Anthony stood frozen on his feet when he heard the dreaded name escape Sarah Jane's lips. He was so focused on reaching Sarah Jane that on his intent to remove her from Sir Samuel, he had been a second too late to notice a man on the door.

It had been a day and a half since that damned letter, and here he was, the ever-elusive Mr. Collins arriving in the most unfortunate moment to take her away.

He stopped a few feet from Sarah Jane, bringing them all in a rather awkward triangle. To his right, Mr. Collins was still on the half step-up from the main hallway, and to his left, Sarah Jane and Sir Samuel hovered over a terribly small bench by the parlor archway.

He brought his hands to his waist as he thought of how best to throw both men out so that he may finally have a word with her.

Mr. Collins did not seem to notice him and instead focused his attention solely on Lady Sarah Jane, his eyes drooped half-way from the lack of sleep.

"Are you ready to leave? We must depart immediately for our journey will be to Yorkshire. Lord Rosenberg shall be waiting for us." He mentioned gravely as he looked around for Robinson and Mathilda who was sure to accompany the lady.

Sarah Jane stood, clearly unbelieving and misunderstanding what she was hearing.

Sir Samuel stood too, curious to know what they were talking about.

"Your father is sending for you?" He inquired innocently.

She stared at Sir Samuel for a few minutes, at a loss of words on how to explain that her father had been dead for a quite some time, and that Lord Rosenberg was also quite dead—except that Killsworth might become Rosenberg, who is very much alive, and who by the way, wasn't in any way in Yorkshire.

She could not think of any possible reason that will require her to travel to Yorkshire into the night.

People started to gather in the hallway as Lady Huntington and Lady Killsworth remained in their position to watch the unknown man who had entered their home. Many prominent people were in attendance, on of which is the rumored biggest gossip of the ton, Lady Thistlewicke.

She swallowed and decided to completely ignore Sir Samuel's question. She instead feigned ignorance and pretended that his question fell to deaf ears.

Sarah Jane turned to face the intruder she was mildly acquainted with, who in her opinion looked positively wild and unrestrained this very evening.

"Mr. Collins, whatever do you mean?"

Mr. Collins took a step back, surprised by Sarah Jane's question, his brows furrowing in confusion. "I sent you a letter. I told you about this, I informed you..."

His voice trailed to a whisper as his eyes focused on the forming crowd in the hallway. It was at that moment that he noticed a man beside Sarah Jane who was unabashedly staring at him as well. He hadn't expected to interrupt a social gathering. He knew his express missive had been received, he made sure of it.

Barnaby waited for Lord Killsworth to say something as two footmen flanked his sides, on alert and ready to remove the uninvited guest with as little as one word from his master.

Mr. Collins allowed his eyes roam once more as he struggled to comprehend the confusion he had caused. His head turned to a corner and recognized Lord Killsworth. He stood frozen in his place, unable to decide whether to welcome Mr. Collins to his home or to throw him out.

"Lord Killsworth?"

"Mr. Collins, we haven't been expecting you."

Mr. Collins looked from one man to another and finally settled his gaze on the lord of the house who had donned his pristine black evening clothes and currently sported a slightly perturbed expression.

He sent the letter through an express, and the messenger intercepted him to affirm that the letters had been indeed received. Had he dreamt about all of the preparations he had made?

He hadn't been sleeping enough to dream so vividly.

As he convinced himself of the true state of reality, Mr. Collins started to shake his head lightly as he looked from one face to another in their little formed group. "But I have sent you a missive, my lord. I have informed you of the plans..."

Sarah Jane looked at them both expectantly, her arms crossing across her chest.

As both men were silent for a while, the room began to infuse itself with nervous energy. Lady Killsworth, the ever perceptive and sensitive host, started shuffling her guests to the drawing room which was allocated with glasses of port, tea, coffee, and parlor games to distract them from the scene in the hallway.

