Against Every Expectation by Paige Badgett

Amid the groves of Rosings Park, with Elizabeth by his side, Darcy had begun to hope for something different for his future than he had previously allowed himself to believe was possible—a partnership, a love match…

ELIZABETH BENNET TRAVELS TO KENT to escape her mother’s histrionics, hopeful to find respite in visiting her oldest friend, Charlotte Collins. Instead of the reprieve she desired, she finds herself trapped and miserable—a direct reflection of Mr Collins’s peculiar sense of hospitality, justice, and duty. The tension in the parsonage is significant, and her friend is much changed. Elizabeth’s only relief is derived from her morning rambles, where she finds great solace in the strangest of places—walking with Mr Darcy. His steadiness, kindness, and dependability greatly oppose her previous perceptions of the man, and yet she cannot help but continue to compare his character in Kent with the man she had supposed him to be during their previous acquaintance in Hertfordshire. Could it be that he was now showing his truest self to her?

JUST WHEN IT SEEMS FELICITY is near, however, insidious jealousy arises and the betrayal of one close to the two couples threatens their nascent happiness. Elizabeth is pulled away too soon, and Darcy is left to wonder if she ever had feelings for him at all. Can the truth be untangled in time for their course of love to reach its completion?

Against Every Expectation is a friends to lovers variation of Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice.