Elizabeth rolled the cuff links in her hand, admiring the sheen of the platinum and the sparkle of the small, solitary diamonds in the center. She sighed. Really, this job was getting to be entirely too easy.

“Richard,” she drawled into the phone, “try harder next time. I’m beginning to get bored.”

She held the cuff links in her outstretched hand and snapped a picture with her phone, then quickly sent it to Richard.

**

Richard Fitzwilliam growled lowly, then slammed his phone onto the table.

“What’s the problem, Fitz?” asked Darcy.

“Another security breach.”

“Another? I thought you just installed a new system? You said it was state of the art.”

“I did and it is. But not state of the art enough.”

“What do you mean?”

Richard couldn’t help but smile grudgingly and held out his phone, the picture of the cuff links on the screen.

“Those are mine!”

“Uh-huh.”

“I keep them in a case in my bedroom.”

“I know.”

“How did this person,” he looked at the name of the sender, “Bennett, get them?”

“Bennett stole them.”

“Well I gathered that! How?”

Richard sighed. “Ever since the incident last year, we’ve been up-ing our security measures both at your home and at Pemberley’s offices. It’s no good to just install a new system and believe it’s safe. You have to test it. Bennett is the test.”

Darcy’s mouth opened slightly and his brows raised as his eyes moved left to right, then focused squarely on his cousin, friend, and the man currently handling his security.

“Let me get this straight. Every time you’ve complained about a ‘glitch’ in the new security system, this Bennett person has gotten through?”

“Yes.”

“And why does he have my cuff links?”

“To prove the breach was successful. Each time they break in, they take something to prove they were there.”

“They?”

“Yes. Bennett Solutions is the company. Started with the father in the seventies. He does desk work now while his kids handle the field. We’ve worked our way up to the most skilled operative, if that’s any consolation.”

“Sorry, Fitz, but no, it isn’t! I wore those cuff links to dinner two nights ago, which means someone was in my bedroom! Possibly while I was asleep. Forgive me for not feeling all warm and fuzzy.” He glared at his cousin and took another sip of his coffee. “How many times has there been a ‘breach’, now?”

Richard looked down. “This is the fourth.”

“The fourth!”

“Calm down, Darcy. It’s not like they would hurt you. They’re just doing their job.”

“It’s not me I’m worried about.”

“Hey, I’m just as mad about this as you are. But Bennett is the best. Once we beat them, we’ll be impenetrable.”

“How do you know they’re the best?”

“Besides their stellar reputation, no other company has been able to get through our system. We called Bennett as a final check, and they sent us a paper weight off your desk two days later. And that wasn’t even their best guy.”

“So that’s where it went!” he mumbled. Darcy shook his head at Richard’s look of begrudging respect. “I don’t like this, Fitz. Georgie comes home in two weeks and I need to know that she is safe. After last year…”

“I know. Believe me, I know. I’m working on it. I’ll have the techies back in this afternoon to see how they got through.”

**

“Well, Lydia, how’d they take the news?” asked Elizabeth.

“Just like you thought they would. Fitzwilliam was ready to blow a top and Darcy is seriously peeved.” Lydia dropped her bag on a chair and put her camera on the desk.

“Good. Maybe now they’ll get serious.” She flipped through the pictures of Darcy and Fitzwilliam’s breakfast meeting.

“Lizzy, look at this.” Mary gestured her sister over to her computer. “Look who Fitzwilliam just called in.”

“You’re kidding.”

“I wish I was,” replied Mary.

“Should I tell him and save him the trouble?” asked Elizabeth.

Lydia came to stand behind her sisters. “Oh no! You’ve got to be kidding me! They called in the nerd?!”

“Hey! Not all geniuses are nerds!” Mary protested.

Elizabeth put her hand on Mary’s shoulder while Lydia said, “No, but Collins is. And such a little know it all! I say we let Fitz hire him and then break in two hours later. Show him who he’s playing with.”

Elizabeth nodded silently while her sisters looked on, waiting for an answer. “Mary, what do you think he’ll do?”

“His usual. He’ll scramble a new code for the existing house security system -”

“Which you’ll unscramble,” Lydia interrupted.

