Mr. Darcy’s Pride and Joy

It’s been a long journey from start to finish but here it is, finally!

Mr. Darcy’s Pride and Joy is now available on Amazon Kindle and paperback in Barnes and Noble, and will shortly be in other formats, too. Mr. Darcy’s Pride and Joy concludes The Darcy Novel series, but it can easily be read as a standalone novel.

Description:

Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet are engaged at last, and Mr. Darcy is preparing to take out a special license to get married quickly. But, just when everything seems to be going just right, he encounters opposition from an unexpected quarter. Then, when his engagement is announced – to someone else – Elizabeth, understandably, begins to doubt his sincerity.

Perhaps their love is doomed after all…

Find out more in the final book of the Darcy Novels series.

If you haven’t yet had a chance to read the earlier books or were waiting until the series was complete, or simply didn’t know about them, here they are.

Thanks to Joy King for the banner!

Thanks to Joy King for the banner!

Since the pre-order doesn’t include a preview of the novel, here’s a sample for you to enjoy.

Chapter One

It was a glorious autumn day, with just the right nip in the air, just the right kind of blue in the sky, and just the right kind of cream clouds soaring above the city. In short, the weather had contrived to be perfect on this most perfect of occasions. At least, that was what Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy of Pemberley thought as he stepped out of his townhouse, deposited his top hat on his head, and twirled his walking cane by his side. He was too dignified to skip down the steps as he would have liked to, or to slide down the banister as he did when he was a child, but his heart was leaping with joyous energy nevertheless. Miss Elizabeth Bennet had agreed to be his wife — dearest, loveliest Elizabeth — and nothing could complete his happiness other than to have her in his arms, in his bed, and in Pemberley. For now, however, London must do, and accordingly, London seemed to be doing its best to make the day as radiant and sublime as it could possibly be.

He had asked for the carriage to be brought round, and as he emerged, it halted on the cobbled stones in front of the townhouse. He viewed it with pride. It had been scrubbed clean of the grime of London and polished until it gleamed, the gilded Darcy coat of arms glittering in the sunlight. On this momentous day, he would not arrive at the Gardiners in a hired cab. He wanted as much pomp and ceremony as he could garner in barely an hour’s notice. He had sent out for the best flowers that could be found this late in the season and ordered the inside of the carriage hung with garlands and the seats strewn with rose petals. He would take Elizabeth to Hyde Park in the afternoon and make her feel like a queen. As he stepped in, the sweet aroma infused his nostrils, evoking in him the buoyant feeling of spring time.

He could still scarcely believe it. He had proposed to Elizabeth for the third time, and she had finally accepted him. All that remained was for Mr. Bennet to give his consent and for the papers to be drawn. It was a mere formality, he knew, but things would not feel settled until he had done so. In a few hours – nay, even earlier – Elizabeth Bennet, the love of his life, would be his.

He knocked on the roof to get the carriage going, and immediately the horses set off at a trot. Not for long, however. Soon the clamor and the traffic slowed them down to a crawl and Darcy started to become restless. He was impatient to see Elizabeth, as well as to speak to her father. On a more mundane level, too, he was hungry. Mrs. Gardiner had extended an invitation for Darcy to join them for luncheon and he had been glad to accept, not only for the opportunity to spend time with Elizabeth but also because he had not eaten a morsel of the Bingley’s lavish wedding breakfast. He had been too nervous even to consider eating then, but now his stomach was making rumbles of discontent.

As they drew closer to Church Street where the Gardiners resided, a commotion sounded ahead and the carriage came to a standstill. Darcy put his head out of the window and found a wheelbarrow full of lettuces had been upset and was blocking their way. They were close to their destination, and Darcy considered whether he would not be better off walking, but he did not want his newly polished boots to be stained, not today when he wanted to look his absolute best.

“Can you turn back?” said Darcy, to Young Ebenezer, the coachman.

Ebenezer grinned. “Well, Mr. Darcy, it is quite difficult to turn in such a tight space, but if anyone can do it, I can.”

Darcy nodded. “Do it.”

Then it was an eternity of waiting as the carriage was slowly and painfully maneuvered until it was facing the opposite direction. After that, they still had to find their way through some of the back streets to the Gardiner’s place, which was a challenge even for Young Ebenezer’s ingenuity. They were forced to stop and ask the way a few times.

