"Lizzie! There's a man here to see you. I can't remember the last time you had a bloke round. Lizzie, are you there?"

Lizzie raised her head from the article she had been absorbed in, her mother's shrill tones breaking her concentration. She didn't move from where she sat, despite Priscilla's continued exhortations, feeling her stomach flip over at the possibilities of the identity of her visitor.

Lizzie had felt so low over the previous few days it had been a struggle to find any focus. Slowly she regained her equilibrium, feeling relieved and, if she was honest with herself, a little piqued that Darcy hadn't contacted her after their encounter. She knew he had her phone number, just as she had his, after he had called her when Jane was sick. But the only male number on her call list besides her father was Wickham and Lizzie determinedly screened his calls as though they had been from Darcy himself. Surely it couldn't be Darcy who had come. It had to be George. It would be like him to follow up her silence with a personal visit. The leap of heart that had accompanied her previous meetings with him was notably absent but she thought she could at least face him with equanimity.

"Lizzie? You better be in there and making yourself decent for company." Priscilla's voice grew even more determined. She wrenched the door open before Lizzie could finish her thoughts. "Oh Lizzie, look at you. You could have at least put on a bit of makeup."

"Mum, can you please just tell me who it is?"

"He says his name is Bill. He's not as handsome as some I s'pose, but you can't be choosey, Lizzie. Now, hurry up. I better go make sure he doesn't get bored and leave."

Lizzie dropped her head into her hands and groaned. There had been a third option after all. As little as she wanted to see either Darcy or Wickham, Collins was, if possible, an even less welcome visitor. And a certain blow to her ego as well, that the only man of her acquaintance who visited her was he.

It was too late to hide so Lizzie rolled off her bed and went to the door. As she walked outside into the overcast day, she could see her mother suggestively raising her eyebrows beside the widely smiling Bill Collins.

"Now then, I'll leave you two alone, eh? Come in for a cuppa later, Lizzie, I expect to hear all about your male friend here. You should come in too, Bill. Make yourself comfortable, I expect to see you here a lot more often to visit our Lizzie."

"I certainly hope to please you, Mrs Bennet."

"Mum, there's no need for you to leave, Bill's just come to discuss some possible work."

"Oh no, Lizzie, I know when I'm not wanted." Priscilla giggled, waggling her fingers. "Ta ta, Bill." She wandered back to the house, looking repeatedly over her shoulder at them but Lizzie didn't speak until she had disappeared inside.

"Hi, Bill. This is an unexpected pleasure."

Collin's puffed out his chest. ''I know I should have called before popping by but Charlotte gave me your address and said you'd be home and eager to see me. I've just come from the Lucas's."

Lizzie could have strangled her friend. She raised an eyebrow but before she could respond, Collins continued. "I understand you must have been overwhelmed by our dance together on Saturday. I too enjoyed it immensely. I know you felt shy after our obvious chemistry on the dance floor and so had to leave the party to recover your composure."

Lizzie nearly choked. "That's not quite how it went. You see I wasn't feeling very well."

Collins clearly didn't see. "I've come to ask you to the swing dancing night in Margaret River on Sunday. No doubt you're keen to repeat the experience."

Lizzie bit her lip before speaking. She had already made plans with Charlotte and Jane to attend the community event and now had to make some excuse not to go. "Oh? Sunday, is it? Sorry, I can't…I have a chapter for my thesis due next week and just can't take any time away from it."

"All work and no play makes Lizzie a dull girl."

"But that's just it, with the masters pro on, I've been out too much and just can't spare the time." Lizzie attempted to redirect the subject. "So, about De Bourgh estate, I should be free by the end of May to come. Will four weeks be acceptable?"

"You don't need to be so coy, Lizzie. I know you're keen on going out with me. Besides, if Mrs de Bourgh takes a liking to you, you're hardly going to have time to keep going with your studies. I can put in a good word for you with her you know. I'd love to have a dancing partner at the estate. Imagine how much fun we'd have."

Lizzie imagined exactly how exciting the prospect was and slowly blew out her breath. "Bill, I think you have the wrong idea. I'm only coming to De Bourgh Estate to further my experience in larger vineyards. Even if Mrs de Bourgh thought I was suitable for the assistant manager position, I'm not sure that it would suit me. "

Bill snorted in disbelief. "Come now, Lizzie, there's not a more exciting prospect in the industry than De Bourgh Estate. Why, I think even the lowliest position there encompasses more scope than any vineyard in the whole region."

"I guess I'll see that when I arrive there. But believe me, Bill, no matter how enticing I find the work there, nothing would make me give up my study. You must understand that I have little time for socialising."

