Chapter Thirteen: Lizzie

I look around me. What did I think of this 'old place?'

"It's, um, definitely not what I expected." I gaze, awestruck by the sheer magnificence of the house, taken aback by the fact, not only is it huge, but it still seems like a family home. Georgiana is frowning, I think my choice of words has left her disheartened, and that was not my intention. "It's so much more. Stunning. Amazing. Beautiful. I truly don't think there are enough words in the English language to describe the beauty of this place." I answer honestly. Her eyes light up immediately, and she follows my gaze, looking around admiringly. She is obviously proud of and loves her home dearly. I don't blame her. "And the grounds! I don't know how you ever come inside. I should be outside walking all day long if I lived here." I laugh. Georgiana smiles. She is beautiful in an under stated way, but I could see how she could catch the eye. Her long blonde hair is piled up on her head in a messy bun, a few strands breaking free, probably from the journey. She is slim, wearing jeans and a long sleeved black fitted shirt. Trainers on her feet. She is a little over five feet. She seems so fragile and petite I can tell why Darcy feels the need to protect her. Unlike Lydia who is so forward and mature, Georgiana still has an innocence that not even an affair with Wickham could take away.

"Georgie! What are you doing here so early? You know I would have picked you up from the station, why on earth didn't you call?" Darcy rushes forward and embraces his sister. I turn to go back into the library and give them some privacy when Georgina catches my hand.

"Oh no Lizzie, please don't go anywhere." She turns back to her big brother. "She just saved me from being absolutely mortified Nick. I can't believe I didn't have any money on me for the taxi. I totally forgot." He opens his mouth to speak but she ignores him. "I know, I know, I should have called. To be honest when you said she was coming tonight couldn't get here fast enough, I just had to see her and meet her."

I can't believe what I am hearing, why is she so eager to meet me? I manage a smile. "Well I'm very pleased to meet you too Georgiana. Please let me introduce you to my aunt and uncle."

The evening passes quickly, with Georgiana filling us in amusing stories from her term at school and intimate family memories of Nick when he was younger. To see him laid back in his home with his family is a revelation. He is a different person; attentive, friendly, warm, funny. Everything I would have said he wasn't. I find myself falling even more for him. Before I want it to, the evening comes to an end. We have to return to our hotel. Georgiana hugs me and promises to text me in the morning, we had exchanged numbers and email addresses earlier, she is determined we shall be friends. We will be here for the next two weeks after all.

She leads my aunt and uncle outside with her to await the taxi and I am left alone with Nick. Alone. "Thank you, for this evening; we have all had a wonderful time." I bite my lip. "You were right, we can be friends outside of work it would seem." A wide smile lights up his entire face and I feel warm inside that I put it there.

"Yes it would seem so. And Pemberley…does it…does it meet your approval?" He seems nervous, none of his normal self-confidence present.

I look around me once again at the landscaped garden and sweeping drive. Twinkling lights guide the way out onto the road. Before turning back to the man in front of me. "Very much." I whisper. My aunts' voice calls me over and we are on our way. I turn around in my seat and look out of the back window. He is still there, standing on the steps staring after us.

"Well I don't know what you were talking about Lizzie, Mr Darcy, Nick, seems very nice to me and not at all stuffy or arrogant." My Uncle declares.

"I know." I admit. His sudden turn-around in personality puzzles me. "I don't know what could have brought about this change in him." I sit back looking out of the window at the passing scenery. Why has he changed so much?

"Do you really not know?" I look at my aunt to find her looking down at me like it is the most plain thing in the world, but I don't have a clue what she is on about.

The next day I leave my aunt and uncle in the restaurant having breakfast while I go out for a walk. I love walking, but never get the chance now with working. I am determined to explore this wonderful scenery. I pull down my beanie hat over my messy hair, even though it is spring, it is still chilly. Zipping up my body warmer over my hoodie I set off. I haven't gone more than ten feet when I bump straight into "Nick!"

"Lizzie!" His hands are on my waist holding me steady. I look down at them and he mistakenly takes it as a cue to let go. His hands dropping to his sides. "We do seem to keep doing this don't we?" He pants, removing the earphones I hadn't even noticed until now, from his ears.

"Well this is my hotel, I'm supposed to be here, why are you here?" It comes out a lot snappier than I had intentioned, he looks hurt. I try to apologise, "I'm sorry I didn't mean it like that. I'm just off for a ramble about. Were you wanting me or …?"

