A/N: Hi everyone! Long time no update, I know. Sorry! I have been really busy these past couple of weeks. I will try not to let this happen again. I hope this next chapter lives up to your expectations!

Chapter 9

"William, dah-ling. Would you mind passing me the salt?"

Will handed Caroline the salt shaker.

"Mmm this restaurant is simply divine! William, you have such good taste."

Silence.

"How is Georgie nowadays? Has she grown much since the last time I saw her? Is she as tall as I am?"

"Yes, she has grown, quite a lot." Will started. "But she is only nine. It would be rather odd for a nine year old to be at your height."

"Oh, but that hardly matters. You are so tall. She must get her height from you."

William turned slightly and discreetly rolled his eyes.

"Pray, tell her that I said hi in your next letter."

Silence.

"How charming that you write actual letters to your sister, William. Pity no one does that anymore. I would love for someone to write me a proper letter." She purred.

More silence.

Becky stifled a rather unladylike snort. She had to give it to the woman for trying. But for all her efforts, she certainly wasn't getting anywhere. The look on Darcy's face said it all, really. If Caroline had any brains at all, she would have figured out that he would prefer for her to shut up and possibly go to the other end of the Earth. However, she seemed to be sadly lacking in that department, so she let her tongue run wild and 'wit' flow long.

Finally getting bored of essentially talking to a wall, Caroline turned her attention to her next target. And the inquisition began. If Caroline had worked for Napoleon around 200 years ago, England would have been sunk for sure. Good thing she employed her interrogation skills strictly for gossip purposes only.

"So, Eliza." Becky cringed. How in stinky socks' name did she get Eliza from Liz? "What is it exactly that you do?"

"I work at Wilson and Co." Technically she wasn't lying. She was only withholding select information.

"Oh, Wilson and Co. What a fantastic business. Did you know that my father was friends with Mr Wilson? And I get on famously with Rebecca. Becks is just such a darling. Did you know that she inherited everything when he died? Tragic circumstances, that. But she's too young to run the company yet."

Becky had to keep herself from falling out of her chair. The last time she checked, she had never met Caroline Bingley in her life. When did they become friends? Maybe I hit my head and suffered from amnesia? Although she had to seriously question her former judgement for befriending such a fine specimen. The part about their fathers doing business wasn't completely untrue. Wilson and Co. had in fact merged with Bingley Investment Group, and BIG was now an invaluable part of the Wilson and Co. empire. If only Caroline knew…

"So Eliza, where in the company do you fit in?" Caroline continued.

"I, um…" Think, Becky think! "I work very closely with Jane."

Caroline knew that Jane was an assistant to one of the higher-ups of Wilson and Co. so since Eliza worked closely with Jane, she deduced that she must be the junior assistant or something equally… common. She sneered – what she thought was – discretely. How could William, the President of Pemberley, one of the largest companies in the world – only just surpassed by Wilson and Co, she reluctantly admitted, but extremely large all the same – lower himself to associate with such common people? How could his sensibilities cope?

Unknown to Caroline, Will was actually coping quite well. Better than he would have anyway had he come to dinner by himself. Although he felt a little guilty for being rather glad that Caroline had focussed her attention on Becca rather than himself. But it was only a very little, compared to his relief at finally being left alone. Maybe he could make it through the remainder of this dessert course without resorting to any drastic actions. He didn't particularly fancy a lifetime in jail for just a moment – okay, maybe a bit… well, maybe a lot, longer than a moment – of satisfaction. No matter how tempting. So he sat, quietly working away at his crème brulee, hoping to be ignored for a while yet. Maybe if she could suddenly swallow that cherry pip down the wrong way…

"Well, William's sister, Georgiana is very accomplished, is she not, William, dear?" Caroline turned to Will again, having sufficiently determined the inferiority of the two strays that had no doubt coerced her William into bring them here. After all, a man of his station would not willingly suffer the degradation of such substandard company.

Fudge-cakes. I got my hopes up too soon. What did I miss? William froze in his seat, his spoon poised half way between his desert and his mouth. While he had been imagining the many ways to bring about Caroline's demise – of course, he would never put them into action, but imagining them in his head did no harm – he had missed whatever Caroline had been talking about. Now he was caught.

Becky watched his reaction with barely concealed amusement. Her shoulders shook a little as she tried to supress her laughter at Will's deer-in-the-headlights expression. He looked petrified!

Seeing Becky's silent laughter out of the corner of his eye, he huffed a little and tried to think up some form of revenge while trying to find an answer to Caroline's question and at the same time searching for the right opportunity to eat his spoonful of dessert. He decided that he should eat his bite of crème brulee first, just to put off responding to Caroline for a little longer.

Will swallowed. "Um…"

Caroline didn't wait any longer for his reply before she continued to speak. She looked around at both Jane and Becky pointedly.

"Dear Georgie is ever so accomplished, even at such a young age! She can already speak fluent French, as well as play the piano so brilliantly. I wager I do not know anyone quite so talented at the piano than Georgie. She is quite a prodigy!"

Will merely shrugged, glad that he didn't have to actually make a response now.

"I do hope that you will hire a tutor for her! We don't want all that talent to go to waste, now do we, William darling? She will definitely be able to go to Julliard at least when she grows up a bit."

At her last declaration, Will stared at Caroline in amazement. The audacity of the woman! How dare she presume to tell him what to do! How dare she presume that she had the right to tell him how to educate his own sister! Who in the blazes did she think she was?! Will fumed silently, wishing more than anything at that moment to be able to throw what was left of his dessert into her face. The dessert could only provide an improvement of her looks.

Sensing the tension rising, Charles, thankfully, stepped in, and the conversation and behaviour remained civil. For now.

After another hour in the company of Miss High-and-Mighty, they had finally been able to make their escape. Caroline had claimed fatigue and looking at Darcy, said that she needed to go home to get some beauty sleep. Becky had never seen someone so obviously hinting for an offer of a ride home. But Will being Will, he either ignored her or didn't notice. He only fanned the flames of Caroline's irritation by inviting himself to share Becky's Bentley because his car was still at the Wilson and Co. building, while Charles offered to drive Jane home. And so it was that Miss Caroline Bingley found herself in the awkward position of standing alone on the sidewalk as the others paired off and put her to the back of their minds.

"Gah! I hate that woman." Will ground out as soon as they were safely ensconced in the Bentley.

Becky wisely resisted the urge to laugh at his rather childlike outburst. Caroline had been in rare form that night, if Will's countenance and now awful mood was anything to judge by. She wondered how Will found the patience to put up with her. If she had been the one that Caroline had badgered all night, then heads – or one head in particular – would have rolled. Charlie must be some friend, to be able induce Will to put up with a sister like that! Again, for the thousandth time that night, she pondered how on Earth Charles and Caroline belonged to the same family. Maybe he's adopted.

A/N: Leave your thoughts please!