"Oh, William you know Anne only listens to your opinion nowadays, please reason with her or at least guide her." The unknown dinner with William's aunt and her associates had turned to be quite a coincidental affair, when Lizzie discovered that Catherine De Bourgh was the said aunt and the most trusted associate was Mr. Collins and her friend Charlotte now referred to as Mrs. Collins.
It was surprising to say the least, but then Lizzie had been immediately pulled into the whole conversation by Anne De Bourgh.
The mother and daughter duo were completely two different yet, complementing personalities, which somewhat made Lizzie remember herself and her own mother, Mrs. Bennett. Catherine De Bourgh was a woman clearly in her late fifties, however had aged beautifully and elegantly. A bit cynical and detail-oriented, she seemed to be the most dominating sorts of a mother. Anne on the other hand was calm and composed, a beauty herself as she radiated elegance, however she too was assertive of her opinion like her mother and seemed to have a great sense for business.
Lizzie had formed a sense of admiration towards Anne as the evening progressed; the same however could not be said about Catherine De Bourgh. The lady had created quite a trouble with Lizzie's attendance at first since it was supposed to be a business affair of sorts, but later when her role had been revealed in the entire proceedings had to concede.
However, that was only the beginning. She created another ruckus with the seating arrangements, making sure that Anne was the one seated opposite Darcy and it was Lizzie who sat beside him. William had protested lightly to the matter but in vain, for an annoyed Elizabeth had already offered up her seat to Anne.
Throughout the dinner, she had been the target of Lady Catherine's string of questions and later when they adjourned to the living for some dessert and coffee, had requested Lizzie to take over the grand piano and entertain everyone.
William had thankfully rescued her from the task, by claiming that as a guest it wasn't her job to entertain the host and that William would in fact like to play something as the host. This was yet another surprise for Elizabeth who had no idea about William's fluency in music.
"I think Anne is quite capable to handle her business affairs herself, considering the success she has achieved in only the past few months." William smiled at his cousin that created a burning sensation in Lizzie's chest which, she chose to ignore.
"Furthermore, Miss. Bennett is quite a legal acclaim to have on your team, so it is suffice to say that Anne's new project is bound to be successful."
A smirk formed on Lizzie's face as her eyes met Lady Catherine's.
"Oh, then why don't you take Miss. Bennett's advice on your current lawsuit? I have heard that matters are quite grave and you have been receiving quite negative publicity." Even though the statement had been directed towards William, the tone of the statement had hit Lizzie more than expected and frankly irked her as it questioned her credibility as an advocate. It seemed that Lady Catherine had finally succeeded in looking down upon her.
It also irked her that she had no idea about William's problems and the way Lady Catherine had referred to it, the matters seemed to have been quite grave. The brunette refused to accept the fact she was in fact worried for her host and settled for professional curiosity for the reason behind her sudden need to be in the matter.
"Of course, I would love to be of assistance to you Mr. Darcy." Elizabeth answered quickly.
The social engagement could not have had ended sooner for Elizabeth after that. All she wanted to do was go to her room, rid herself of the dress and then get to some work with regards to Pemberley's lawsuit.
*
William couldn't believe how the dinner had transpired and he hadn't seemed to miss his aunt's efforts at matchmaking him with Anne yet again as well as her attempts at proving Elizabeth to be an inferior to her own daughter. However, he felt pride when she had held her ground against his aunt and acted in a manner which was quite diplomatic and similar to the way his deceased mother used to be in such social engagements.
Throughout the night, all he had wanted to do was, to drag Elizabeth to his room, and rid her of her dress, so that he may ravish her, but he had to control his desires due to the unavoidable company. He had been hesitant to refer Elizabeth about his current predicament but thanks to his aunt's efforts to look down upon Lizzie, she had unknowingly made matters easier for him.
As his unsolicited guests finally bid adieu for the night and the two began to retire to their respective rooms, William's desire to ravish Elizabeth seemed to have increased manifold. However, as he moved to pull her against him, a memory from the ball hit him and he reined himself in, all his desires melting away.
Entering his room, he looked down upon his own hands, which still tingled from the need to hold the brunette in them, yet thought best not to do so.
That night as William, lay down in his bed, he wondered if Elizabeth would have had wanted him again and how he could make things better between the two of them.
*
That night the both of them could not sleep. William was aware that Elizabeth was awake and he wanted to check up on her but couldn't muster the courage to do so, while Elizabeth kept herself busy by researching on the matter throughout the night.
Pemberley had not issued any official statement with regards the matter which gave Elizabeth a lot of area to work with and she hoped to help William overcome the matter. It was quite clear to her that the lawsuit was nothing but a revenge scheme and an attempt to throw bad light upon William's and Pemberley's image since it majorly dealt with news reporting and information.
It was however, good to know that people had been aware of the matter, especially youngsters and were taking a stand in support of William and Pemberley, something which Elizabeth hoped to use to her advantage in the coming series of events.
As Elizabeth finally went to bed that night, a lot of thoughts ran through her head but she needed her energy if she wanted to accompany William tomorrow and help him sort his mess out, with that thought in mind she finally welcomed sleep and closed her eyes.
