The Other Mr Darcy

The Other Mr Darcy
The Other Mr Darcy named Hidden Treasure of 2009 by All About Romance!

"heart-warming and charming" Library Journal
*Desert Island Keeper* "a gem..." All About Romance
"a treat indeed...a true tale of manners" MyShelf.com
"A fun read" Historical Novel Review
"Cleverly crafted and humorously engaging" Austenprose
"had me smiling in many places..." Becky's Book Reviews

"a beautiful tale... I couldn't help but fall in love with him (Robert Darcy)" A Bibliophile's Bookshelf
"Fairview gives us a Caroline Bingley that has history, which in turns gives her depth." A Curious Statistical Anomaly
"elegantly written... excellent" Everything Victorian and More
"I enjoyed this clean and charming read" One Literature Nut
"a really great Austen sequel" Books Like Breathing
"a pleasant read and an enjoyable love story" BC blogcritics
"very enjoyable and just what I needed on a rainy Saturday night." Bloody Bad Reviews
"you'll just have to read the rollicking fun yourself!!" Burton Review
"Truly worth the read!" Review from Here
"a worthy tribute to Austen" Once Upon a Romance
"simply fantastic...an endearing and beautiful tale" Austenesque Reviews

USA paperback edition
Description

Unpredicatable courtships appear to run in the Darcy family...

In this Pride and Prejudice sequel with a difference, Caroline Bingley is our heroine. Caroline is sincerely broken-hearted when Mr. Darcy marries Lizzy Bennet— that is, until she meets his American cousin…

Mr. Robert Darcy is as charming as Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy is proud, and he is stunned to find Caroline weeping at his cousin's wedding. Caroline, caught in a moment of extreme vulnerabilty, intends to put as much distance between them as possible, preferably a whole ocean. But events bring them together, and they must make the best of a bad situation.

As for romance, that is the last thing they could possibly expect...

The Other Mr Darcy is available from Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com, and your local bookseller.

UK hardcover

For our UK readers, the hardcover edition from Robert Hale* is available at a discounted rate from amazon.co.uk and The Book Depository (which has free postage to UK, USA, Australia, and most international destinations).

The Sourcebooks trade paperback edition is also available at a discount with free shipping from The Book Depository.

*For my US readers: Robert Hale Publishing is an English institution in itself, since it is one of the oldest independent publishers that continues to be alive and hale! Established in 1936, it is still a family-run business. John Hale, the publisher, was honoured this year with a lifetime achievement award by the Romantic Novelists' Association for his outstanding commitment to publishing good quality romantic fiction and encouraging new voices.

Robert Hale publishes a wide range of fiction, but specializes in hardcover Regency romance, Westerns, and Crime.

Excerpt from The Other Mr Darcy

Prologue

Caroline Bingley sank to the floor, her silk crepe dress crumpling up beneath her. Tears spurted from her eyes and poured down her face and, to her absolute dismay, a snorting, choking kind of sound issued from her mouth.

“This is most improper,” she tried to mutter, but the sobs — since that was what they were — the sobs refused to stay down her throat where they were supposed to be.

She had never sobbed in her life, so she could not possibly be sobbing now. But the horrible sounds kept coming from her throat. And water — tears — persisted in squeezing past her eyes and down her face.

Then with a wrench, something tore in her bosom — her chest — and she finally understood the expression that everyone used but that she had always considered distinctly vulgar. Her heart was breaking. And it was true because what else could account for that feeling, inside her, just in the centre there, of sharp, stabbing pain?

And what could account for the fact that her arms and her lower limbs were so incredibly heavy that she could not stand up?

She was heartbroken. Her Mr Darcy had married that very morning. In church, in front of everyone, and she had been unable to prevent it.

He had preferred Elizabeth Bennet. He had actually married her, in spite of her inferior connections, and even though he had alienated his aunt, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, whose brother was an earl. Caroline simply could not comprehend it.

She had that tearing feeling again and she looked down, just to make sure that it was not her bodice that was being ripped apart. But the bodice, revealing exactly enough of her bosom as was appropriate for a lady, remained steadfastly solid. So the tearing must have come from somewhere inside her. It squeezed at her with pain hard enough to stop her breathing, and to force those appalling sobs out even when she tried her best to swallow them down.

She rested her face in her hands and surrendered to them. She had no choice in the matter. They were like child’s sobs, loud and noisy. More like bawling, in fact. Her mouth was stretched and wide open. And the noise kept coming out, on and on.

On the floor, in the midst of merriment and laughter, on the day of William Fitzwilliam Darcy’s wedding, with strains of music accompanying her, Miss Caroline Bingley sobbed for her lost love.

***

A long time later, someone tried to open the door. She came to awareness suddenly, realizing where she was. The person on the other side tried again, but she resisted, terrified that someone would come in and catch sight of her tear-stained face. No one, no one, she resolved, would ever know that she had cried because of Mr Darcy.

Whoever was on the other side gave the doorknob a last puzzled rattle, then walked slowly back down the corridor.

She rose, straightening out her dress, smoothing down her hair with hands that were steady only because she forced them to be.

She needed to repair the ravages her pathetic bawling had caused. At any moment, someone else could come in and discover her. She moved to look into a mirror that hung above the mantelpiece.

And recoiled in shock...

Monica Fairview, The Other Mr Darcy

The Other Mr Darcy is available from
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