The Duke's Daughter Part 1: Assumptions and Consequences

Lady Elizbeth Bennet is the Daughter of Lord Thomas and Lady Sarah Bennet, the Duke and Duchess of Hertfordshire. She is very wary of people's motives based on an event before she was born that could have been disastrous for both her beloved father and mother's felicity. The result is that she is quick to judge and anger and very slow to forgive. She does not see it yet, but she has far too many prejudices that colour her perceptions.Driven by his life experiences, including the loss of his beloved father, almost losing his sister to a blackguard and relentless hunting of his person by unmarried ladies and their families of the Ton for his wealth and status, Fitzwilliam Darcy has learnt to rely on his own judgement above all others and had developed his haughty mask of pride, disdain and indifference. Once he believes that something or someone is a certain way, he does not allow anyone to change his mind. He ignored his mother about the hiring of his sister's first companion and the result was the Ramsgate debacle, but he had not learnt his lesson yet. He misinterprets information that he heard from his Aunt, Lady Catherine, about her parson's relatives and the estate that is entailed upon him and with assumptions and surety that he is never wrong coupled with his failure to listen to his friends the Bingleys when they try to correct his perception, he makes a huge mistake at the infamous assembly in Meryton and faces a very angry Lady Elizabeth Bennet. They both make assumptions about the other and we see the consequences that follow.Wickham arrives in Meryton to join the Derbyshire Militia to hide from his main creditor, the Spaniard, he tries to ply Lady Elizabeth with his lies but to his chagrin she is forewarned and not only exposes him for what he is, she dares to deride and laugh at him in a very public forum. He leaves Meryton just before the Fitzwilliam brothers return and swears revenge on the woman that has moved his nemesis Darcy out of his top spot of his hated people list.Will Wickham get his revenge and will our couple work out their misunderstandings? Lady Anne Darcy is alive in this series and has a lot of influence on various characters and their expected behaviour. This is the first in a three book series.