It takes all of ten minutes for Lizzie to regret ever accepting the challenge.
William Darcy is handsome. He is tall and broad-shouldered. He is, in many ways, an ideal specimen of manhood for the brooding, moody photos she plans to take in the library this morning because she knows herself to be more versatile than just taking pool photos of everyone. But, apparently, as tolerable as William might be when being posed for a group photo, he is the stiffest person on the planet when posing alone.
"Relax!" She hollers for the fifth time. Behind her, Kitty and Fitz and Freddie make for a very unsupportive audience. Giana smiles quietly and encouragingly from the side, but she isn't much help either. To be fair, it's a little hard to make a man act sexy when his baby sister is in the room.
"I am trying, Elizabeth," William complains, causing his two ridiculous cousins to rise into even more ridiculous heights of laughter.
Lizzie huffs, hands on her hips. This isn't going to work. She is practically ready to throw in the towel.
But she's never been one to back down from a challenge.
"Fine, here." She stomps over to William. She grabs him by the arms to give physical directions, since the verbal ones she's tried up to now have achieved absolutely nothing. "Turn this way - your whole body, good. And then look down. Not that down - just a little. Okay, good. Keep your eyes on the edge of the carpet here. Now hold that pose!"
She scurries back to her previous spot. He still looks stiff. In fact, he looks like he's been carved straight out of marble. But at least he's in a less awkward pose now.
She snaps a few shots. She likes the lighting. There is finally hope.
"Alright, now soften your expression - again, just relax," Lizzie instructs.
William shrugs his shoulders, looking like a tin man who needs some oil, and proceeds to stare blankly at the carpet.
"Not like that." Lizzie sighs, positively deflating. The two laughing boys behind her have been snickering so hard that they've become a sort of background white noise. "Just maybe - like - "
"I can help," a shrill female voice announces, and all eyes swing to the freshly opened door.
Anne's outfit of the day is a bright canary yellow monstrosity. And it suits her personality, if Lizzie really thinks about it.
"He just needs a female model." Anne prowls towards William, a predator closing in on her prey, while he looks desperately at Lizzie with warning signs and cries of help all over his face. "As a professional, I am sure that I can - "
"Miss Bennet can more than handle this herself, I assure you," William sputters, withdrawing an entire five feet before Anne can reach him. The model's bright yellow nails are so shiny that they might as well be claws.
William looks at her for help, and Lizzie shrugs.
Anne whines, "She doesn't look too sure - "
Lizzie rolls her head and groans. "I am. I have the situation perfectly under control."
To Fitz and Freddie's credit, they barely squeak.
Anne raises a perfectly outlined brow. "I don't think it seemed that way just a moment ago. I am only trying to offer some inspiration - "
"It's fine - really." Lizzie sighs. This time, she walks over until she stands between her subject and the latest intruder. She can feel William inching closer behind her. "We got this."
"I doubt that - "
"Miss Bennet was just showing me how to stand right here," William announces while he plants his feet directly behind Lizzie, his chest brushing against her back. Lizzie feels the air rush out of her body while her heart shifts into overdrive to compensate for all the lost oxygen. He places his hands - his large, warm, manly hands - on Lizzie's shoulders. "Weren't you, Lizzie?"
"Yes?"
Anne narrows her eyes, and the judgmental glint in them makes it more personal.
Lizzie Bennet is an up-and-coming star of the photography world, and she will not be dismissed by a sneering socialite.
"I was just saying, yes - " Lizzie whips around to face the object of Anne Rosings's affection. "If William will just look down right here, and place his hands right - "
Lizzie notices, a little belatedly, that she has basically directed William Darcy to embrace her - because there is precious little room between the library shelf behind her and the man in front of her. His hands, which she placed on the shelves, have somehow made their way to her waist. His eyes meet hers, glance at her lips, and then look up again in the perfect mix of yearning and desire.
And Lizzie freezes.
He barely moves. She barely moves. And she wonders if this is what her subconscious has wanted all along.
Did it have to take Anne for her to see that she's the one who needs to coax the sexy out of him?
At the back of the room, Fitz lets loose a wolf whistle. Anne huffs and mutters something about people being unprofessional before stomping out the door.
And Lizzie wonders how exactly she will ever look at William Darcy the same way again.
"So that's where you've been hiding," Kitty quips as soon as she prances into their guest room. She shoots her sister a glance before snagging her makeup bag and whisking herself into the bathroom.
Lizzie sneaks a glance at the clock on her computer screen. It's time to 'dress for dinner' again, and she has half a mind to show up in her sloppiest loungewear just to hide whatever sort of blush creeps onto her skin at the mere sight of William Darcy.
The shoot this morning didn't take long after she took over the posing. And as the photos on her laptop show, it was a pretty successful shoot. Even fully clothed and inside a library, William exudes the very essence of male charm - Byronic and mysterious and utterly delicious.
She just doesn't like how personal it feels.
"You two looked pretty hot, you know?" Kitty doesn't mince words. She throws the comment out so casually that she doesn't even leave the bathroom. Lizzie knows that three minutes in front of the mirror will transform Kitty into the prettiest little picture, like Jane.
Lizzie also knows it will take two hours for her to even feel remotely presentable amongst the high society of the Fitzwilliam family.
Kitty re-emerges, as expected, looking ready for a delightful Sunday picnic. She frowns. "Stop overthinking it."
"I don't know what you're talking about." Lizzie pouts. She pulls down her laptop screen and scrambles to a seat on the honestly very comfortable bed.
