“You shouldn’t be here”, you tell Gregory as he slips into the room you’ve been hiding in the past few hours.

This ball has been awful, the end of the season getting closer. And so is your inevitable wedding with the elderly Lord Denevier. An arrangement you never would have agreed to, if your father wouldn’t have threatened you to disinherit you, if you would have dared to reject the lord, just because you loved another.

Gregory Ashbourne, was the young man’s name in front of you, third son of Lord Ashbourne and therefore no heir to the big Ashbourne title or estates. And also the reason for your father to refuse his proposal to marry you.

“How can I not be here? You’re upset I can tell”, Gregory steps closer to you and takes one of your gloved hands and presses a soft kiss on the back of it.