleman would not deter her from getting her Masters in psychology. Her independence was just as important as being a wife at that moment in her life—at least that's what she continued to remind herself. And what she'd told William when she'd decided not to move into the flat in the city he'd secured for them while their dream home was being built.