Mary smiled smugly. “And he’ll add touch sensors to the upstairs windows; the down are already done. He’ll add laser trips-”

“What is it with guys and lasers?” Lizzy interrupted this time.

“Too many spy movies,” answered Lydia.

“- and he’ll throw in a few more cameras for good measure. Nothing we can’t beat with our usual MO.”

“So simple. Why do people even pay him?” asked Elizabeth in genuine confusion.

“Because an alarm is only as good as the code that disarms it, and he’s good at making codes no one can break, ” answered Mary.

“Except you, little sister,” said Elizabeth.

Mary smiled. “It does help that almost all of his override codes have something to do with Catherine the Great.”

Lydia snorted.

“Keep monitoring his activities and let me know when Collins is set to arrive. Lydia, get over to Pemberley and see how Darcy’s doing. I want to know his state of mind,” Elizabeth ordered.

“You got it, sis. Get me in, Mary?”

“I’m on it.”

An hour later, Lydia was walking into Pemberley, a security badge around her neck. She smiled at the security guard and slid her pass through the gate. She took the elevator up to the forty-eigth floor and walked confidently past the receptionist. She quickly found her way to Darcy’s office and waited for his secretary to walk away from her desk. She knocked on the door to Darcy’s office, then walked in when she heard a deep voice boom, “Enter.”

“Here’s the file you requested, Mr. Darcy.”

“Thank you,” he said absently as she set it down. He looked up at her briefly and when he didn’t recognize the platinum blond, he glanced at her badge. “Ah, an intern. That’s why I didn’t recognize you. How’s it going?”

“Better than I thought it would, Mr. Darcy.”

“Glad to hear it.”

He nodded and she walked away, a small smile tugging her lips.

**

“I don’t know whether to be impressed or disgusted.” Elizabeth smirked at her little sister’s smug expression.

“Be impressed. I am good, you know.” Lydia leaned back and put her feet up on the desk while she and Lizzy listened to the audio feed from the bug she’d planted in Darcy’s office that afternoon.

“I don’t know, Fitz. How do we know this guy is even any good?” asked Darcy, his tone worried.

“He comes highly recommended, though he is a bit of a prat.”

Lydia snorted. “I’ll say.”

“Shh!”

“Since Bennett has been so successful breaking through, why don’t we ask them what system we should be using?”

Lizzy nodded at the practical suggestion.

“Their job is to break in. They wouldn’t help us find a way to keep them out,” said Fitzwilliam.

 Both sisters looked offended at the statement.

“Maybe not. You could at least ask.”

 “Let’s see what Collins suggests, then we can go from there.”

 Darcy sighed. “Alright, but this is the last chance. No more screw ups, Fitz.”

 “I almost feel sorry for Fitzwilliam,” said Elizabeth.

“Why? You warned him in the beginning that the system wasn’t sophisticated enough. It was his idea to move up in baby steps and not take your advice. He’s being an arrogant ass. I say let him fall,” said Lydia flippantly.

“True, but he’ll probably lose his job over this. Somehow, that takes the fun out of it.”

“Then let’s put the fun back in it,” Lydia said mischievously.

“What do you suggest?”

“Just that we make our presence known in a more… unorthodox way,” Lydia said with a cat-like grin.

**

Mary sat in the back of a van a short distance outside the Darcy home.

“Give me three more minutes and I’ll be in, Lizzy.”

Elizabeth listened to her sister’s voice in her ear piece as she crouched behind a hedge outside the Darcy home. “No worries, sis. I’m sitting pretty.”

Mary tapped away at the computer in front of her, tsking to herself as she read the code. “So predictable. Men.” She sighed. “Alright Lizzy, I’m in.”

“Let me guess. Was the key Potemkin?” asked Elizabeth.

“He’s getting more obscure. This time it was the victories of Suvoroff.”

“’Warsaw is Ours’,” she quoted. “Nice.”

Mary tapped a few more keys and spoke through her mic, “Alright the camera nearest is rerouted for sixty seconds starting now.”

Elizabeth quickly climbed up the stone fence, crouched along the top, then vaulted onto the other side.  As she crept towards the house and out of sight of the camera,  she withdrew a dog whistle from her pocket and gave three short blasts. She waited under a large oak tree for the two snarling animals to find her.

