Disclaimer: See chapter 1.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: As I promised, more dirty secrets and some not so dirty.

London, England, March 1881

Lena could feel her heart racing as she ran down the back alley. She knew her father was going to be furious. Not only at the fact that she was late, one of the deadliest sins in his book, but also that she dared to be late on the night her parents were finally going to be meeting the man she had be courting with for the last four months.

Jamming the stake in her pocket, she quickly dashed for the front door to Robert and Margaret's townhouse, where they were spending Easter, and threw it open, happy that she had at least ten minutes to make herself presentable before Jack arrived, and glad that no one seemed to be in the parlor.

Removing her shoes, and looking over her shoulder to make sure she was not going to be spotted, she threw open the dining room door, quickly, and came face-to-face with the one human scarier than any vampire she had faced, her father, who at the moment appeared as if he was going to explode, and his face only got redder when he caught sight of his unseemly daughter, late, again.

"Father, I. . ."

Grabbing her arm, he pulled her into the parlor, though she could see her mother, Robert, Margaret, and Jack, whom she had forgotten always arrived at least ten minutes early for any occasion, quite the opposite of herself, looking concerned, Jack most of all as he stood, making to follow after and give her father a piece of his mind for treating his beloved in such a way. When the door closed, however, no one had come to her rescue, not even her valiant knight.

"What were you thinking?"

"I. . .I was attacked on my way home, and I. . ."

"Silence! Enough of your excuses, girl! I swear, that is all you have! I do not see what that man could possibly want in you besides a good lay, though in those boys' clothes you hardly look fit for a wedding bed. Go change, now!"

Always brief, though sometimes less merciful, Frances Ambruzzi stormed off, leaving his daughter to hurry upstairs. She knew what her father had said was completely false, Jack was interested in much more than the wedding bed, he loved her, and in every way was the complete opposite her father.

Shutting the door to her bedroom, she quickly stripped her long linen shirt and trousers, and wrung out a warm washcloth, cleaning the scratch wounds on her arms and trying hard to get the ones on her back when suddenly the door opened behind her, and shut.

Turning, she found Jack standing in the dim light, looking at her with concern, though she quickly grabbed her discarded shirt, covering herself, as he turned, covering his eyes with one hand.

"Oh. I'm sorry, love. I just wanted to make sure you were all right. I didn't mean to intrude. Sorry, love."

"No, it's fine, Jack. I'm sorry I was late. . .oh, just look at me, I find it hard to talk to you when you're not."

Turning, he found her covered by the shirt, but he also noticed the bruises and scratches on her body, and all awkwardness forgotten, quickly approached her, examining her wounds.

"You're hurt."

"I'm fine. They're nothing."

Taking the damp washcloth, he bathed her arms, though, she turned, exposing the wounds on her back, and looking at herself in the mirror, completely terrified. She and Jack had been close, kisses and hand-holding, but they had never been intimate with one another.

Looking back in the mirror, she could see his blue eyes boring into her back, scrutinizing every wound as he worked to mend it, then, found herself envious of his patients and their closeness to him. Suddenly, his eyes met hers, with concern.

"Did your father do this to you?"

"No. . .he. . .he did not."

"I'm sorry you got in trouble. I should have been later."

"No, it wasn't your fault."

"But I feel as if it was."

Suddenly, his hand came across a wound that made Lena intake a sharp breath.

"I'm sorry, did I hurt you?"

"No, I just. . .it hurt. I should have been more careful, I was attacked on the way home. A pick-pocket, that's all."

"I'm sorry, my love. Though, I do know something that might help with the pain."

Kissing, the wound, gently, he looked into Lena's eyes in the mirror, then found her neck with his lips, then her shoulder blade, and before he knew it, she was moaning in his arms with pleasure. Pleasure that she could not allow herself to have, not now at least.

"Jack, we cannot."

"Cannot what?"

"Make love. We are not married."

"Mm, I may have a solution to that problem."

"What do you me. . ."

Suddenly, there was a ring in front of her. The diamond sparkling in the dim light of the room, and Jack's arms no longer around her, for he was on one knee in front of her.

"I have your father's permission, but I do not have yours, which is the only one that really matters. So, please, Helena Maria Ambruzzi, will you marry me, and make me the happiest man alive?"

"Yes, yes, my God yes, I will marry you!"

Falling to her knees, and wrapping her arms around Jack's neck, just giving him enough time to slip the ring on her finger, Lena kissed him, passionately, so passionately that she did not realize when the shirt she had been holding to cover herself slipped, only to be caught by Jack a moment later, his blue eyes burning into hers as he smiled, and kissed her forehead.

"Not until our wedding night, my love. Now, I believe your parents and Mr. and Mrs. Spennings will find it a little odd if we remain here much longer, I used to the lavatory as my excuse, and I fear that if I do not return before long, they will send a search party looking for me, and it would be quite a disaster to find me here, with you being in the state you are in, wouldn't it?"

"Then, we had best get married, soon, for I do not know if I can wait much longer."

Kissing her, softly, Jack chuckled. She was going to be his wife and mother of his children, she had said yes.

"Then, we shall begin discussing the details when you join me, downstairs. As for now, I depart."

And with a chaste kiss, he was gone, leaving her on the floor, the grey linen shirt in her hands, and her new engagement ring on her ring finger.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Next chapter, the wedding night, some secrets are revealed to the characters, and maybe we shall see the Wyndam-Pryce estate. After all, Lena does have to get acquainted with her new manor, does she not?