Twenty four months, one week, three days ago, five hours and three minutes ago . . .

Darcy swooned as he peered at the audience from behind stage; hundreds of his employees were filling the seats and in ten short minutes he would be addressing all of them.

This was dArta Software's first Annual General Meeting (AGM) and nothing had prepared him for how many people would attend; since his father's death he had been an absent employer, preferring to shirk the spotlight and fade into the background; in a few short minutes however he was going under the microscope in his first time 'official' address to over 3000 employees. Everyone was flicking through their handbooks, settling into their seats and finishing conversations on their BlackBerry's as they wanted for the main event to start. Glancing around the room taking in the expressions of everyone, some were sombre, some more gentle looking folk were smiling and others were yawning so widely that he thought something might get sucked in; 'and I haven't even started yet' Darcy thought. The vultures lined the front row, microphones and cameras at the ready; all the media were here for his great unveiling. Since the relatively young company had joined the top 10 software providers in the world he had tried to remain anonymous but now was his time to lead his team and push them on towards his dream of becoming the world's number 1 software company.

All the presenter training and public speaking courses he had been dragged to last summer could not have prepared him for this and his hands began to sweat under the pressure. His PR team had been sending him memos and swarming around him since 5am and he couldn't help but grumble to himself "Idiots, how can they be this nervous; they aren't the ones speaker" but 'they are the ones that will have to deal with the fallout if he screws up,' that was a sobering thought.

"Don't drop the ball, mate" Charles Bingley, his marketing director had snuck back stage before the big event to come and lend some support.

"Thank you for that tid-bit Charles, I will be sure not to drop the proverbial ball." Darcy sarcastically retorted smoothing out the nonexistent wrinkles in his jacket.

"You nervous . . . there's ALOT of people out there." Charles continued to rile up Darcy, who had lost all interest in the conversation and was staring off to the AV box. Darcy was taking in every detail of the room around him, when suddenly he was accosted by a pair of female hands pulling up his tie and back of his blazer.

He angrily swatted at the hands on him "Get your hands off me! Do you now know who I am?" Staring down at her he noticed as her deep chocolate eyes, softened as they looked at him, she was smiling.

"Well you don't see me trying to mic anyone else." Moving in front of him, the girl raised the offending wireless microphone in her left hand as proof of her innocence, and she teasingly raised an eyebrow at him. He knew that he should be annoyed, he was annoyed but that made his stomach flip, that was not an innocent look and he didn't want to admit it but it left him with a rather uncomfortable feeling that his trousers were suddenly too tight.

Tearing his eyes away from her intense gaze, he stared down at Charles who was chuckling at the exchange. "For heaven's sake Charles, I thought I was being violated and all you can do is laugh."

"Darcy, you were not being violated; this is Elizabeth she is one of the event managers and she quite clearly demonstrated she was simply doing her job."

"Well the way she was laying her hands on me you would have thought her job was too . . ."

"I'm still here you know." Elizabeth glared at him, daring him to finish his sentence; Darcy took his eyes away from her, it was making him feel a bit dizzy and he looked above her, whilst he replied.

"Yes well, manners would teach you to inform a gentleman before you place your hands on his person."

Darcy watched as she opened her mouth as if he was going to reply and then thought better of it; he was the bill payer after all. "Well, Mr Darcy, would you be so kind as to step this way so that I may put this inoffensive article upon you." Darcy nodded his head in agreement and lifted the back of his blazer so that she could attached sound pack to his trousers and then moved in front of him to pin the mic clip onto his tie. Training his eyes on the stage entrance, her delicate frame glanced across his crotch as she pulled his tie to her.

For hours after their first meeting her scent followed him, she smelt of mango and passionfruit and he couldn't help it when his mind conjured up an him image of her in nothing but some ice cream that had dribbled on her before he licked it off.

"That man is insufferable" Lizzie muttered as she stormed off when she had finished micing up Mr Darcy. Everyone had told her he was a proud and unsociable man but she had never thought he would treat her with such self righteous disdain.

"Lizzie, what's wrong?" Her colleague Charlotte kept pace with her as she stormed through the auditorium, Charlotte attempted to gently take Lizzie's shoulder in her hand but she shrugged it off in a fit of rage. "You look frightfully pale."

