Anne Crawford takes the view that any actual precontract with Eleanor Talbot is unlikely. The child would be legitimate under their precontract of marriage. Opponents of Richard declared that the precontract was fiction. Buck, a defender of Richard, accepted the validity of the precontract. This measure retroactively solved the matter of Catherine's supposed precontract and made her unequivocally guilty. His precontract with Girondins de Bordeaux has never been realized. Such a precontract would legally nullify any later marriages into which either party entered. In the late 2009 a precontract was signed with the Chinese partners. Yet Catherine steadfastly denied any precontract, maintaining that Dereham had raped her.