Count the Cost: A Pride and Prejudice Variation

Elizabeth Bennet is not looking for a husband. Darcy is not looking for a lady of trade. Fate, however, has other plans.

Fitzwilliam Darcy flees Hertfordshire — and the dangerously attractive fine eyes of the singular but unsuitable Elizabeth Bennet. He never expects to see her again — certainly not as an irresistible guest at a private house party for the wealthy and well-born. He vows to guard her past, yet cannot ignore the troubling signs that all is not as it seems.

Darcy has always valued honesty. Can he love a woman who keeps secrets? Elizabeth Bennet has vowed to never place her hard-won independence in the hands of a man. She is driven by a desire to provide for her sisters and secure her own future — without the interference of a husband. In a world where a woman's worth is measured by her connections, can a self-made woman of fortune and a master of the ton overcome their pride and prejudice? Can they find love when the price of trust may be more than either is willing to pay? But when scandal erupts, her carefully constructed world begins to crumble. To save her reputation, she must place her trust in the one man to whom disguise of every sort is an abhorrence. A most inconvenient attraction, scandalous rumours, false connections, and a secretly wealthy Elizabeth entwine in this sweet and clean high-stakes variation of Pride and Prejudice, extending to more than 114,000 words.