"I have just met the most arrogant, egotistical human being that has ever walked this earth. I mean why the hell he would think that I would like to touch him I will never know and then to compare me to a prostiture, how dare he! I hope he's happy with his Jimmy Choo wearing heiresses."Lizzie was wildly waving her hands around, turning about and facing Charlotte swiftly when she spoke.

"Oh god Lizzie, who have you got a personal vendetta against now. Soon there will be no one in the world you will be able to speak to because you will have ruled them all out." Charlotte annoyingly had a point, Lizzie was very good at her job and she was one of the most efficient event organisers her current employers had ever seen but when someone annoyed her, logic and reason went out the window and she become a self professed man woman.

"Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy, he is so fu . . . infuriating, he accused me of trying to manhandle him."

"Well it wouldn't the first time, Lizzie."

"I resent that comment, it happened once and that was an accident but now all I was trying to do was mic him up when he went all karate kid and slapped my hands away."

"Well, he must have had a good reason; I can't believe he would just slap you."

"Charlotte, I don't need you to sound like Jane right now. I need you to make me laugh about what an arrogant arse he is and tell me that I am right to feel so . . . so . . . so affronted."

"Well that's a relief because the sermon was starting to leave a disagreeable stain on my tongue . . ."

Lizzie stood for a moment momentarily shocked that Charlotte had been trying to impersonate Jane but quickly reasoned that Charlotte was just trying to council her as only a sister could. Lizzie had been assigned the job of looking after the auditorium and the AV, so when she had calmed down enough to stop seeing spots she hid in the AV booth, in the middle side of the tiered room

Charlotte had only been whispering the next part but somehow she heard it all as if they were alone together "Oh and Lizzie, I wouldn't mind being accused of accosting Mr Darcy, he's possibly one of the sexiest men alive; count yourself lucky girl, I hear he only date's models." Well that figures, Lizzie thought.

Just as Charlotte finished her sentence the lights in the auditorium dimmed and the room went silent as a dramatic bright light suddenly appeared on Mr Darcy, who was centre stage and staring right at her.

Why was he looking at her? Was he really looking at her? Surely he couldn't pick her out amongst all these people. Lizzie blushed at her own thoughts and she started to remember how his muscular back had felt under her finger tips, it was toned and strong and it had arched towards her as she had ran her fingers across his waist band attempting to place the sound pack securely under his jacket. Where he had grabbed her arm still stung but it was not an uncomfortable feeling, his fingers had been warm and sent sensational shivers across her body when they touched her bare skin; when he had look down on her she had wished that he was not wearing such a deep frown, the smile he had given the blonde gentleman before she had disturbed them was one of the most wonderful sights, he had a smile that could light up a blackout; but she doubted many people got to see it unless they were more intimate with him.

Mr Darcy was most certainly an arrogant man but he was also the one man Lizzie had met that she would consider breaking her conference code for.

Lizzie looked at the 20ft projection of him on the wide screens either side of the stage and she couldn't help but think how she would like to run her fingers through his mass of brown hair all messed up as he lay in her bed and look into his deep brown eyes everyday for the rest of her life.

It was all so bizarre after the way he had reacted she couldn't understand why it felt like his gaze had been burning into her back as she left him and then staring into her soul just moments ago, he obviously didn't like anyone he considered beneath but the way she felt right now was dangerous and she would have to stay away from him before she risked her career and morals.

As it happened Darcy was having similar thoughts about Elizabeth, she had flooded his every thought from the moment he had looked down upon her; it was making it incredibly difficult to not keep searching her out in the crowd. When she had left him and Charles, he figured that he was far too rich to entertain the idea of romancing someone who was so decidedly below his own position in life; no that would not make his father proud but he couldn't help but think how much he had enjoyed touching her bare skin even for the briefest moment and he wouldn't minding doing it again if he got half the chance.

No I will not, I must stay away from him/her, five days is not a long time, I will not let this affect me I will be professional, she/he will not be a distraction . . . but those eyes.

Authors note:

Sorry guys, I had to go back to the past - can't look to the future if you don't know whats happened.

I didn't think I would have time to update but writing has become a little addictive, I need to keep writing . . . strike while the irons hot. :)

Anyway off to Venice on the morrow so won't be updating for a whole weekend but will try and get a new chapter together on Monday for you; look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Kx