Ok guys here is the next chapter...I'm going to have to slow down a bit but I promise, i will not abandon the story and i will try my best to write as fast as possible. Thanx again to my wonderful betas, MAB35 and LADYAMADAUN and thanx to all my reviewers! You guys really make my day when i read your comments!

Chapter 8

Darcy sat at his desk with his head in his hands. He was not the type to say stupid things. He was always in control of his emotions and actions. Living in the world that he did, he had no choice. Will hated the conundrum that was his life. He lived amongst the richest of the rich of New York and he himself had an image to uphold being, both a top executive at Bennet Corp as well as being a Darcy, a name that was synonymous with old money and deep-rooted convictions. His father had early on ingrained in him the duties of being a Darcy. George Darcy had been a good man and believed in being active instead of living the lazy life. Hard work made a man strong. He hadn't had business savvy and so had preferred to be Michael's right hand man instead of running his own show. He had raised his son to exert himself and be a go-getter instead of waiting for everything to come to him on a silver platter.

However, being a Darcy meant that Will had to attend all or at least most of the benefits he was invited to, keep the family name scandal free and marry well. Basically, he had to be the public face of the Darcy family. He didn't mind everything; just the phoniness that came along with it. The fake smiles, pretending to like people you really hated, doing nothing but going to fancy parties where it was always the same people, talking about the same old thing: how to make more money. And yet, he had no choice. He was the only one left to represent the Darcy name. Except of course his sister Anna who was living with an aunt and uncle in order to complete her education. But even if she were here, he wouldn't subject her to all this. Not until she was ready. No, this was his burden to bear and he had actually numbed himself to it. He had always felt that he played the part perfectly…until now. What was wrong with him? Why did Lizzy bring out this rotten side of him? For some reason, whenever he opened his mouth around her he ended up sounding like a jackass. He didn't mean to. She stirred something in him that hadn't been touched in a while. He had long given up on finding the right woman, thinking they were all the same; either gold digging social climbers or shallow superficial heiresses. They all had ulterior motives, even the rich ones, a brutal lesson he had learned in the past and one he would never forget. After the early years of his youth where he was in fact quite the playboy, and his one…mistake…he had refrained from dating in general. Sure, he still went out with women but the number had gone way down in recent years. But Lizzy was different (wasn't she?). She was beautiful inside and out. He could see that right away. But for some reason, the fact that he had noticed that bothered him. He couldn't be thinking about her like that! She was Michael's daughter, not to mention she was 8 years younger than him. He didn't want to rob the cradle so to speak. But if Richard knew what was going through his head every time he thought about Lizzy, he would never hear the end of it. But that didn't mean he had to be a jerk to her, right? He could be civil, friendly even. He nodded to himself in determination. He was going to apologize and treat her with friendly indifference. There was a knock on the door and before he could respond, it opened and Richard peeked his head in, "Hey Loser."

Darcy raised his eyebrow, "What are you doing here and how did you get past my secretary?" Richard opened the door wider and leaned casually against the door frame, "What can I say, the ladies? They love me. Anyways, I'm going down to see Lizzy, wanna tag along? Might be a good time to apologize for your less than pleasant comments and generally crappy attitude."

Darcy glared at his cousin even as he stood up, "Yeah, give me a sec." He closed the folder in front of him and walked towards the door.

Lizzy smiled at Susan as she walked briskly passed her into her office. This time, instead of tossing her bag onto the sofa, she carried it over and placed it neatly under her desk. Sitting down in the comfortable leather chair, she turned her laptop on and waited for it to start up. She drummed her fingers against the desk until the computer prompted her for her login information. She typed fast and clicked ok. Finally she opened up her documents and got to work. She became so absorbed in her work that the buzz of her intercom startled her enough to make her jump in her chair.

"Excuse me Ms. Bennet. Mr. Darcy and Mr. Fitzwilliam are here to see you," Susan informed her employer in a crisp voice. Lizzy frowned slightly, "Okay, send them in." She looked up as the door opened and smiled at Richard who was the first to enter.