Lady Huntington did the same, muttering that there was nary a thing more interesting than to hear Lady Thistlewicke's daughter play the pianoforte.

When some of the nosier guests, including Lady Thistlewicke herself, refused to move to the drawing room, Lady Huntington all but shoved them in the room while concocting a tale that the wild stranger was just a friend in business merely hoping to converse with Killsworth for the better part of the week.

The guests obviously knew better, but they did not stand a chance to Lady Huntington's fearsome determination to grant the little group some privacy.

"May I escort you to the drawing room, my lady?" Sir Samuel offered his arm, who clearly deftly believed Lady Huntington's fabricated tale.

Anthony took the olive branch and acquiesced that Sarah Jane should leave with Sir Samuel for the time being. "Yes, I shall speak to you later, Lady Sarah Jane. I will have to confer with Mr. Collins at the moment."

Sarah Jane pointed a disbelieving look at Killsworth, ire and anxiety bubbled inside her as she felt that there was an enormous amount of information being kept from her.

"No." She said forcefully and gave a startled Sir Samuel an apologetic glance before adding lightly, "I believe I am needed here. Please do enjoy yourself this evening and pay me no mind, kind sir."

Both Anthony and Mr. Collins looked at Sir Samuel as they waited to see what the gentleman would do given their present circumstance.

For the nth time that night, Sir Samuel looked utterly lost. His gaze moved from expression to expression as he deduced that although they might not be in agreement in what has transpired, they were clearly in agreement to determinedly keep him out of the conversation.

He bowed his head, muttering "as you wish" and retreated to the drawing room with a loud click as the door closed behind him.

As soon as the echo dissipated into mist, the silence allowed the two men and Sarah Jane to have their privacy in the entrance hall. She pressed her hands on her hips as she demanded for an explanation.

"What," she drawled, "on earth is going on?"

She faced Mr. Collins pointedly, "Why are you referring to a Lord Rosenberg in Yorkshire? I thought he—" raising a finger at Anthony, "—was going to be Lord Rosenberg?"

"I wrote you a missive!" Because really, Mr. Collins could not be accused of this.

Anthony closed his eyes and wondered how the night he had planned so well turned so awry.

"Sarah Jane, please. Let me talk to Mr. Collins and I shall converse with you, later." Much later, he wanted to add.

"NO!"

"Keep your voice down, we have guests." He whispered harshly as Mr. Collins smirked at him for trying to order the managing woman about.

Mr. Collins had met Lady Sarah Jane for only an afternoon and that meeting was enough for him to deduce that ordering her about will not do anyone any good.

Poor gentleman, he thought with a dog's grin on his face. This was about to blow up, and the lord hadn't the good sense to avoid it.

"I don't care!" Sarah Jane almost screamed. A faint mumble of the first notes of a melody being played through the pianoforte escaped the walls.

"Well, I do. This is my house and you are my responsibility."

Sarah Jane gritted her teeth and then turned to Mr. Collins after sensing that Anthony was determined to vex her to her detriment.

"Mr. Collins, you know how I am much prone to hysterics..." A warning glinted at the low tone of her voice, "If you don't explain this to me at once—"

Mr. Collins held both his hands up, prodding the woman to calm down. "You are no longer his responsibility. Lord Rosenberg resides in Yorkshire. There was a mistake."

He had written quite a long letter regarding this, but laughing at himself now, their precarious situation could actually be explained in 3 rather short sentences.

She stared at him, dumbfounded.

A mistake? Mistake?

She had been living in this man's house for what seemed like a more than a quarter of a year and it was a mistake?

Someone is decidedly going to get killed tonight!

"Really, I see no problem here." Mr. Collins continued, swallowing as he watched Sarah Jane's throat work. He was afraid that the lady might start screaming, or crying... or both.

"He need not marry you now that the title would not be relinquished. You are all relieved of your responsibilities, while I am not. I shall bring—"

"Wait!" Sarah Jane stepped forward, about ready to strangle him, anyone, really.