"I'm here to see your uncle, he mentioned last night something about wanting to go fishing but not having a licence, I just want to tell him he is welcome to use the lake at Pemberley." He has an effing lake! Of course he does. God he is so out of my league. I don't know what I was thinking last night, imagining we can be friends. "I've arranged it with the ground staff and I have a pass for him and your aunt to use the house and grounds while they are here." He pauses. "You too, if you want."

"That's lovely thanks," It really is. "They will love that. They are just in the dining room finishing off their breakfast if you want to go and give it to them." I start to walk on when he stops me.

"Will you wait? Just while I run these in, I'd like to go with you if that's ok? I'm a good tour guide, I've lived here all my life." He grins somewhat awkwardly.

I really wanted some time alone to discover and get lost, but looking into his gorgeous eyes I find myself nodding and sitting on the bench outside the hotel waiting for him. He is out again within a few minutes. I watch him as his walks towards me. He isn't in a suit, and I'm not sure if I like it or not. He's wearing hiking boots, jeans, grey jacket and beanie hat. You would have no idea he is a millionaire business man. The jacket isn't a brand, the jeans aren't designer; he just looks like a normal man. An incredible hot, muscled, gorgeous man. He takes off leading the way, explaining what is what and where. How long things have been there and what was there before. I love listening to his voice. It's warm and velvet like hot chocolate.

Before I know it we have spent the whole morning together and my stomach is growling, loud it would seem. Darcy turns to me chuckling, "hungry?"

"Starving! You've warn me out. And that's saying something, I can walk miles."

"Here, there's a little pub down this road that does a great lunch. We can have a drink, rest a bit and have a chat." He suggests. I like the sound of that.

The Rose and Crown is lovely, it reminds me of the pubs we have in Meryton. All dark wood beams and low ceilings. Horse brasses decorating the walls, and pewter tankards hang from the bar. We find a booth tucked away in a corner near a roaring fireplace. Nick sits across from me. He takes off his hat and his thick dark hair springs out at all angles, it makes me smile, not seeing him perfectly made up. I pull mine off knowing my hair must look just as bad. I run my fingers through it hopelessly trying to transform it into some kind of style. We are both pink cheeked from our walk. Nick surprises me by ordering a pint, for some reason I didn't see him as a beer drinking guy, I order a glass of wine. We choose our food and sit back for a chat.

"So are you still enjoying Rosings?" He asks smiling, then he adds more seriously "is everyone being nice to you?"

I know who he is talking about and that he is probably referring to the time he found me crying in the stock cupboard. "Yes thank you I love it. I feel like I have really settled in. How about you, any big cases you're working on at the moment? I mean I know you can't share details but ..."

He takes a long drink of his pint and sits back relaxed. "No my last case finished a couple of weeks ago. I'm on a bit of a wind down now until the next one starts. We'll need some extra help on board if you are interested?" His eyes hold hope.

I pulled a face. "Us working together? Do you think we'd be able to handle that?" I'm joking but he looks like he hasn't taken it that way. His face falls and he looks down running his thumb nail along the edge of the table. Without thinking I reach forward and squeeze his hand. "I was only joking. I meant that we're getting on so well, maybe we'd be tipping the boat."

He looks down at my hand on his and smiles, relieved. "I think we could manage. I'd like to get to know you a little better and see what you can do."

Before I can ask him what he really means, our food is delivered. With a full tummy and another glass of wine in my hand, I am feeling more relaxed than I have in a very long time.

"Thank you, by the way, for your help with Jane and Charlie." I had been meaning to tell him so since I got the email. I won't mention the Wickham business. But I wanted to make sure I thanked him for Jane's happiness.

"You shouldn't thank me," his eyes stray from mine searching the pub. I remain silent patiently waiting for him to come back to me. He does within a few seconds. "I'm the one who orchestrated their break up in the first place. Something of which I have never been more ashamed." His head drops and he looks truly sorrowful.

"Look, what past is past. They are happy now and I'm happy for that. So take the thanks and shut up about it." I gasp. Covering my mouth with my hand trying to prevent anymore rabble from escaping. I just told my boss to shut up. I look at him apologetically. But he laughs. Laughs so loud it startles the other people in the pub. I lean towards him. "What?"

"Oh Lizzie, you have no idea how much you make me laugh." He splutters between more laughing. What? Was that a compliment? It really wasn't that funny. "Nobody has ever told me to shut up. Not even my sister, not since I was a kid anyway. I love that you feel comfortable enough with me now to do that." I look down embarrassed, I'm sure my face is blushing. He looks seriously at me. "I never thought you would ever be that comfortable with me, not the way you are with Charlie and Richard, even Wickham."

