The true challenge in finding a good friend among a figurative sea of unfamiliar faces was learning to trust a complete stranger just enough to find out what was in the whispers of their soul. They say that actions speak louder than words, and for the most part this was a truth that the young woman would not argue against. However, even one's actions could still be falsified by those who were skilled in the art of lies and deceit. It made trusting those unnamed faces that much harder for the French woman, especially those of the masculine nature. It was not that women were easier to read than men, it just seemed that of her experiences between the two, it was always the women who seemed to hide a little less of what there was the be found within. Perhaps she'd only ever just had the worst examples of men around her aside from Townsend who had been a large part of her earlier years ever since she'd been four years old and one of the only older peers of hers that had been happy to muse the girl and her adventures, though who could really say for certain, but what she did know was that of those men that had existed around her, it always seemed like they had some sort of shrouded motive and it never set well with her that she couldn't ever truly see exactly what it was that they felt or thought. That being said, it wasn't like Adelaide herself was an open book for intrigued eyes to wander over because she wasn't, but she wasn't the type to hide her intentions either, and it seemed that most all the boys and men she watched and listened to did just that. Those around her would know if she liked them or didn't, and she was always particularly content to voice her thoughts or feelings on matters when the situation would call for it. She had never been nor would she ever be fearful of making the truth known unless there was a clear danger or risk to be found in doing so. The girls she'd grown up playing with on her father's estate, they'd mostly been open and honest aside from one particular girl that was no better than a snake in the grass. The blonde girl with those tight little curls would always look for the first chance to tattle on Adelaide to get the dark-haired girl into trouble when she tried her luck. Melody had been one of the first in Adelaide's life that taught her not everyone could be trusted, and it had been a lesson that struck her deeply and influenced her ever since. She was always the quiet one at those balls or tea parties, sage eyes ever observant as she attempted to decipher who might be a sound companion to mingle with for the duration of the event and who were best avoided.

Julien had been different - at first, but he was soon to be one of the young woman's hardest lessons and perhaps one of her biggest reasons behind the distrust she held towards men. She'd encountered the young man one afternoon when he and his father were invited by Adelaide's parents on business mattes. He'd been one of the first of those insistent sons of noblemen that her father had hoped she might take a liking to. Adelaide had met him with all the reluctance and disinterest as she'd met the previous suitor, but Julien had been surprisingly charming at first. He hadn't brought her a dozen red roses or shiny new jewelry which had been the first things that made the black haired man something of mild interest to Adelaide. Instead, he'd brought with him an acoustic guitar and played a song for her as they sat there in the garden that early afternoon. The young French woman had always enjoyed music, something she'd discovered shortly after finding her affinity for books though it served as an equal escape for her when that gated estate began to grow ever smaller. He'd had a kind face and a gentle smile. He'd been the first to talk to her, taken the time to ask her about those dreams and aspirations that not even her own parents seemed to take much of serious interest in. Guarded though she had been, he'd managed to crack that thick wall she'd placed around her heart as he treated her like someone instead of something. Maybe if he hadn't been only the third young man to court her after her wretched father had decided she should marry, she might not have played into that man's act. He had been convincing enough though, earned the trust she'd begun to withhold from the world that surrounded her. They'd spent a fair number of afternoons together and there had been moments that had felt very real and genuine to the woman with flowing locks of dark cocoa. He'd been her first kiss as well as her first intimate encounter, and one evening when their parents were engulfed by business as usual, the two had managed to steal away into her room and it was then that she'd lost her innocence - and how very much she wished now that she could take that back, erase that passionate night she'd thought then to be the beginning of something wonderful. He'd told her of how he would show her the world beyond France, how they would travel across Europe and see what was beyond those rolling hills and far off city lights. She'd almost fallen for him entirely at that point as he weaved these words of promise softly into her heart. She hadn't expected for things to happen as they had and slowly, she had begun to think that just maybe marriage would not be such a bad thing if it meant marrying Julien.

