I really enjoyed writing this chapter and I hope that you will enjoy reading it. It’s taken me a while to write, I’ve been busy. But now it’s March Break so Well I figured that I should at least finish this chapter. Happy March Break everyone. Hope you have more fun than me, I’m stuck in the house with nothing Better to do than watch TV. Disclaimers: I don’t own any of the characters, they are copyright whoever made them. I never knew what I was missing When I wandered through this world Living in shadow only, not knowing what real life held, On that rainy day when I looked up and saw the sun Saw the stars and so much more, glowing in your eyes Finally living, breathing, loving, for the first time. ~Always and Forever~ Chapter 5 As the evening grew later and morning approached Serena noticed that she seemed to be getting some strange looks from the gentlemen and pointedly cold looks from the ladies. Serena wondered what she had done wrong, she thought back over the last few hours and decided that she hadn’t done anything out of the ordinary. She walked over to Lita who was looking more and more angry, but when Serena reached them, the girls who were giggling quickly turned away from her, their faces schooled into disdain. “What is going on Lita? Why are they ignoring me?” Serena asked surprised. “Someone’s been spread tales about how you and that rake, Lord Lorne are having an affair,” “But…Lita, I wasn’t, I’m not! Who saw me?” Serena said a little forlornly.“How could someone say something like that if I wasn’t even doing anything?” Lita seeing that Serena’s eyes were beginning to fill with tears, led her away into an empty room. “Don’t worry Serena, I’ll set that girl straight, I can’t believe that anyone would believe such a thing. You’re such a nice person.” “Who could do something like that?” “I’m not sure, but when I find out, I’m going to give her a piece of my mind.” Lita seemed to be getting angrier and angrier. Serena put a hand on Lita’s arm trying to calm her as Darien stormed into the room. His eyes took in the scene, Lita’s angry, blazing eyes, her clenched fists, and her rigid stance, and then Serena, with her teary eyes. He felt something snap as he quickly covered the distance between them, he took Serena into his arms, not bothering to think about his actions. Serena was surprised at first but quickly got over it as she felt the warmth of the man himself, and the comfort she felt when she was inside the shelter of his arms. She sniffled again and then laid her head on his chest, softly closing her eyes, relaxing. Lita meanwhile took in the tender scene in front of her, the pair seemed to go together wonderfully. A prince and his princess, dark and light, Lita vaguely thought that they should have an artist commissioned to paint this touching scene, but then she heard a discreet cough from behind her, she whirled around and saw Andrew with Mina. Andrew was the one who had coughed, but he was grinning as he saw Serena and Darien in each other’s arms. His face then turned hard as the two drew apart. “What is going on? There are rumors circulating that Serena is having an affair with Lord Lorne.” Darien spoke, “Yes, what is going on with that?” Serena’s eyes immediately turned teary again, having just stopped when she was in Darien’s arms. “I don’t know, I was at home in the morning and didn’t wake until late. I don’t know how it happened, I didn’t upset anyone I don’t think.” “Damn!” Darien’s words were soft and harsh. “You know?” Andrew asked. “Yes,” Darien’s voice was depressed, “When you were dancing with Lord Lorne, I was watching you.” He saw speculative glances so he hastily added, “He’s a rake of the worst kind so I was making sure that Serena didn’t get lured outside somewhere to be taken advantage of. Anyways, Lady Beryl came up beside me,” seeing Andrew’s comprehension in his eyes, he continued. “ I wasn’t paying attention to her and she was hinting rather heavily that we dance, and when I refused she became enraged, she stomped off and I thought that it was the end of it.” “But it’s not.” Andrew’s words were not a question but a statement. “No, at least I don’t think that I is.” Darien’s voice was full of regret. Lita finally managed to say something, “Why Lady Beryl was the person everyone is saying saw the Serena and Lord Lorne together. Why would she do such a thing?” Serena answered dully, “She is in love with Darien. She obviously becamejealous when she thought that Darien was paying me special attention.” “I’m really sorry Serena, I didn’t know that it was going to cause you such trouble.” Darien’s eyes were contrite and full of compassion. “It’s alright,” Serena replied managing a smile for Darien who looked like a little boy who had just lost his favorite toy. Andrew who was watching this display and seeing how Darien’s face lit up with a boyish happiness that he hadn’t seen in a long time decided that he would have to give both of them a push. “But what are we going to do about Serena, she’s ruined, she can’t make a good marriage now, no one will have her after everyone finds out that she’s been consorting with Lord Lorne.” “But she hasn’t,” Lita put in. “You know that the ton won’t believe that she hasn’t when a respectable member has claimed to have seen them together. There’s only one thing to do.” Andrew’s tone was decisive. “What?” Serena asked. “The only thing that you can do is become betrothed to Darien.” “WHAT?” the words came from three different sources. “It’s the only way for the rumors to die down. After they do, the two of you could break the betrothal and go on your separate ways.” Andrew sounded reasonable and Lita and Serena were already convinced, but Darien was more knowledgeable about the ways the ton lived. If Darien broke the engagement it was quite likely that Serena would still be ruined. Andrew hurriedly continued. “Think about it Darien, it’s the only way that we can salvage Serena’s reputation, after all it is mostly your fault.” “You don’t have to Darien, I know you didn’t mean to do it. You don’t want to and neither do I. I’ll find some other way to salvage my reputation or maybe I just won’t marry at all.” Serena hastily assured Darien. Andrew’s voice snapped her out of reverie. “Darien, it’s not permanent, you just have to pretend to be in love for maybe two or three months and then break the betrothal quietly.” Andrew persisted. He was encouraged when he say Darien’s brow furrow, meaning that he was considering the proposition. Finally after five minutes of absolute silence in the room, with the buzz of the ball still going on, Darien answered, “Alright, I’ll do it, but Serena has to agree.” “Of course she will, won’t you?” Andrew’s face broke into a big grin. Mina finally understood what Andrew was trying to do and a sly smile replaced her puzzled frown. “I don’t think that it would be right for Darien to have to waste two to three months acting as my betrothed. It really isn’t your fault.” She had turned to face Darien looking up at him with innocent blue eyes, which shone trustingly. Darien’s breath caught in his throat as he looked at the beautiful woman looking up at him. “Will you excuse us? Serena and I have to talk.” Having decided on the courseof action, Darien quickly propelled Andrew and Lita out the door and shut it.