Darcy came to Hertfordshire to find Bingley a wife. He found Elizabeth instead—

Fitzwilliam Darcy has a plan. His friend Bingley needs a wife, and the eldest Bennet daughter is perfect: beautiful, amiable, and appropriately situated in the Hertfordshire countryside. All Darcy needs to do is engineer their attachment while keeping his own attention firmly fixed on business rather than a certain impertinent second daughter with muddy petticoats and devastating wit.

Elizabeth Bennet has a plan too. Get Jane married, stay comfortably redundant, and avoid the matrimonial market forever. She certainly has no interest in Mr. Darcy—that arrogant, proud, insufferably handsome man who keeps appearing on her morning walks with his magnificent black horse and his unreadable expressions.

Hector, the horse in question, has opinions about all this. Specifically, that his master is an idiot and the lady with the apples deserves stealing bonnets from.

When Darcy’s careful schemes collide with Elizabeth's stubborn independence, both discover that matchmaking is considerably easier when you're not falling in love with the wrong person. But with family disapproval, their own stubborn pride, and one very opinionated horse determined to throw them together at every turn, the only question is: which of them will admit defeat first?

Sometimes the best-laid plans backfire into something better than you ever imagined.

Features: Matchmaking gone wrong • Meddling horse with opinions • Bribery by apples • Enemies-to-lovers banter • “I came for Bingley and found YOU” • Darcy proposal faceplant • Oakham Mount romance • Lady Matlock’s horror • Found family joy • Mr. Bennet’s wit • Georgiana’s happy ending • Guaranteed neigh-worthy HEA

Clean Regency romance, 98,000 words.