"I won't promise it, Mother," Jax refused. "You know that promises mean everything to me," he said, pacing in front of his father's throne, while his mother stood behind him, trying to reason with him.

     "Jax, darling, *I* made a promise to this man. He saved my life, son. I would not be here speaking with you now were it not for him."

     Jax rubbed his temples. "Yes, I understand that, mother, and I am grateful to him. I say we give him anything he desires, but *not* my head in the marriage noose for one of his daughters!"

     "Son, you really must stop comparing marriage to a hanging," his father chided.

     "Don't you agree with me, Father, that my mother did not have the right to bargain me away in her promise to this man?" Jax asked reasonably.

     "Jax," King John said, "if we are to leave it up to you, you will not marry until you are forty years old. Your mother had to force your hand in some fashion, my boy. We need those heirs. A kingdom does not flourish without them, you know."

     "You will have all the bloody heirs you want, I promise you. But why must you have them now? And I would like to pick out my own wife, thank you," he added.

     "But you *will* be picking her out yourself," his mother pointed out. "You have four young ladies to choose amongst. And I have seen miniatures of them, my dear. They are all quite lovely."

     Jax rolled his eyes. "You are not hearing me."

     "Would you have your mother go back on her promise to this fine man who risked his hide to save her from falling over the mountainside and into the Lake of Sapphires?"

     Jax was about to protest some more, but he'd already been protesting for the better part of an hour and his parents were not budging. It would be best, he decided, to go along with them, and then simply make certain that none of these girls would ever *want* to be married to him.

     "All right, as you wish," Jax said. "I shall go out and buy myself a shiny, new noose for my upcoming fate as a result of your dreaded promise to this Barrett fellow, Mother."

     His mother hugged him and kissed is cheek. "You will not regret this, darling," she predicted, thinking about the miniature of two of the Barrett girls, in particular. She just knew that her son would take one look at either of these girls and drop to his knees thanking his mother for making the 'dreaded' promise that had enabled him to have this young woman as his own. "Now, do get ready for dinner, Jax. We're having company," his mother said.

     Jax's eyes slid suspiciously over to her. "Company of the four Barrett sisters sort?" he asked, unable to hide the annoyance that was in his spectacular blue eyes.

     "The entire Barrett family actually," his mother clarified, and when she saw her son's gaze of exasperation, she added: "Well, I thought, why procrastinate?" she said with a shrug. "They will be here within the hour, and you will have your first opportunity to meet the young ladies while we dine. You will then have ample time to get to know them and make your selection. They will be here for the season."

     "The season?! They're going to be here for three months?!" Jax erupted.

     "You were perhaps hoping for a *longer* acquaintance period?" his father asked, folding his arms and letting Jax know that his continued complaints would result in the Barrett's stay being extended to further torture him.

     "No," Jax said quietly. "Three months is far too long already."

     "I expect you to be a good sport about this, Jasper," King John ordered. "You're not a boy any longer. No tantrums, no nonsense. No trickery to try to wile your way out of this."

     Jax just nodded and then smiled, which made his father wary. "I'll go get ready for the beginning of three months of pure hell," he said.

     His parents watched him leave the room and then gazed at each other. "You know that sly fox is up to something," King John said with a frown.

     "Yes, indeed," Queen Jane agreed. "But he has no idea what he's in for, my love. He thinks now that all he wants to do is run for his life from what I've gotten him into. But mark my word, his feelings will change once he meets the young ladies."

     "I certainly hope so," King John said. "We need to get that wild boy of ours married off before he takes up yet another mistress. Those giddy women yap so much, telling their tales to the gossips about their 'glorious, passionate' encounters with 'his Highness', about their 'mad fainting spells' in the face of all of his ceaseless passion" he sighed. "Why, it's scandalous, the things they say Jax does to them: making them pass out, scream like crazed banshees, have out-of-body experiences . . ." John shook his head. "And all of this for the entire Kingdom to read about from the gossips. Why did you have to birth me such a randy boy in the first place, woman?"

     Queen Jane laughed. "I can assure you he gets those particular genes and enviable talents from *you,* my dear husband. We can only pray our daughter has not inherited them as well, or both of our children shall wear out their respective mates daily, and we shall certainly never be lacking in the 'heirs' department. Now, shall we prepare for dinner?"

     As the Queen's coach carrying the five Barrett sisters neared the gold paved streets leading to the palace, all of the girls were gazing out of the coach, soaking in every incredible sight that befell their eyes. Such splendor! Such fabulous, breathtaking splendor!

     Well, not all of the girls were floored by the palace surroundings. Brenda was far too busy getting herself ready for her grand entrance into the world of the Royal Family. As her sisters gazed out at everything oohing and aahing and shrieking with delight, Brenda was busy slipping out of her pretty, sensational-fitting, red dress, to reveal the drab, poorly-fitting gray one she wore beneath it. This one hid every curve she had, whereas the red dress had shown off her body in tasteful, yet traffic-stopping, fashion. She then wound her gorgeous dark hair up into a severe bun better suited for a seventy-year-old matriarch or a mousy school marm than a vivacious, beautiful seventeen-year old. She was just putting on a pair of hideous old spectacles that had belonged to her grandmother when Geneva turned around to point out something to her and promptly screamed at the sight of her twin.

     "Brenda! What have you done to yourself!" Geneva gawked.

     This of course brought the quick attention of the other sisters. Victoria and Miranda gasped in horror, while Kayla took one look at Brenda and laughed and laughed and laughed, thinking her sister the funniest person in the world.

     "Have you gone mad!" Victoria demanded.

     "I will not have that Prince choosing me," she informed them all. I simply will not have it."

     "As if he would ever have chosen you anyway," Miranda said, hiding her secret glee at what Brenda had done to herself. For Miranda had no illusions. She had been certain that either Brenda or Geneva would be the one the Prince selected. With Brenda taking herself out of the competition, perhaps her twin would follow? Miranda thought she could beat out Victoria if it were just between the two of them.

     "I am not taking any chances," Brenda said.

     "Not that he would have chosen you in any event. But he will surely not choose you now, Brenda. Good lord, you look perfectly hideous!" Victoria said, looking over Brenda's appearance with distaste.

     Brenda smiled. "Well, that is the whole idea, Victoria."

     "But you still look beautiful when you smile, Brenda," Kayla piped up.

     Brenda then made the most unattractive smile she could muster, and Kayla fell into giggles once more.

     "If you smile like that at him, our fair prince will surely die of fright," Geneva said, disapproving of her twin's charade. "Brenda, this is such nonsense! Father will want to scale your hide when he sees what you've done to yourself," she warned.

     "That's why I waited to change in here," she explained. "When we arrive the King and Queen will be waiting for us, and Father won't be able to do anything but glare furiously at me. I will already have done my damage by giving the Prince a first impression of me that he shall never forget - and never want to remember," she said, pleased with herself.

     Kayla frowned, gazing up at her sister. "You don't *want* to be the princess, Brenda?" she asked.

     "No, Kayla, I don't. And I won't."

     Kayla did not like that answer. She wanted Brenda to be the princess. And she decided then and there that she would do all she could to make it so.

     The coach stopped, finally reaching the wide marble steps leading to the palace entrance. The coachman opened the door to assist the young ladies down, and he stepped back with a start at the sight of Brenda. After recovering from the shock of her bizarre transformation, he scratched his head, wondering why she seemed to intentionally be making herself unappealing? He assisted her down from the coach, recalling how she had looked when he had assisted her into it. It was like looking at two entirely different people. If he didn't know any better he would think that the young lady Brenda had been abducted by some evil wizard and this unsightly ragamuffin had been sent to take her place.

     "What in the name of....!" Harlan Barrett thundered as he and his wife exited their coach and went to meet the girls, only to be greeted by the sight of one of their beautiful seventeen-year-olds looking like a perfectly frightful young hag.

     Veronica gasped. "Brenda! What have you done?" she said, looking around, praying none of the Royal Family would come out and see Brenda looking like some ugly little dowd. "What ever possessed you? This is not amusing! This is *not* amusing!!" Veronica said, nearing hysterics.

     Kayla was laughing again, wondering if mama was going to faint and papa would have to catch her.

