Prologue
Our story doesn't happen once upon a time but is quite modern actually. Nevertheless, there is a handsome duke and a beautiful girl. Their story is like a fairy tale, full of drama, some action and a little bit of magic of true love.
Before we begin, let's meet our heroes.
On a stormy, midsummer night 1980 in the Belmont Hall in Cumbria, Adam Beaumont, son of Louis, 17th duke of Eden and his 20 years old, American wife, Rosa was born. He was a sole heir to his father's title and his family's vast fortune. Although young master's arrival was expected with great anticipation, the occasion wasn't joyous for his parents' marriage was a mismatch made in hell.
Louis Beaumont, born in 1919 was a war hero, who spent three decades after the war ended as a rich playboy spending the fortune accumulated by his ancestors. On his sixtieth birthday, he decided it is high time to father an heir. To achieve that he needed a wife. Given how he spent most of his life there wasn't a family in England that would offer their daughter. Luckily, a couple of weeks later at the party in an American Embassy, he met Miss Rosa van Drachen, heiress of one of the eldest families in New York. He swiftly managed to charm her and she was pregnant within a month and a duchess within a second one. Uncomfortable with a depressed wife who was too young and too American for him, Louis left her with a newborn in Belmont Hall and moved permanently to London. For the next five years, he had come to Cumbria only a handful of times.
These years were the happiest time of Adam's life. He lived with a loving mother in a wonderful house. Both were doted upon by the staff, particularly the housekeeper, Mrs Potts and the butler, Mr Cogsworth. The peace ended suddenly three weeks after Adam's fifth birthday. Duke of Eden was unpleasantly reminded he had a wife and a son and it would be prudent for him to introduce her grace in court. Rosa and Adam were summoned to London. As Rosa was to be presented in court, her husband spared no expense, and a crowd of etiquette teachers and stylists filled Almsenby House. Adam's mother was occupied day and night and had no time for him. As his father firmly believed that children should be seen and not heard and even that should be done sparingly, Adam was sequestered in a nursery, where his own set of tutors was waiting to teach him, what it meant to be a Beaumont.
Over the next couple of months, Rosa Beaumont was presented without a hitch and Louis largely ignored both her and their son. He only remembered to have a family when expressly invited with a wife. Then they played a happy family.
What happened behind closed doors was another matter entirely. The duke was a womanising, angry drunk whose health was slowly deteriorating. He took it all on his family. Although Rosa generally managed to keep Adam away from his father's fists, the duke talked to Adam only in insults and sneers. It took Rosa two years before she decided to take action.
Unfortunately, all post of Almsenby House went through the duke's office. He found out about her plans to take Adam to New York and guessed she had no intention of coming back. In the middle of the night, he summoned his wife to the study. Their yells were well heard in the nursery and woke Adam up. Scared for his mother, the boy crept to the hallway near the study. Hidden in the shadows, he saw the duke striking his mother. With a surprised cry, she fell and hit her head on the corner of a side table. The crack sobered up Adam's father. He yelled for the staff. Terrified Adam didn't notice running Cogsworth. As Mrs Potts picked him up and carried him to the nursery, he caught bits of conversation:
'...tripped...'
'My lord ... call the...'
'I said, accident.'
Adam barely understood what happened. He had only seen that his mother wasn't moving. Nobody talked. Police sirens came and went. In the morning his father came to the nursery.
'Your mother is dead, boy. Tomorrow you return to the Belmont Hall. Mrs Potts, pack his bags and get him ready for the road.'
Afterwards, Mrs Potts explained Adam everything. They returned to Cumbria, leaving everyone he knew behind. At the Belmont House, he was to meet his new tutor, Giuseppe Cadenza who was to take care of Adam until his thirteenth birthday, when he would start boarding school.
By the time their new chauffeur, eighteen years old Philip Lumiere, drove Adam off to Eton, he hadn't seen his father for six years and could have honestly said he didn't miss him. The next time they met was after Adam's graduation. He was summoned to London only to hear that English literature wasn't the appropriate major and Adam would be wise to change it to law or business school. Given that Adam's main reason to study literature at Oxford was to piss off his Cambridge-educated father, he replied that even under threat of disinheritance he wouldn't change his plans. As they both knew Adam was and would be his only son and heir, his father relented.
When Adam turned twenty-one, he received his mother's inheritance. While getting a master's degree he established his own company and stopped taking his allowance from his father. Rosa Media Initiative LTD was a success before Adam's graduation. What he first envisioned as a publishing house, soon turned into a diverse new media company. Adam could truly say he loved what he was doing - reading by a ton, curating and promoting various promising young artists.
