Publisher's Synopsis
Elizabeth Bennet Collins cannot bear to think of the life that awaits her at Hunsford Parsonage as the wife of her father's cousin, the odious Mr Collins! Riding in the 'Carriage of Doom' with her gloating husband her mind alternates between dreading her future and reflecting with chagrin and mortification on her conduct toward Mr Darcy at the Netherfield ball - and what she learned from him then. Arriving at last in the neighbourhood of the parsonage, Mr Collins insists that they must stop at Rosings Park - where a terrifying Lady Catherine de Bourgh greets her clergyman's new bride whip in hand! After the Netherfield ball and his confrontation with her, Fitzwilliam Darcy's warm and tender but forbidden dreams of loving Miss Elizabeth Bennet suddenly become dreadful nightmares of attending her wedding to the odious Mr Collins! Relieved to awaken from their nightmares, Elizabeth and Darcy each experience confusion about what really did occur on that fateful occasion. Each is deeply shaken by the revelations of the night. Lizzy takes a long walk to Oakham Mount to work off the vestiges of her ill-humour and settle her spirits - well aware that Mr Collins, heartily encouraged by her mother, awaits a private audience with her. Darcy goes for a long hard ride to work off his distress and order his thoughts - for he knows he must do something... Their chance meeting on Oakham Mount both clarifies and complicates things. Darcy wishes to court her but discovers that he must first overcome Miss Elizabeth's ill-opinion of him. He begins by agreeing to warn her father and the neighbourhood about Wickham's predacious ways. Unfortunately their efforts do not serve to protect Elizabeth's young and foolish sister Lydia from seduction by Wickham. She and her sister Kitty are caught sneaking into the family home after meeting Wickham in the woods. Mr Bennet refuses to force a marriage between his youngest daughter and the cad but the Bennets must plan how to protect Lydia's and Kitty's reputations. In the meantime, Caroline Bingley engages in a desperate plot to rid herself of "Miss Eliza's" interference in her machinations to secure Darcy for herself. The results are quite shocking. The Bennets prepare to leave Longbourn for a long stay in the north in case of an "increase" in the family. But they must have a plausible story to explain their departure - and where will they go? Several unexpected alliances are formed as the attraction between Elizabeth and Darcy, and Bingley and Jane struggle to survive and find their way through everything from misunderstandings to deadly trials.