In a single afternoon, all that trust came crumbling down around her. All those feelings she'd thought had been real only proven then that they'd been nothing but the product of empty promised that would never become reality as she'd so often been told. She'd been on her way down that long and extravagant stairwell to meet Julien shortly after Townsend had appeared at her door to inform Adelaide of the young man's arrival, but it was before she'd descended halfway down the final flight that she'd only just caught the murmurs of her father and Julien talking amongst themselves below."Have you managed to convince her yet?", came the familiar voice of the nobleman as he stood with the black-haired young man just around the corner of the stairwell in the main entryway of the manor."It shouldn't be much longer now Monsieur LaBelle. I intend on asking for her hand in the next few days. I am just ensuring that she certainly believes those silly promises of seeing the world before I do", Julien had answered, a confidence in his baritones that Adelaide hadn't heard until that moment. How the fury had burned in her veins when she'd heard that everything he'd ever told her, ever promised her, had only been a ploy to win her trust and her favor so that he could have what it was he had truly been after. He'd had no intentions of fulfilling those promises he'd made to the young woman, those tender words he'd once whispered into tricked ears of how he loved her for her and not her father's wealth having been nothing but wicked lies. While perhaps other women might have simply fled back up those stairs and into their room to cry that heartbreak away, Adelaide had descended upon them with all the graceful fury any one woman could wield and she had given them exactly what was on her mind in that moment. She'd told those men that she would never marry the likes of a liar, that she would refuse to ever see the young man again, and that should he choose to continue his pursuit of her, he would sooner have better luck charming a mountain cat than to ever earned her forgiveness or her trust. She'd warned Julien that should he even think of stepping foot near her, there would be vicious wounds to be inflicted by the younger Rose and Reginald that only ever left the entrance to her room when she would as they'd only just come into their full strength. Her words had been venomous and cruel with no warmth to be found, sage eyes fiercely ignited by the betrayal and anger that she'd been deceived and manipulated. That had been the day that she'd felt her first heartbreak, though instead of crying tears of devastation she had cried tears of hurt and betrayal. That had been the day that she'd decided she would never fall for any man that her father dared to send for her. That was the moment when Adelaide knew she would do anything and everything it would take for her to get away from the estate, away from him.

Since that day, she'd learned that words and actions could be equally deceitful and she'd built those walls up even higher than before. Suitor after suitor continued to knock at her door and she would refuse each of them. Julien had showed her that she could only trust her mother and Townsend then. Yes, she'd befriended a select few women there and much to her surprise she and Melody became relatively close as they'd grown out for their dramatic teenage ways, but even then she remained careful with what she shared. Home felt less and less like it should for the young woman and when that evening came that her father had finally pushed her over that edge of restless settlement of her place on the estate, she'd had enough of feeling like she were nothing more than a caged bird. It was almost sad to think that it had taken an ocean and foreign soil for the French woman to finally be truly and genuinely happy instead of simply struggling through each and every day while keeping that yearning from driving her into a state of depression that surely would have overcome her had she not been the strong and defiant creature that she was. She would not allow for that man and his idea of what she should do with her future to break her spirit. Her desire to leave it all behind and never look back, to escape to a place away from everything she'd grown up knowing, it had become a need. She wanted to know that not everyone was full of deceit, wanted to believe that she could belong somewhere that she would be seen for more than someone with money and a pretty face. As she rides with Taylor on the back of that roaring machine, feeling almost as though she were flying with the world for below her, she couldn't help but feel like she'd found what it was she'd been looking for all those years when she'd opened that first dusty book. She could not remember the last time she'd laughed so freely, so genuinely and yet as he answers her words, head turned so that sage green eyes could see the warm smile on his lips, she smiles back as lilted laughter tumbles from her dusted rose lips once more. Little did he know just how much she wanted wanted something like this, needed the thrill of feeling something new with someone that knew so little about her. There was a bliss in not knowing about the other in such a moment as he looked at her as who she was and not what she was. It was certainly something that she could happily get used to, and even though the prick of uncertainty found her heart for a fleeting second as she wondered if his view of her would change when she welcomed him into her home and told her about herself, it ebbed as quickly as it had made its presence known. For reasons she had yet to discover, she found it hard to think that he might suddenly change into the one thing she'd come all this way to avoid. She pushes away the past, all those times she'd been lied to by the men her father chose for her, tells herself that Taylor was the furthest thing from what the man would have deemed worthy by his standards. For the first time in a long time, she had given him that precious sliver of trust in hope that he would prove her right.