“I am sincerely sorry Serena that you had to be subjected to this. If it werepossible I would have…..” his voice stopped because there probably wasn’tanything that he could have done to avoid it from happening. Serena sighed, “It’s alright Darien, but I really don’t think that we should go through with this mock betrothal. It isn’t fair to you, after all it wasn’t really your fault that you have such a determined and ruthless lady chasing after you.” “Serena, it doesn’t matter. Please agree to this, it will appease my guilty conscience. I’d be utterly devastated if you don’t agree to marry me, utterly crushed. You wouldn’t break my heart would you?” Serena giggled beginning to feel immensely better at Darien’s good-natured teasing, “Fine, we pretend that we are a betrothed couple for two months.” “Good!” Darien grinned devilishly. Serena stared at him, he was even more handsome when he smiled like that, she finally understood why people said, ‘handsome as sin.’ “Let’s go announce it to the ton. I want to see Beryl’s expression when she hears.” “Darien!” Serena admonished, “It isn’t nice even think things like that. Imagine how devastated she will be, she is utterly in love with you.” Finally she gave in when he gave her an icrelious look and smiled. “It will be a sight to see. Oh, she won’t make a scene will she?” “We can only hope,” Darien was in high spirits, but he didn’t really understand why. After all, he was being leg-shackled into escorting around a young woman for two months, playing her love-struck fiancé. By all rights he should be furious or at least a bit tiffed. But as he held out his arm and led her out of the room, he was actually happy. He really couldn’t wait to see Beryl’s reaction. Maybe this would be a deterrent to make her stop scheming to become his wife. Darien knew that she didn’t really love him, she loved the title and his vast fortune. He was quite well off even if he didn’t inherit his uncle’s title of duke and all the property and funds that went along with it. Serena was deep in thought, she couldn’t believe that she had agreed to become BETROTHED to the Marques. Even though it wasn’t as if she was going to marry him, it was still a huge and scary commitment. She could just imagine all the young ‘debs’ talking about her, how he was such a fine catch and how she was so lucky. Only tonight she had listened some girls talking about Darien and how rich, handsome and TITLED he was. Serena felt sick to her stomach at how the people of the ton married. Most married only for money or a title. It wasn’t like in the country where the farmers married for love, of course there were still instances where they married for other reasons, but the majority held out for love. She was still immersed in her thoughts when Darien led her to the front of the ballroom where the musicians were playing and the host and hostess were gathered. He whispered to the host and told him that he had to make an announcement and after the end of the set, the music abruptly stopped. Darien cleared his throat and then squeezed Serena’s hand jolting her out of her thoughts and she looked around a bit dazed to find out that she was at the front of the room. She looked at Darien who was about to speak and comprehension dawned. She wasn’t ready! But it was too late, “Ladies and Gentlemen, may I please have your attention.” Darien’s voice was clear and loud. He paused and looked into Serena’s eyes lovingly to enhance the idea that he was in love with her. Serena had to remind herself that it was all an act. “Tonight Miss. Blackthorne has agreed to become my wife.” He waited and as he had expected, the whispers increased in volume until you probably had to yell to be heard. Then he saw Lady Beryl and the expression on her face could only be described was dumbstruck. Darien nearly laughed out loud, but his humour quickly disappeared as her expression turned determined and she began to push through the crowd of people to get to where he and Serena was. “May I speak to you ALONE, Darien dear.” Lady Beryl’s eyes had a gleam that troubled Darien and he knew that she wasn’t going to be adverse to trying to separate Serena and him. “Whatever you wish to say, you can say them in front of my betrothed.” There he paused and gave Serena’s hand another squeeze and a look of pure adoration. Lady Beryl was seething as she saw it because she knew that he had never looked at her like that before. After considering it she realized that he had never looked at ANY woman, be it titled or whore like that before, but it didn’t act as a deterrent. In fact it made her even more determined to make Darien fall in love with her. “But, Darien, dear it’s a private conversation.” “Whatever you wish to say, you can say it.” Darien stubbornly clung to the idea because he was hoping to avoid a scene. “Fine,” Lady Beryl snapped, her patience clearly gone, “Why are you going to marry such a hussy? She’s been having an affair with Lord Lorne. She’s not a virgin, how can you be sure that she won’t have a bastard and try to pass it off as your child.” Serena had gone pale but quickly recovered, “How dare you say such a thing to me? I have NOT been having any affair whatsoever with Lord Lorne. I only met him tonight so how can I have been meeting him before?” “You will stop telling this pack of lies. Serena,” Darien gave her another long languishing look, “is the most honest of women, she wouldn’t lie about this. If I hear you speaking of this again, I swear I shall tell the ton about the little slip you had in morality with the Earl of Jospin.” Darien’s eyes had begun to burn angrily and his voice had a more than hint of steel threaded through it. Lady Beryl’s eyes widened and she whispered shocked, “You wouldn’t” “We will see.” Darien glared at Lady Beryl for a long minute before she whirled around and stalked off.