She lasted five minutes before she went back to the store to wear the cashmere coat.
The shop assistant had already placed all the boxes in several bags and she had a trolley ready to wheel it to the boot of Darcy's car.
Lizzy bit her lip. Darcy noticed the trolley nearing and opened the boot.
"We hope you enjoy our products madam."
"Thank you," she responded politely.
Darcy's empty boot quickly filled and he had to put some of the excess in the back seat.
She had bought half of the store!
The sky was already darkening, so she went back to the car seat.
"Feeling better?" He asked.
She ignored him.
They headed west towards Forres where he took a detour to a recently renovated 19th century manor. He booked the self-contained cabin, ahem, lodge and as the main house had a kitchen, he had also asked for menus to be sent over.
Lizzy was silent and contemplative during the journey.
When he parked outside the lodge, he got her suitcase out and backpack containing her work materials. He left the JoE boxes alone.
"Thank you" she said perfunctorily and chose the bedroom furthest away from the entrance.
XXX
Lizzy, pissed off with her travelling companion, decided to write up her notes as it would become a report of her trip. Work was a good distraction from the other uncontrollable things in her life, namely her wealthy travelling companion.
After an hour or so, she heard a knock on her bedroom door and Will walked in.
"Am I forgiven?"
"Forgive you for what?"
This conversation was surreal - he's sure he's had the question respond with a question before with Lizzy.
"For whatever distress I have caused you this afternoon."
She sighed.
"Will, it doesn't matter. This. You. Money. Lifestyle. I don't get it. I don't live in your world therefore this...noblesse sans oblige attitude is totally foreign to me." She explained.
He watched her carefully. She wasn't angry, she was frustrated. He tried to make things easier for her but it seemed what was easy for him wasn't reciprocated in the same manner for her.
"Shall we call a truce then?"
She nodded and went back to typing her report.
XXX
Another hour later, he had walked in with the menu. She chose venison, he chose the beef.
XXX
Half-hour later, he knocked again.
"Food's arrived."
She shut down her laptop, and walked into the dining room to join him.
It was lovely. There was a candlelit table for two covered in a crisp white tablecloth. There were two cloches already on it. He pulled out her chair and inclined his head for her to sit.
It almost looked romantic... if she wasn't still feeling resentful.
She sat. He sat.
He lifted her cloche, then his. She inhaled the waft of smells from her meal. It smelled heavenly. He watched her carefully.
"Wine?"
She nodded.
XXX
Food continued to be Lizzy's main weakness.
"This is divine Will," she finally broke her silence. "Try it."
The gamey flavour was done well.
She cut a piece of venison and placed it on her fork. She offered it to his mouth. He placed his mouth around her fork and pulled the venison off with his teeth. He watched her face intently as he did.
She giggled nervously. This was almost erotic, she thought.
She had once watched a 1970s French film called La Grande Bouffe which was a hedonistic week-long orgy hosted by a terminally ill aristo. It depicted his demise through food and sex, and sex and food. The last scene was awful for Lizzy the foodie - all those gorgeous food laid to waste outside the aristo's crumbling chateau.
She looked across to Darcy who had gone back to his meal and wondered if she should go to the continent and find a suave, suave sophisticated gentleman who understood the connection between food and sex. And sex and food.
Englishmen were so staid.
XXX
Darcy had chosen dessert and it was a selection of petits fours.
Dessert wine was a glass of bortrytis for her, port for him.
XXX
"Thank you for the meal." She said.
"You're welcome." He responded. "Breakfast is at 6am."
XXX
They both went back to their respective bedrooms - Darcy still confounded by what had exactly gone wrong; Lizzy finished the notes to her report and prepared for the sites for tomorrow.
They both slept fitfully.
XXX
She had set her alarm on for 5:45 and woke up just before it rang.
They breakfasted on kippers and Lizzy adored the heather-flavoured honeycomb they had. Darcy just shook his head. He wondered how she kept so trim when she loved food so much!
As it was dark when they arrived last night, she decided to go for a walk and see the park and surrounds.
She noticed the Palladian columns of the main house and how it was half-hidden almost seductively from passers by.
This she thought, was where the Northern Hemisphere's heritage exceeded the Southern Hemisphere's - in architecture style, in the gardens and in the respect for traditions.
Nevertheless, she also noted how centuries of tradition could be also used to suppress innovation amongst other things.
She heard footsteps behind her and it was Darcy joining her.
"There's a nice walk this way." He said and she followed his lead.
"How are you this morning?" He asked warily.
"Better", she admitted.
He changed the subject.
"This place has been recently renovated though it took them awhile to fix it."
She nodded, "There's now a sub-culture of Aussies who do the same."
He looked at her wonderingly.
"Bored housewives who move to regional France and buy a crumbling chateau to fix. Takes them decades to do so while their husbands continue to work like dogs back in Sydney so the wife can live out some sort of pre-revolutionary fantasy. I'm surprised it's not enough to trigger a divorce - buy a chateau, renew the marriage contract." She said derisively.
He smiled. She really was dismissive. "I don't think you'll ever be a bored hausfrau Lizzy."
"No way! It will be a fate worse than death!" And she walked ahead of him.
XXX
They returned to the Lodge to pack up and headed for the gateway to the region, Inverness.