Bill clucked his tongue against his teeth. "We will see about that. I'll pick you up on Sunday at 4pm."

Lizzie's tone went from placating to short. "Bill, I don't know how I can make this any clearer for you. I'm not available this Sunday nor do I have any inclination to accept at any other time."

"This isn't the impression your mother gave me."

"It may surprise you, but my mother isn't the foremost authority of my dating habits."

Bill did look surprised and more than a little petulant. "It's just dancing, Lizzie, it's not like I'm asking you to marry me."

"Bill, my focus is on my study and I have no time for dates with you, or any other man. I don't mean to be rude, but please relieve yourself of any misguided notion that my mind is going to change. If you feel now that I wouldn't be suitable for De Bourgh Estate, we can forgo that as well. I would want you to think I was there under any false pretensions."

"No, at least your dedication is a credit to you and Mrs de Bourgh would approve of your single minded attention to your work. I see now that what I thought was delicacy of principal is actually singular devotion to your own interests."

Lizzie smothered a bubble of laughter. She had been looking forward to her time at De Bourgh Estate as a way of breaking up the mundanity of her day to day activities but she would have given it up in a second if she thought she was to be tormented by the romantic attentions of Collins. "Yes, that's it exactly."

"Perhaps you'll see differently when you're at De Bourgh Estate though. We work hard but Mrs de Bourgh wants her employees to enjoy themselves as well." Collins smiled knowingly at her. "And in my experience, persistence with ladies can pay off. I don't give up that easily."

Lizzie thought wildly for something that would put him off for good. "To be honest with you, Bill, when I said I didn't have time for any man, that should have given you a clue, as nice as you are, my tastes just don't run that way."

"You mean…"

"Yes, only my family doesn't know so you'd be really doing me a favour if you didn't mention it."

"I see. Is Charlotte…that way as well?"

"Oh no, worse luck for me. You understand why I focus so much on my work, the only gay in the village you see. No hard feelings?"

"Please forgive me, I had no idea. I have already put it from my mind. You must forget I ever asked you."

"Done. So the last week in May will that be a suitable time for me to arrive?"

Bill concurred and they arranged her arrival with little more conversation. It seemed that after her disclosure that he could barely get away fast enough, leaving a vastly amused Lizzie in his wake. She turned to go back to her books when her mother burst from the house.

"Scared him off already then?"

"Mum, I already told you, he was only here to talk about some work prospects."

"I know a man with romantic intentions when I see one, Elizabeth. Besides he told me that he wanted to take you dancing. I don't know what's wrong with you."

"You've told me what's wrong with me many times over."

"And what's wrong with Bill then? He's got two feet and a heartbeat and he's interested in you. That should be bloody enough!"

There was no placating her mother. Lizzie listened to her lecture, knowing that if she tried to defend herself, the tirade would only grow longer. She tried at first to make light of it but if anything that seemed to encourage Priscilla. Despite Lizzie's sullen silence, it was only the arrival of her father that pulled her mother up short.

"Frank, tell your daughter that if she won't go out with Bill Collins, I'll never speak to her again."

Frank smiled good-naturedly. "Lizzie, you find yourself in a tangle then. Unless you go out with this bloke, your mother will never speak to you again. But if you go out with someone who I don't approve of, I may never speak to you again. And I'm not sure there's any bloke in the country that's good enough for my Lizzie. If you won't have him, then I won't either."

"Frank! Why do you always do this to me?" At least her father's answer drew the focus from Lizzie and bought her mother's ire onto him instead. Lizzie gave him an apologetic smile as she slipped away to the humpy, closing the door against Priscilla's increasingly irritated tones.

The article she had been reading seemed distinctly flavourless now and Lizzie abandoned it to a file marked as having no relevance to her work. She opened her laptop instead to do some writing but instead found herself staring blankly at the screen before her.

It was frustrating that she couldn't stop thinking about what had happened between herself and Darcy, when without doubt she was the furthest thing from his mind. She hadn't even told Charlotte what she had done, hoping that the less she spoke about it, the quicker she could forget. It didn't help that the memories of the evening were far from unpleasant. Lizzie couldn't help but wonder about the amount of times she'd had unsatisfying sex with someone she'd been really into, but that the best sex of her life had been with someone she didn't even like.

After a number of fruitless hours, Lizzie was grateful to hear Jane's car pulling into the driveway. She closed her computer and went to the door in expectation of her sister's glowing face, hoping she was free that evening and Lizzie would be able to distract herself in her company. At least they could laugh together over her deception of Collins.