Mr. Collins immediately regretted what he said and struggled to keep his feet down when all he wanted was to run away from this madwoman. Lord Killsworth could have her for all he cared. He shouldn't have given this much effort to put this Rosenberg title to rights. They are not paying him nearly enough for the trouble!

"Marry him? Why should I have to marry him? I am his ward!"

Mr. Collins looked at Anthony curiously. How much information did he really withhold from the girl? What is he scheming?

Sarah Jane inched closer mutinously, "I swear to all things holy, if you do not answer me at this moment, I will bloody—"

"My lady, please." Aggrieved by being wronged by all parties, he longed for his bed. Mr. Collin's integrity gnawed on him, however, he still needed to be awake and alive by the end of the night to perform his duty. "I really can't begin to tell you..."

Sighing dejectedly, Anthony pulled Sarah Jane two steps away from Mr. Collins's face.

"Sarah Jane, do leave Mr. Collins be. I told you I shall speak to you later, but since you have a patience of a peanut, I shall have to explain to you now before you kill the poor man and deprive all of us of our hearing."

She glared at him suspiciously, her arm still securely under his steely grip. "I've not been updating you on certain developments of our situation—

"Clearly, you haven't!"

He ignored her, continuing, "Your father did not have any right to transfer an earldom to someone who is not his blood relation. So transferring Rosenberg to me had always been out of the question."

"Then why did you lead me to believe so?" She demanded, hissing in between her words.

His eyes leveled with hers to force her to listen to him. "Your father merely made a contract with my father to secure your position and future should the title be relinquished." He explained as he was close to ravishing her to silence her objections once and for all.

Sarah Jane kept her eyes locked with his as she considered what he said.

To secure her position and future with a Killsworth heir? That was the agreement? To arrange her in a marriage with him?

But why would he keep this from her?

She was already beginning to believe that an attraction had formed immediately after their meeting, which eventually settled into a comfortable companionship and friendship. Surely, these reasons were enough for him to allow himself to such an agreement. Most marriages did not even have what they had in the beginning.

Unless...

She paled, the blood leaving her face as she conjured a single reason as to why Anthony might have seen it necessary to withhold this information from her.

He didn't want her.

He didn't want to marry her.

And he was more than willing to bring her to a Season and marry her off even when Lady Killsworth had said that the wiser decision would have been to not have done this at all.

She swore she could hear her heart shattering from the realization. Her chest tightened and she couldn't breathe. She needed to escape. Sarah Jane has already fallen in love with this man, and oh how it hurts to have known rejection this cruel.

Kisses and tender moments had meant nothing to him, he didn't want her.

Her gaze lowered, betraying an onslaught of emotion as her lids started to pool. No! She will not cry again in front of this fool. She will not shed a single tear for this odious man!

"Say something," Anthony begged, not knowing how to interpret the different emotions that passed across her face. Something was incredibly wrong, and he didn't know how to help his own situation if he bloody didn't know what she was thinking!

Mr. Collins looked away, comprehending that this moment should have been more private at its unraveling. Clearly, these two had been conversing about more than just the weather for the past few months.

She kept her eyes locked to the ground, her body heavy from sudden sorrow and despair that she couldn't even begin to describe. He didn't want her.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Her voice, a low sullen whisper that laced self-depreciation and brokenness into silent pleas for help. Why didn't you just tell me that you didn't want me?

Anthony shook her by the arms, trying to force her to face him, but he failed.

"Why didn't you tell me at once? This concerns me as much as it does you." Her voice sounded hollow, as if she has already traversed to a distant space .

He was struggling for a lifeline, something by the way Sarah Jane looked warned him that she was inching farther and farther away from him.

"I was looking for a time to secure you privately earlier, but you avoided me!" He barely contained his voice as it trembled at the last note, begging her to stay with him. What is she thinking?

