Authors Notes:  Hey everybody!  I hope you guys had a great Christmas,
I'm sure that there are lots of questions you wanted answered but 
sorry to say, you wont find them here... but this fics' got new
improvement, I got an editor! (Yay!) So if you got any complains on
the spelling and whatnots you go to Lady Spring, but the whole fic 
is mine, comprende?
Send me mail!
Standard Disclaimers Apply!!!	 

Eyes on You 
by Rinoa
Rated PG
Chapter 2

	The vein underneath Darien's jaw is beginning to tick, a sure
sign that he is in the threshold of his temper.  Grinding his teeth,
he tried not to raise his voice at the stodgy, old lawyer in front of
him, reminding himself that it was his parents fault and he shouldn't
take it out on the poor man who was just doing his job.
	"Why was I not inform of this stipulation years ago?" he demanded
angrily, pouring himself a glass of brandy, his eyes as hard as 
diamonds, and equally as cold as he glared at the nervous old man.
	"I---I have no idea your grace, it wasn't my place to pry and
that was my first job and..." he started, sweat beads beginning to
form on his wrinkled forehead.
	"And you had the good mind to inform me all this at the end of
the season," he cut in with biting sarcasm.  It was no use berating 
the man; he knew, for there was nothing he could do, all of it was 
iron clad, and if he wanted to retain his title, he would have to
comply with the stipulation, word for word.
	He looked at the lawyer disgustedly, and then promptly had the
butler escort the distraught man out of the library.
	"Now Darien, it's not as if you'd have trouble complying with
the stipulation," his cousin, Lady Rachel, commented wryly, who alongwith 
her husband Chadric, Earl of Lancaster, was a silent witness to the 
havoc that the old lawyer wrecked upon Darien's usually orderly life.
	"I'm sure that there are *tons* of ladies out there who are
most eager to help you out." Chadric quipped making a joking reference
to London's elite ton.
	"I am well aware of that, but the problem lies on the fact that 
I have no plans on getting married," he replied, not amused with Chad's
joke and then leaning deeply into the chair he's sitting at to drivethe
point home.	"Well, you'd better start making plans.  You have less than a year
and a couple of months before your twenty-sixth birthday, and with
that attitude of yours I am forever dismayed by the fact that mydaughter
didn't have a cousin to play with." Raye persisted, eyeing him sternly.
	 "Am I not cousin enough for the both of you?" he exclaimed 
with a sardonic lift of his brow.
	"Not enough to know that it's not okay to give my daughter a
set of rubies for her first birthday; she can barely raise her rattle
much less her head with those heavy rubies," she recalled disgustedly.
	"Well, *you* seem to have problems with its weight, don't
you Raye?" he taunted eyeing the sparkling ruby pendant on the base
of her throat.	Raye, at lost for words, could only blush guiltily her hand 
unconsciously caressing her daughters jewels.
	"Good one" Chad grinned tipping his head at Darien's direction,
enjoying the regular verbal plays that the cousins often share.  
Raye shot her husband a withering glance, and she seemed to regain
enough of her former composure to have stated,	
	"That's it!  We're moving in with you." she said, her mind madeup.
	"What!?" Both the men looked at her as if she has grown two heads.
	"You heard me. Chad and I will stay at Radbury before the annual
post-season ball at the Bartons," she repeated glaring at both of them 
as if daring them to disagree with her.
	"Why?" both men asked in unison.  If the situation wasn't so 
serious, she would have laughed at their twin expression of bafflement.
	"To see that you are properly married of course," she stated in a 
matter-of-fact voice.
	Darien was the first to voice out his complaints, "Raye, I am
not some desperate young debutante that you have to see married off
to any man that passes by!" he exclaimed, wondering when the situation
got so out of hand.
	"I agree with Darien, love, he's old enough to look for a girl
on his own.  You don't have to watch over him" Chad cajoled his wife,
he wanted some peace and quiet with his wife and daughter after the
hectic London Season.
	"That is for me to decide. I won't have his title going out to
George; the man is a disgrace to society, and he's barely related to
us.  He's going to ruin the entire Wakefield name!" she predicted
stubbornly crossing her hands at her chest.  Both men knew that it was
futile to refuse Raye, not when she has set her mind on something.
	"Any chance you can get her pregnant by then?" Darien said turningto Chad.
	"It's worth a try," he replied with a broad wink at Darien.
	"Oh, I don't think so, Chad!" she raised her voice but her eyes 
lacked conviction, something that did not pass her husband.
	"C'mon darling, you still owe me an heir," e said giving her
a lascivious grin full of promise.  The couple exited out the study to 
leave a quiet and contemplative Darien staring at the street in front 
of his house.	He had to admit, he shared Raye's sentiments about George, even
before he knew that they were related, obscurely.  The assets that
he inherited from his family grew threefold the past nine years he
took over and damn, if he was to let some incompetent relative take
over his hard work.  The crux of the matter is that he didn't want to 
get married.  He always thought that Raye and Chad's future son would 
be his heir, and that was good enough for him.  But the stipulation 
clearly states that the next heir should come from him or else he 
will be striped out of 
his titles and his inheritance.  As of the moment, there was not a 
single woman of his acquaintance that he would trust enough to share
the Wakefield name and all that goes with it, and that says much for
he is well acquainted with all of the most eligible women in the ton.
For all he knows, trust and honor is an alien concept for a woman,
with the exception of Raye, but that was different his cousin was 
educated by same tutors as he was.  He was secretly still in awe of
Chad who had turned his tomboyish cousin into a refined woman.		