But it wasn't Jane's smiles that greeted her, instead her sister broke into tears as soon as she meet Lizzie's eyes.

"Jane? What's wrong?"

"Oh, Lizzie, what's he going to think of me?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Charlie! He lost the finals, and I couldn't get there and now he's not answering his phone! He must hate me."

Lizzie blinked. "I forgot that was today. Jane, slow down and tell me what happened. Charlie's hardly going to go from infatuation to loathing in the space of an afternoon."

"He'll think I didn't care! I wasn't there when he needed me."

Through Lizzie's prompts, she eventually gathered that there had been a staffing disaster at a kitchen tea Jane had organised. She had tried to get away to see Charlie compete but the neediness of the bride and Jane's soft heart had made it impossible.

"Who has a party on a Thursday anyway?"

"Exactly! I should have just left her but I've been trying to get the family's business, they have an event at least once a month, and if I left I knew they'd never hire my services again."

"Jane, Charlie knows you have to work. He'll understand."

"Why isn't he answering his phone then? I've only spoken to him once since Saturday. I've been so busy. I'm a terrible girlfriend! I didn't even wish him luck." Her last words were muffled as she broke into a fresh gust of sobs.

"Jane, he's probably just caught up in the media blitz. I bet he can't even get to his phone. Just give it some time and he'll call you when he can."

Despite how Lizzie tried to comfort her, it took much effort to get Jane to see some reason. She eventually calmed down enough to attempt to call Bingley again and, to give her some privacy, Lizzie went up to the house to join the rest of the family for dinner.

There had at least been a few consequences for Lydia for her behaviour at Bingley's party. Even though her father didn't exactly blame her for what had happened, he'd curtailed her activities on the basis that he thought her friends were a bad influence. The past few days had been punctuated by deep sighs and much complaining about the fun she was missing. "There's only a few days of school holidays left and you're keeping me a prisoner here!"

Kitty was equally discontent. The focus on Lydia's social activities had materially damaged her own. "Shut up, Lydia! Why can't I go out? It's not like I did anything wrong?"

Lydia piped in before their father could respond. "It's not fair that I have to stay home if Kitty gets to goes out."

"Lydia, you know you are grounded indefinitely and, Kitty, you should keep your sister company. You're both too boy crazy and should be thinking about your studies. You both have exams next month, you're not leaving this property until I say so and that's the last of it!"

It was rare for Frank Bennet to raise his voice but despite the finality of their father's words, Lydia continued whining entreaties. "Mum, tell Dad it's not fair!"

Priscilla looked inclined to intervene but before she could speak Lizzie cleared her throat. "As interesting as this conversation is, I have to interrupt to tell you I'll be going away for a month at the end of May. I've been offered some work at De Bourgh estate."

Priscilla's face lit up. "Oh Lizzie! Isn't that where that nice man Bill works? I knew there was something you weren't telling me."

"What? No, Mum! This is purely business, Mum. If Charlotte wasn't going as well, I wouldn't even think of it."

"You can't pull the wool over my eyes, Elizabeth."

Frank put down his knife and fork. "I'll miss you, Lizzie. It feels like I only just got you back from Perth and now you're going again?"

"It's only an hour away, Dad. I can come and visit on weekends."

Lydia drew the subject of discussion back to herself with a sigh. "Well, I for one will be glad Lizzie isn't around. She ruins everything."

Lizzie just raised her eyebrow at her sister. They had barely spoken a word to each other since the weekend but Lizzie couldn't help but bite back. "Yes, like ruining your attempt to sneak out in the middle of the night?"

Lydia just scowled at her. It had taken less than 48 hours for her to attempt to flout the conditions of her grounding. Lizzie had been up late reading and heard the giggles of her sisters as they snuck of the main house. Where before she had turned a blind eye, she was still so furious with Lydia, Lizzie woke up her father to put a stop to the business.

In the aftermath of that, both Kitty and Lydia had had their phones confiscated and, at the prompting of Lizzie, their father had gone so far as to disconnect the Wi-Fi leaving them unable to access any social media on the laptop either. In an attempt to manage the overloaded bandwidth of their network, Lizzie had already set up her own password protected modem, so this measure didn't interrupt her study. She couldn't help but feel righteously satisfied by Lydia's disconsolate face as she spent her time flipping through Priscilla's gossip magazines.

Lizzie left the table as soon as she had finished her dinner, taking some leftovers for Jane. Night had fallen swiftly and Lizzie tried not to drop the plate as she fumbled her way across the yard to the dark windows of the humpy. She hoped the quiet meant Jane had managed to contact Bingley but when she opened the door she found her sister not on the phone but sitting in the dark at her computer screen.

