10/25/2017 In the summer of 2014, I learned a long-time friend and mentor had passed away months ago and I was one of the last to know because my family is military and moves. 2 friends each thought the other had told me. So when I found out, I was not only devastated to lose a woman who helped bring me to church, but I felt like I had somehow been cheated a part of my life once again by the fact that I have been a Navy dependent (child and spouse) my entire life. I was angry! I was bereft… And that channeled into what if the same thing happened to Elizabeth Bennet?
Out of my pain and loss came one of my favorite series to write. I am working on Book 6 as we speak.
XOXOXO Elizabeth Ann West
Chapter 12 - A January for Jane, a Pride and Prejudice Variation
The study at Starvet House became Graham Hamilton’s refuge shortly after the Darcys left the previous summer. While he had never told Jane she may not enter, a natural respect formed between the two of them early in their cohabitation. As he stared at the plans for the rebuilding of Blaylock, the study door opened and his lady permitted herself entrance in a highly agitated state.
“There are guards outside your mother’s door to prevent me entry?” Jane had gone to rest after Graham’s return with the understanding they were in agreement in regards to her care of his mother. To find herself suddenly barred from her patient, Jane Bennet felt none too pleased.
“I ordered a late supper for the evening, I’m happy to see that you have awoken.” Graham ignored Jane’s question and answered as if she had entered the room with a polite inquiry.
“Under whose authority am I blocked from a suite of rooms in my sister’s home?”
Graham sighed and severely disliked his position stuck firmly between the two most important women in his life. He rolled up the plans for Blaylock and placed them back inside their protective leather casing before approaching Jane. As his arms encircled her waist, Jane made a small sound of indignance before allowing the stress and anger to melt away within Graham’s embrace. She rested her head against his shoulder and awaited an explanation.
“You do realize, once we are married come Monday, this shall be my sister’s home as well as my brother’s?” Graham asked. Jane pulled away at hearing Graham’s logic but he was too quick for her. Jane could feel the imminent desire that remained so palpable between the two of them. When he claimed her lips in a kiss, a reminder that they were soon to be united for all eternity, Jane began to care less and less about the grandstanding of the Duchess.
“I suppose she is too embarrassed to see me?”
Graham hummed a noncommittal response, not wishing to divulge that the matter stood more complicated than her assumption. But that explanation placated Jane and his mother, so it would suffice. Rather than lie to Jane, he merely encouraged her line of thinking.
“Would you not feel similar in the situation?”
Jane nodded and released herself from Graham’s arms, this time a departure he did not fight. She avoided his gaze by looking around the room at the various leather bound volumes on the shelves, coming to a stop at an ornate coat of arms on the far wall that did not hold the last name Darcy but a different one. Jane wandered over to the intricate illustration and tilted her head to one side as she read the last name – Starvet.
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Chapter 12 (cont'd) - A January for Jane, a Pride and Prejudice Variation
“And what is to be our fate, Lord Hamilton?” Jane hastily glanced over her shoulder to offer Graham a cheeky smile before continuing. “I do not believe you will be whisking me off to her dreary castle, nor do I think we ought to send your mother thus on her own. Shall we all temporarily remain at Starvet?”
Jane disliked the status quo that suddenly felt confusing for her. She stood as a woman on the cusp of being married without a home to call her own. No small wonder that Graham felt such an impetus to rush to Edinburgh so construction might begin on their home as quickly as possible.
Graham lifted the leather case of architectural plans and gently squeezed them in his gloved hand. The fire had robbed his household of lives that night—two adult staff and one child—a haunting loss that did not measure to the devastation possible. He might not have survived that night if not for his valet. Graham never calculated the material loss would become even more profound once he and Jane came to an understanding, yet here he breathed with a fresh test of character.
“I took the liberty of writing to Darcy before Christmas.” The mention of his timeline drew Jane’s attention away from the wall decorations. Seeing her surprise, Graham could only nod to acknowledge his guilt. He had planned to woo Jane Bennet for a number of months, almost upon meeting her. “With your sister’s condition, there are no plans for the family to leave Pemberley before next autumn and it is my intention for a wing of the new house to be completed by that time.”