	It was later that night when he finally reached a decision.
He stood up from the immense four poster bed that occupied Celine 
de Chanel's bedroom and began to dress.
	"Leaving so soon?" Celine pouted, eyeing him appreciatively as 
he button up his white frilled shirt which failed to conceal his 
lean muscular frame.	"I come and go as I please, isn't that our arrangement?" he
reminded, eyeing her with ice blue eyes.
	After 3 years of being his mistress, Celine was used to that
kind of treatment and was not threatened by it, instead she stood up
and pressed her nude boy against him and whispered in his ear,
	"Rumors has it that you are badly needed of a wife these days"
she inquired, her hand reaching up to caress the silky black mane
on his head, while the other held his waist in a vise.
	He faced her and sensual lips curved into a sardonic smile as
he glanced at Celine's heart shaped face.
	"What are you getting at, Celine?" he taunted trying to get 
straight to the point.
	"Try to get someone prettier than me, cherie, and I will be mortally
insulted if you replaced me with a hag," she murmured, lightly running 
her fingers from his jaw tracing the path down his neck to rest on his
broad chest.	"Prettier than you?" he echoed with a mocking smile, he knew that
Celine was well aware of the fact that she is the most beautiful woman
of all London, and equally the most coveted.  A French gypsy with smoky
gray eyes and dark brown hair with a matching body that was made for
a lovers hands, Celine definitely knew what she was all about.  But it
wasn't pure sensuality that made their 'relationship' last for three
long years, he enjoyed the woman's company and conversation, it wasvery
diverting from the ones he had at the drawing rooms of London; and most
of all, there was a clear understanding that there is only sex between
them, nothing more and nothing less.  So it quite surprised him that
she was prying into his personal life.
	"Yes and get one who is a shrew, I think I'd like that," she smiled.
	"If ever I get married, I'm marrying someone I like but 
everything will stay the same.  After getting *my* wife with child, 
I shall deposit her to one of my estates, and everything would go 
as it were... including you," he answered  with a mocking emphasis 
on the word wife.  In  his circle, having  a wife does not warrant 
the end of an affair. In fact, most start having affairs at the time 
they were married.
	Celine took his snowy white neck cloth from the foot of the bed
and tied it on for him, as she usually does and pleaded in a quietvoice,
	"Just please don't pick Beryl, anyone but her."
	"Why?" he asked curiously.  He hasn't met the famous Lady Beryl,
but his acquaintances claim that she is the choice wife of the ton.
	"Because underneath the lady like demeanor, Lady Beryl is a spoiled
ambitious bitch," she spat out remembering her chance encounter with
the red haired woman.  It was hate at first sight, which says much 
because generally she never let herself get affected by the ladies of
the ton, but for some reason Beryl struck the wrong cord inside of her
when she sweetly inquired about Darien.
	"It sounds as if someone is jealous," he observed, but he knew
Celine does not waste time on jealousy especially of other women. 
	"Your destiny will be tied up with the woman you'll be marrying
it would go either way, and I saw that I wouldn't be part of it," she
warned, as she sat down at the bed pulling a sheet to cover her naked
body as if chilled to what she predicted.
	"You have been reading your cards again, gypsy?" he said, seeing
for the first time the cards that lay at the dressing table.  He walked
in closer and saw a card spread like a cross, on the left side was 
a picture of a crumbled up tower with white and red lightning dancing
upon it's black background, at the other side was the picture of the 
earth in vibrant shades of blue and green, and the card in the middle
which separates the two is a wheel, with the symbol of yin and yang.
He felt Celine slide up next to him, it was a while before she spoke.
	"The one on the top, the lovers, they signify marriage, love and
harmony, a union which will not be broken, but it is ill dignified. See
the card below it, the Wheel of Fortune, chance and luck, destiny is
moving where two choices will be offered to you.  The Tower that will 
lead to your destruction or the World that will lead you toredemption."
	"What makes you think that I may choose the Tower?" he inquired 
his voice silent and soft, creating a revered mood around them.
	"Below the Wheel of Fortune is the Moon, it waxes and it wanes.
It changes faces and shadows cover it, such is the truth." sheexplained
as best as she can.  Darien was blind to somethings and open to others.
	Out of impulse, Celine picked up the remaining deck and with one
deft hand, spread it before the table in a fan.  Then, she turned to 
him and said,	"Pick one, please?" she asked, looking at his expressionless face,
not sure what the answer would be.  This is the first time she hadasked him
to participate in her fortune telling; he would usually watch her andsnicker.
	She was surprised when his hand reached out and unerringly picked
out a card in the middle of the spread.  She took it from him and her
hands trembled slightly as she looked at the card he picked, then she
carefully placed it on top of the card of Fortune.
	Again they both stared in silence at the card he choose; it was
a picture of a woman, nude except for the long white cloth that covered
her breast which came from two pitchers she was holding on either hand,
amidst the blue and purple background were small colored planets.
	"The Star, inspiration, hope and other good things... a woman,"
she breathed, looking at the card in wonder.
	"A woman," he echoed, his eyes still an enigma; and it remained
so as he leaned forward for the per functionary kiss good-bye and
left Celine staring competitively at the cards.
	"Please, please be the one," she begged taking the card in her
hand.  In the years they had been together, she had come to care for
Darien, and she saw the pain and emptiness in his life.  She stood
by the window which was facing the street and saw faint outlines of
a black coach making its way in the fog; and she knew, whatever the 
outcome, that this was their last night together.
*******************************
To be continued....(hopefully next week)rinaheart@yahoo.com