     "What the devil sort of explanation can you possibly give for this absurdity?!" Harlan demanded, his eyes raking over Brenda's awful appearance angrily. "Is it your wish to embarrass us all? To make a mockery of Her Majesty's hospitality? To give you poor mother apoplexy?!" he demanded, his ire growing as he fully took in her unappealing appearance: the ghastly gown -- if one could call it that -- ten sizes too big for her, the severe hair style that looked positively painful, the grotesque spectacles. His breathtaking child looked a dreadful combination of mouse and had, and to think she had done this hideous transformation to herself on purpose!

     Brenda had known her parents would be furious, but they were even angrier than she had imagined, and her bravery was wavering a bit.

     "I don't want him to pick me, father," he said, gazing pleadingly at him to understand her.

     "How arrogant of you to think he would!" Veronica said, fanning herself wildly as her eyes still gaped at Brenda's repulsive get up. "You would be lucky if a billy goat would have you looking like that!"

     "You will change at once," Harlan said, controlling his anger. When Brenda would have protested, her father shot her a warning glance. "At once, Brenda."

     But just then the palace doors opened, and there were the King and Queen themselves.

     Veronica felt faint. Harlan realized there would be no time for Brenda to shed this hideous disguise. He sighed and ushered his daughters into a line, realizing that Brenda would get away with her mad charade -- at least for now.

     "Welcome," Queen Jane said, greeting them all warmly, as the palace attendants escorted the Barrett family up the stairs toward the reception hall. The Queen smiled over at the girls, and then her eyes widened in astonishment when they came to rest upon Brenda. This was surely a daughter she had not seen before, the Queen thought as she looked pitifully at the poor, little, ugly duckling. She looked a perfect hag in contrast to her well- put-together sisters, especially the one she stood next to, Geneva was her name, as the Queen recalled. But where was the other sister? The one who was Geneva's twin?

     Knowing that the Queen must be wondering what planet Brenda had come from, an embarrassed Harlan cleared his throat and commented on the lush beauty of the palatial surroundings.

     Momentarily distracted, the Queen told them a bit of history about the palace as they began to walk inside. Her husband bent towards her as they went inside and whispered, "I thought you said they were all lovely?"

     "They are," the Queen whispered, figuring out that the ugly duckling must be Brenda. "But apparently one of the young ladies is not at all anxious to marry our son," she deduced with a soft chuckle.

     "Well, she needn't fear his choosing her if she keeps up that appalling guise," King John said.

     Queen Jane just smiled as they led the Barretts into the palace interior.

     Jax, looking just smashing in all black -- save for the etches of the Royal Violet that were woven through his shirt -- stared down at the gleaming black reflections of his perfectly polished black, Hessian boots, trying to think of how best to turn off these Barrett women one by one. His attention was distracted by the sound of his sister, humming some silly love tune the palace musician had been playing earlier. Jax watched her as she sailed into the reception hall, wearing a beautiful gown, the same shade of the Royal Violet that was etched brilliantly and subtly into his shirt.

     Jax scanned her appearance with a discerning eye. "What happened to your fashionable breeches?" he asked her.

     "Well, I was going to wear them," she admitted, "but then I thought, as good as I look in them, I simply cannot compete with how you look in yours," she said, glancing at him with a fond smile. Her brother was the finest specimen of man to ever exist, in her opinion. He was at times a louse, when he would get into his teasing moods that made her want to run him through with one of the many finely polished swords from the war room. But even when he was being a louse, she adored him.

     She linked her arm through his as they awaited their dinner guests to arrive into the reception hall where they stood. "I also thought a dress might be better for the occasion of meeting my future sister-in-law. Whoever she may be," Georgina quipped, tossing her brother a laughing smile.

     The siblings Jacks heard the sounds of voices coming along the corridor and realized the guests were here. Both curious, they waited, gazing at the entry. Their father appeared talking amicably to a gray-haired man with warm brown eyes, who was carrying the cutest little girl of about six in his arms. The little child was wide-eyed, her small head craning to see all there was to see in this magical palace.

     "A bit young for you, I think," Georgina whispered to her brother.

     Jax just smiled at her and shook his head.