Jane gave a soft smile and looked down at her feet. She felt slightly ashamed that her interests sounded so very mercenary even to her own ears. Elizabeth had emphasized to her that by running Starvet House, Jane offered her sister a great kindness. Though the new Mrs. Darcy would be very wealthy, the two sisters agreed that such largesse only became a true blessing when it might bring joy to so many. Once the Hamiltons vacated, the grand Scottish estate would almost certainly return to the great loneliness it had embodied for the last half decade before the Darcys visited on a wedding trip.
WHAT A DEAL!
A kiss at the Netherfield Ball . . .
Three Dates with Mr. Darcy is a bundle of: An exclusive story, Much to Conceal, a novella that imagines what if Elizabeth confessed to Jane in London that Mr. Darcy proposed in Kent?
A Winter Wrong, the first novella in the Seasons of Serendipity series that imagines what if Mr. Bennet died at the very beginning of Pride and Prejudice?
By Consequence of Marriage, the first novel in the Moralities of Marriage series that wonders what if Mr. Darcy never saved his sister Georgiana from Wickham’s clutches?
Elizabeth Ann West’s Pride and Prejudice variations have enthralled more than 100,000 readers in over 90 countries! A proud member of the Jane Austen Fan Fiction community since the mid-2000s, she hopes you will join her in being happily Darcy addicted!
Chapter 12(cont'd) - A January for Jane, a Pride and Prejudice Variation
“I confess the latest letter from my sister imparted grave news regarding my family. My sister Kitty has taken the knowledge of Lydia’s death . . .” Jane struggled for a word to convey the incident at Christmas. She gulped and closed her eyes to finish. “. . .harshly. And it is my hope that we might send for her, after a time that is, once we are married?” Jane did so much wish to continue in her birthright as the eldest sister. She also suspected it would be a much needed step forward in Kitty’s grieving if she might meet little Robin and see for herself Lydia’s final resting place.
“Perhaps,” Graham safely tucked his plans into an empty space on the shelf closest to Jane, “by midsummer my mother would be recovered enough to enjoy the company of a young woman such as Miss Catherine.”
“Oh – my sister Kitty is very spirited.” Jane’s words tumbled out of her mouth as she was not certain that her sister and the Duchess would be at all well-suited.
“She is the writer, no?”
Jane nodded as Graham joined her in the inspection of the Starvet’s coat of arms, the maiden name of Darcy’s paternal grandmother. “Then they should get along famously. My mother loves to read and tell stories. She would encourage your sister in her pursuits.”
Jane pursed her lips. “That is a hefty dose of optimism considering I am barred from entering her suite.”
Graham chuckled and lifted Jane’s hand to his lips, lingering his kiss there longer than necessary. Monday indeed felt too far away for his needs. “Give her time. I hear tell there are many people in this world who improve upon one’s first impression.”
Jane giggled at the veiled reference to Darcy and Elizabeth’s courtship. Just as she was about to share another anecdote of just how much Lizzie had hated Fitzwilliam, a knock on the door interrupted their tete-a-tete.
“Dinner is ready, sir, madam.” Mrs. Buchanan beamed at the young couple, the familiar twinkle in her eye returned since the arrival of the Duchess Hamilton.
As Jane accepted Graham’s escort to the dining room, she asked him in a hushed whisper, “Does she ever sleep?”
“I am not sure, but I am not brave enough to ask her.” He whispered back, bringing another round of giggles from his bride-to-be.
It was not perfect, but it would suffice that Graham and his Jane were falling back into their normal routines despite the disruption of family.
You’ve been reading A January for Jane
Hiding at Mr. Darcy’s Scottish estate with her orphaned, illegitimate nephew, Jane Bennet begins to fall for Graham Hamilton. Homeless from the fire destroying Blaylock House, Mr. Hamilton has stayed at Starvet House since the Darcys left for London, and is everything a gentleman ought to be. But as his own feelings begin to consume him, he has to break through Jane’s unwillingness to experience any happiness for herself. This bonus novella in the Seasons of Serendipity series explores the love story of Jane Bennet and her Scottish lord!
A sweet, short, romantic read for fans of Jane Austen Fan Fiction!
A January for Jane, Seasons of Serendipity Bride a Pride and Prejudice novella variation series
Release Date: August 22, 2016
94 pages in print.
+ 23 additional Pride & Prejudice variations are available at these fine retailers . . .
A Jane-of-all-trades, mistress to none! Elizabeth Ann West is the author of 8 novels and 11 novellas, 18 of which are story variations of Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice.