"Bethany? I thought that was you I saw earlier," Professor Orsino said, smiling warmly as he rose from his seat in the lounge.

Bethany had no choice but to stop and talk to him. Not that she minded having a chance to talk to Professor Orsino, but she could see a familiar bright-red leather briefcase on the chair beside his, and knew Meredith Stannard must be somewhere in the vicinity. Probably complaining loudly to some poor unfortunate about the delay, Bethany guessed. "Professor Orsino," she said, smiling back at him with equal warmth.

"I was surprised to see you on board, until I remembered you'd once mentioned that you'd started school so late because of helping with the family business. I take it Hawke Airways is that business?"

"Yes," she said, "As well as quite a few other ventures now, but the airline is where it all started. My brother Garrett is the Hawke in Hawke Enterprises. You're heading to the conference in Paris, aren't you?" she asked, changing the subject.

He smiled slightly and nodded. "Yes. I'm presenting a paper there. Will you be attending, by any chance?"

"Yes – I'm only working this flight as far as Paris. I wouldn't be able to afford to go without the free air travel there and back again."

Orsino's eyebrows rose somewhat. "Even though your brother is Hawke Enterprises?"

"I prefer making my own way," Bethany said, wrinkling her nose slightly. "I did let him help with the cost of my schooling, and it certainly doesn't hurt to know he's there as a safety net if I ever need real help, but it's so much easier to tell Garrett no when he doesn't control my allowance. I like living my own life, and being responsible for myself."

Orsino smiled and nodded. "As do we all, I'm sure," he said, then his eyes moved to look beyond her. "Ah. And here comes Ms Stannard – a pleasure seeing you again, Miss Hawke, and I hope we'll have a chance to converse further at the conference," he said, and gave her a nicely old-fashioned bow.

Bethany grinned, thankful for his warning, and hurried on her way before Meredith could arrive. She was almost at the crew lounge when Isabela fell into step with her, a wide grin on her face. "He's quite the silver fox, your Professor Orsino," she observed.

Bethany flushed. "He's not my Professor Orsino. Certainly not in the way you mean, anyway!"

"Oh? And are you sure you know just how I mean it, kitten?" Isabela asked teasingly, then laughed. "Now don't play all coy with me. Your brother may still think you're a sweet clueless innocent, but he's got big brother blinders on. Come on, confess... if Professor Orsino ever gave even a hint that he was open to it, you'd happily let him eat crackers in your bed any day."

Bethany tried to keep a straight face, her gaze determinedly on the hallway in front of them, but then glanced at Isabela, and the expression on her friend's face made her grin and laugh. "All right, yes, if he seemed open to it. Unfortunately... well, I suspect Feynriel is more his type, to be honest."

"Oh dear... what a pity. And here I was already planning how to run interference on that bitch in scarlet for you. You're sure you don't need a wingman?"

Bethany laughed, then linked her arm with Isabela's. "Maybe not right now, but if I ever need one, I promise that you'll be the first on my list," she told the other woman, then changed the subject. "So how are things with you and my brother lately?"

"Oh, well enough. I'll be stopping over in Italy with him."

Bethany frowned and glanced sideways at Isabela. "Is he still pressuring you to marry him?"

"Not so much pressuring as... well, he drops the occasional hint. I don't know, maybe I should marry him. It's not that I dislike him or anything like that, it's just..." she sighed, and shrugged. "I don't like being tied down."

Bethany nodded. She'd heard enough about Isabela's past, during late-night confidences in crew hostels back before she'd headed off to school, to know why Isabela wasn't a fan of marriage. She sometimes wished Hawke wasn't so old-fashioned in his beliefs about love and marriage; he just didn't see how his efforts to make Isabela marry him made her unhappy. Couldn't he just be happy to have her as his companion and lover? She'd sometimes thought of talking to him about it, but as his sister – especially his younger sister, whom he persisted in thinking of as the baby of the family even though she and Carver were twins and he certainly didn't treat Carver like a child – she knew it would be awkward. And Isabela could handle herself pretty well, she knew, and had decided to keep well out of it instead.

Though if he ever did manage to drive Isabela away, she was going to mad at him. That she was pretty certain of, her and Isabela having been as close as sisters since even before Hawke had started dating her.

And in the meantime they'd reached the crew lounge at last, and could just sit down together and talk until the unscheduled layover ended. Hopefully the remainder of the flight wouldn't be anywhere near as exciting as the first leg.