Unfortunately, his private life wasn't as happy. All his time both in Eton and in Oxford he had many colleagues, but there was no one whom he would have called a friend. Almost as wild and infamous as his father was in the sixties, he felt alone among his entourage. Paradoxically, they only place he felt at home - Belmont Hall - and only people whom he actually trusted - Mrs Potts, Mr Cogsworth and Philip, were unavailable for him, as his father's health forced him to move back to Cumbria. Adam had promised himself he won't see his father before the funeral.
Although they were estranged, son and heir of a duke, who was also the owner of the Forbes-50, self-made company, was a person of interests for the press. His erotic conquests, wild parties and crazy stunts featured in tabloids every other week. While hiring his Oxford colleague, Penny Feathers, as his publicist mitigated the craziest stories, she wasn't a miracle worker. Adam, who - if he were ever honest with himself - would have actually preferred a quiet house in Cumbria, was saddled with a public persona he didn't know how to change.
On a hot May evening in 2005, Louis Beaumont, 17th duke of Eden, got a stroke. When Adam was informed that his father is dying, he only asked to 'call him, when the bastard would actually be dead'. He got another call three hours later. Young duke arrived in Cumbria only to lay his father to his grave and quickly returned to London, leaving surprised staff behind with a request to keep everything as it was. Unsurprisingly, changing a lifestyle wasn't as easy as he imagined and Adam found himself not exactly willing to do so.
On Halloween 2005 he was forced to do it. Adam was attending a party in a discreet, invitation-only gentleman's club. In the early hours of the morning, while most of the guests were sleeping the wild night off, the spark jumped between cables in the basement. The fire spread quickly. Many people died, trapped in the building. Adam was one of the lucky few who were awake and managed to get out. Unfortunately, before he was actually outside, nearby gas pipe burst from the heat. He was caught in the explosion.
Week later Adam woke up in a hospital. The left half of his body was badly burned, he lost an arm. Equally disgusted by his actions and their consequences, he secluded himself to Belmont Hall. He only kept skeleton staff and, depressed, hid from society.
For the next decade, Adam kept to himself, managing his business through Philip and Penny. Therefore, when he requested them to hire someone new, just to curate his library and art gallery, they were surprised and slightly worried. Together, they decided to find him someone who would bring life back to the house. Looking through info brokers employed by Rosa Media Initiative LTD, Penny found Belle Villeneuve.
On paper, she was perfect for the job. Born in Rome to a British father and a French mother in 1990, she only moved to the UK when ten. She was well-travelled and had perfectly tailored majors. She was also young and seemed introverted enough that moving to another side of the country shouldn't be a problem.
Maurice Villeneuve was a painter. He travelled to Italy with a meagre stipend from the Courtauld Institute to get his great break. Three years later, the money ran out. He regretfully began planning his return. Then, one summer day he met Catherine Moreau. After two dates, Maurice was convinced Catherine was more important than his career. He started working as a graphic designer. Maurice and Catherine got married on New Year's Day. A year later Catherine gave birth to their daughter Belle.
For the next three years, the small family lived in a happy bubble. Then tragedy struck. Catherine succumbed to cancer. Maurice was heartbroken. The only thing that kept him sane was his sweet Belle. The little girl didn't understand why her mother was suddenly gone. They left their home within a week. For the next seven years, they moved, nowhere settling down. They lived in Paris, Modena, Vienna, Antwerp, Haag. Everywhere Maurice was hired for design-related jobs and Belle spent a school term, picking up a new language and not making any friends. When she was ten, Maurice decided she needed a proper education. They moved to England and settled in a quiet suburban Ashford.
After high school, Belle entered London University. She got a double major in art history and library science. Soon after graduation, she was hired by Rosa Media Initiative LTD as an info broker. Even though she dearly missed her father, she was happy with both her job and a quaint studio apartment. The only thing marring her life was an unwanted suitor. Due to their lifestyle, Belle never learned how to make friends and was used to everyone treating her as an introverted freak. So, when her new neighbour, sergeant Gaston Jones helped her carry her stuff to her flat and invited her to coffee, she accepted. After two more coffees, Belle realised he thought they were dates and she gently tried to explain that she wasn't interested. She worried he didn't understand.
