When a long-buried clause in his late father's will threatens to strip Fitzwilliam Darcy of Pemberley, he has mere weeks to secure a bride-or lose everything he has ever known. Disinclined to suffer London's matchmaking frenzy, Darcy follows his friend Charles Bingley to the Hertfordshire countryside, where a quieter society might afford him the opportunity to find a wife worthy of both his respect and his estate. Among the lively gatherings and provincial gossip, Darcy encounters Elizabeth Bennet: quick-witted, sharp-eyed, and unafraid to challenge him. What begins as polite conversation soon unsettles the careful order of his world. She is unlike any woman he has met-refreshingly candid, disarmingly self-possessed, and entirely uninterested in courting his favor. As October days shorten toward his looming deadline, Darcy realizes that the choice before him is no longer merely one of duty, but of heart-and the risk of finding both may prove greater than he ever imagined.