A Most Favourable Match: A Pride and Prejudice Variation (Darcy and Elizabeth Variations)

“Jane is so very beautiful and such a sweet girl besides. How could any man not wish to marry her, earl or not?” Mrs Bennet asked herself and the room in general. “Just think, Mr Bennet, a countess… Jane is to be a countess! Can you believe it?”

Elizabeth Bennet is as astonished by the news that her sister will marry the Earl of Grantchester as her mother is, and almost as delighted. After all, having met the earl herself, she can confirm that he is intelligent and charming, not to mention rich and handsome. There could hardly be a more advantageous match. True, she saw no signs that either her sister or John Tellington were falling in love when she was in London with them, but what of it? Surely Jane would not have accepted him if she did not love him.

Enter one Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy, one of the earl’s oldest friends - and a confirmed snob who makes no secret of his distaste for the wedding. Elizabeth vows at once to defeat him. No one can be allowed to interfere with Jane’s happiness, even - or perhaps especially - if it means clashing wits and verbal swords with the infuriating Mr Darcy. After all, what reason could he possibly have to object to the wedding? Jane is loveliness and good sense personified, so Mr Darcy can only object to her lack of wealth and status.

Fitzwilliam Darcy is not a man who enjoys deception, and still less being caught in an ethical quagmire, but that is exactly the position in which he finds himself upon being abruptly informed that his old friend John Tellington intends to take a wife. It is equally impossible that he turn his face from all the reasons the marriage must not occur and that he reveal his friend’s deepest secret. But maintaining his silence comes at a cost, for it makes him appear the villain just when he would most like to appear to advantage. Elizabeth Bennet is not a woman to be fobbed off with excuses, nor to back away from even the most unequal fight.

She is, however, the woman he is rapidly falling in love with…even as circumstances place them on opposite sides of a vast divide.

A Most Favourable Match is a story of keeping secrets and keeping faith, of standing up for one’s family and standing up to one’s friends. It is a witty, sweet tale of going from enemies to lovers, with growing respect, understanding, and one very ill-timed, shouted marriage proposal along the way.

Postscript: You need not worry, gentle reader. Despite what Mr Collins fears, Elizabeth does not in fact hit him with a boot.