"Hello, Mother," Richard said with his hat, gloves, and cape still in hand. How he hated using that word for the woman he saw before him. Never in all the years, he had known her had she ever showed him any motherly kindness or love.

"Richard, Darling. Come here and give me a kiss. Where are your manners, boy? That terribly expensive school should have taught you something."

Richard crossed the drawing room to where his stepmother laid stretched out on her fainting couch in her luxurious morning gown of lavender taffeta. He found her cheek to be cold. "Just like her heart," he thought.

"Well, what news of London?" she asked dying for the social gossip she missed while forced to live in the country.

"As much as I would love to chit chat with you Mother, it has been a long journey and I would like to settle in first."

Pouting ever so slightly she conceded. "We shall talk over tea then," she said warming up to the idea as she thought of it.

"Very well, Mother," Richard said about to take his leave but before he walked through the doorway he stopped abruptly closing the door before him.

"What is it, Richard?" Lady Catherine asked sensing a question coming.

Turning to his mother he asked the one question plaguing him since his ride through the forest. "I was just wondering..." he began but stopped, not sure if he wanted to ask his mother what had taken place.

"Yes?" Lady Catherine encouraged although not liking how he looked at her.

"Well, I passed by the Wadsworth Estate. It is in ruin. What happened to the family?"

Lady Catherine knew eventually he would have questions regarding the Wadsworths. She had been thinking all morning about how to best handle the situation. "Well, my dear I am afraid they are all dead," she blurted out without any tact at all.

Richard's breath temporarily vanished from his lungs and his gut wrenched. He leaned heavily against the door he had closed for support. "All of them?" he asked still finding the reality hard to accept.

"Afraid so, Dear. " Lady Catherine said as if talking of things that mattered little. "Burnt to death in a fire is what your father reported. Thankfully he spared me the details so I am afraid that is all I know about the incident. Now you run along and settle in. I will expect you at two for tea. Should I send a maid to your room to help you unpack?"

"Yes, please do," Richard answered a bit dazed. He opened the door and left for his room.

Juliana could not believe Lady Catherine assigned her to be Richard's chambermaid. She obviously enjoyed doing so because Juliana could hear the wretched woman's cackle all the way down the hall. She only hoped that perhaps he would not be in his room. Then maybe she could sneak in, unpack and leave before he even knew she was there. How embarrassing to be reduced to the state of his servant, but there was little she could do about her status in life.

Absorbed in thought she opened the door to Richard's room and realized her mistake as she looked upon a half-naked Richard. He stood with his back to her. He wore no shirt, only breeches. "Thank God he had not removed them yet", she thought admonishing herself for not knocking.

Richard whirled on the intruder. His mood foul considering what news he had learned of the Wadsworth family. "Bloody hell! Who the hell are you?" he swore looking at the mousy auburn-haired girl, pale beyond belief staring at him with the largest fawn-like eyes he had ever seen.

Being terribly irritated Richard's assessment of the slight servant girl was far from kind. Her looks severe. Her hair pulled tightly into a knot at the nape of her neck. The uniform a drab gray color usurped any tone or color she would have to her skin. She looked startled, like a doe caught by a hunter in the brush.

Juliana's assessment of him however was far more kind. She wanted to look away but she found she could not stop staring at the man before her. The boyish looks he had no longer. His upper body toned and defined. His skin bronzed from obvious exposure to the sun. His gray eyes flashed lightning silver as he stared right through her. His dark chestnut shoulder-length hair threatened to come loose from its knotted leather restraint. He was incredible. The only imperfection, a scar that was still slightly pink and near his heart. She deduced it must have been from a sword or a bullet for she noticed an evenly matched scar on his back an obvious exit wound but not even those marks could mar his perfection.

Curtseying in front of him, happy to have a reason to lower her eyes she answered him. "My name is Anna, my Lord." Thinking it wise to use the nickname the rest of the servants called her since she came to Bentley Manor. "Your mother said you might be in need of my services."

Richard tried to curb his foul mood. The girl obviously embarrassed by what she saw blushed, flooding her otherwise colorless skin. He knew he had a terrible temper but reined it in not wishing to take his anger out on this poor creature; she seemed to be the type to frighten easily. Still, his trousers were giving him a bit of trouble. The fastening inside, knotted in such a way he did not believe he would ever be free.

"Fine then," he said, "be a good girl, and fetch my knife. It is in the trunk. There," he pointed, "at the foot of my bed."