     The Queen entered the reception hall next with a dark-haired woman and four younger, dark haired women following. The first was a tall girl with short, dark hair -- attractive, Jax thought, but something about her instantly did not appeal to him. The girl behind her had her hair up in a stylish coif and carried herself in a regal manner that instantly got on Jax's nerves, for some reason. The next girl was younger than the first two, and she was stunning. She wore her dark hair loose and had a carefree air about her that he liked very much. His eyes then fell to the fourth sister, and he stared at her in alarm.

     The girl was smiling at him as if she was actually pleased by his horrified reaction to the sight of her. What an odd smile, he thought, as she seemed to be doing strange things with her lips and baring her teeth as if they were fangs. Remembering his manners, Jax smiled politely at her, doing all he could to disguise his revulsion. Good god, this apple had surely fallen far from the tree! Her attire was something a beggar-woman would turn her nose up at, and that hair! Simply ghastly. Wound up into a bun so tight it looked as though it must surely be causing her excruciating pain with every facial movement. And those glasses! Horn-rimmed and too large for her petite, pixie-shaped face. And the way she was squinting as if she were half blind. Jax feared she would trip over her own feet as she held onto the sister in front of her. The poor thing could hardly be any more unattractive if she tried.

     "Oh, my," was all Georgina said. It was more than Jax could say. The sight of this . . .person left him speechless and wondering just what his mother's opinion of 'lovely' was when she had insisted that all four of the eligible daughters were beauties.

     "Stop it, Brenda!" Geneva whispered, trying desperately not to laugh as Brenda grabbed onto her arm as if she needed help being led around.

     Brenda did laugh as she pulled closer to her sister. "Do you see the way he looks at me? I think if he were the ill-mannered sort he would bellow for the servants to remove me from his sight at once!" Brenda laughed.

     Jax caught the flash of her natural smile and was amazed at how it seemed to transform her for a split second. But Brenda changed her own pretty, dimpled smile back to the clownish one she had used a moment ago, immediately upon seeing him gazing curiously at her when she was laughing. And seeing the fang-baring -type smile again, Jax shivered.

     His intent was not to choose *any* of these Barrett sisters, to make sure by the time the season was over not one of them had the least bit of desire to be his wife. But *this* one -- she of the ugly, oversized dresses, squinting eyes, fang-baring smiles, and painful hair -- he would not even go near her if he could help it.

     Brenda was positively gleeful, as she noticed the prince's instant aversion to her as she and her sisters were now being introduced to him. He was smiling and charming with Miranda and Victoria and very much so with Geneva, and they in turn were falling all over themselves in states of giddy fluster at being near him. Brenda heard them all going on and on about how impossibly handsome he was. Yes, he was nice looking, she agreed, but they were really making far too much of him in her opinion. Then it came time for Brenda to make his aquaintance. She saw him brace himself as she stood in front of him, extending her hand. His blonde eyebrows furrowed as he gazed at the beautiful hand belonging to the fang-baring thing.

     "Hello, Your Highness," Brenda said, curtseying before him and nearly falling as her feet got entangled in the far too big dress.

     Jax held onto her to save her the embarrassment of falling and managed to smile at her somehow.

     "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Brenda," he said, hoping he came off as sincere, as he forced himself to kiss her hand as he had kissed the hands of her sisters. Her skin was so soft, he noticed, that puzzled look on his face once again as he stared at her hand, admiring the sun-kissed gold complexion and the flawless skin, and feeling that it just did not go with the image of the unattractive frump she presented.

     Brenda lifted her eyes and looked at him and felt something very odd happen to her. It was as if she were frozen. She forgot to squint and to use the unattractive smile. Oh, my, she thought nervously, her heart racing oddly. Oh, my, this man is beautiful! She had seen him before, of course, in royal ceremonies when he and his family would be in processionals down Surrey Lane, and she had seen the paintings of him at school and such. But nothing could have prepared her for the flesh-and-blood man.