"Look at me. You won't even look at me!" He cursed and turned to her accusingly. "I wanted to tell you but you avoided me!"

So was she to be blamed for this mess?

Her head whipped up, revealing hard silvered eyes that threatened every bit of danger and demise as if she were a trained murderer. "The hell I did!" She was seething now, utterly furious with him. "You blame this on me? When have you learned about this? Don't you tell me that you received word just this morning!"

"Ooooooh!" Her body shook tremulously, "Don't treat me like a fool, Killsworth!" She wrenched herself free from his grip and took a step back, pointing at him accusingly. "If you did hear this pertinent information this morning, I wonder where you had found the time to go shopping the whole afternoon and frolicking to god knows where this morning!" Her voice rose an octave higher with each word.

"You didn't think that this piece of information was more important than your frivolous activities?"

Mr. Collins stared at Lady Sarah Jane, only allowing his eyes to move from person to person as she assessed the girl's sanity. They were talking about shopping now?

"Shopping?" Lord Killsworth echoed his exact thoughts.

When she didn't reply, he repeated. "Shopping?"

Anthony did not know what had happened to their relatively sane conversation. Mr. Collins was just as almost ready to walk out the door as Anthony was quite ready to haul Sarah Jane up to his room.

Mr. Collins spotted Mathilda and Robinson near the door, and he quickly strode to them to explain the situation. Eyes widening, Mathilda ran up the stairs, presumably to pack.

"What in god's name are you talking about?" Anthony demanded as the two of them were left alone in the hallway.

She rolled her eyes and resisted the urge to stomp on his feet like a child. "How could you deceive me like this?"

"I did not deceive you."

"You lying bastard." She said under her breath, tapping her foot on the carpet, her fists balled lying limp beside her.

Anthony had reached his limit.

"What did you say?" A vein popped out of his neck and throbbed in an achingly painful rhythm.

This creature could make his blood boil in a matter of seconds for reasons he did not wish to dwell on. He wanted to marry her, to kiss her senseless, bed her until her scowl had become shouts of pleasure, and then god help him, he wanted to strangle her, tie her up and lock her in their room with no food and water until she admitted how much she loved him.

"What did you say?" His voice should have caused her to tremble, but it just broke her even further.

She had to leave. She needed to be away from him.

Sarah Jane briskly strode towards Mr. Collins, taking an abandoned coat from the hanger and affixed her shawl over her head as she marched to the door.

"Where do you think you're going?" He demanded, following behind her. "I'm not finished with you yet!"

"Oh, but I am!" She turned forcefully as she inserted her arms angrily into the sleeves of her coat. Her eyes narrowed into thin slits, her words grating through gritted teeth as she delivered her warning. "Don't you dare follow me!"

He snatched his hand out to take her, but she was quick to dodge him, shaking him off in disgust. "Let us leave!"

She all but ran to through the door, entering the hired carriage that Mr. Collins brought with him. "Mr. Collins!" She called furiously and he quickly followed her in the coach, rapping on the door to lurch the carriage forward.

Anthony stood at his front step, hands on his hips, and sweat on his forehead. What the hell is he going to do now?

Anthony wanted to follow her, but aside from not wanting to drag their furious conversation in the middle of the street, it would also most definitely cause a further scandal in his home.

Barnaby waited for his cue, any instruction would have been appreciated by the loyal butler as they all looked terribly uncomfortable at the commotion which unfolded in their otherwise peaceful townhome. Mr. Robinson had watched the exchange silently, not offering anything but his expressionless face.

Anthony strode back to the entrance hall, noticing that some of the other servants had accumulated near the entrance of the kitchen, and then scampered away upon seeing him return. His feet brought him to the entrance of the drawing room, clutching the lever of the closed door as he breathed and counted to 10.

He was going to throw out their guests, and his mother won't exactly be pleased when she finds out what he intends to do.

