Thanks for reading and reviewing.
Thanks Miriam1 for all your help.
000
The party was in full swing; people were chatting, drinking and dancing, and generally having a lot of fun. Elizabeth made her way through the crowd and joined her coworkers. She would spend a few minutes at the party – show her face – and then go home. She was tired; it had been a very long week, but at least she had something to look forward to, Mr. Darcy was going to be out of office for the next two weeks. Not that he was a bad boss, on the contrary, but she needed him out of her space for a while so that she could gather her thoughts and be sensible again. Also, she was tired of thwarting all Mr. Darcy's attempts at being friendly. Who knew that intentionally trying not like somebody could be that hard?
"Here," Joanne pushed a glass into Elizabeth's hand. "It will help you get into the party mood."
Elizabeth took the glass but she had no intention of drinking from it: first because she didn't think it was a good idea to drink on an empty stomach, but mostly because she knew Joanne; Joanne was the one who always had time to spike the drinks at the office parties and Elizabeth didn't want to embarrass herself by dancing topless on a table or some equally ridiculous thing.
000
Darcy stood in the back of the room and watched as the other employees enjoyed themselves. He wasn't much for parties, and in this case he knew that his presence would put a damper on the people's enjoyment, so he wasn't going to be too visible. He would just hang around for a little while and then go home. He had to leave the country early the next morning to spend time with his Aunt Cat. Even the mere thought of her was enough to make him get the beginnings of a headache; dealings with Catherine de Bourgh were never easy, but at least he was going with Georgie and Richard.
He'd noticed Elizabeth from the moment she'd entered the room and watched her talking and laughing with her co-workers. He wanted to go up and talk her, but their relationship was tentative at best. They worked well together, Richard had been right about her. She was a great worker, but ever since that first day, two months ago, when she'd walked into his office and introduced herself, she had never made another personal remark. It was almost as if the woman he'd met in the lift was a figment of his imagination. He had tried to joke with her about The Lantern and uncouth youth only be stopped by her hard stare. Darcy had never made a great first impression in his life, but it seemed this time it was even going to be much harder to appease the person he'd wronged.
I really should learn to keep my mouth shut, he told himself.
Bingley had laughed at him when he'd told him that 'amazing lift woman' was Elizabeth Bennet, his PA.
"I did tell you not to judge her before you had even met her," Bingley had said.
"I know," Darcy had told his friend, "how was I to know that she'd be listening at the door?"
"That's just an excuse and you know it," Bingley had countered.
"I was tired and irritable," Darcy said. "And you know that no one should be taken seriously when they're tired."
He had followed Bingley's advice and apologized; Elizabeth had accepted his apology but refused to have anything to do with him unless it was work related.
000
William Lucas walked through the room smiling and nodding at people: as the human resource manager in charge of personnel and welfare affairs, he took it as part of his job to organize the parties, be the emcee at the parties and generally ensure that everyone had a great time at the parties.
He was very pleased with the turn-up, even the big man himself Mr. Darcy had come for the party, something which Lucas took as a personal victory. He'd heard that Mr. Darcy never liked to mingle with the staff and hated parties at best, so having him here was a great triumph. Not being one to be easily satisfied, Lucas now wanted Darcy to really be part of the party, to take part in the dancing as well, which is why he was currently walking around the room trying to find a suitable partner for Mr. Darcy.
Joanne from Accounts was very friendly but probably not good enough for Mr. Darcy. Rita and Ivy were too flighty and they were scared of him, although Darcy probably didn't even know who they were. Mr. Lucas looked from group to group dismissing all the women, mostly because they were too much in awe of their boss and would probably faint if he even looked in their direction, until he spotted Elizabeth Bennet.
Elizabeth Bennet. Why of course. He should have thought of her earlier. She was really the perfect partner for their boss and she was such a great dancer as well. He made his way to Darcy who was standing in a corner by himself.
"Well, what do you think? I'm sure you've never attended a party quite like this before."
Darcy had been hoping that Lucas hadn't seen him but now he no choice but to reply, "It's a great party."
"Yes it is," Lucas agreed. "But why aren't you dancing? Isn't the music to your taste? I could have the band play something for you."
