by Abigail Agar
“Goodness me, he is a boring man,” Edmund said with a chuckle. “All he wants to talk about is business.”
Mary bit down on her bottom lip as she tried to decide whether or not to say the first thing that popped into her brain. On a whim, she chose to throw caution to the wind and just go for it. “I thought that about you when I first met you.”
Edmund turned to face Mary head on. He was a little taken aback by that remark; he was not expecting it at all. It was not common for Ladies to be honest with their feelings in such a way, but then again, he was far more used to his mother than any other woman. She often told him how it was.
He decided that he should do the same. After all, why not? Maybe that was what love was based upon, the ability to be honest with one another. “I see, is that why you rolled your eyes at me?”
Mary clapped her hand over her mouth as horror struck her; she could not believe it! An icy lump formed in her stomach as she tried to imagine what that must have looked like. He must have assumed her to be so rude. There she was, thinking him a horrible and arrogant man, and she had acted in an awfully uncouth manner.
“You saw that?” she gasped. “I am so sorry; how terrible of me.”
Edmund laughed. He loved to see Mary coming out of her shell bit by bit. By shaking off the shyness, she was showing herself to be a kind and sweet young Lady. “Yes, I did, but looking back, I believe I probably deserved it. I was droning on and on about my businesses, showing off more than is deemed polite.”
“Oh, w ... well,” Mary stammered. “So you should, you have many reasons to be very proud of yourself.”
“Maybe so.” Edmund shrugged one shoulder. “But that is no excuse for being boring.”
They remained standing for a couple of seconds with their eyes locked on one another, drinking each other in. Edmund did not feel the need to question himself anymore. He was growing increasingly certain that this wonderful, beautiful Lady was the one for him. They shared interests; she captivated him. He enjoyed having her around, and he missed her when they were apart ... it was everything that he had always been looking for, but he had not realised it before.
Mary was slightly less certain, but not because of Edmund. He was much more wonderful than she gave him credit for at first; she was really starting to feel a lot of things for him. How could she not like this handsome, funny man who was extremely ambitious and successful? Usually, women only got to pick one of those traits, so Mary knew that she was lucky. She was sure that if she gave into the love that threatened to swallow her up, it would be wonderful.
No, her only doubt came from the fear that just maybe she was convincing herself that the Duke was the man she wanted to marry because it would help everyone else out. Walter could relax and stop worrying about the will, and Daisy and the other staff members would be allowed to keep their jobs. Charlotte would be presented with a potential option if she ever needed anywhere else to live.
Do I like him because of what our marriage will offer everyone, or do I like him because of the way he makes me feel?
Mary needed to work that out, and she hoped it was something she would discover sooner rather than later.
“Come on, let us go and see the books,” she said happily. “Walter will come looking for us soon, and we do not wish to be caught not doing what we have promised.”
As she turned and moved, Edmund paused for a second while he watched her walk away. There was something about her sunny disposition that utterly thrilled him. He felt very lucky to have been given the opportunity to get to know her. After all, if it had not been for the surprising letter that he received from Mary’s father, he would have never crossed her path in any other way. His business kept him away from Ladies like Mary, and she was much too quiet to ever be at one of those awful balls ... unless she was forced to be there.
Of course, even if they had met that way, the terrible first impressions that they gave one another would have halted any chance for romance right away.
As the couple reached the bookshelf, there was something brand new in the atmosphere around them. Somehow, they seemed to find their flow with one another, and every single movement was performed with ease. They appeared to seamlessly know how one another would move, and they slotted their own behaviour around that.
“Wuthering Heights, Little Women, Jane Eyre ...” Edmund commented. “Hmm, maybe we do not share the same tastes in books after all.”
“Actually, those are the books my sister loved,” Mary told him. “And they are also the books my father wanted me to like too. I could not help myself; I always preferred Dracula, The Picture of Dorian Gray, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Something with a bit of drama and excitement. Something where the storyline would take me somewhere thrilling. There is only so much excitement in romance ... or so I have always thought.”
She did not realise how provocative that sounded until she felt Edmund’s eyes prickling on the back of her neck. As it hit her, an intense heat burned up from her toes and raced all the way to the top of her head. Edmund found it completely adorable that Mary was so embarrassed. It showed just how sweet she was. He could never picture her doing something as forward as Victoria, which left him feeling much more comfortable.
He reached forward to take the book from Mary’s hand, to see what she was examining with such intensity, but as he did, his skin accidentally brushed against hers causing electrical sensations to flood him. He jumped backwards, his eyes opening wide with surprise, and when the book hit the floor with a loud thump, he knew that she felt it too.
Mary could not deny it anymore; she could not imagine that she was only convincing herself that there was something between her and the Duke to make life easier for everyone else. When he touched her then, she felt something so deep within her it was unreachable. Her heart and chest warmed up; her tummy twisted again, and her brain buzzed with emotion.
I like this man, she thought decisively. I really like this man. Maybe I could even love him.
“I ...” she started, but Edmund interrupted her.
“We ...” Edmund trailed off awkwardly too as he realised that they both wanted to speak at the same time.
There was nothing that they could say; there was a magnet between them, desperately trying to pull them in together. Mary could feel it tingling on her lips, and she had a real need to kiss him, an urge so deeply ingrained that she was not sure she could resist it. When Edmund took a step closer to her as if he was feeling it too, Mary knew that she would not be able to stop him. She was aware that it could ruin her, both of them actually, if they kissed any time before their wedding day, but how could she turn her back on an urge so strong?
Do not do this, Edmund tried his best to tell himself. This is not the right thing to do.
