"M'lady Sparrow," Jude said, hands boldly on hips. His dark eyes sparkled with mischief as they always did, contradicting his arrogant pose. Lily Graye covered her mouth with her hand, giggling at the nickname he'd given her when she was a baby. He said it was because she cheeped like a hungry baby sparrow.

Smiling, she nodded enthusiastically. She'd known Jude the whole eleven years of her life. When he returned the look with a grin of his own, dimples appeared on the sides of his cheeks. Jude was much older than her, but that didn't seem to matter in their friendship. A college student by trade, he had the life and vitality that came from such an occupation. Her brother, Jude's best friend, went to the same school.

"This performance is for you," Jude said. "Are you paying attention?"

"Yes, Lord Livingston," Lily answered. How she wished they did live in a time of lords and ladies! Everyday life was just so boring compared to the things she read of in her father's books. "Please continue."

Jude nodded. "Very well."

Lily listened to Jude's performance with awe, as he paced back and forth in her living room. His dark hair whipped about his head as he recited words memorized from her favorite Shakespeare play, The Taming of the Shrew. He had an attentive audience in the Graye family. There were only three of them--Lily, her older brother Sethan who was currently lying on the floor with his head propped up on a pillow, and her father Professor Gregory Graye who sat in his favorite blue chair with a doily on the back that her late mother had made. Lily didn't remember her mother, but loved hearing stories of her. The Grayes were close and Jude was around so much over the years that he felt like a member of their family. Only to the eleven year old Lily, he wasn't exactly a brother.

Jude was the whole reason she woke up in the morning. Sethan teased her that it was just a girlhood crush, but Lily knew it was more. She was in love with Jude and someday she would marry him. Then he would really be a member of her family. That day would be the happiest day in her life. Her family would be complete--for real.

Mrs. Lily Livingston. Mr. and Mrs. Jude Livingston, she thought, hiding a smile. Lady Lily Livingston. Lord and Lady Livingston.

Jude understood her. His head was always off in the clouds, just like hers. He felt things--passionately, deeply--and he saw life through the eyes of one who understood the meaning of it. It's why he was such a great actor. He actually felt the character's emotions as if they were his own.

Though, with Jude there was a lot of stiff competition when it came to females in his life. He was one of the most popular guys at the local college and was never without a date. Lily didn't care. She knew in her heart that he'd someday be hers.

The television was turned off, which wasn't unusual for the Graye household. Her father watched the news and Sethan watched sports. That was about it. Who needed television when they had books and plays? Her father was a writer, preferring the written word to movies and her mother had been a ballerina, a wonderful dancer who gave up her career at the Pavilion to marry her father. It was terribly romantic and Lily knew that someday she'd have a romantic story of her own to tell her children.

Her mother's sister, Lily's only relative outside her immediate family circle, belonged to the International Acting Troop--a group of actors, dancers and singers who performed in the largest acting complex in the world. The Pavilion was where her mother had grown up and was a magical place where everyone wore costumes and lived for the theater. Aunt Isabelle visited twice a year and the stories she told stirred Lily's blood--almost as much as Jude did. Unfortunately, her father's job didn't allow for them to live at the Pavilion and she was left to dream of someday running away and joining the troop. Though, she had a feeling it would always be a dream. She loved her family and would never run out on them.

"You forgot two words!" Lily said, laughing as Jude arched a brow at her interruption.

He stopped, frowned and then nodded. "You're right, M'lady Sparrow. I did."

"Jude, we have to get going," Sethan said, rolling up from the floor.

"Oh? Where you going?" Gregory asked his son.

"College party," Sethan said. Lily smiled at his honesty. There was never a reason to lie in her household. Her father was a good man who didn't judge his children, only tried to guide them the best he could.

"Oh, you don't really have to go, do you?" Lily asked, pouting her lower lip. She smoothed down her knit dress as she stood up from the couch, getting a little sick to her stomach at the thought of them leaving. "Please don't go tonight. Won't you stay home?"

"Why?" Sethan asked. He wiggled his brows so Jude couldn't see. "You going to miss us?"

Lily wrinkled her nose. She might be in love with Jude, but she wasn't ready for him to find out about it. The only reason Sethan knew was because he'd walked in on her when she was writing in her diary about it. "I'm worried something might happen tonight. I've got a strange feeling. I don't think you should go out. Please, stay in and let's watch a movie."

"A movie? Are you sure you're feeling well, Lily?" her father asked. "You never want to watch movies."

Lily ignored him. "Please, Seth."

"Don't worry, Miss Lily," Sethan continued with a wickedly mischievous grin. It was the kind of grin only a brother about to torment his little sister could give. Lily tensed. "If anything happens to me tonight, Jude here will promise to always look after you. Won't you, Jude?"

Lily felt her cheeks heat in embarrassment. Oh, how she wanted to strangle her brother!

"Huh?" Jude asked, pulling on his jacket. "Oh yeah, sure kid. I'll take care of you. Promise."

"Swear it on your life!" Sethan demanded with flair, pointing his arm out as if he carried a sword.

Jude dutifully swept down on one knee and put his fist to his heart. "I swear to forever protect Lily with my life's blood."

"Then I shall dub you," Sethan said, moving his pretend sword to each of Jude's shoulders, "Sir Jude, Protector of Lily Graye."

Lily wrinkled her nose. "You're such a dork, Seth!"

"So are you," he quipped. Lily laughed. Yeah, it was true. They were all dorks when it came to their imaginary worlds. Luckily, none of them cared.

"But, what if something happens to you, as well?" Lily persisted, raising a brow to mimic a look she'd seen Jude do often.

"What am I? Chopped liver?" her father asked.

Jude laughed. "Sorry, sir, but it would appear so."

"Oh, all right then," Gregory stood, pulling a notepad full of writing notes off the end table. He winked at his daughter. "I'll just go to work."

"If anything happens to me, M'lady Sparrow," Jude said, coming up to her. He looked down from his impressive height and tapped her on the end of her nose. "I promise to come down from heaven as a spirit. You'll never be rid of me, though you may beg and plead with me to leave you alone--especially when you're out on dates and I keep slapping their hands away."

"Heaven, eh?" Sethan teased. He, too, had his jacket on and was heading for the door. "I'm not sure you're qualified."

Jude laughed. He pushed past her to tackle her brother. The two men play fought their way out the door, not giving her a backwards glance. Lily sighed and went to watch them as they got into Sethan's old, beat-up car.

"Someday," she whispered, touching the cool pane of glass leading out into the fall night. "Someday I'll be Lady Lily Livingston. And it will be the most perfect of days."