Day 1: "You Have No Idea Who I Am, Do You?" (Enemies To Lovers)

Day 1: "You have no idea who I am, do you?" (Enemies to Lovers)

When famous actor Anthony Bridgerton makes a terrible impression on human rights lawyer Kate Sharma at a party celebrating her model sister it shouldn't matter. It doesn't matter. Until he expresses an interest in her barely legal model sister, that is.

or

Anthony Bridgerton and Kate Sharma definitely aren't George and Amal Clooney.

Day 4: "It does not matter what I want."

"You left. You. I wanted to talk! I wanted to work it out. You left, and you didn't seem to want to come back, so I let you go. Why are you being such a jackass? I gave you what you wanted!"

"You think this is what I wanted? I asked you for time but no. Impatient Kate always has to have it her way–"

"Over. The. Line." She took a long deep breath through her nose. "Anthony. I was not about to wait around for a guy who didn't love me to maybe come home."

He recoiled visibly. "What?"

"We were literally a lusty cliche, getting married while shitfaced in Vegas. I get that you didn't want the annulment scandal, and, honestly, I thought I'd be okay with your whole deal, but I'm not like you. I can't compartmentalize and act like I love someone and not have it mean anything. All the flowers and kindness and the press eating it up one day, then cold silence and mocking looks the next. It was suffocating. And then you left when you promised you would be there. 'It can't be love but I'll always take care of you.' Remember? I felt so fucking stupid. How could I stay?"

"I came back," he argued weakly. "I came back to tell you…" He looked at her standing tall, eyebrows high on her forehead. Then he saw her lip wobble ever so slightly– a chink in her armor.

On instinct he stepped toward her, wrapping one hand around the back of her neck. His other hand rested on her waist, holding her gently. When their lips were a hair's breadth away, she stilled. "I need to hear you say it, Anthony. Please."

"I–" The words caught in his throat.

The silence stretched between them and Kate tensed. She stepped back. Her eyes were shining as she looked at him. "Good-bye, Anthony."

At least this time she said it to his face. Maybe that would be enough.

Day 4: Kate and the Bridgertons (Mallet of Death)

Katharine Sheffield walked down the street like she owned it. She was a tall woman-- the heels she wore had her standing easily over six feet. With dark, intelligent eyes that never missed a beat and darker curly hair framing her face, she was striking. Not beautiful exactly but there was something about her.

Colin only met her once but she'd made a strong impression. Judging by the wary look Anthony was giving her, he wasn't the only one who thought that.

"Bridgertons," she nodded once in greeting, "it's been a while."

When Anthony didn't pick up the thread, Colin slapped an obviously fake grin on his face. "Kate. Nearly five years since you testified against me."

Kate smiled back, all sharp edges. "Well, you did steal a painting insured by my employer for several million dollars."

"Allegedly," Anthony interrupted, ever the lawyer.

Kate's gaze jumped to the older brother and narrowed, eyes ice cold. "Allegedly," she repeated dryly.

They stared at each other unblinking for a long moment. "Well, isn't this just a happy reunion..." Colin said in a soto voice.

"Colin," Anthony snapped in a warning tone. He looked back at Kate. "You called for a reason?" he prompted.

Looking a bit like she'd smelled something rotten (and that something was them), Kate nodded. "My company, ARTE Generali, insured a hundred million in non-government Japanese bearer bonds."

Colin whistled. "Samurai bonds. Nice." Two matching glares snapped to his face and he held up his hands innocently. An illusion neither was buying, especially when he decided to ask: "That's a hundred million in yen or U.S. dollars?"

"Dollars," Kate confirmed with an unamused eye roll. No one was calling the FBI over a hundred million yen-- that was pocket change for a company like ARTE Generali.

Head tilted thoughtfully, Colin couldn't help asking, "And what's your cut if you recover them?"

Kate smirked. "Two percent." Colin resisted the urge to whistle again. "Which I only see if we find them, so…" She pulled a manila folder from her bag and handed it to Anthony who immediately flipped it open. "The truck was hijacked in transport, and I think the bonds are somewhere here in New York."

All of the earlier tension seemed to have dissipated as Anthony focused on the business at hand. "Danbury said you believe Nigel Berbrook is involved."

Kate nodded distractedly, something nearby catching her eye.

Anthony handed Colin the file to flip through-- it held pictures of the missing bonds, the truck, Berbrook. "Big international real-estate guy," Colin commented absently as he skimmed the man's biosheet. "He can move them without raising flags."

Kate's sharp gaze cut back to him for a moment. "Yes, he can." She offered another grin that could cut glass. "Excuse me for a moment."

Colin watched as Kate spoke quietly with the valet before glancing surreptitiously at his brother. Anthony looked… well, honestly, Colin wasn't certain what the expression on his brother's face meant. When he turned his gaze back to Kate, she was accepting the keys to an incredibly expensive looking car.

A man in a suit rushed out to the street. "Hey! That's my car! What the hell--?"

"Mr. Hartside, listen to me," Kate said in a confident, no-nonsense tone, "you can change the vin numbers, you can change the grill, the paint-- it's still an Aston Martin Victor. I know because you did not change the electronic vin behind the steering wheel."