"Janey? Did you get hold of him?" Lizzie flicked the lights on as Jane turned blankly toward her.

"Charlie's gone."

"What? No, that's impossible." Lizzie put down the plate she carried and sat beside her sister.

"Caroline emailed me. You have to read this. He's gone to Sydney."

Lizzie pulled the laptop towards her, tilting the screen so she could read the email.

Dearest Jane,

I hope this email finds you well and you and your family have recovered well from the excesses of the pro tour. Unfortunately we've found we have had to depart Yallingup rather abruptly on the insistence of Charlie's management team.

After Charlie's defeat at Margaret River, his coach has decided that he return to Sydney for intensive training before he goes to Rio for the next leg of the tour. Charlie himself is determined to ignore any other distractions while he regains his form. He was hoping that the training could have been conducted locally but his team have intervened and he's going into lockdown.

I regret not being able to see you in person before our departure but you must understand that my full attention must be on my brother if he is to re-establish his number one world ranking.

I hope you'll respond to my email and we can at least continue our friendship by writing to each other. Who knows when we'll see each other again. I hope for you and your sisters sake that the southwest isn't too bereft of masculine talent now the tour's over.

Much love,

Caroline

"He didn't even say goodbye."

"This doesn't make sense? Why wouldn't Charlie contact you himself?" The question resulted in Jane's loss of composure and Lizzie pulled her shaking sister into a hug. "I guarantee that this is just Caroline interfering, Janey. Of course Charlie will call you."

"It's because of me he lost. I should have been there."

"It's not your fault, Jane."

"I distracted him. I'm not good enough for him. Caro's only trying to do the right thing by telling me."

Lizzie held her tongue rather than give her sister her opinion on Caroline's interpretation of the 'right thing'. "Don't be ridiculous, Jane. You weren't even there."

"Exactly!" Jane pulled away and wiped her eyes with the tissue Lizzie passed her.

"There is no way in the world he's not going to contact you. Anyone who saw you and Charlie together couldn't help but see how infatuated he is. He could barely look at anyone else. This is Caroline's doing entirely. She never thought any of the Bennets were worthy of her family's attention."

"How can you say that, Lizzie? She's been so kind to me."

"Jane, Caroline Bingley is an interfering bitch who only cares about her own interests and if Charlie hasn't contacted you before the weekend, why… of course he'll call. It's not even worth giving it another thought. He's probably on a flight and you know how bad phone reception is here, he probably couldn't get through."

Despite her confident words, Bingley didn't contact Jane. Lizzie swung between disbelief and anger, while her sister stayed firmly sunk in despair. In their whole lifetime sharing a bedroom, Lizzie had never seen Jane bought so low. There was no keeping it from the rest of the family. Where Jane was one to suffer in silence, their mother was not exactly cast from the same mould and before long the entire community knew exactly how badly her sister had been treated. Lizzie was fed up to the back teeth with curious acquaintances trying to tease information from her.

Finally even Lizzie came to the conclusion that Jane was right and Bingley couldn't have cared for her much at all. Or at least, the man was so thick headed that 'out of sight, out of mind' was written expressly to describe him. But even if he were that gutless, he must realise how his actions would hurt Jane. And the thought made her want to loathe him. The only other possibility made Lizzie's stomach churn. That her mistake with Darcy had made him so determined to avoid her, he had turned his friend from Jane. The idea made Lizzie feel so sick she was soon as out of sorts as her sister.

By the weekend they made such a sorry pair that even the arrival of Lizzie's favourite aunt did little to raise their spirits. Claire Gardiner was only related through marriage but Lizzie often felt she was the only female family member beside Jane she could relate to. She, her husband, Priscilla's brother, and their three children lived in Perth but came down to visit for regular weekends. Having guests to stay was at least a distraction for Jane. Lizzie adored her young cousins, but it was her eldest sister that truly enjoyed spending time with them. If her glow didn't quite return, at least the look of defeat vanished from her eyes when she was in their company.

"Now Lizzie, what's this business with Jane? And you as well, you look almost as low as she does."

"I know Mum must have told you, Aunty Claire. I'm only miserable because I don't know how to help her."

"I need to hear your version. The tangled story I got from Priscilla made no sense at all. Let me take you out for lunch and you can tell me about it?"