“There you are my darlings!” she cooed quietly. The dogs quickly knelt in front of her waiting for their treats. “Did you miss me? Did my babies miss me? Yes, that’s a good boy!” she said as she rubbed the larger dog’s upturned belly. She pulled out a few sausage links from the pack on her back and gave them to the waiting hounds. “Good boys. Now you sit here and eat your snack while I go see if daddy’s inside.”

She scratched their ears for another minute as they got drowsy and then fell asleep. “Works every time.”

She dusted her hands off and when Mary gave her the all clear, she crept to the house.

“Windows are disarmed, Lizzy. You’re good to go.”

“I’m going in. If I’m not out in twenty minutes, meet me at the station.”

“I know the drill. Don’t worry.”

Elizabeth turned her ear piece to the lowest possible volume and slid her blade through the window sash, only to find it wasn’t even latched. “This is entirely too easy,” she murmured to herself.

She nimbly pulled herself up through the window and closed it quietly behind her. She decided to be cute and grabbed a post-it and pen off the desk and wrote, ‘Don’t forget to lock up’, then stuck it to the window.

She crept slowly through the dark house, watching for additional trips and alarms and listening for signs of life. Finally, she reached the back where she knew the master bedroom was located. On the bed, fast asleep, was William Darcy. Pity he had to be so cute, she thought. He was really going to be mad when she was done. She snapped a quick picture of his sleeping form, then went into his bathroom.

She took the pack off her bag and tried not to laugh as she looked at the contents. It had been Lydia’s idea to leave something of themselves behind (which they rarely did), to prove a point and have a little fun. But they had come up with the idea of what to leave behind together. And maybe it would teach the guys to take this a little more seriously.

She quickly left her souvenirs and made her way back out of the house. Having locked the window, she went right out the front door, locking it behind herself of course, and quickly made her way past the sleeping dogs and back over the fence.

“That was fast,” said Mary as Lizzy climbed in the van.

“I can’t believe I just did that. Fitz is going to shit a brick.”

She and Mary laughed until their sides hurt and went home to await the storm they both knew was brewing.

**

Elizabeth sat in her garden, leisurely drinking a cappuccino as she slowly woke up to the day. It was going to be interesting, she knew that much. What had been highly amusing was now turning into a pain in the ass.

Finally, she decided to bite the bullet and tapped out a text to Fitzwilliam. Really? Is that the best you can do? She attached a picture of a sleeping William Darcy and hit send.

“Batten down the hatches, it’s going to be a bumpy ride,” she said to herself.

**

William Darcy was restless. His sister was coming home in twelve days and his home wasn’t secure. His cousin was acting completely daft and he knew in the back of his mind he was going to have to fire him from security duties. Fitzwilliam didn’t really know what he was doing and just took over after the last head unexpectedly retired the year before. It was fine to let him play around when he was just learning the ropes, but it had been long enough and now it was time to get serious. On top of all that he hadn’t slept well. He’d had the strangest sensation that he wasn’t alone, but when he got up, there was no one there.

He went to the kitchen to make himself a cup of coffee, then walked through to the library. He noticed something bright yellow on the window and walked over to investigate.

“‘Don’t forget to lock up’,” he read. “Oh, no.” He quickly sent Fitz a message. What did they take this time?

A minute later he had a response. Nothing. Attached was a picture of William sleeping in his bed, in his own house. He felt chills up his spine and immediately raced to his bedroom. He looked all around, desperately looking for a clue to the intruder’s presence. He wasn’t even sure what he was looking for but thought he would know it when he saw it.

While he was searching, he called Fitzwilliam.

“Morning, Darcy.”

“How can you ‘morning Darcy’ me? They were in my house! Last night! While I was sleeping!” he shouted. “You said this guy was the best. You said he would make it impenetrable. ‘Leave the window open’ he said. ‘They’ll never crack the code.’ Well guess what? They did! And they left a bloody post-it on the glass advising me to lock the bloody window!”

“Hey, hey, hey! Calm down! There weren’t actual thieves in your house, Darcy. We just need to go up to the next level, that’s all. We’ll stump them. Just be patient.”