     Jax gazed at her, puzzled at the way her eyes seemed to race across his face. Now that she was not doing her dreadful squinting, he could clearly see her eyes. She had very pretty eyes, he had to admit. They were a velvet-brown, with marvelous flecks of gold swirled in. Too bad those hideous horn- rimmed spectacles marred the lovely image. Now that she was not scaring him with her ghastly smile, he noticed that her mouth was very lovely, too. She had very sensually shaped lips, full and… soft? he wondered, shocking himself by nearly touching them to satisfy his curiosity. They certainly looked thoroughly kissable, which was something he would never have imagined upon first glance at the wretched-looking girl. Curious at the attractive features he was discovering about the dowdy-looking sister, he gazed at her hair. That bun was the most awful thing he had ever seen; there was nothing he could find attractive about it. But the hair itself -- it was very pretty, he observed. It was dark, with glinting chestnut highlights that were very becoming in the chandelier light. And the hair texture appeared to have the same amazing luster as Geneva's and little Kayla's. Jax longed to pull the hair free from that evil, imprisoning bun to see if her loose hair would be as beautiful as he suspected it would be. She was not in any way a raving beauty like her sister, Geneva, he deduced, still hating the horrid bun and those dreadful spectacles and wondering if she had any shape at all beneath the mammoth dress she wore, but she was not ugly either, he decided. And yet she was trying to be. Why?

     Regaining some semblance of her wits, Brenda was aware of his gaze upon her and the fact that it was no longer strained with horror, but instead filled with curiosity and interest. Oh, no. She had to keep up the charade, she reminded herself, chastising herself for the strange moment of weakness in his presence. She went back to squinting and put back on the ugly smile she had been using.

     Jax's eyes widened, and she thought he would drop her hand with haste and be thankful to have her be on her way to the dinner table. But he held onto her hand, even when she physically tried to yank it away from him.

     He smiled at her, and she wanted to kick him very hard. How unfair to use a weapon on her like that smile, that could call the meadowlarks from the summer skies to flock in droves at the feet of his beautiful, gleaming boots.

     "You seem quite anxious to leave me," he said, regarding her with mocking eyes a shade of blue she thought must have been conjured up by the very angels themselves. "I would be very curious to know what it is that you find so undesirable about my company. For you see, I wish to appear as undesirable as possible."

     Brenda said nothing, but he saw the surprise in her eyes.

     "I take it you have no wish to marry me, and that is the reason behind this most repulsive disguise of yours. But let me assure you that I have no desire to marry you either. Or any of your sisters, for that matter. So, will you tell me what it is about me that makes you feel the need to flee? I should like to keep it in mind and use it to make you *all* flee."

     Brenda was wondering what in heaven's name had become of her voice? She could not seem to find it.

     "Do you not speak, fair lady?" Jax asked her, raising a sardonic eyebrow. It amazed him that his most interesting and lengthy conversation was with the sister he had most wanted to avoid.

     With great effort she managed to make a little sound, clearing her throat. Why, oh, why was he still holding onto her hand? "Please accept my apologies, Your Highness, for my subterfuge," she said quietly. "Had I known that you feel as I do about this marriage nonsense, I would not have gone to the trouble. I fear my appearance has frightened away several of your attendants."

     Jax laughed very softly, and Brenda felt goosbumps dance over her body, as the sound seemed to physically caress her in some impossible manner.

     "You do look a fright. Were you that certain I would choose you?" he asked, his curiosity aroused.

     Brenda shook her head, embarrassed, which was something very uncommon for her. "No, I didn't. I never thought that. I never presumed such a thing," she swore. "I only sought to make certain it would not be me," she explained.

     "May I ask why not?" he asked her, not at all accustomed to any females of the Kingdom of Fahrlane finding the thought of being with him unappealing.

     "I am going to marry someone else," she told him. "As soon as I return to Devonshire."

     He nodded. "Well, rest assured, your wedding plans shall not be put off by me. I have no desire to be married to anyone. I only wish your sisters felt as you do. It would make all of this much easier for me. But I must now find ways to make myself as undesirable as possible to them to extract myself from this situation. Could I possibly ask for your assistance in this endeavor?"

     While Brenda and the Prince continued to speak quietly to one another, everyone else looked on in amazement.

     "What on earth could he possibly have to say to her for so long?" Miranda whispered to Victoria.