Despite requesting that Jane join them, she declined and Lizzie and their aunt left her playing backyard cricket with the children. Lizzie didn't insist she come. She could talk more freely about her worries for her sister if they were alone. Claire drove as Lizzie imparted an edited version of the events of the past month. She managed with some effort not to mention Darcy at all, while making her aunt understand the depths of interference that Bingley's entourage were capable of.

"Oh dear, it's worse than I thought. I feel this will take a while for our Jane to recover from. You think there is no chance he'll contact her?"

"I thought so, but the longer it goes, the less likely it is. Claire, I just don't get it. He had even been talking of moving here. I had never seen Jane so smitten and he had it just as bad as well."

"Not as bad as that if he just up and left. Has she tried to call him?"

"Yes, once anyway since Caroline's email. It just went to his message bank." "What did she say to him? She must have left a message." "You know Jane as well as I do, she's hardly one for recriminations. If it had been me, I would have ripped him a new arsehole. She blaming herself now for losing her heart over something that was just a fling."

"He's bit of a womaniser then?"

"I didn't think so. It looked so much more serious than that but..." Lizzie paused, thinking back to the conversation she had had with Darcy and Bingley at their house in Yallingup. "There was something that one of his friends said that makes me think that maybe it's not such an uncommon occurrence when Bingley is on tour."

Their conversation was cut short by their arrival in Margaret River. The café they had chosen was popular with locals and tourists alike and Lizzie and her aunt only just managed to secure the last table. She had gone inside to place their order when she heard her name called over the clatter of the busy kitchen. Wickham leaned against the bar, a curious smile quirking his mouth. "Lizzie Bennet, you've been avoiding me."

Lizzie wasn't sure how to reply. She had indeed ignored his calls, not even listening to his voice messages, but his perplexed question disarmed her. "Hi George. I've been busy."

"So busy you couldn't even text me back? Don't tell me you've been listening to Darcy and his slander of me?"

Lizzie frowned. "Not much chance of that. No, seriously, George, our dates were fun enough but I find you're not my type. And, I don't think I'm one of your types either."

Wickham raised his eyebrow. "I've never met a cute girl who wasn't my type. Fair enough, but I don't see why you need to avoid me. I'm not so bad am I?"

Lizzie laughed in spite of herself, thinking of her own wanton recklessness. "No, I don't think you're that bad at all, in fact, I think we could be more alike than I thought."

"I doubt that. Have you got time for a coffee with me now? It would be good to catch up."

"I'm with my aunt. But I guess you could join us if you like?"

"Another beautiful Bennet lady?"

"She's my aunt by marriage but she's my favourite relative. You'll like her. I warn you though, we plan to drink wine, not coffee."

Wickham put on every bit of charm he was capable of in the entertainment of Lizzie's aunt. Lizzie found him as compelling as ever but even still she felt wary of him, and though he was attentive, she noticed his wandering eye far more than she had before. However, the excellence of his company was as good as it had ever been and Lizzie laughed so much over the next hour, sitting with him and Claire, that by the time he had to bid his farewell she was in complete charity with him.

Claire looked pointedly at her niece when Wickham was out of earshot. "So, my darling Lizzie, I don't know when I last met a man as delightful as your friend George. And he obviously likes you."

Lizzie laughed. "George Wickham likes many things. I'm not sure though that his attention span is long enough to keep his interest focussed for very long though." She looked at her aunt, her expression becoming more serious. "I think his past makes it difficult for him to trust others. He's not really relationship material."

Claire raised her eyebrows. "Surely the right girl…"

"And I am not that girl, my dearest of aunts. I can enjoy his company though. I thought perhaps when we first met that there was something there but I don't think I have room in my life for someone that complicated."

It took the rest of the bottle of wine for Lizzie to tell her aunt of William Darcy and his relationship to Wickham. Of her dealings with Darcy she said little, except to confirm that she found him the most arrogant man she had ever met.

"That poor man, Lizzie! I don't wonder he has commitment issues." She shrugged and sipped her wine. "He didn't seem particularly messed up but I guess the most troubled men are the most difficult to read. And sometimes the most attractive as well."

"We did go out a few times, until I heard he'd been fooling around with someone else. Claire, I'm not really one to compete for a guy's attention with other girls."

Claire nodded. "Perhaps it's wise to keep George at a distance. I'm glad your heart isn't as easily broken as Jane's"

"There was no possibility of that. A bruised ego perhaps."

"If only Jane had your resilience. I worry it will take her a long time to get over this Bingley character. We must come up with a scheme to get her mind off him. Perhaps, if she'd not too busy with work she could come and visit us in Perth? I can't exactly offer her glamorous entertainment but at least the children should keep her diverted for a while."