So Belle spent her days researching intriguing aspects of European art history and her evenings avoiding her neighbour. Then, on a spring afternoon, she was called to the HR office.
Before we begin, let's meet our heroes.
On a stormy, midsummer night 1980 in the Belmont Hall in Cumbria, Adam Beaumont, son of Louis, 17th duke of Eden and his 20 years old, American wife, Rosa was born. He was a sole heir to his father's title and his family's vast fortune. Although young master's arrival was expected with great anticipation, the occasion wasn't joyous for his parents' marriage was a mismatch made in hell.
Louis Beaumont, born in 1919 was a war hero, who spent three decades after the war ended as a rich playboy spending the fortune accumulated by his ancestors. On his sixtieth birthday, he decided it is high time to father an heir. To achieve that he needed a wife. Given how he spent most of his life there wasn't a family in England that would offer their daughter. Luckily, a couple of weeks later at the party in an American Embassy, he met Miss Rosa van Drachen, heiress of one of the eldest families in New York. He swiftly managed to charm her and she was pregnant within a month and a duchess within a second one. Uncomfortable with a depressed wife who was too young and too American for him, Louis left her with a newborn in Belmont Hall and moved permanently to London. For the next five years, he had come to Cumbria only a handful of times.
These years were the happiest time of Adam's life. He lived with a loving mother in a wonderful house. Both were doted upon by the staff, particularly the housekeeper, Mrs Potts and the butler, Mr Cogsworth. The peace ended suddenly three weeks after Adam's fifth birthday. Duke of Eden was unpleasantly reminded he had a wife and a son and it would be prudent for him to introduce her grace in court. Rosa and Adam were summoned to London. As Rosa was to be presented in court, her husband spared no expense, and a crowd of etiquette teachers and stylists filled Almsenby House. Adam's mother was occupied day and night and had no time for him. As his father firmly believed that children should be seen and not heard and even that should be done sparingly, Adam was sequestered in a nursery, where his own set of tutors was waiting to teach him, what it meant to be a Beaumont.
Over the next couple of months, Rosa Beaumont was presented without a hitch and Louis largely ignored both her and their son. He only remembered to have a family when expressly invited with a wife. Then they played a happy family.
What happened behind closed doors was another matter entirely. The duke was a womanising, angry drunk whose health was slowly deteriorating. He took it all on his family. Although Rosa generally managed to keep Adam away from his father's fists, the duke talked to Adam only in insults and sneers. It took Rosa two years before she decided to take action.
Unfortunately, all post of Almsenby House went through the duke's office. He found out about her plans to take Adam to New York and guessed she had no intention of coming back. In the middle of the night, he summoned his wife to the study. Their yells were well heard in the nursery and woke Adam up. Scared for his mother, the boy crept to the hallway near the study. Hidden in the shadows, he saw the duke striking his mother. With a surprised cry, she fell and hit her head on the corner of a side table. The crack sobered up Adam's father. He yelled for the staff. Terrified Adam didn't notice running Cogsworth. As Mrs Potts picked him up and carried him to the nursery, he caught bits of conversation:
'...tripped...'
'My lord ... call the...'
'I said, accident.'
Adam barely understood what happened. He had only seen that his mother wasn't moving. Nobody talked. Police sirens came and went. In the morning his father came to the nursery.
'Your mother is dead, boy. Tomorrow you return to the Belmont Hall. Mrs Potts, pack his bags and get him ready for the road.'
Afterwards, Mrs Potts explained Adam everything. They returned to Cumbria, leaving everyone he knew behind. At the Belmont House, he was to meet his new tutor, Giuseppe Cadenza who was to take care of Adam until his thirteenth birthday, when he would start boarding school.
By the time their new chauffeur, eighteen years old Philip Lumiere, drove Adam off to Eton, he hadn't seen his father for six years and could have honestly said he didn't miss him. The next time they met was after Adam's graduation. He was summoned to London only to hear that English literature wasn't the appropriate major and Adam would be wise to change it to law or business school. Given that Adam's main reason to study literature at Oxford was to piss off his Cambridge-educated father, he replied that even under threat of disinheritance he wouldn't change his plans. As they both knew Adam was and would be his only son and heir, his father relented.
When Adam turned twenty-one, he received his mother's inheritance. While getting a master's degree he established his own company and stopped taking his allowance from his father. Rosa Media Initiative LTD was a success before Adam's graduation. What he first envisioned as a publishing house, soon turned into a diverse new media company. Adam could truly say he loved what he was doing - reading by a ton, curating and promoting various promising young artists.
