Chapter Two

Liam was the first to recover from his shock, "Are you Elizabeth Bennet?"

"That's what my birth certificate says." Lily answered as sarcasm dripped from her lips.

"It's just I was… I was told your name was Lily." Liam sputtered.

"Right again." Lily smirked, "Do you want to go for the lightning round."

Liam took a deep breath, "You're an English historian?"

"Ding. Ding. Ding. Johnny, tell him what he's won."

"I had you thoroughly vetted, and I know you received your doctorate from Cambridge University."

"Somebody did their homework." Lily mocked, "Now how do we suppose a lowly American could have received an education from a premier English university!"

"An American doing English historical research, it's absurd." Liam pronounced.

Elizabeth's anger was unleashed, "You seem really hung up on the fact that I am an American, but it seems we were both under misapprehensions as I didn't realize that my new employer was the world's most pompous prick." She tried to reign in her temper, so she closed her eyes and took in deep cleansing breaths. "I've come here to do a job which nobody is going to stop me from completing, not even an American hating, arrogant, rude, slut shaming English Gentleman is going to stop me." She picked up her luggage, "Please show me to my room."

§§§§§§§

This is not going well. Fitzwilliam Darcy glanced at his wife. What are we to do with these two?

Elizabeth nudged her husband. The lady has spoken, show her to her room.

She smiled up into the face of her darling husband, slid her hand over his arm and escorted him to Liam and waved her hand toward their charge and he nodded with a smile.

Fitzwilliam Darcy's ghostly form evaporated as he stepped into Liam. Liam's posture changed to one with more formality as Darcy took over. He offered his arm to Lily and she automatically responded in the expected manner as she tilted her head to look up at him with an odd expression on her face. He held out his other hand to take her luggage. "Let me escort you to your chambers, my lady."

Darcy in the guise of Liam escorted Lily to her chambers and set her luggage on the bed before exiting the room and Liam as he returned to his wife.

He is not going to be happy about the circumvention of his wishes. Darcy wrapped his arms around Elizabeth's ghostly form. He was thinking of putting her in the basement dungeon and there was a notion of escorting her to the seventh circle of hell.

Elizabeth still relished their closeness even after all of this time. He will come around eventually, after all … you did. She glanced up into the handsome countenance of her husband. I'm sure you contemplated locking me up in the dungeon of Pemberley a time or two.

Yes, I did but that was for a completely different reason.

Our darling couple continued to watch Liam for a while after he came back to himself to make sure he didn't undo their good deed.

§§§§§§§

Liam's face reflected his confusion as he sputtered to himself, "I put Lily in the Mistresses chambers, the room right next to mine with connecting doors. What the hell was I thinking? The dungeon, it was supposed to be the dungeon."

Liam stepped to the next door and entered his bed chambers. After his frustrating encounter with Lily, Liam decided to bathe and let the hot water relieve the tension from his body.

When the house was renovated with modern plumbing, what had once been the Mistresses dressing chamber was turned into a luxurious bathroom with all of the modern conveniences.

Liam reluctantly left his bath to dress for dinner. To say that he hadn't made a very good impression on Lily was an understatement. Tonight, at dinner, she would see the Master of Pemberley, William Darcy.

He had a towel around his waist, still wet from the bath and had just finished shaving when the door to the bathroom opened from the Mistresses side and he heard a gasp before he turned to face her. Oh crap.

He smiled at her in a self-deprecating way as he shrugged his shoulders, "Sorry, I forgot to tell you, these suites share a bathroom. I will be done in a moment." Lily turned to leave but Liam stopped her, "I also forgot to tell you that I planned a formal dinner in your honor at 8 and we will be dressing for dinner."

"Thank you for informing me," Lily smirked as she turned and winked at him, "I will make sure I do not come down to dinner naked."

"Wow!" Lily came out of the bathroom and flopped down on the bed. She was a modern woman not some cowering maiden and yet one glimpse at that man's bare chest had her salivating like a dog with a juicy bone. She hated the guy for goodness sakes. He took rudeness to a whole new level and he had embarrassed her in front of her sister, Cal and a whole bar of strangers. Damn! He might be a jerk but the man was the very definition of hot!

While she waited for Liam to clear out of the bathroom so she could take a bath and get ready for this formal dinner, she pulled out the most virtuous dress she had brought with her.

She heard a knock on the door and roused herself from her own thoughts and answered the door. Liam's mouth opened wide and he stuttered, "You look amazing and so incredibly sexy."

Lily's eyebrows creased with concentration as she tried to figure out what he was talking about until she caught a look at herself in the mirror. No! She was wearing a sexy red dress cut down to her navel and slit up to her thigh and every bit of the material clung to every curve of her body. Damn!

She glared a Liam, "Don't think I dressed like this for you. I must have grabbed the wrong dress by mistake."

"Sure you did." Liam laughed as he offered her his arm, "Shall we go down to dinner."

Lily reluctantly took his arm as he led her through the hallways of Pemberley.

"I thought you might like to see this before we go down." He gestured down the hall of portraits. "I come here often to talk to my parents, however, I thought you might like to meet the woman who was your namesake, Elizabeth Bennet Darcy."

Lily instantly fell in the love with the portrait of the lady with the laughing eyes.

"This gentleman is her husband, Fitzwilliam Darcy." Liam indicated the portrait with just the man himself.

"He seems far too serious for Elizabeth Bennet." Lily commented.

"That is very true, he was much too serious for the lively lady who loved to laugh." He led her to stand in front of the portrait of Fitzwilliam and Elizabeth Darcy.

Lily looked incredulous, "This is the same gentleman."

"Yes, it seems he just needed the love of the right woman to bring out the man he was always meant to be." Liam smiled, "Learning more about the history of my family is why I have been so excited to get you here to start this project."

"I can understand that desire."

Liam led her down the hall as he gave a brief description of each of the portraits before they finally made it downstairs for dinner.

§§§§§§§

Isn't he sweet. Elizabeth's form coalesced bringing her husband with her as she had her hand in his.

He really liked the dress you chose for Lily.

Elizabeth shuddered. You should have seen the one she had chosen to wear; it was like a nightmare.

Did you find out anything about her family in her thoughts? Could she be related to you?

She wasn't thinking about her family as she couldn't get the image of Liam in his towel out of her mind. Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam laughed.

This may be easier than we expected.

Elizabeth shook her head No it won't be, don't you remember what it was like when we were in their shoes. If possible, she's even worse than I was and I know he is more clueless than you.

I swear, I should probably be insulted, if I didn't agree with your assessment.

§§§§§§§

The formal dinner was a rousing success as Lily was given an idea of what it was like to live in the bygone era of the landed gentry.

In between one of the courses, Liam received a phone call and excused himself to take the call.

Lily could hear a little of the conversation, enough to know that Liam was looking for someone named Ginny and that his investigator had not found out much about the missing person. Lily's forehead creased as she wondered who Ginny was and what did she have to do with Liam and Pemberley.

When Liam returned, the fun of the night had evaporated. They finished their meal in near silence and when it was over Liam walked her back to her room and she could see the worry that shown all over Liam's face and that seemed to haunt him.

Lily wasn't sure why, but she seemed to feel his pain and vowed that she would help with his problem.

§§§§§§§

As Fitzwilliam Darcy glanced back at Elizabeth who had just moved into Lily in order to project information into the other woman's dreams. He disappeared into the Masters chambers and where he would do the same with Liam.