"Hey Squirt, nice office," He took a seat across her desk and Darcy took the other one adjacent to it. Lizzy closed the notebook in front of her and put her pen on top of it. "So, to what do I owe this honor?" She leaned back in her chair as she addressed Richard. He grinned at her, "Sheer boredom." Lizzy rolled her eyes at him, "Richie, you're not allowed to be bored, you have too much work to do." He paused for a minute, studying her face. "Actually, we just wanted to see how you were adjusting. For real. Michael told me that he had to force this office on you and secretly hire your secretary. Why the need to force your dad to resort to covert ops?" He leaned back and folded his arms across his chest. The smile on Lizzy's face slowly faded and she sat quietly for a while before going off into a rant, "I'm a new hire and my dad's treating me like a top executive. It's not supposed to be this way. Oh and another thing, why would I have to go on business trips? I mean, no one else in my position would be sent. It's kinda irresponsible. I really hope Charlie was confused."

Richard sighed, "Ok kid, I'm going to be straight with you. I admire your determination to be all normal and work your way up and everything, really I do, we both do." He gestured towards Darcy who up until now sat silently letting his cousin do all the talking. Lizzy glanced at Darcy, making eye contact with him before turning back to Richard as he continued speaking, "but whether you like it or not, You are Elizabeth Bennet, heiress to Bennet Corp. and your dad wants to train you. These business trips will allow you to observe what takes place so when you're ready to take over after your dad retires, you won't be left clueless. You need to have at least a general understanding of everything that goes on here."

Lizzy frowned. "Well what about this office and Susan?"

Richard sighed, "Aww come on Lizzy, you really want to work in some cramped cubicle with nosy guys peeking over to see what you're doing all the time? You wanna earn all this? Then do a good job. That's what you're here to do."

Up until then, Darcy sat quietly, letting Richard do all the talking. He couldn't help but feel envious at how easily his cousin was able to converse with Lizzy. She seemed comfortable with Richard, just as she had been all those years ago but there seemed to be a barrier between himself and Lizzy. He wanted desperately to overcome it. Darcy cleared his throat and the others turned to look at him.

"Lizzy I'm sorry if I was too hard on you this morning. You have to understand, I was just doing my job. It wasn't meant to sound like personal criticism."

Lizzy raised an eyebrow, "And what about Friday night?" She was referring to the comments she had overheard at the party. Darcy cleared his throat, looking extremely uncomfortable and spoke tightly, "Yes well, I'm sorry about that as well." Lizzy said nothing for a minute. "You know Will, you don't know me. Not anymore. I'm not the 13-year-old girl that left all those years ago. I grew up. And even back then, I gave you no reason to think me shallow. So what gives you the right to judge me without even-"

"I said I was sorry, what more do you want?" Darcy interrupted her. Lizzy glared at him, "Gee I don't know, maybe for you to mean it? Or at least sound like you do!" She yelled at him.

"Alright you two, settle down" Richard jumped in before things could turn any more ugly, "Will you were a jerk and Lizzy, now you're being immature. You need to let it go and get passed this. Be civil for God's sake. Can you guys do that?" He glanced between the two angry parties. Neither said a word.

"I'm waiting" Richard prompted. Lizzy huffed, "Fine".

"Good, now shake hands" Richard ordered them. Darcy grunted, but reached his hand out. Lizzy shook it quickly and pulled away almost immediately. Richard smirked at them, "Ahh, I can feel the love in the air." He commented lightly. Lizzy and Darcy glared at him.

"So…uhh…what are you working on?" Darcy decided to change the subject to a more neutral one. Lizzy glanced at her laptop, "Oh, I'm just going over the company website trying to see what needs to be changed."

"And…"

"Well, to be honest, it really sucks. I mean we can afford to do so much better than this, especially for a company of this magnitude. I'm going to bring it up with Charlie later during one of our meetings." The men in front of her nodded their heads but didn't say anything.

"When's your dad coming back?" Richard asked. Lizzy tried to keep the frown off her face as she answered, "I'm not sure. I think sometime next week. He didn't really say."

"Well he probably has a lot to take care of at the London office. He can't always be here in New York and send everyone else to do the important stuff." Darcy didn't mean to sound patronizing but somehow it came out like that. Lizzy glared at him, "Thank you for pointing that out but I am aware of my father's responsibilities. He's been travelling around since I was a kid. I never expected him to stop just because I'm back in town."

Darcy opened his mouth to clarify what he meant but Richard broke in. "Okaaaay I think that's enough playtime for the two of you. Back to your corners now." He stood up and started walking towards the door, "Let's go Will," He called over his shoulder. Darcy stood and hesitated for a minute, before following his cousin out the door. He closed it gently behind him, not noticing Lizzy's glare that followed him as he left.