“No, Richard. I’m sorry, but I’ve been patient and this is the last straw. You’re fired from security duties. You should go back to quality control where you actually know what you’re doing.”

He hung up before his cousin could answer and stalked into the bathroom. He opened the medicine cabinet to find some aspirin and stopped in his tracks. Looking back at him was an array of feminine products. A box of tampons, a small pink package of pantyliners, whatever those were, a bottle of Midol, a tube of lipstick and matching cherry red nail polish, a purple hairbrush and hair spray, and finally, a can of spermicide. After reading the label, he quickly dropped the offending item and stepped back from the cabinet as if it might bite him.

What had happened here?

He looked around for another post-it but didn’t find one. He snapped a picture of the over-full shelves with his phone and sent it to Fitz with the caption, Do you know anything about this?

A few seconds later, he got a response. ROFL That sounds like E’s style.

“What the hell does rofl mean? And who is E?” he said out loud.

Who is E? he typed.

Elizabeth. She’s the one who’s been breaking into your house.

“A girl has been breaking into my house! I’m going to kill Richard!”

Darcy quickly grabbed a bag and shoved all the trespassing items into it. Five minutes later he was dressed and armed with directions to Bennett Solutions.

**

“Hello. How may I help you?” asked a perky red head behind the reception desk.

“I’m William Darcy of Pemberley enterprises. I believe my company has an account with you?”

“I’m sorry, sir. I’m not allowed to divulge that information.”

He gritted his teeth. “Listen, my security advisor, Richard Fitzwilliam, was just removed this morning and until I find someone else, I’ll be handling our dealings. Now can you talk to me?”

“I’m sorry sir, but I can’t help you. Perhaps you can call Mr. Fitzwilliam and he can tell you what to do.”

Darcy stalked over to the waiting area and called his cousin, leaving a brusque message that told him to call Bennett and let them know he was coming and would be handling the file. A few minutes later he heard the receptionist giggling on the phone and rolled his eyes. Fitz had struck again.

He sauntered back to the desk and asked if she could speak to him now.

“Yes, Mr. Darcy. Everything’s been cleared up. How can I help you?”

“I’d like to speak to Elizabeth if she’s available.”

“I’m sorry, sir. Elizabeth doesn’t see clients in the office.”

“Why ever not?”

“It’s her policy. If you’d like, I can give you her contact information and you can set something up with her directly.”

“That would work, thank you.”

She handed him a card with Elizabeth’s details and he headed to his office. Once there, he quickly dialed Elizabeth’s number.

“Bennett.”

“Is this Elizabeth?”

“That depends. Who is this?” she asked, even though she had a pretty good idea already. Plus Cat had called from the office to let her know to expect his call.

“This is William Darcy, head of Pemberley Enterprises and the man you photographed sleeping last night,” he replied, his frustration seeping into his voice.

“Of course. How are you, Mr. Darcy? Sleep well?” she asked, unable to keep the smile out of her voice.

Cheeky! “As a matter of fact, no, I didn’t. And thanks for the tip about the window. I’ll remember to lock up in future.”

“You do that.”

“I have something of yours that I’d like to return,” he said, looking at the bag filled with feminine products.

“And what is that?”

“It seems you left a few things in my bathroom,” he said stiffly.

“Well, I was there so often, I thought I might as well settle in.”

Wiliam growled lowly. “Miss Bennett, there’s no need to toy with me. You’ve proven your point: our security system is not up to snuff. What would you recommend we do?”

“You want my advice?” she asked.

“It would seem so, yes.”

“I’ll send you the contact details of a guy who knows his stuff. He’ll get you set up properly.”

“And you’ll test it again afterward?” he demanded.

“Is that a request?”

“Yes.”

“Then my answer is yes.”

He sighed in relief and relaxed his voice somewhat. “Thank god. I was beginning to think we’d never get this sorted out. You can’t believe how shocked I was to see a photo of me sleeping this morning. And then to find your little surprise in the bathroom! Well, it was almost as surprising as finding out you were a girl!” he laughed uneasily, his anger fading away and only his nerves remaining.

“A girl?”

“Sorry, a woman,” he said, still not paying attention to his words.

“Why would that be surprising?”

