The Trouble With Horses: A Pride & Prejudice Novella Variation Read Online Free PDF

glare.
    Rising from the couch, Elizabeth looked directly at Miss Bingley before announcing she realized she had selected the wrong novel this morning and would retrieve the correct one. Bouncing with each step, Elizabeth was overjoyed she had managed to leave Jane with Mr. Bingley and do the one thing that Miss Bingley could not, go upstairs and check on Mr. Darcy. She had overheard the apothecary say he was sleeping, so it couldn't harm anyone for her to take a peek for herself, could it?
    Tiptoeing across the hall, Elizabeth slowly opened the door to the guest room, spying that with labored breath, Mr. Darcy was indeed asleep. She opened the door wider and entered the room to find a seat in the chair now moved against the wall.
    "Is it your regular habit to enter the sick room of strange men, or am I simply bestowed the felicity of your notice, madam?"
    Elizabeth was startled at the sudden taunt by Mr. Darcy and looked at his face as he kept his eyes closed and only moved his mouth.
    "I am shamed that my concern for a sick man is such a black mark on my character, sir."
    Instinctively, Elizabeth licked her lips and found herself naturally sitting more to the edge of the seat in anticipation of Mr. Darcy's next words. The nervous anxiety she felt around this man intoxicated, and she couldn't help herself from experiencing it one more time before he was taken away to Netherfield to further recover.
    Darcy opened his eyes at the woman's retort and caught a sparkle in her eye as she threw his words right back. To be sure, she was a fair beauty, not one to turn so many heads in the society he kept, but there was something so odd about her continued dedication, despite his rudeness earlier in the morning, that intrigued him. He knew he should apologize for being too gruff, but to bring up his poor behavior would likely only again injure her sensibility if she had indeed been offended.
    "Mmmm, you are giving my words more weight than their due, madam."
    "And you are striking out at the very hands that saved you." Elizabeth grew piqued at the continued slight she felt, embarrassed that he once again questioned her propriety.
    Darcy laughed. This woman was delightful, even if she was sorely mistaken. "It was you then that pulled me up six feet out of that creek bed and carried me to your home? No, perhaps you tied me to a makeshift litter and dragged me out of that forest?"
    Elizabeth jumped from her chair, her cheeks burning. "Mr. Darcy, you are a rude, uncouth sort of man and I shall bother you no further."
    Ignoring her family and visitors, Elizabeth trudged down the stairs and out the front door into the safety of Mother Nature. She couldn't believe she was attracted to such an ogre as Mr. Darcy. Stomping her way through the nearest field, she continued her one-sided chastisement in her head all the way to her best friend Charlotte Lucas' home. She wasn't sure how, but if she could fall so quickly for Mr. Darcy, then perhaps she would quickly be able to forget him as well.
     
    ~~~♥~~~
     

CHAPTER 3
    Days of sunshine and rain alternated in the week ahead but Elizabeth's mood remained black. Looking out the window of her shared bedroom with Jane, she watched as the carriage took her eldest sister to her second invitation of tea at Netherfield Park with Miss Bingley and Mrs. Hurst. The invitation was never extended to herself, and Elizabeth hated to admit she longed to see Mr. Darcy just one more time to apologize for her haughty words.
    The visit to Charlotte's had been fruitless as Elizabeth endured an hour of relentless teasing by the Lucas boys, all refusing to call her anything but Queen Elizabeth of the Amazon and pretending every piece of ribbon or trimming Charlotte was using to refresh a bonnet was a snake trying to kill them. She heartily wished there had been real snakes to bite them, and she wouldn't have lifted a finger to save any of them. Charlotte was kind enough to offer Elizabeth a ride home after the visit,