A Beast Sees No Beauty

Chapter One

Juliet was now dressed properly, quietly eating a sweet-tart while flipping through the pages of her favorite book. The pages were worn from their years of use, and the cover was on the verge of crumbling in her hands. Still, Juliet continued to read, with delicate fingers turning the pages whenever necessary.

Noon had passed long ago now, which meant her father was working and everyone in the household had something to do - but her. So, she simply curled up on an empty chair and read through the book she loved so much. A book that was now showing its age.

She ignored the sound of horse hooves trampling the dirt outside of their home. She ignored the urgent knock on the door. She could not, however, ignore the arguing resulting in the foyer. 

Her curiosity peaked when her father's voice was added to the fray before it all fell silent. Slowly, she placed her book on the table and stood up. Her face became pale when she heard the footsteps come up the grand staircase. Two pairs, in fact. 

Usually, she would brush it off, but something in her gut told her that whatever was occurring wasn't normal. Somewhere deep inside her gut, she felt unease. 

Juliet sucked in a deep breath and opened up her door, stepping out into the hall with a neutral expression on her face. The two men came up and stood the proper distance away from her a second later. "Is something the matter, Father?" She addressed the only one out of the two she recognized.

Vincent had expected the girl to be attractive, but Ophelia Hayes was not lying when she said her little sister was beautiful. He openly stared at her, not caring if her father stood right next to him. He took her long blonde hair and her bright emerald eyes. His gaze traveled down her figure next. He eyed her slim waist and her modest dress before trailing his eyes back up the curve of her shoulders and pale neck.

He had a feeling the months to come were going to be eventful.

"Darling, this is Vincent McCoy," he waited for a reaction, but none came. Even Mr. Chambers seemed to pause and wait for the recognition to light up in her eyes. Nothing. "His father was another plantation owner who loaned some money to Joshua."

Immediately, the girl began to scowl. Not because of the nasty old Mr. McCoy's memory, but rather the advice she had given her dear brother-in-law years ago. "I told him not to take any large sums of money offered to him."

"Yes, but he didn't listen." Vincent chuckled, nodding his head in agreement. Perhaps this girl was as intelligent as she was beautiful. Her sister didn't seem to over exaggerate anything thus far.

"To put it simply," Vincent finally interrupted the two, "He owes me money and your sister offered you as their collateral."

For a small moment, Juliet let her facade slip. Her eyes widened, but she quickly covered it up by looking away from the young man and back towards her father. He said nothing. He didn't move an inch. Which meant that her older sister really did give her away without any warning.

"Ophelia offered... me?" Juliet couldn't think of what she had done to make her sister hate her so. Offering her to Vincent McCoy of all people! He was known as nothing more than a cold, remorseless beast! Her brother-in-law was not the first, nor the last man to face the consequences of an unpaid debt to the man's father.

"Pack your bags, we leave in an hour." Vincent turned on his heel and began to walk in the direction of the parlor he had passed on his way to the girl's room.

Juliet gave her father one last glance but turned away when he opened his mouth to say something. She then entered her room and began packing as much as she could. Dresses, shoes, boots, accessories, her brush and comb, some books, etc. By the time her hour was up, she had three trunks full.

When Vincent reentered the room, with her father in tow, he clicked his tongue in annoyance. Apparently, all females packed excessively. 

"We will need to borrow a carriage then if you don't mind." Mr. Chambers shook his head, much preferring his daughter to be comfortably seated in the carriage rather than riding on the same horse as the man before him.

"Not at all." He finally forced out. In all his years, Mr. Chambers never imagined one of his own children being dragged away from him like this. Especially not his darling Juliet.

He was going to kill Ophelia for her selfishness.

Four of their workers came in, taking the luggage down the stairs and onto the carriage that would be taking their beloved Juliet far, far away from them. The three people stood in complete silence, only one feeling truly confident and strong.

Juliet hugged her father tightly, knowing that the other man wasn't planning on letting her have a proper goodbye. He was probably going to drag her away the minute someone came to tell them the carriage was ready. Juliet heard Vincent groan, obviously displeased with her rash behavior.

"If anything goes wrong," her father began to whisper, "Anything, if he touches you, or does anything you don't like, you grab a horse and you ride straight back here. Do you understand me?"

Juliet nodded, not letting any of the tears that threatened to spill and see the light of day. He squeezed her tighter, afraid to never see his poor daughter ever again.

"This is touching, really, but I'm on a tight schedule." Juliet felt her arm get tugged before she was forcibly separated from her father and being dragged down the hall. She hastily turned her head around, looking for her father to do something - anything.

But he couldn't do anything anymore. It was up to her to protect herself.

When they came to the stairs, Juliet ripped her arm out of his grip and began her descent, not caring if it made him angry or impatient. He was already taking away her freedom, he didn't need to take her mobility too.

"You could have just asked," he caught up with her as she reached the bottom. "I would have released you."

"No, you would have laughed and make a snarky comment." She had him there. Vincent knew that she already had him figured out after that one sentence. It made him smile for a moment, but it was gone long before she turned to glare at him once more.

He stayed silent and instead focused on studying her. At the moment, she was still a mystery. She wasn't fighting, she wasn't trying to smart her way out of this, and she wasn't crying. Those were the three types of females he had come across.

Which meant she was probably trying to think of the best way out of everything after he lets his guard down. Or she's thinking her life is a fairytale, and that somehow she'll make the best out of what's handed to her.

In reality, Juliet knew that she couldn't outsmart this man when it came to business. It would be better for her to quietly go along and find out more about Joshua's situation rather than physically forcing her way out of this mess.

She just needed to survive with the most talked-about man of the area long enough to fix whatever debt her brother-in-law owed.