“Well, you know, it’s not the sort of job you’d expect a woman to have. Honestly, I wouldn’t have thought a woman would be any good at it! Hard to sneak around in heels and skirts, isn’t it?”

As soon as he said it, he knew he’d put his foot in it. He didn’t know why he was so jumpy. Well, he did, but he wasn’t about to tell her that having someone watch him sleep, even someone who wasn’t supposed to be dangerous, had freaked him out utterly and combined with the talk with his cousin and other stresses of the morning, he had yet to regain his equilibrium.

Before he could apologize for his gaff, Elizabeth spoke coldly, “Believe it or not, Mr. Darcy, I don’t wear heels and skirts to ‘sneak around in’, as you put it, but I’m sure I could if the situation called for it. I’ll be sending you contact details for a new security firm. Good day, Mr. Darcy.”

**

“Hey, Lydia!” Lizzy called roughly.

“Yeah, Lizzy?”

“You up for something a little unorthodox tonight?” she asked, muted anger coming off her in waves.

“Always! What’s up?”

“Get your camera. You’re in the field with me. I’ll brief you on the way.”

A little after 2am, Lydia and Lizzy walked back into the Darcy home, Mary in the van working the security system. They made their way to the library and Lydia pointed to the desk.

“Let’s start over there.”

Lizzy nodded and perched herself on the smooth walnut, leaning back to display her long legs clad in sheer black hose and four inch heels. Lydia snapped a picture, only the desk and Lizzy’s legs in the frame. They did another at the kitchen table where Elizabeth held up a newspaper over her face but her legs and waist were showing. Again, they repeated it in a chair in the sitting room, a book over her face but the rest of her body on display. Throughout the house, they took pictures that clearly showed where they were, but only ever showed a portion of Elizabeth’s body, and never her face.

When they got to the master bedroom, Elizabeth struck a pose next to the foot of the four-poster bed, one hand grasping a post as Lydia snapped a full body shot from behind, Lizzy’s glorious head of curls let loose down her back.

They moved into the bathroom and she slipped off the shoes and stockings and slipped into his robe, again showing only her hands holding the top closed or her knee peeking out of the slit in the robe. Elizabeth was tempted to sit on his bed and shoot one next to him, but he might wake up and ruin everything. Besides, she suspected he was a bit freaked out about their ease of entry and did have some compassion. Knowing Fitzwilliam, the idiot had shown him the picture of him sleeping as soon as it came in. That man had no idea how to keep a client calm.

Finally, they decided it was enough and the two of them slipped out and quickly made their way home to bed, but not without printing the pictures first.

The next morning, Elizabeth sent an email to Darcy giving him the contact information for Wentworth Security and told him they’d be expecting his call. Then she packed up the pictures of her in his house the night before and sent them to his office via courier.

**

“This was just delivered for you, Mr. Darcy.”

“Thank you, Sandra,” he said absently.

After an hour of work, Darcy looked at the package on his desk and wondered what it was. Curious, he opened it and slipped the contents into his hand. There was a note on top of the stack of 8×10 photos that read ‘Thanks for the idea. Turns out it’s not as hard as you’d think.’

He quickly flipped it aside and looked at the picture beneath it. His eyes widened as he saw a pair of well-formed legs in what could only be described as fuck me heels. As he flipped through, he saw the legs in his library, his den, the guest bedroom, perched on a counter in the kitchen, and finally in his robe in his own bathroom.

“That little minx!” He couldn’t help smiling at her ingenuity. She had certainly shown him the error of his ways and he wouldn’t underestimate her again. As much as he hated to admit it, he found himself intrigued by the mysterious, faceless Elizabeth Bennett.

**

Two days later, Elizabeth was enjoying her daily cappuccino when her phone rang. “Bennett.”

“Hey, Lizzy baby!” said the voice on the other end.

“Freddie!” her voice immediately brightened. “How are you old man?”

“Not too old for you!”

She laughed. And tried not to remember how sexy Frederick Wentworth was.

“Listen, I’ve finished final set up over at Darcy enterprises. The office should be secure now. Care to run a test for me?” he asked, all business now.

“You know I would. What’s my target?”

“The CEO’s office, on the forty-eighth floor.”

