CHAPTER ONE

"Katherine, back straight."

"Yes mother." Katherine answered obediently as she straightened her back, allowing the maids to poke and pull at her hair. It was a nuisance, really. But it must be done. A lady must never complain.

"Stick your bosom out, darling."

Katherine did as she was told, failing to hide to slight grimace which took over her face. What was she supposed to stick out?

"Excellent. Leslie, I believe a bit more powder would do well." Savannah, Lady Atkins, said to the maid.

"Mother, do you not think the powder is enough?" Katherine questioned tentatively. She could almost see the powder layered on her face when she looked straight.

"Hold your tongue, child." Savannah said sharply, her pert nose flaring at her daughter's daring.

Katherine bit her tongue, looking down at her interlaced fingers. She shouldn't have spoken out of turn. She should have known by now it caused more harm than good. And yet, she always tried.

"Head up!" Savannah snapped. She had to tell her everything! The girl would never be able to attain a husband, and if she did, all he would do was beat her.

Katherine lifted her head.

The maids finished her hair as well as her face. Katherine let out a small sigh as they all left. She was awfully tired, but a lady did not show emotion. She simply did what was required of her, if she was tired or ill, so be it. It was not fitting for a lady to display any amount of emotion. That much she had mastered.

"Now, I want you to listen very closely." Savannah began.

"We have been invited to Lord Rivers' estate for a ball. We shall remain there for a fortnight. Do your father and me a favor and catch the attention of a rich lord."

Katherine said nothing, tears slightly stinging her eyes. Her mother's loathing was tangible. And she knew not what she had done.

"Katherine!" Her mother snapped, not liking to be ignored.

"I will try, mother."

"I have made low cut gowns for you. You are not to talk to any of the gentlemen, it is not the behavior of a lady. Only speak when spoken to, and that as well, keep very minimal. We cannot have them seeing how foolish you are."

"I understand." Katherine's voice held a resignation of one who simply did not understand their own value.

Savannah stared at her daughter for a moment longer before leaving the room. Once she had left, and Katherine was alone in her chambers, she let out a tired breathe.

She was to catch the eye of a rich lord. She was not pretty, by far. How was she supposed to catch the interest of a rich lord, let alone any lord? She thought of her dull green eyes as well as her freckled face. She had arid, fair hair, a nose which was far too small on her face with eyes which were far too large. A sprinkle of freckles covered her too small nose as well as her cheeks. Her mother despised her freckles, which is what the powder was used for, to hide her embarrassing freckles. They were marks, flaws.

Her mother was beautiful, her father handsome, no one understood what had happened to her. She should have been gorgeous, but instead she was plain. A fact her mother did not try to hide.

But it mattered not. As long as a woman could act like a proper lady, run the estate, bear her husband's heirs, she would make a good wife. And that is what Katherine had to concentrate on, becoming a good wife. Nothing else mattered. She wouldn't take a lover as her parents so often did. She would be quite happy if her husband left her to her own devices. That is, if she managed to attain one.

***

"You bloody git!" Edward snarled as he aimed a hard punch to his friend's jaw.

"Would you kindly tell me what I did to deserve that?" Jonathan growled as he spit blood out of his mouth. The berk had a good arm.

"I explain??? I explain?" Edward snarled as he pulled Jonathan by the collar of his tunic. The imbecile had the brass balls to tell him to explain. He would explain alright, but not with words. His hands gave a much better explanation.

"You are the one who left years ago without a single word and now you are demanding an explanation from me? I believe I deserve answers!" Edward snapped as he pushed Jonathan away from him with mingled disgust, anger, and hurt.

"I said I made a mistake. Forgive me?" Jonathan requested with a lopsided grin, his brown eyes twinkling with mischief and warmth.

"Bastard! I am no maiden who you can woo." Edward barked as he gave his friend another shove for good measure.

"Aye, but you love me all the same."

Edward snorted.

"I hate you. The only emotion I feel towards you is hate."

"La, you simply love me."

"What in God's name is la?!"

"It's the Arabic word for no." Jonathan answered cheekily.

"For the sake of everything holy, may you two kindly stop speaking! You are causing my head to hurt." Annabelle grumbled as she arranged her skirts to look proper around her legs. Some things never changed....

"My dear Annabelle-" Jonathan began smoothly.

"Don't you dare!" Edward menaced.

"Edward, let Jonathan be. I am certain he has a very good reason. Don't you, Jonathan." Annabelle said as she looked pointedly at said lord.

"Always the voice of reason, my sweet." Jonathan said as he shook his head, a small smile playing across his lips as his warm brown eyes shone with wicked humor.

"Yes, do tell us why a lad had abandon his friends some ten odd years ago."

"I did not think you would be this effected, old friend." Jonathan said softly as he saw the anger and hurt cloud his friend's features.

Annabella watched. They had to sort out their differences. If they did not, their friendship would be lost forever. Talking in riddles would help no one.

"Effected??" Lord Edward seethed.

"I wrote to you every bloody day. Did you not receive a single one?"

Lord Jonathan looked passed his friend's face, guilt making itself known in the coldness of his heart.

"Answer me!" Lord Edward growled.

"I had assumed father had created the charade."

"How dare you!" The fury clear in his voice as well as his features.

"Jonathan McKenzie Rivers, you thought our friendship meant so little that I was a puppet of your father's, following his every whim?" Lord Edward questioned maliciously.

Annabella saw the tension rising. Standing up, she placed her hand on Edward's shoulder, silently telling him to control his emotions. They hadn't come to fight. They came to retrieve their friend.

Jonathan let out a long, slow breath. He knew he had been asinine, but he had wanted to.....

"I apologize, I will make sure it does not happen again."

"You bloody bastard!" Lord Edward growled as he, yet again, punched his friend in the face. He was so angry at him for leaving them, it seemed only physical violence could convey his feelings. And then he had the audacity to say it simply would not happen again! The cheek of the git!

Jonathan simply let him, not bothering to defend himself or fight back. He would let Edward vent out his frustration and anger. Except maybe his face, he needed his face.

"Not the face, not the face." Jonathan said as he realized he would soon bruise.

Edward could not help it, he burst out laughing. Even at a time like this, Jonathan was being vain. As long as his friend did not change, that is what mattered. He would not be too hard on him. He had not changed. He was still the Jonathan who had left in the darkness of the night, refusing to take the aid of his friends.

"Amusing, am I?" Jonathan questioned with a bemused expression while he wiped the blood from the side of his face.

"That is enough, Edward." Annabelle's words were sharp as she pulled Jonathan towards her and began to clean his face, a worried expression occupying her lovely features.

Lord Edward scowled.

Jonathan smirked.

"Sweet, Annabelle. How was your time away from me?" Jonathan questioned cheekily as Lord Edward's scowl grew more pronounced.

"Jonathan, I care about your face. Please do not anger Edward." Annabelle mumbled as she finished cleaning the last of the blood on his face. She always kept a small bag of medical remedies with her. Edward tended to get into a number of brawls.

"Whatever you are applying burns me. Are you sure you are not trying to ruin my handsome features?" Jonathan teased regarding the salve she was applying to his jaw and lip.

Annabelle rolled her eyes as she answered, "It will help with the swelling and keep the discoloration away. Lord knows, there is nothing handsome for me to destroy."

"You wound me, darling." Lord Rivers said as he feigned a hurt expression.

"It must be refreshing. To be the victim for a change." The lightness of her voice betrayed the harshness of her words. Edward was not the only one who wanted answers. Although he was angered the most.

"Perhaps the victim does a marvelous job at hiding his condition. Simply letting people assume as they go." Lord Jonathan whispered.

"Perhaps. But strangers are treated in said manner, not friends." Annabella retorted.

"Would you two stop talking in riddles?" Lord Edward snapped.

Annabella and Jonathan stared at him blankly. They weren't aware they were talking in riddles. It seemed Edward could be quite doltish.

"I apologize old friend, I shall not be naive enough to repeat the same mistake."

Edward grunted, not wanting to give in so easily. After all, his anger had only fueled for the last ten years or so.

"Edward, he apologized." Annabella admonished when he made no move to accept Jonathan's apology.

With a sulky expression, one that would be expressed by a child, Lord Edward looked towards Jonathan, his expression petulant.

"I suppose."

Jonathan laughed heartily, little creases forming by his eyes as he did so. It seemed his friend had not borne as much anger as he claimed.

"What brings you home?" Annabella questioned not so lightly.

Jonathan grunted, his lips twisted in wry amusement, his earlier mirth gone.

"It seems father believes he is in need of me after all. He had sent numerous letters claiming to want my return."

"And you came? Just as it is?" Lord Edward snapped ludicrously. After all the man had put him through?

Jonathan shrugged. "It is my birth right. I will take what is mine. I had planned to return later. I suppose fate had a different plan.

"Father Dearest arranged a welcoming ball for you?" Lord Edward continued his inquires skeptically.

Jonathan grimaced slightly.

"Well...."

"Out with it!" Edward growled. If that man did one more thing to hurt his friend.....

"I am to choose a bride."

Annabelle burst into a fit of giggles completely unfit for a lady of status. While Edward stared at Jonathan dumbfounded.

"I beg your pardon?"

Jonathan let out an exasperated sign. His friend acted as if he said he needed to wed a cow.

"I need to choose a bride." Jonathan repeated very slowly as if speaking to a child.

"I know what you said!" Lord Edwards snapped.

"I mean why?"

"To have heirs." Jonathan retorted.

"And possibly to be reassured I would not choose some common Bedouin." Jonathan mumbled afterwards.

"Why would he assume such a notion?" Edward raised a quizzical brow.

Jonathan had the grace to color ever so slightly.

"Perhaps it had something to do with the fact I was in the Arab peninsula chatting up a pretty young lady when his men finally caught up to me."