     "What I am wondering is how he can possibly stand to gaze upon her for so long without being ill," Victoria said. "Brenda looks such an awful fright. I don't see how he can possibly bear it."

     Harlan was smiling. "Could it be that His Highness is not fooled by our child's appalling charade?" he mentioned to his wife.

     "I have no idea," Veronica said, as baffled as everyone else by what was going on with the Prince and Brenda. "Perhaps he is kindly asking her to leave? Or to kindly not look at him during dinner so that he can keep his food down?"

     "He is charmed by the ugly duckling?" King John whispered to his wife. "Is this some sorcerer's spell that has been cast upon the boy?"

     "I do wonder what topic holds them in such rapt, private conversation," Queen Jane murmured, a smile playing on her lips as she noticed how long her son had been holding Brenda's hand ever since their introduction. Her son may not have made his choice of a bride, but the Queen already had.

     "You wish me to help you make my sisters *dislike* you?" Brenda asked him, wanting clarification of what the Prince was asking of her.

     "Yes, that is exactly right," he said.

     "You truly do not wish to marry any one of us?"

     "Correct again."

     Brenda smiled at this good fortune. "Well, I shall be pleased to be of any assistance to you that I can be, Your Highness," she said. "Although I do think it will be difficult to dissuade my sisters -- particularly my two older sisters -- from your path. They very much. . . want you," she explained with another smile.

     What a beautiful smile, Jax thought. If only she would get rid of those glasses, free her hair from the sinister bun, and put on a decent dress.

     "Might I make another request of you?" he asked her. "As you can surely see, there is now no need for you to put me off by terrifying me with your appearance. So could you appear as you truly are, so that no more of my staff will flee in fear when you walk into the room?"

     Brenda laughed and the sound was amazing to the Prince's ears.

     "I shall do that, Your Highness. If you will excuse me for a moment," she said, curtseying, as Jax finally let her hand go. She left him and walked towards her parents, passing her sisters, who were all regarding her with questioning eyes, bursting with curiosity to know what she and His Highness had been discussing.

     "I think I should change for dinner, father," she said, and smiled at the relief she saw flood her father's eyes and her mother's as well. She knew that her parents were probably under the mistaken impression that she had seen the Prince, fallen under his spell, and now wanted to shed her awful disguise, and let him see her as she truly was.

     The Queen overheard Brenda talking to her father, and she intervened. "Just follow Anell, my dear. She will show you to your bedchamber, where your clothing has been taken," the Queen said, summoning one of the maids named Anell, who led Brenda to the bedchamber.

     The others went into the massive dining hall, where Miranda finagled a seat next to Jax, and Victoria managed to get the seat on the other side of him. Geneva rolled her eyes at them and took a seat next to her mother.

     "Is it true that your bushes talk?" Kayla asked the Prince, while the servants were filling the glasses with wines and fresh juices.

     Geneva's eyes widened, and she glanced over to see Jax's confused smile.

     "I'm afraid that's my fault, Your Highness," Geneva said. "My little sister asked me earlier if bushes could talk, and I told her that ours could not, but perhaps the bushes in the Enchanted Forest behind the palace could," she explained with an embarassed little smile.

     "Well, if they can they've never said a word to me," Jax said, gazing at Kayla. "Maybe they will talk to you? We'll have to try it one day and see," he said, winking at the little girl.

     "Could you really take us there?" Miranda asked, surprised. "Into the Enchanted Forest?"

     "Yes, I thought it was forbidden?" Victoria added, doing her best to be regal and speak quietly and slowly and impress the Prince.

     "Yes, the Forest is forbidden," Princess Georgina said. "The secret garden, however, is not. You may go there. Jax and I will take you there, perhaps tomorrow," she offered. Then she smiled at Kayla. "We can see if those bushes talk, Kayla."

     "All right," Kayla said, swinging her legs back and forth and smiling happily.

     "I wish Brenda would hurry up. My stomach is growling like Beatrice Garrick's three-legged dog," Geneva said and then clamped her hand over her mouth, realizing she was not at home, but at the royal palace in the presence of the Royal Family.

     Miranda shot her a mortified look and Victoria looked appalled, but both Jax and Georgina were smiling at Geneva.