Then, finally, they were there, in front of the elegant white stucco townhouse. The blue door to the house opened, the stairs were let down, and there was Elizabeth, standing in the doorway, the sun glinting off her auburn curls. He leaped from the carriage and was by her side in a moment. She put out her hands to him, and he grasped them, longing to draw her closer, but forcing himself to be content with that limited contact.

“I have missed you,” he said, drinking in her presence.

Her eyes laughed back at him. “You cannot have missed me, Mr. Darcy, surely. It has been less than two hours since I last saw you.”

Link to Amazon

21 comments

Skip to comment form

    • Sheila Majczan on June 23, 2016 at 12:09 am
    • Reply

    I read the first two so will have to read this. Thanks for the tip. Will read this first chapter in the morning.

    1. Sounds like you were up late last night, Sheila. Hope you enjoy the snippet.

    • Maggie Griscom on June 23, 2016 at 8:14 am
    • Reply

    I am ready to read this. I’ll re-read the other two while I wait for the nook version. The snippet was a real teaser. I have read all of your books and read most of them more than once. What a wonderful start to summer. Thanks, Monica!

    1. Many thanks, Maggie! You’re very kind.

    • Carole in Canada on June 23, 2016 at 9:39 am
    • Reply

    I can feel Mr. Darcy’s anticipation! Lovely cover with the smile on her face! Can’t wait to add this to this to my collection! Congratulations!

    1. Thank you so much for saying so, Carole. I hope you enjoy it!

    • Sheila Majczan on June 23, 2016 at 3:32 pm
    • Reply

    Reading that chapter makes us think all is honky dory but the top snippet says that the announcement has him engaged to someone else. Now that makes me wonder: did the paper editor makes a mistake of did Lady Catherine pay him to print that Anne was engaged to him? Guess I just have to read it to find out.

    Yes, I went to bed at 12:30 am. But I am a night owl most days or I should say…nights.

    1. I’m a night owl too, Sheila. As taking shots at guessing the plot, good luck, but don’t expect me to give anything away!

        • Sheila Majczan on June 24, 2016 at 10:41 am
        • Reply

        Of course I wouldn’t expect you to reveal anything. But I do have to voice my ponderings. I am going away for the weekend with my daughter and her family but will be looking at this story next week probably. Good luck with this.

    • Deborah on June 23, 2016 at 8:11 pm
    • Reply

    I loved this story and will not release, even under torture, who printed the announcement nor what happens. It is a wonderful third volume and well worth the wait to find out. Congratulations, Monica, on the release of the final volume of a beautiful trilogy.

    1. You’re a brave one, Deborah! I appreciate your endurance 🙂

      Thank you so much for your positive endorsement. I’m very happy to know you liked it.

    • BeckyC on June 23, 2016 at 10:33 pm
    • Reply

    Congratulations

    1. Thanks for stopping by, BeckyC!

    • tgruy on June 23, 2016 at 10:58 pm
    • Reply

    I will have to buy the last two!!

    1. You can do that, tgruy, or you could read this one without the others. I’ve tried to make it as standalone as possible.

    • Sarah on June 24, 2016 at 3:51 pm
    • Reply

    I’m excited to see this story on its way and can’t wait to read it. Thanks Monica!

    1. Thanks, Sarah! It should be out in the next twenty-four hours, fingers crossed.

    • Glynis on June 25, 2016 at 1:14 pm
    • Reply

    I can’t believe the announcement of his engagement is to someone else!!! I really feel for both Darcy and Elizabeth and hope it is soon resolved. Thanks for this excerpt 😊

    1. A pleasure, Glynis!

    • Lena on June 25, 2016 at 7:46 pm
    • Reply

    What bizarre timing! I read the first two books sometime last year, and (upon the release of Abigail Reynolds’ latest novel) I was just thinking “Wasn’t there a third book coming soon in Monica Fairview’s series…?” But I looked here and I looked on Amazon and I glanced at your website and couldn’t find a trace of it. Then I saw that my ebook of Mr. Darcy’s Challenge suggested that the third novel in the series would be coming out in 2015, so I thought perhaps it was an abandoned project. I’m so happy to see that there is, in fact, a third book. 🙂

    • TLeighF on June 30, 2016 at 9:55 pm
    • Reply

    Congratulations! The first chapter was such a tease. :). I will go back and read the other two books before starting this one. Looking forward to revisiting the whole story.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.