Juliana scurried over to comply. In seconds she found the small blade sheathed in purple velvet. Pulling it from the sheath she took note of the royal symbol engraved in the hilt. She knew this blade. Her father had one similar from when he served in his Majesty's army. It had been given to him for a show of heroism. Was Richard a war hero?

"Come on then," Richard said annoyed at the delay. "I do not have all day." The waif carried the knife almost reverently to him, which he found slightly odd. He took it from her hand and cursed the knot that had brought about this circumstance. After several attempts, he sighed in frustration, as there seemed no way at this angle to free himself without possible injury.

"You do it," he said handing the blade back to Juliana.

"My Lord?" Juliana said in wide-eyed wonderment but refused to question him further upon seeing the stern look on his brow. She approached him cautiously. Richard grumbled something incoherent and with a flick of her wrist, the knot cut loose. Neither participant expecting it to happen so quickly and as a result, he now stood with his pants around his ankles.

"Goodness me!" Anna said quickly covering her eyes with her free hand.

"Lord be praised," Richard thought. At least he had on his undergarment, a miracle in itself knowing that normally he opted to go without one. He found her innocence refreshing. She was most, unlike the women he knew to be embarrassed so easily. He could not help the smile or the laughter that came bellowing out. Stepping out of his trousers, he kicked them aside.

"I am still covered, Anna. You can lower your hand now. "

He was laughing at her. She hated when he laughed at her. It always made her feel so foolish. "Of course," she said slightly abrupt as she moved away to return the blade back its place among his belongings. He watched her movements with interest. Surprised by her tone he asked "Am I to believe you are mad at me?" shocked that such a notion may be true.

Juliana admonished herself for feeling the way she did; knowing she had no right but nonetheless chose not to answer him. She set about unpacking his things instead. The quicker she finished the sooner she could leave.

Richard just stared at her amazed. Of all the brash, conceited little brats. He crossed the room to her and stilled her hands from unpacking his things.

Juliana started slightly at his touch. Richard turned her towards him and tilted her head with his forefinger and thumb, thrusting her chin upward so she had to look at him. "I asked you a question?"

Juliana hated feeling so vulnerable she knew she would be affected by his presence after not seeing him for so long she just did not expect the feelings to be so intense. If she were honest with him, she was mad at him. Mad that he had come back. Mad she was forced to serve him. Mad that he made fun of her. She was even mad that he did not recognize her even though she prayed all night that he would not.

"Silly girl," she reflected, "what did you expect that he would see you and realize what an injustice you have been dealt, steal you away from all of this?" How many times in her dreams did he come to her and do just that? "How stupid can I be?" Lowering her eyes because he held her chin firmly in place she began making excuses for her behavior. "Beg your pardon, my Lord." she began feebly. "It has been a most unusual set of circumstances and I was embarrassed. It was wrong for me to enter without knocking and ..."

Something about her eyes, Richard thought staring into them as Anna went on to list all the reasons she had failed him as a servant. Something so familiar, but surely he could not have known this girl. Still... "How long have you been in my mother's service?"

"For some time now my Lord," Juliana answered not liking his scrutinizing gaze.

"Did you know my father?"

Juliana thought it in her best interest to give as little information as possible. It was obvious he did not know who she was and she thought it best to keep it that way, at least she could spare her person that small humiliation. "Only for a short while before he had passed." She saw Richard's eyes dim. She had always wondered why he had not come home for the funeral. Perhaps, he has been away fighting, reflecting upon the dagger.

"I see," Richard stated blandly. She must have been hired after he had left for school, but as he looked into those eyes, those fawn-like eyes, he could not explain the pull he felt, drawing him in. Before he even realized what he was about to do his arm wrapped around her waist, and he held her firmly against his naked chest. Juliana gasped in surprise but before she could scream, his lips silenced her.

Juliana struggled against him, pressing her forearms and palms against his bare chest to try and push him away but it was of little use, and soon her will to fight gave way to the luxurious feelings his kiss awoke within her.

She seemed to melt against him. Richard felt her surrender and the shock of his own behavior hit him. He broke his kiss and held her at arm's length. Staring at her like she were some kind of sorceress that had somehow bewitched him, making him act not of his own accord.

She stared back at him quite equally dazed.

He had no idea what possessed him just now. He looked down at Anna and saw her mist-covered eyes and felt like a heel. "Anna... I...." He tried to speak but found the words escaped him.

Juliana recovered far more quickly. "Shall I request a bath for you, my Lord? Once the footman has brought up the tub and filled it for you I will return and unpack your things. If that would please you?" she added almost reluctantly.

"Yes, please do," Richard said. Juliana took his answer as her permission to leave and did so as quickly as possible.