“Yeah, I’ve been there before.”

“I’ll bet you have,” he replied lowly.

I don’t sleep with colleagues, I don’t sleep with colleagues, she told herself.

“We’ll see if you can do it again,” he replied, suddenly professional again. “There’s an aspect I’m not sure about, so make sure you keep track of your methods and your times. I want to know how long it takes the whiz kid to crack it.”

“Don’t let Mary hear you call her that. She gets offended when people call her a kid. She’s twenty-three now, you know.”

“Man, time flies. Think I can convince her to change sides?”

She gasped dramatically. “Are you saying you want my sister, but not me?”

He chuckled. “You know I always want you.”

“Haha, Wentworth. I’ll try to fit it in this week and you’ll be hearing from me.”

“I’m sure I will. Later, Lizzy.”

“See ya, Freddy!”

**

After Wentworth gave him the all clear, Darcy packed his briefcase and got ready to go home. Before he left though, he placed a simple black frame on the desk.

“Two can play this game, Miss Bennett.”

He locked his office and left for the night. The next morning, he was surprised to find the photo still on his desk. His secretary raised her brows when she saw it but said nothing. That afternoon when Wentworth stopped by he looked at the picture hard for nearly a minute, as if he was trying to memorize it or place it somehow, but in the end, he said nothing.

After a long day, he locked up as usual. The next morning he was surprised to find the photograph still there. Maybe Wentworth’s system was working?

**

“Alright Mary, what have we got?” asked Elizabeth.

Mary sighed in frustration. “I haven’t gotten through yet.”

Elizabeth rubbed her shoulder. “It’s alright. That’s what we want. Our goal is for them to be completely secure.”

Mary made a face and typed more vigorously. Elizabeth just smiled and walked away, knowing her sister hated to be bested by someone else’s program.

Finally, after two and a half days of trying, Mary threw in the towel. “If you want in, Lizzy, you’ll have to go old school. I can’t override the system.”

“Alright. Let’s call in Lydia and make a plan.”

Two hours later, Mary, Lydia, and Elizabeth were poring over blueprints for the Pemberley Building. “Alright, does everyone know what to do?”

“Yes. I’ll have your key cards ready later tonight,” said Mary.

“This is going to be so fun!” added Lydia.

“It is, but we have to stay focused. Got it?” Elizabeth looked at Lydia sternly.

“I’ve got this. Don’t worry, sis,” Lydia assured her.

“Good. I’ll see you all at seven-thirty tomorrow morning.”

**

Bright and early the next day, Lydia and Elizabeth met outside Pemberley and with a quick nod, they separated and made their ways to the forty-eighth floor. After getting her bearings, Lizzy made her way to a supply closet on the east side of the building. Ten minutes later, Lydia joined her.

“Are we all clear?”

“Yeah. I met this boy, Jeff, totally cute! Anyway, he says Darcy has a meeting on the thirty-fifth floor at nine-thirty. I overheard his secretary say she was going to meet with one of the VP’s assistants while Darcy was out, so we should be clear.”

“Good work.” She looked around the tiny space. “Okay, are you ready for this?”

“Definitely.” Lydia nodded. “Once you’re safely through, I’ll close up and wait for you in the cafeteria.”

Elizabeth adjusted her earpiece. “Mary, can you hear me?”

“Loud and clear, Lizzy. Activate your tracker so I can get a read on you.”

Elizabeth flipped the switch on a tiny disc in her hand and attached it to her bra strap. “Got me?”

“Yup. Darcy’s office is about three hundred feet away. Remember, you’re almost to the weight limit so spread yourself out as much as you can. And I hope you had a light breakfast.”

“Hahaha,” Lizzy said sarcastically.

Elizabeth stripped off the business suit she was wearing and hung it neatly behind a set of shelves filled with cleaning products. If she got caught, Lydia would retrieve it. Underneath, she was wearing a tight black tank top and leggings and a pair of lightweight climbing shoes. She had a tiny pack that wrapped around her waist and settled in the small of her back. Lydia quickly braided her hair and stuffed it down the back of her shirt so it would be out of the way.

“Okay. I’m ready. Lydia, remember to sound the alarm if you see anything suspicious. Anything is better than getting caught.”

