Hi friends! Happy Friday!

Guess who we are starting this beautiful weekend with – Amy D’Orazio!

Amy just celebrated the release of her newest book – A Gentleman’s Pursuit – earlier this week.

Today Amy stops by to share an enticing excerpt from A Gentleman’s Pursuit and an exciting giveaway opportunity!  

We hope you enjoy! 

~ Book Description ~

You surely cannot think I seek to entrap you into matrimony if I do not even know your name.

While in Hertfordshire, Fitzwilliam Darcy finds himself accidentally trapped in a storage room at a local inn with a fine-eyed young lady who immediately beguiles him. He can see by her dress that she, too, does not belong in Meryton and wishes to know her more…but alas she refuses to tell him her name or anything about herself.

The Bennet ladies have been left in dire straits following Mr Bennet’s death. Thus when Elizabeth is offered employment, she accepts. A paid friend to a young heiress, Miss Anne de Bourgh—which comes with three rules. She cannot tell anyone she’s paid to be there; she cannot seek her own husband in London; and most of all she is forbidden to talk to a man called Mr Darcy.

Alas the more Elizabeth moves in London society, the more it seems apparent that the infuriating stranger from Meryton and the forbidden Mr Darcy are one and the same. Alas for as much as she wishes to rebuff him, it seems he refuses to be rebuffed and before she can help herself, she finds herself falling in love with him.

Darcy is delighted every time he chances to meet the enchanting miss in London but increasingly frustrated that she will not reveal her identity to him. With every successive meeting, his frustration grows, as does his attraction and soon he finds himself willing to do absolutely anything to have her—even if it means swallowing his pride.

A Gentleman’s Pursuit is a Pride & Prejudice variation featuring a locked-in meet, hidden identities, forbidden attraction, and a hero who will not be deterred, even when everyone around him insists he ought to be.

~ Excerpt from A Gentleman’s Pursuit ~

The door to Darcy’s study opened and Saye strode in. “Come to White’s with me.”

“A good day to you too,” Darcy spat at him.

Saye rolled his eyes. “Good morning, dear cousin, how do you do? Full of spleen as ever, I see. May I have the honour of your presence at our club post-haste?”

“No. Yes.” Darcy exhaled noisily. “I do not know.”

Saye peered at him closely. “What on earth is the matter with you?”

“Let me ask you something,” Darcy replied and then stopped, carefully evaluating his cousin. “It is something of great importance, and I must insist upon your discretion. Nay, not discretion, for you have none. Your absolute silence. You may not tell your father, your mother, your parson, Fitzwilliam, or Florizel about what I am to ask you.”

“Good lord!” Saye broke into a beaming grin. “This all sounds perfectly delightful. Yes, of course you have my silence. Shall I sit?”

He pointed to a comfortable chair and Darcy nodded, then poured a drink for each of them. He took the chair opposite his cousin and paused, taking a long, meditative sip.

“You are absolutely murdering me with these delays,” Saye informed him, taking a sip of his own drink. “Out with it!”

“I have…become acquainted, in a manner of speaking, with a woman.”

“When?”

“October.”

“October!”

“October is when I met her. I had not seen her for several months until I met her again in London in February.”

After another long pause, Saye prompted him. “And…”

“She is a beautiful lady, elegant, clever, witty, charming… She is everything I could ever have wished for in a marriage partner, and I have spent these six months positively obsessed with her.”

“What is the problem, then? Offer for her. Unless…” Saye’s eyes narrowed at his cousin’s face. “She is unsuitable in some way, I suppose?”

Darcy pressed his lips together a moment before admitting, “I think she is someone’s mistress.”

He had achieved the impossible: shock rendered Saye silent. Then he began to laugh, continuing until tears rolled from his eyes. Darcy waited patiently until Saye was done, and had pulled his handkerchief from his pocket to dab at his eyes.

“Gadzooks, Darcy. Can you not simply fall in love with a debutante like anyone else does?”

“Evidently not.” Darcy shook his head. “It is impossible, yes? A man of my status should never consider…”

“Consider what? What is it you wish to do?”

Darcy pushed himself out of his chair and began to pace. “I hardly know. Can you buy someone’s mistress from them? And then make that mistress your wife?”

“Perhaps it would be more reasonable to make her your own mistress,” Saye suggested, then threw up his hands in reply to the look Darcy gave him. “Do not open fire on me! You know it is what any other man of our acquaintance would do.”

“I have not been raised to treat women as chattel,” Darcy retorted. “Miss L would be my wife or nothing.”

“Miss L?” Saye asked.

Darcy returned to his seat and sat down again. “I do not know her name.”

Saye threw back his head and enjoyed another hearty laugh. “Ah, Darcy. What a blunderbuss you are.” He shook his head. “You cannot be in earnest. You do not even know this woman’s name?”

“Our first meeting was…unusual.” Darcy quickly told his cousin how it had been, leaving out that he had gone over that memory in his mind so often that every detail was as fresh to him as if it happened yesterday.

“Hmm.” Saye drummed his fingers on the arm of the chair. “Merry Fox. You know, I have often thought it would be diverting to open taverns named after torture devices. The Brazen Bull. The Rack. Iron Apega. Would that not be hilarious?”

“Is that what you heard from my story? Diverting tavern name?”

“No, no, I heard it all, and if I am being frank…”

“When are you not frank?” Darcy asked drily.

“A few hours in a storage closet, and you are in love?” Saye shook his head. “Seems like nonsense, Darcy, and not your game at all.”

“Clearly it is not my wont to fall in love with strangers and yet…I did. And all further intercourse has only strengthened my attachment to her.”

“How many meetings have you had?”

“Four.”

“Dances?”

“I have not been attending parties, if you will remember, and in any case—we are not introduced. Our second meeting, in February, was at a bookshop, the third in a dark hall at Lady Whitmore’s ball, a month ago. That was when she told me she did not seek a husband.” And when she yanked her hand away as if I was about to bite her, he thought, but did not tell his cousin that part.

“You last saw her a month ago?”

“No, I saw her today, at the British Institution.”

“And it was today you learnt she was someone’s mistress?” When Darcy nodded, Saye covered his face with both hands and moaned. “I do not know whether to laugh or take you down to Jackson’s to pummel some sense into you.”

“Just answer the question,” Darcy insisted. “Is it possible for me to marry her?”

“Of course not,” Saye said, dropping his hands with a last chuckle and a sigh. “Mistress, yes. Wife, no. Can you imagine what Lady Catherine would say about that?”

Oh thank you, Amy D’Orazio! I’m so delighted that the excerpt you shared has Saye in it! 🙌🏼

How I love to see him tease and roast Mr. Darcy! 🤣

And I love seeing Mr. Darcy so besotted! I cannot wait to read this and see what happens when he learns the truth! 📖

~~~

GIVEAWAY TIME!!!

In conjunction with Amy’s lovely visit, Quills & Quartos is giving away  copies of A Gentleman’s Pursuit to  lucky readers of this blog. 

To enter this giveaway leave a comment, a question, or some love for Amy below!

• This giveaway is open worldwide.  Thank you, Quills and Quartos!
• This giveaway ends May 31st.