     "Mine is growling, too," Georgina confessed. "Does this Beatrice Garrick really have a three-legged dog?"

     "Yes," Kayla piped up. "Mr. Garrick cut it off when he was drunk last New Year's, papa said."

     "Kayla!" Veronica said, flushing with embarrassment, but the entire Royal Family found Kayla delightful and was laughing at her little revelation.

     "I thought he was bad to do that to the doggie," Kayla said, taking a sip of the sweet grape juice. "And now the doggie always tries to bite him on his bottom. Mama says he's got the biggest bottom she has ever seen."

     Harlan thought his wife would slink down to the ground in a dead faint.

     "It must be pretty big then," Jax said, as his sister laughed and nodded, smiling at the giggling Kayla. She loved the idea of this adorable munchkin as a part of her family. Jax's eyes moved over to Geneva who's smile held quite an allure. If one *had* to get married, Geneva Barrett would certainly make quite a catch, he mused thoughtfully, just as footsteps could be heard dashing down the hall signifying Brenda's imminent return.

     Brenda finally made her way to the dining hall, feeling much better about this stay at the palace now. Why, now she could make it like a real, grand holiday and have some fun, without worrying about marriages to princes and the like! She was at the royal palace, after all. How fantastic was that! She entered the room, smiling, and Jax was just buttering a piece of hot bread when she walked in. The butter knife fell out of his hand and clattered against the plate, as his eyes stared in total incomprehension at the girl coming towards the table. He had expected improvement -- had expected a pretty girl. He had not -- never -- expected to be thunderstruck and enthralled to his very soul by the undisguised version of Brenda Barrett.

     Her hair was tall and dark and bewitching, the long, glistening curls reaching the center of her back. Gone were the offensive spectacles, and her beautiful eyes were clearly visible, fringed with dark, thick lashes. The mammoth, gray dress was gone, and in its place she wore a beautiful, red velvet dress with a red satin lace-up bosom. She was radiant. She was breathtaking. She was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

     "Oh, my!" Georgina gasped, elbowing her brother.

     King John and the staff were just as astonished as the Prince and Princess were, as their awestruck eyes followed Brenda's entrance into the dining hall.

     "Breathe, brother," Georgina whispered to him, as she noticed that her brother seemed frozen to the spot.

     One of the servants held out a chair for Brenda, and as she slid into it, she glanced over at the Prince and smiled at him, thinking about their plans to make him undesirable to her sisters.

     Jax just stared at her, spellbound, entranced, running over with desire inside. Now he understood why she had disguised herself. Now he understood a lot of things. Including why his mother had been so sure -- despite Jax's vehement protests -- that he would want one of the four sisters. Yes, he wanted this one, all right. Even if it meant he had to marry her to get her. A shocking realization, he thought, that at this very moment he was more than willing to do the unthinkable just to have her. She was unlike anything else he had ever desired before. And he wanted her in a way he had never wanted anything else before too. Best not to let her know this, however, as he had all but given her his word that he had no intention of choosing her. Letting her know that he'd changed his mind now was not very likely to result in any exclamations of exuberant joy from her. More likely she would want to run him through with the nearest weapon she could get her hands on. Not that he was deterred by the fact that he knew she would have a very hostile reaction to his 360-degree change of heart.

     He would have to enter the Enchanted Forest later when everyone was asleep, he decided. The fates had thrown him a most unexpected curve this day, and he had a wizard to consult with on how best to handle this.

     Brenda gave him another conspiratorial smile about their bargain. Jax smiled back at her, thinking that while they were working on making him undesirable to her sisters, he would work on make himself highly desirable to her. His smile changed, taking on a wickedly attractive nuance that made something hot and strangely pleasant unexpectedly shoot through Brenda's body, making her jump a bit in her seat. She frowned slightly as she glanced over at the Prince again to find him still wearing that smile, and looking at her. She slid her eyes away from his, chewed on her lip thoughtfully, and wondered if she had made a terrible mistake in letting him see her as she truly was?

Song Credit: "Storybook" written by Frank Wildhorn and Nan Knighton, available on the album entitled The Scarlet Pimpernel on Angel Records.