Unfortunately, his private life wasn't as happy. All his time both in Eton and in Oxford he had many colleagues, but there was no one whom he would have called a friend. Almost as wild and infamous as his father was in the sixties, he felt alone among his entourage. Paradoxically, they only place he felt at home - Belmont Hall - and only people whom he actually trusted - Mrs Potts, Mr Cogsworth and Philip, were unavailable for him, as his father's health forced him to move back to Cumbria. Adam had promised himself he won't see his father before the funeral.
Although they were estranged, son and heir of a duke, who was also the owner of the Forbes-50, self-made company, was a person of interests for the press. His erotic conquests, wild parties and crazy stunts featured in tabloids every other week. While hiring his Oxford colleague, Penny Feathers, as his publicist mitigated the craziest stories, she wasn't a miracle worker. Adam, who - if he were ever honest with himself - would have actually preferred a quiet house in Cumbria, was saddled with a public persona he didn't know how to change.
On a hot May evening in 2005, Louis Beaumont, 17th duke of Eden, got a stroke. When Adam was informed that his father is dying, he only asked to 'call him, when the bastard would actually be dead'. He got another call three hours later. Young duke arrived in Cumbria only to lay his father to his grave and quickly returned to London, leaving surprised staff behind with a request to keep everything as it was. Unsurprisingly, changing a lifestyle wasn't as easy as he imagined and Adam found himself not exactly willing to do so.
On Halloween 2005 he was forced to do it. Adam was attending a party in a discreet, invitation-only gentleman's club. In the early hours of the morning, while most of the guests were sleeping the wild night off, the spark jumped between cables in the basement. The fire spread quickly. Many people died, trapped in the building. Adam was one of the lucky few who were awake and managed to get out. Unfortunately, before he was actually outside, nearby gas pipe burst from the heat. He was caught in the explosion.
Week later Adam woke up in a hospital. The left half of his body was badly burned, he lost an arm. Equally disgusted by his actions and their consequences, he secluded himself to Belmont Hall. He only kept skeleton staff and, depressed, hid from society.
For the next decade, Adam kept to himself, managing his business through Philip and Penny. Therefore, when he requested them to hire someone new, just to curate his library and art gallery, they were surprised and slightly worried. Together, they decided to find him someone who would bring life back to the house. Looking through info brokers employed by Rosa Media Initiative LTD, Penny found Belle Villeneuve.
~B'n'B~ ~B'n'B~ ~B'n'B~
On paper, she was perfect for the job. Born in Rome to a British father and a French mother in 1990, she only moved to the UK when ten. She was well-travelled and had perfectly tailored majors. She was also young and seemed introverted enough that moving to another side of the country shouldn't be a problem.
Maurice Villeneuve was a painter. He travelled to Italy with a meagre stipend from the Courtauld Institute to get his great break. Three years later, the money ran out. He regretfully began planning his return. Then, one summer day he met Catherine Moreau. After two dates, Maurice was convinced Catherine was more important than his career. He started working as a graphic designer. Maurice and Catherine got married on New Year's Day. A year later Catherine gave birth to their daughter Belle.
For the next three years, the small family lived in a happy bubble. Then tragedy struck. Catherine succumbed to cancer. Maurice was heartbroken. The only thing that kept him sane was his sweet Belle. The little girl didn't understand why her mother was suddenly gone. They left their home within a week. For the next seven years, they moved, nowhere settling down. They lived in Paris, Modena, Vienna, Antwerp, Haag. Everywhere Maurice was hired for design-related jobs and Belle spent a school term, picking up a new language and not making any friends. When she was ten, Maurice decided she needed a proper education. They moved to England and settled in a quiet suburban Ashford.
After high school, Belle entered London University. She got a double major in art history and library science. Soon after graduation, she was hired by Rosa Media Initiative LTD as an info broker. Even though she dearly missed her father, she was happy with both her job and a quaint studio apartment. The only thing marring her life was an unwanted suitor. Due to their lifestyle, Belle never learned how to make friends and was used to everyone treating her as an introverted freak. So, when her new neighbour, sergeant Gaston Jones helped her carry her stuff to her flat and invited her to coffee, she accepted. After two more coffees, Belle realised he thought they were dates and she gently tried to explain that she wasn't interested. She worried he didn't understand.
So Belle spent her days researching intriguing aspects of European art history and her evenings avoiding her neighbour. Then, on a spring afternoon, she was called to the HR office.
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