The man's face was turning the most interesting magenta color. "You're crazy! You're stealing my car!"

"No, you stole it. I'm taking it back." Hartside reached into his jacket but Kate was faster. She pulled out a baton and made quick work of him, landing her final blow to the shin. Colin winced-- that had to hurt. "You are more than welcome to file a complaint with the FBI," she added, nodding toward them.

Hartside looked at Anthony who was already flashing his badge. "Special Agent Bridgerton, FBI."

The man, whose complexion had made a startling turn from red to white, tried to hurry away despite having been rather effectively hobbled. "This is obviously a misunderstanding. I should…"

Anthony pulled out his cuffs. "You should stop walking and keep your hands where I can see them."

"Yeah, running just annoys him," Colin told Hartside, flashing a charming smile toward his brother. He walked over to Kate who was now leaning against the car watching the arrest with mild interest. "So you're basically a high-class repo person."

Kate's predatory smile returned. "I prefer white-collar bounty hunter."

"Pithy," Anthony grunted as he wrangled Hartside. "Damn it, Kate, do you always have to go for the shins?"

With wide innocent eyes no one who'd witnessed the last five minutes would ever believe, Kate shrugged. "It was my only defense." There was something hard in her tone that hadn't been there before and Colin didn't miss his brother's responding grimace.

Kate pushed herself off the car and pulled a card from her bag. "When you want to talk about that painting, call me." She pressed the card firmly to Colin's chest until he took it but her gaze was on Anthony. "Bridgertons." The corner of her mouth ticked upwards. "Hartside."

She walked around to the open car door, slid inside like she belonged there and drove off. Colin let out a long exhale, relieved she'd left. There was something too perceptive about Katharine Sheffield. She was dangerous.

Day 7: Kate and her future (Nothing but sweetness and light)

Kate was not an early riser by nature but every once in a while her eyes would pop open after the first light of morning when everything was quiet and fresh and new. When the future felt endlessly full of possibilities. When she could have or be or want and no one would know. The stillness held all her secrets.

Sometimes she would think of Edwina, of her prospects and future, both so bright. Before they'd come to London there were no specifics but as suitors made themselves known, Kate would imagine living her spinster years on their generosity, helping Edwina with her children.

It never felt quite right. None of these men were for Edwina, she was certain (especially not Lord Bridgerton). Her sister would make a wonderful match, a love match if possible. Kate would make sure of it.

More often on these quiet mornings, Kate would imagine her own future life. Not the one she was confident would come to pass (her spinsterhood and continued poverty) but the one she could scarcely allow herself to hope for. A future where she had a family of her very own.

There was always a husband but he was a faceless, nebulous sort of creature that surely existed but had very little impact. It was the children she felt fill her heart. Perhaps a boy with her sharp features but lighter hair and eyes or a girl with her wild curls and chubby cheeks.

She sometimes rested a hand on her flat stomach and thought about all the ways they would change her. Mary's confinement had been fascinating to Kate, watching as her belly grew and grew until one day a squalling Edwina emerged as if by magic.

It was magic, Kate decided, and one of the few powers men did not hold. Only women could bring life into the world.

Eventually, she would sigh and put her fantasies away. It might be a woman's power to create life but it was one Kate knew she would never hold. She would not be a mother no matter how she wished for it because that faceless, nebulous husband did not exist, not for her. (And if there was a face that had begun to appear in her mind's eye, well, no one needed to know but her.)

The bright light of day held no space for impossible dreams. Kate saw the future with clarity-- in a few months, she would return to Somerset with Mary after ensuring Edwina made an exceptional match. She would be the best aunt her sister's children could hope for and it would be enough. Her family, small and full of so much love, was enough.

Day 1: Riding before dawn

She couldn't keep him. Kate knew that.

or

Kate and Anthony have morning sex with a side of angst.

Day 2: Kate and Edwina (Sisterhood)

Kate sighed quietly as she slipped into the room in the boarding house she shared with her sister, Edwina. It has been a particularly long day spent in her apprenticeship, trying to work out the stitching for the bonnet she was meant to finish this week. It was murder on her hands but the pay was good and they needed the funds if they were going to survive in London. 

London. Kate closed her eyes for a moment. They should have never come here-- should have never had to come here. But Somerset was a small village with no theaters and Edwina…. 

Edwina had real talent. Not even sixteen and she was already appearing in Romeo and Juliet. As a background actress, admittedly, but it was still impressive. Her natural beauty shone on stage and Kate was certain it was only a matter of time before she won a lead role.

Of course that was the problem-- time. Kate and Edwina had lost both their father, who had already been sick for several years, and Mary much more suddenly to a terrible flu one year earlier. Kate was barely eighteen then and it had been a terrible shock. Lord Sheffield, their father's older brother and the only living relation who acknowledged them, was too deep in debt to take them in. 

They visited their uncle for a spell as they sold what little they could for capital and then made their way to London in search of reliable employment. Thankfully, their father's former steward was able to help Kate find an apprenticeship at a family run milliner's shop. It was not easy and she was the first to admit she didn't take to it naturally, but she worked hard and that was enough to keep her employed. For now.