For a moment we just sit and stare at one another until a loud crack in the fire alerts us to the fact we are still in the middle of a crowded pub. "Yes well it's amazing what two glasses of wine will do to a girl, Mr Darcy."

Shaking his head smiling, he refuses my offer to go halves and pays the bill. He stands to leave draining the last dregs of his pint. Ever the gentleman, he takes my hand to help me to my feet, but doesn't let go, without saying a word, I don't either. We leave the pub like that: holding hands. We spend the remainder of the day together. And the next. And the one after that. So passes the next two weeks, much the same. In the morning Nick would meet me at the hotel we'd go off for a days' exploring, eat lunch together, talk about everything and then return at night. Sometimes my aunt and uncle would join us, sometimes Georgiana. We spend almost all of the two weeks together. We are a couple in every sense, except the fact we aren't. We haven't kissed or even spoken about moving anywhere from being friends. It's like we are wrapped in a bubble, which will pop as soon as we broach the subject of when we get home. For the first time in my life I don't want to go home.

The time is here though, tomorrow is Friday, and I will be leaving and getting back to my little flat and back to reality. He is taking Georgiana to the station tomorrow and then returning to his city penthouse in the evening. Monday we will both return to work as normal, all of this forgotten, back to being Boss and Secretary. Mr Darcy and Miss Bennet. And yet nothing will be the same, something has shifted in us. We know more about each other than even our families. Shared more secrets and dreams with each other than anyone. I am going to miss him.

I finally understand what sort of a man Mr Darcy is, behind all his politeness and bravado, He and I have little in common; on the outside we are so unsuitable for each other, yet his personality, humour and mannerisms despite being so unlike my own – answer all my wishes. I believe we really could be good together. I could bring him down to earth and dare I say it, liven him up his life. I could soften his hard edges and hopefully improve the way he sees things. Whereas his good judgment and knowledge of the world could certainly only improve and expand mine. We could both benefit so much from being together, it's difficult to remember all the reasons why we wouldn't.

As I arrive at my flat, I kiss my aunt and uncle goodbye thanking them again for such a wonderful trip and apologise for not spending more time with them. My aunt just laughs and says something about my time not being wasted. She is hoping to see more of Nick and Georgiana too in the near future. I just smile. I didn't want to explain to my own relatives how we are too far down the social ladder for that to ever happen. This fortnight has been a fluke. We are away from Rosings and the watchful eyes of Lady Catherine and Caroline and therefore we could act like normal people, even if it was just for a couple of weeks. However I am not a fool and I'm not naïve. I know the moment I step into that office on Monday all trace of our friendship will disappear and it will be business as normal once again. I want Nick, I couldn't deny it and the feelings I am having are much too strong for a twenty one year old to be having. Words like forever and marriage whirling though my head. I need to take a step back and compose myself. Get my bearings. At least I will have the weekend to do that.

I open the door of my flat pushing the pile of post that has built up while I have been away. I'll deal with it later. I look around. My little flat seems empty and cold. I miss him already. This is going to be so hard. How could I care that much for someone I have really only just begun to know? I don't want to have these feelings for him. He should be with someone like Caroline, although the thoughts of them being together, of her hands all over him like New Years' eve was enough to bring vomit to my mouth, the thought of him with someone like her was at least credible. We won't work. We aren't meant to be together. We are not going to be together. Nick had made me no promises or declarations, he hadn't even seemed sorry to let me go, he just said he would see me soon. I drop my case and bags in the bedroom, I'll get to those later too. I pour a glass of wine, have a shower and get into my usual sleep attire. My phone beeps with a message. The screen lights up 'Nick Darcy'. I hold my breath and click open.

Nick I had an amazing time getting to know you. I wish it never had to end. N.

Me Me neither.

Nick Thank God. Now open your door.

I push the release button on the intercom and rush to my door, he can't really… I open the door to his smiling face. His arm stretches up, leaning against the frame of the door. He's in his black suit trousers and white shirt, no tie. I can't believe it.

He's here.

"Nick!" Before I can say another word, his lips are on mine. He kicks the door shut behind him, never breaking his hold or the kiss. He pulls me to him so our bodies connect. It's as if the past two weeks of hidden emotions and feelings pour out of him into this kiss. I've never felt more wanted. His hands are on my waist, my back, in my hair. It's like he can't get enough of me, and the feeling is entirely mutual. My hands fist into his hair, pulling his face down closer to mine. He breaks the kiss while we gather our breath, both panting.

"Hi." he smiles down at me, a smile I now know is reserved just for me.

"Hi back" I giggle pulling him in to the bedroom.

He stops at the door, "so," his hand plays with the strap of my top. "About this friend's thing…"