Edward smirked.

"I see. Was she very pretty then? Not horse faced?"

"Much more alluring then the ladies of nobility we have." Jonathan said with a slight shudder.

"She though me a vagabond. Offering to find me a place to stay and an opportunity to make a decent living. She was very lovely."

Edward grimaced.

"I see the charm. The ladies here would not pay you any mind had they assumed you to be a pauper."

"Ahem." Annabelle said as she watched the two lords talk.

"I am a lady." Annabelle retorted once she had their full attention.

Edward looked her over with heated eyes.

"I am quite aware, love."

"Oh, give over, darling. Your mother was not English. There for, you are not completely English either." Lord Rivers countered.

Annabelle's eyes narrowed into slits.

"I am aware of the fact. But that does not give you men the right to criticize women."

"So, the ball? You were saying?" Lord Edward quickly prompted when Jonathan opened his mouth to no doubt give a wisecrack.

Shaking his head at his friend's antics, and not quite understanding, but knowing his fear all the same, he continued.

"As I was saying, father had the ball arranged under the pretense of my returning home. What he really wants is for me to choose a bride to my liking before he chooses one for me. Naturally, all the mama's will come running when they hear an eligible, young, titled, rich and handsome lord-"

"Aren't we modest?" Annabelle said wryly. The man's conceit knew no bound.

Jonathan grinned cheekily.

"He thinks you will quietly accept his choice?" Lord Edward questioned incredulously.

"I should pray he does not assume so. Lord knows, he shall be greatly disappointed." Jonathan grinned evilly as he imagined the look on his father's face when he did not present him with a bride by the end of a fortnight.

"Then why play the charade?" Annabelle inquired.

"It shall be amusing. My father trying to portray being the perfect father, as if the last several years had never taken place. The fortune hunting mamas and their daughters, and do not forget the warm welcome I shall receive from the lords. Aye, it shall be an amusing event."

Lord Edward chuckled while Lady Annabelle worried her lip.

"Was is to happen if your father is none too pleased with your plan?"

"He needs not know." Lord Jonathan shrugged.

"Aye, but what if he is to find out? If he forces your hand? What are you to do?" Annabelle glanced anxiously between Edward and Jonathan. Lord Rivers was not completely right in the head. No matter the resentment, Jonathan would not openly disobey his father, Lord Rivers on the other hand had no qualms with humiliating Jonathan for all to witness.

"He will not know at all, my darling. You fret unnecessarily." Jonathan waived off.

"When will your fortune hunting mama's arrive?" Edward inquired as he relaxed on the grass, his hands going behind his head.

Jonathan gave a kick to his side before sitting beside him.

"Unfortunately, today." Jonathan grimaced. His torture could not have been withheld.

"Today!?" Annabelle gasped.

"I had thought you two originally had come for that person." Jonathan said taking in Annabella's bewildered

"Och!" Jonathan shouted as pain radiated from the back of his head.

"I believe we have already discussed the reason behind our arrival." Lord Edward said calmly as he positioned himself to lay on the grass, watching the clear sky.

Jonathan grumbled under his breath but otherwise held his tongue.

"Did you not receive an invite?"

"We stopped answering your father's letters long ago." Lord Edward answered offhandedly as a slight frown marred his face.

Jonathan grunted.

"I haven't packed enough gowns for a fortnight!" Annabelle dismayed.

"You are free to use my mother's." Jonathan offered quietly.

Annabelle leaned over Edward and hugged Jonathan tightly, tears blurring her vision.

"Thank you! I appreciate it and I know what it means to you." Annabelle whispered as she fought to keep her voice steady.

Jonathan hugged her back but remained silent. He had forgotten how warm and understanding Annabelle was.

"Ahem."

"Ahem."

"AHEM."

"I said ahem! If you two haven't noticed, you are practically on top of me."

"Get over yourself." Annabelle scowled as she released Jonathan to glare at Edward.

Edward sat up from his position, his eyes softening as he tenderly wiped away a rogue tear from Annabelle's cheek.

"When were you two planning on informing me of your blessed nuptials?" Jonathan could not even be angry at his friends. He wanted to, but he knew it was not his right. But he couldn't hold back any longer. This past hour, sitting and talking with them....he had felt as if he truly did belong. But they hadn't bothered to tell him they were married, it left a bitter taste in his mouth.

This time it was Lady Annabelle who delivered a blow to his head, turning her fury on him.

"We have been awaiting your return to wed, you cad!"

Jonathan stared at the couple blankly.

Pointing to himself, he uttered, "me?"

"Yes, you. You boar!" Annabelle hissed.

A silly, yet delightfully heartwarming to see, grin graced Jonathan's lips.

"I do love you two."

"Love, my arse." Edward grumbled as he pulled Annabelle to his lap.

######

Here's chapter one!! If you haven't read the prologue, read it again, it's updated. It's different then the one I originally had posted

it feels weird calling someone else Lord Rivers, doesn't it?

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