“I know, I know. This isn’t my first job, Lizzy! I know the drill.”

Liz nodded and Lydia knelt down to give her a boost. Though she was younger, Lydia was a good three inches taller than her sister with a slightly sturdier build and a bigger bust. Her personality, combined with looking like an Olympic volleyball player, made her ideal for diversions and getting men to tell her things they otherwise wouldn’t.

Elizabeth reached up and unscrewed the ceiling vent, carefully handing it down to Lydia. She hoisted herself up into the duct work and carefully spread her body weight out length-wise. The duct work was small and narrow, barely big enough for her to fit, and could only supports 125 pounds. With clothes on, she was 123. Once she added her pack, she knew she was pushing the limit. Lydia wished her luck and she began her crawl towards Darcy’s office. The passage was dark and dusty. She had a small flashlight attached to her head to light the way and Mary’s voice in her ear telling her where to go.

After 300 feet of crawling on her elbows, Elizabeth was ready to climb down. She looked down through the slats and saw the private bathroom of the CEO’s office. She quickly loosened the bolts and slowly slid the vent down, then lithely dropped down into the bathroom and stretched. She washed the dust off her hands and crept into the office.

Listening at the door, she heard nothing and knew the secretary wasn’t at her desk. She walked around slowly, looking at the world of the CEO of a Fortune 500 Company.

“Wonder what that’s like,” she muttered under her breath.

She made her way to his desk and stopped short when she saw the picture there. She slapped her hand over her mouth to stop herself from laughing out loud. There, in glorious black and white, was the picture of her standing next to his bed, her hair down and back to the camera. A blurry Darcy was sleeping in the bed in the background.

“Touche’, Mr. Darcy.”

She might actually come to like this guy. She quickly picked up the frame and opened the back, ready to put the picture in her pack. Stuck to the back of the photograph was a yellow post-it.

“’What else can you do in these heels?’,,”  she read. She laughed. “Definitely starting to like this guy.”

She rolled up the photo, put it in her pack, and climbed back into the shaft, replacing the vent behind her. She made her way back to the cleaning closet. She quickly brushed out her hair, dusted herself off, and put her suit back on.

Ten minutes later she was having coffee with Lydia in the cafeteria.

“How’d it go?” Lydia asked.

“Besides being utterly claustrophobic, it went great.”

They went back to the office to fill out the report and send Wentworth their findings.

**

Shortly after lunch, Darcy went back to his office and sat at his desk, his eyes immediately flying to the picture in the corner. To his surprise, staring back at him was a blank frame with a yellow post-it in the middle. ‘Wouldn’t you like to know?’

He threw back his head and laughed. He was really starting to like this girl.

**

Two days later, Darcy was standing at a street corner a block from his office, waiting for the light to change. As he started across the road, he noticed a curly haired woman waiting for the adjacent light on the other side of the road. He quickened his pace and made it just as the light was changing. He followed her across the street and into a busy coffee shop.

Once she had her order and was standing at the counter putting cinnamon into her cappuccino, he approached her.

“Returning to the scene of the crime, Miss Bennett?”

The woman turned and looked at him, slid her eyes down the length of his suit clad body, and went back to her drink. “What makes you think I’m Miss Bennett?”

“I’d recognize those legs anywhere.”

“Would you now?”

“Yes. I’d like to see them in my robe again.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Perhaps the next time you break in, you could wake me up,” he said quietly in her ear.

She laughed. “Smooth, Mr. Darcy. Very smooth. But I don’t mix business with pleasure.”

He looked down at her tiny skirt and sky-high heels. “Oh, I think you do.”

She smirked and looked at him from beneath her lashes. “And what makes you think that?”

“I doubt you wear skirts like that every day. Making a point?”

Her only reply was a quirked brow.

“Face it, Miss Bennett, you’ve been caught,” he said arrogantly.

“Have I?” She leaned forward and whispered in his ear, “Maybe I just wanted to see if you were paying attention.”

She leaned back and gave him a smug smile, then turned to walk away, but Darcy grabbed her arm.

“Wait!”

She laughed softly. “Mr. Darcy, I think you’re the one who’s caught.”

His only answer was a wide smile.