Respectable Gentlemen

Endowed with a delicate beauty and a modest inheritance, Miss Augusta Hawkins is a gentleman's daughter in need of a husband. She wishes to marry well, but despite her sister's urging to accept the hand of the entirely respectable, but predictably dull, Mr Elton, Augie can't help yearning to feel the inspiration of a passionate love match.

When charming, young Wickham strides into her life in his gallant regimentals she finds herself deeply affected by her desires for him. While Wickham brings with him a great deal of charm and wit, he cannot hide a disreputable nature to which Augie's sister ardently objects. Threatened with the very high risk of a miserable, penniless future of heartbreak and strife Augie is torn between a torrid lust and a tepid, but safe, affection.

If the secret of the full extent of her interlude with Wickham is discovered she may lose every chance of a respectable marriage, but maybe that would be a worthwhile price to pay for the ecstasy she finds in his arms.

This short and steamy variation on a British classic crosses characters from Jane Austen's novels, Pride and Prejudice and Emma.