He entered, forcing a hush and a terrible pause in the silly game the unmarried ladies and gents were playing in the room. Anthony began with an apology. He mentioned this and that, following it with an emergency that he needed to attend to, which also most ardently needed the presence of his mother as well. Everyone took this as their cue to leave, and Anthony had successfully emptied the room in a matter of minutes.

Lady Huntington stayed behind, knowing for a fact that Lady Sarah Jane and the unnamed intruder's whereabouts have not once been mentioned in his lengthy speech to their guests. She insisted that he tells them what was going on, but he was uncomfortably tight-lipped and paced by the grate as he silently brooded on his options.

"Boy!" Lady Huntington called his attention, but he shushed her.

Shushed her?!

"Do be quiet." He said after the elderly Lady protested against his lack of manners. He was trying to think of ways on how to convince her to marry him, and he could not very well be effective in that endeavor while they were badgering her with impertinent and redundant questions.

"What is the matter with you? What is going on?" Lady Killsworth demanded upon hearing frantic footsteps ushering down the stairs with the baggage. "Mrs. Robinson?"

She blinked at the maids bringing down what seemed to be trunks of Lady Sarah Jane's belongings. The old matron smiled at her weakly as she pulled the bags towards the hall to her waiting husband.

"Where are you going?" Lady Killsworth paused under the door frame, her gaze following the activity.

Mathilda answered weakly, confusion apparent on her face. "Lady Sarah Jane had already left with... with..."

Lady Killsworth appeared concerned, "With whom did she leave with, Anthony?"

He was silent for a minute, not really knowing how to avoid having to answer so many questions.

"She left with Mr. Collins, Rosenberg's solicitor." He muttered under his breath. And then he heard his mother gasp and run back to him with alarm.

"Why? Where are they going?" What she really wanted to ask is if she was eloping with this Mr. Collins, but really no woman in her right mind would conduct an elopement when there were so many people to witness it.

Anthony closed his eyes, shutting the world around him.

Sarah Jane will have to come back. She left both her guardians and her things. They could not venture out for Yorkshire tonight without at least bringing Mr. and Mrs. Robinson. Mr. Collins would not be so unwise to conduct the journey unless he wanted to be forced to marry the unchaperoned girl when they reach their destination.

If they chose to proceed this way, Mr. Collins would also have to ask Anthony to send both of the servants, along with her personal possessions using his personal carriage.

For all Mr. Collins's failings, Anthony found him to be practical enough to bring Sarah Jane back to him before he carries out his original plan. Anthony would then do everything in his power to keep that from happening.

Grinding his jaw irritably, he thought of how Mr. Collins was every bit as an unmarried man and every bit as a fallible man as he. And if Sarah Jane were to make Mr. Collins bend to her will just to spite Anthony, the man would not even stand a chance.

Anthony would lose her.

He stopped pacing, hairs behind his neck erecting in attention. Mr. Collins better not touch her. His knuckles turning white beside him.

"Oh for heaven's sake, boy!" Lady Huntington barked, spreading a cloth over her tired legs. "What do you plan to do with your chit? She's gone."

"She will be back." He replied brusquely. And they better be quick about it or he would go collect them both himself and beat Mr. Collins into a bloody pulp.

"How are you so sure?" His mother asked, coming back to his side.

Anthony turned to face them for the first time since their guests left. His eyes held a determined intensity that rendered both women unable to speak. Firelight dancing against his features, turning him positively amber and serious, he paused, his eyes warming as his certainty of the outcome became more palpable.

"Because I am going to marry her."

That was the only reason he ever needed to keep sane.

———
A/N: Hey readers! This is one of the longest chapters I've ever written but I decided that it was called for since it is about time to loop Sarah Jane in on the secrets. Knowing her, she wouldn't take it so lightly.

Do you think she'll come back or will Anthony have to chase her to Yorkshire? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

Kindly consider giving this a vote if it pleases you. Thank you so much!