When they are inside the house and Adelaide turns so that she can take in both men, she does not miss the suspicious look that the Englishman gives her companion nor does she fail to notice that uncertainty that finds Taylor's hunter green gaze as he studies Townsend for a moment. She would almost guess that he might be trying to guess at the relationship the two foreigners shared, and for now she was content to let him ponder whatever possibilities might come to mind, an amused smile dancing across her lips then. While Townsend was older than Adelaide in appearance, their number of years that separated was only just enough that if not for their differences in appearance or accent, one might dare to think them siblings perhaps. She was actually rather pleased that her father had selected dear William as her companion, certain than an older gentleman would only proven to get in the way with pesky advice and stories from the war. Townsend had a history of his own, but more than that his age allowed for them to find common ground on certain things and he seemed to not only hear what it was that Adelaide craved, but he also understood. Despite the grief that she may cause the Englishman, she would always be fond of him. Ever keen gaze lingers over Taylor's own after she'd asked for Townsend to bring them a bottle of Bastille, she sees question flicker across hunter greens but she says nothing. Simply because she was a woman of such stature did not mean that all she drank was fine wine. She enjoyed the rarer whiskies from her homeland on teasing occasion, and this seemed to be one of said occasions. She reaches for his hand without thinking twice and leads him down the hallway, hardly able to hide that amused and almost coy smile that dared to find those lips as he tenses at her touch even though he doesn't resist her. As she sits on the couch, she watches him curiously as his gaze sweeps over the living area before finding the fireplace. He mutters mostly to himself although her coy smile only grows."Of course it's real. I've never seen appeal in false things", she answers him teasingly, that coy smile remaining upon those lips of hers as he almost hesitantly lowers himself into the place beside her. He is mindful not to crowd her and she finds this endearing, something that was a very nice change of things from the French woman though given what brought them her to begin with, closeness would be that much more helpful so offering him an almost playful smile, she shifts ever so slightly closer to him so that their knees are touching. Lifting a brow at him curiously, she takes his strong arms into her hands, noting with intrigue at the scars that seemed to litter the skin there and wonders even moreso of his past. She says nothing though and instead when he speaks, a gentle note of lilted laugher tumbles easily from her as sage eyes glittering with amusement meet hunter greens."You are quite the charmer, aren't you Taylor?", she purrs to the man who offers her that smirk that only encourages that coy smile of her own.

Hardly batting an eye as Rose and Reginald make their way to sit nearby, she only looks from her inspection of his arm when she feels the muscle growth tense with unease as he turns to observe the canines, Reginald shifting slightly in his place beside Rose whose cropped ears flick atop her proud head. Taylor speaks again as he turns his gaze back to meet Adelaide's a velvet chuckle ushering softly from her."They can certainly be fierce if a time should come that they feel a threat nearby. You have nothing to worry about though, so long as you are welcomed in, they will not bother you. Rose is more wary of men, but you may find Reginald is quite friendly to those brave enough to approach him", she says in accented words as she assured Taylor he did not need to be concerned about their presence so long as he did not make an aggressive move towards the young woman for only then would they show their teeth and become active fleeting the duty their ancestors had been tasked with. She returns to studying his arm and does not bother to lift her gaze for long when Townsend comes into the area and fills those glasses before leaving the bottle on the table. She doesn't even glance up at him as she dismisses him once she's obtained what she had required. Placing the warm, damp washcloth on her knee now, she pays no mind to the curious look she'd earned from Taylor who turns now to watch the Englishman depart. He'd been so drawn by the man leaving that he hadn't seen Adelaide locate one of the larger pieces of glass, lowering those tweezers to the shard and precisely pulling it free. He jerks his arm then as he explains in surprise. Amusement flashes in her eyes as they lift to Taylor's with her coy smile dancing across her lips once more as he gives her a light smirk."Would you like me to count to three on the next one, then?", she teases him impishly before returning he eyes back on those wounds, placing the tweezers down on track table and gently dabbing through cloth on the blood that rose to the surface where the glass piece had been removed from, gently rubbing the rest of the dried blood from his arm, entirely aware of those glances that he gave her before turning to look out into the room around him."Are you always this nervous around pretty women?", she purrs playfully to him as that smile takes on the same amusing nature though she continues to work on the task at hand, placing the bloodied cloth on her knee and retrieving the tweezers again to pull out another glass sliver, although this time she lifts her sage eyes to meet hunter greens with a raised brow and that coy smile before she grasps it with the metal tool and pulls gently. He nearly scoffs at her question and shakes his head before replying. He was just as new to this city as Adelaide was, then. He returns her query and her smile softens."I'm sure that by now you can tell that I am not from here, either. Townsend and I moved away from my dreadful father's estate on the outskirts of Paris just last week", she answers without hesitation, the very thoughts of her father awakening the fire in sage depths."We had a rather fierce argument over his decision to try and marry me off to a son of some stuffy nobleman, though if I've inherited anything from that man it will have been my strong will that earned me the chance to get away from him", she continues after a small pause. She dismisses the less than pleasant memories and the fire leave her in that moment as her focus returns her to the present, offering Taylor an apologetic smile."My apologies, I'm sure you didn't care to hear about my troubles", she says almost gently. It was startling how easy it was to speak with Taylor, yet in the same moment she found herself at ease around him."Are you running from demons as well? Or are you chasing adventure on that Harley of yours?", she asks curiously to see if just maybe he might offer her a small piece of himself as she'd offered him. She looks back down to his arm and again begins to remove another piece of glass from his arm, curious on if he would return her trust. She could have simply accepted his act appreciatively and left, held fast to her suspicions of men, but she hadn't been able to shake the subtle feeling that there was something they both shared.