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A/N Please let me know what you are all thinking of this story :D

Chapter 3

Puck glowered in the corner that night as he watched Rachel on the opposite side of the room, acting as if she hadn't ran away from such party only hours before and not only challenged his ideals but had beaten him at a horse race before challenging him again and walking away. The problem was he had nothing to have a problem with, she hadn't said anything that was inappropriate or wrong she had just made him feel insecure.

Smirking as he finally thought of a way to get back at her for challenging him he placed down his glass and walked over to her and the girls she was standing with.

"Lady Rachel" he said loudly "may I have this dance?"

Challenged in front of both her hosts and by a higher ranking noble she couldn't refuse and nodded sharply letting him take her hand to lead her to the ballroom in the next room, setting her up in the opposite line he smirked at her as she glared at him insolently.

Taking a step forward as the dance dictated she curtsied and he bowed as they took over the other persons position "having fun?" he smirked.

"I fail to see the purpose of this exercise when my feelings on these dances are well known" Rachel snapped quietly, as they proceeded to start the dance with the other couples.

"Perhaps I want to press you buttons" Puck whispered back, his hand coming up to rest on hers as they went a circle "or to see if you can act in this situation as is proper for a young lady"

"Proper behaviour?" Rachel laughed "this coming from you, the man whose escapades have made it to the continent?" she laughed harshly in his face again as she was passed to another man for another part of the dance.

How does she always manage to get the last word? Puck thought angrily as he took her back as his partner "should you not be concerned with how your behaviour will affect you choice of a husband?"

"Not really" Rachel said airily curtsying to him again

"A man doesn't want someone who doesn't fit in with the society that the majority of his business comes from" Puck snapped trying to ruffle the unruffled girl in another fashion defying dress and bored expression.

"Then perhaps that is a measurement of his business abilities" Rachel smiled sweetly as she curtsied again to him, him having to bow to her as the music ended and the song was over, without letting him get a word in edgeways once again she swept away to the hosts.

"Lord Matt, Lord Mike" she said inclining her head and dipping slightly "I just wanted to thank you for such a marvellous party, especially as it is for my father"

"Our pleasure Lady Rachel" both young men said together bowing to her and then laughing

"If it were not obvious I think I would be asking if you two were twins" Rachel laughed, flicking out her fan and fluttering her eyes behind it, knowing that the Duke was still watching "I have a confession to make Lord Mike" she continued.

"And what would that be my lady? Some deep dark secret of yours?"

"I borrowed a horse earlier" Rachel admitted gently, her shoulders relaxing so minutely that only her father would have realised she had been worried in the first place as Lord Mike laughed.

"I think I can forgive you as long as you returned him"

"I just had to enjoy the country air" Rachel confided in them both, placing a hand on Matt's arm as she looked into the mirror behind them to see Noah's dark expression "and the rush of a horse ride is like nothing in the world"

"If you truly feel that way please join us both tomorrow" Mike offered the girl straight away, both of them captivated by this girl in front of them they had heard so much gossip about.

"I would love to" Rachel said brightly as they continued to talk and chatter, both of them mentioning a girl they knew who would also be joining them tomorrow so that they would appear proper.

Left alone again Puck watched Rachel effortlessly slip into character and harmlessly flirt with the two lords in front of her, they were both good friends of his hence why he was here as a house guest not just a party guest. But that didn't make it any easier on him, for some reason this girl wasn't falling at his feet and until he managed to get her to do what he thought was right he couldn't let her go, he had hoped that actually getting to talk to her again would get her out from under his skin at the moment she seemed to have burrowed further in.

"Lady Rachel!" Lord Mike said brightly the next day as he came across his house guest in the library

"Good morning my lord" Rachel said smiling at him before turning her head back to the books "I was just perusing your collection, I fear it is a fault of mine that I must look at everyone's libraries"

"I myself do not spend a lot of time in here, my father is keeping me busy learning...well it seems like everything"

Rachel laughed along with him and took the offered arm as they walked out of the balcony doors onto the stone balcony taking a more sedate pace to the stables, Rachel chattering at Mike's insistence about her childhood growing up moving around the continent.

"Good morning" Matt called to them as they came into view, Rachel dipping into a slight curtsy as he did.

"Good morning my lord" Rachel smiled at him and then at the dark haired beauty next to him

"Lady Rachel please allow me to introduce you to Miss Santana" Matt said ushering the girl forward as she curtsied and nodded "Miss Santana is a distant family member of mine"

"Lovely to meet you" Rachel said honestly, shocking the untitled girl in front of her, Santana's father was a knight of the realm and therefore had no title of her own and was unlikely to marry into the peerage. Her presence here was due simply to her close relationship with her cousin Matthew and that he had insisted she join them this morning sure that she and Rachel would get along easily, as his cousin was much like Rachel in how strong minded and opinionated she was.

"Likewise Lady Rachel"

"Please, we are equals in the eyes of men we should be equal to each other, so call me Rachel" the brunette insisted before taking Santana's hand and tucking it into the crook of her elbow "now help me choose a horse"

The young men looked at each in triumph before following the two girls whose heads were already bowed together as they discussed the merits of horses and finally chose.

"I do...I do not know how to saddle a horse" Santana whispered reluctantly as she watched Rachel go through the motions quickly and efficiently "I should do but my father...he thinks..."

"I'll show you" Rachel promised picking up a saddle and placing it over the horses back "here" she instructed pointing down to the straps and guiding her through all the buckles until it sat snugly around the horses belly "sometimes they can be very frustrating though and take a belly full of air just as you go to do up the straps, if you knee them gently in the stomach though they will let it go"

"Thank you" Santana said as she took the lead reins and guided the horse out with Rachel, past the shocked men who had come to do what Rachel had already completed.

"My father didn't get much of a choice in how to raise me, what I wanted to learn I made him teach me, or find someone to teach me" Rachel laughed at the men who followed her with their own horses.

"You really do have 'opinions'" Matt commented idly as he helped Santana onto her seat, Rachel swinging herself up in a way that made Santana jealous, not having the courage to not ride side saddle.

"Yes I do" Rachel agreed, smiling as Santana shifted in her seat to sit with legs on either side of the horse, with a smile and a laugh Rachel kicked at the horses flanks and let the horse have its head as it galloped away the others following with a laugh.