"Hey, there's nothing, like, ethically wrong with falling in love with him, you know? It's not like he's a professional model in a contract with you." Kitty scoots onto the bed.
Lizzie considers denying it, but she knows her excuses won't stand.
"It's not that," she mutters instead.
"Not what?"
"Not about ethics or whatever."
"Alright, then what's it about?"
Lizzie let's the ideas settle in her jumbled mind.
"It's been a magical weekend - an escape, if you will. The Fitzwilliams have been the best clients and hosts we could ask for." Lizzie picks on the loose thread on her sleeve. "But I don't think a career-minded woman with a very ordinary family belongs in the world of modern aristocrats."
She waits for Kitty to argue or to agree. She's not exactly sure which one she wants.
Then Kitty asks. "What would you tell me if I said the same things about Fitz?"
Lizzie's eyes snap up. Kitty's smile is a little wry, but not completely insincere.
"I'd tell you that love doesn't live by the book - that a connection isn't just about what's on paper but what feels real." The words come effortlessly. "I'd tell you to go for it, if that's what you want."
Kitty's smile brightens. Lizzie's iPhone pings with an Airdrop notification.
"Good," says Kitty. She slides off the bed and tosses a blouse at Lizzie. "So maybe you should too."
Lizzie pulls the one nice blouse she brought, freshly laundered, off her face. Then she grins at the photo on her phone - of her in William's arms.
"And that's a wrap. Great work, everyone!" Lizzie lowers her camera. The gardens look different at night, with the almost whimsical lighting threading through the hedges and shining on the topiaries. "I'll have the raw files ready by tonight and the enhanced files in a week."
"Thank you, Miss Bennet." Gregory smiles gallantly. He helps his wife from the iron garden chair to her feet, her voluminous skirts as fashionable as they are classic. "We look forward to the final products. Fitz?"
"Ah, yes." Fitz hops forward with a cheque in hand. A quick glance shows that the originally agreed-upon amount has been rounded up significantly, almost doubled. "Thank you for your service, Miss Bennet."
Fitz winks as Lizzie gapes at the cheque in her hand.
"Father and Mother said to give a bonus. The rest of us couldn't help but agree."
"Thank you." Lizzie smiles and tucks away the paper. She nods at the elders of the family. "It's been a pleasure."
"A pleasure indeed," Freddie quips with a flirtatious glint in his eye.
"I think we need more pictures." Anne whines out of the blue. Lizzie turns around just in time to see her hooking her arm around a very unwilling William Darcy's elbow. "Take some shots of us at the gazebo!"
The command is followed by excessive tugging on her part, her heels clicking, then grinding, against the patio. The Fitzwilliam brothers laugh (of course) while Kitty and Giana offer pitying looks at the way William seems to debate between complying and prying Anne off of himself with a pair of pliers.
"I guess it's early enough for an extension," Lizzie saves him. She cocks a head towards the gazebo. It's quite centrally located, but the expansiveness of the estate means that there's still a significant walk between where they are and where the gazebo is. "Maybe I can do a cousins shoot? All the cousins together?"
"Yes," William almost shouts.
"Very well." Fitz laughs and brings his brother along by way of an arm around his shoulders. Kitty falls in step next to the younger son, and Lizzie trails behind with Giana.
"Enjoy your shoot," Amelia calls out just as Lady Catherine huffs.
"We will!" Freddie hollers back at his mother.
It's awkward and a little hard to pose, what with the way the collection of spotlights converge on the gazebo. But the cousins are a quick study, and Lizzie actually finds herself enjoying the surprise extension shoot. William and Giana have come a long way with being in front of the camera, and even Anne blends in seamlessly with the boys. Given that the family had allowed Anne to join tonight's garden shoot, Lizzie didn't fight too hard to exclude her from this one.
"Perfect!" Anne announces before Lizzie is done. "Now, we tour the gardens!"
She hauls William off in a blink of an eye, presumably to some sort of garden rendezvous. Lizzie shrugs it off. He's not hers - never has been.
And she's not about to put herself out there by staking some sort of claim the last night of her stay at Matlock Manor.
"Will you be alright here?" Fitz asks, sounding almost cautious. Then and only then does Lizzie notice it's started to rain. It's light rain, not particularly bad; but it does look like the night will be pretty dark and stormy soon.
"I can help her," Freddie offers. Fitz nods at his brother.
"You'll be okay, Lizzie?" Now it's Kitty asking, her hand already secure in Fitz's.
Lizzie smiles. "Of course."
And the two run off.
Freddie starts shedding his coat like any chivalrous gentleman would. "If you would allow me, Lizzie - "
"Take Giana." Lizzie looks at the quiet girl who's been standing on her own since Anne took off with her brother. "I'll be fine."
"But your camera - " Freddie gestures towards the contraption hanging on her chest.
He's right.
Lizzie can withstand a little rain, but her camera and livelihood can't.
She shrugs. "I can wait it out."
Both Freddie and Giana frown. "Are you sure?"
"Positive." Lizzie shrugs. "I'll sort through the shots first."
Thunder rumbles, and Giana gives a quick, short gasp.
Lizzie smiles. "Just take her, Freddie."
Freddie nods, Giana obeys, and Lizzie waits on her own in the gazebo.
A/N: No shirtless Darcy in the pool, sorry. But we get a special moment between Lizzie and broody, Byronic Darcy. Hope that's something!