"No thanks," Darcy replied quickly. The last thing he needed was to be forced to dance and make small talk.
"Dancing is something, isn't it?" Lucas asked. "The mark of a truly refined society."
"Not really," Darcy remarked. "Every savage can dance," and wished he hadn't spoken when he saw the look that Lucas was giving him.
"Ah…yes, well, quite," Lucas was wondering what was wrong with the boss. He thought dancing was …savagery? "But you should still dance."
"I don't like dancing." Darcy was having a hard time keeping his voice civil.
Lucas was about to walk away when he saw Elizabeth about to pass by, despite Darcy's protestations he was sure that if Darcy was presented with a suitable partner all his refusals would die down.
"Lizzie, my dear," Lucas called to her as she walked by.
"Uncle Will, Mr. Lucas… William, hi," Elizabeth smiled at him, she still felt awkward about calling her best friend's father by his first name, which he insisted on at work. "Great party." She ignored Mr. Darcy who was standing right there next to him.
"Yes, it's great, isn't?" Lucas answered. "But it would even be better if you were dancing. Mr. Darcy here was just assuring me how much he dislikes the activity but maybe you can help me persuade him otherwise." He turned to Darcy and added in a loud whisper, "Lizzie is a great dancer, and she will change your mind about the activity."
"Uncle Will," Elizabeth protested. "You just said that he told you he doesn't like to dance and I'm in no mood for dancing tonight."
"Nonsense," Lucas said. "How can you not want to dance?"
Darcy had been wishing that they both leave him be, but now he was glad, if things went his way he'd actually have a chance to spend some time with Elizabeth. He could actually get to dance with her. He saw her glaring at Lucas…Uncle Will; he wondered a bit about that, he was sure they weren't related.
He turned to Elizabeth and said, "Yes, Miss Bennet. How can we pass up this chance?" If the expression on her face was anything to go by, she wanted to blow him into smithereens but she forced a smile at Lucas, muttered something and let herself be led to the dance floor.
"Capital, capital," Lucas said, all but clapping his hands as he pushed them towards the dance floor.
Elizabeth wanted to box his ears but Uncle Will seemed so pleased with the arrangement, and she knew that if she refused to dance or even gave any more excuses, she would make it seem like a bigger deal than it really was. And to top it off, Mr. Darcy was smiling: she knew it was ridiculous but she insisted on calling him that, that she let herself be led to the dance floor.
000
"What happened at the party?"
Darcy looked at his sister Georgie who was staring at him. "Nothing." He told her. "You know the usual office party spiel."
"I don't believe you," she told him.
"What do you mean?"
"Usually when you are forced to attend office parties you come home in a huff," she replied. "Today you're smiling and happy, and you came home just a few minutes ago; I thought you would return after only half an hour like you usually do."
"Maybe I wasn't at the party," he said. "Maybe I was out somewhere else having fun."
Georgie laughed and told him, "You weren't at your office, with me, or with Charlie."
He hated being so predictable. "Okay, I was at the party," he conceded.
"And?"
"I danced with Elizabeth Bennet."
000
"I still don't see why you're upset."
Elizabeth glared at her sister who was trying, unsuccessfully, to hold back laughter. "Admit it, Lizzie; it was a ridiculous promise to make."
"It wasn't."
"Promising yourself that you would never dance with him," Jane scoffed. "That was over the top, even for you."
"I like dancing," Elizabeth reminded her. "Since I don't like Mr. Darcy, it seemed like a fair promise to make."
Jane shook her head. "I don't know why you insist on calling him Mr. Darcy, you never called Richard Mr. Fitzwilliam, and besides you like Mr. Darcy."
"I can't like a man who said I have a lazy eye and can't say boo to a sheep." Or she shouldn't, Elizabeth told herself. The man had insulted her; she had no business liking him at all.
"Okay, he said some harsh and uncalled-for words, but you liked him in the lift," Jane reminded her. "And he did apologise, very nicely."
"Lift-guy is not Mr. Darcy," Elizabeth said. Of course Jane couldn't understand. It was a matter of principle; Elizabeth wasn't supposed to have danced with Mr. Darcy and she shouldn't have enjoyed it at all. "I can't believe I danced with him." She repeated to herself.
000