Yet somehow he could not stop moving towards Mary. Those plump lips of hers were crying out to him, begging him to kiss her. This was nothing like it was with Victoria; this was something he wanted. Something he felt that they both wanted.
“Lady Mary Roberts?” As a voice rang through the hallway, they both leapt back as if they had been set on fire. “Your Grace?”
It was Walter, finally alerting them to the fact that they had been far longer than ten minutes at the bookshelf. They had only intended to go and see a few pieces of literature, but instead, they had found themselves falling into the abyss of feelings for one another.
“Erm, yes?” Mary called out while smoothing down her hair. She was acting as if she had something to be guilty about, even though they had not done anything. “Yes, we are coming back now.”
They did not move right away; they stared at each other while panting heavily. It was as if they were both out of breath despite the fact that they had not been running or doing any form of exercise.
“What do we do?” Edmund whispered. “Should we go back?”
Mary burst into giggles at the thought of slipping her hand into Edmund’s and running out into the garden with him. They would not go
far; her impulse would not be too naughty, but she already knew for certain that it would not end well. She had come to learn that Walter was not the sort of man that should be messed about.
“I would love to run off,” she leaned in to tell Edmund. As she did, their foreheads almost touched, bringing back all the same sensations as before. “But I feel we might get locked up in jail if we did.”
Edmund agreed with mock seriousness. “Yes, you are right. Walter is not to be played about with. Let us go back in there. I will share one more drink with him, then I think I shall leave.”
Mary’s throat constricted with panic. “You will come back soon?” she asked breathlessly, not even caring how that sounded. Maybe she should have been trying to keep herself in check, but it was hard with him confusing her, making her feelings swell.
Edmund placed one of his hands over hers for just a second. He tried his hardest to ignore all the feelings that filled him, but they did not wish to be pushed down. “I will be back; you do not have to worry about that.”
Edmund knew that he would always come back. Now that he had opened his heart to Mary, and she had come inside, he knew that he would not let her go now. Not for anything.
Chapter 12
“I will come back soon ...” Edmund said to Mary as they stood by the bookshelf once more. The dusty book that she dropped lay between their feet as a reminder of the chemistry that they shared. One brush of her hand, and Mary was tipped over the edge. “I will come back and take you away from all of this because I have realised that I am utterly in love with you.”
“You are?” Mary asked just as breathlessly. It was so lovely to hear those words; they filled her with such an intense and powerful warmth. “But how can you know for sure that you love me? We have not spent that much time together.”
“You know that you love me, do you not?” he asked while placing a hand ever so gently on her hip. His deep green eyes penetrated hers and made her lungs constrict. At that moment, she felt like he could see into her soul like he knew her better than she knew herself. “We have all the time in the world to get to know one another better, but I do not need to know more to understand that what I am feeling deep inside is love.”
With his spare hand, he grabbed onto Mary’s hand, and he rested his forehead against hers. They breathed one another in; they inhaled each other, and at that moment, Mary felt that they were becoming one. A union more powerful than any marriage could ever give them.
“Yes,” she whimpered back. “I do love you too. I think I have done so ever since the very first moment I laid eyes on you.”
“Well,” Edmund replied in that teasing manner, with his head cocked to one side ever so slightly and his left eyebrow raised. “Not from the very first moment you saw me.”
He edged his lips closer to Mary’s, which only made her pulse race even faster. There was something about this incredibly handsome man that made her entire body react powerfully to him. She did not even know how to explain how he made her feel, only that it was a sensation that she never wanted to end.
“No,” she whispered back. “Not from the very first moment. But from every second after that.”
As soon as she had realised that arrogance was not Edmund’s strongest trait, she had started to see him for who he really was. Giving him a second chance was the absolute best thing she could have done. She did not have much to thank Walter for, but pushing her into yet another meeting was certainly one. If she had stuck to her initial assumption about Edmund, she would never have been given the chance to feel this incredible love.
He moved closer still, amping up the anticipation that tore through Mary. She lifted herself onto her tiptoes, feeling much bolder as she pursed her lips out towards Edmund. There was only one way that this would end; they were going to kiss, and both of them knew it, so why delay the inevitable? Mary wanted to give into temptation this time; she wanted to cave to the magnetism between them and judging by the happy expression on Edmund’s face, he did too.
“I love you,” she murmured again, allowing her breath to tickle his lips. “I do not think I will ever tire of saying it.”
She wanted to stand on the top of her house and to yell it for all of London to hear. She wished that everyone could know just how much she loved this man, and how he belonged to her. She wanted the whole world to know that she had found the man of her dreams. Despite all the odds being stacked against her, her father had found the perfect man for her.
“And I shall never tire of hearing it.”
Then their lips connected, and happiness burst in mini-explosions all over Mary’s body. Edmund’s lips made her feel so wonderful they were worth ruining her reputation for. She did not care about anything else other than him. Her arms snaked tighter around him, and she held him so close it was as if their bodies had fused together.
It was the best sensation in the world ...
“Miss Roberts?”
“Huh?” Mary muttered as she thought she heard her name being called by someone who was not Edmund. The last thing that she wanted to do was pull away from the amazing moment with the most wonderful man on the planet, but there was something else trying to grab her attention, and she could not help giving it. “What?”
Her body could no longer resist; she pried her eyes wide open and let the brightness of daylight enter her vision. It was unwelcome and unwanted. She did not want to leave Edmund at all, even if he was only a figment of her imagination in her dreams.
“Are you quite alright, Miss Roberts?” Daisy asked again. “I do not like to wake you, only you were talking quite loudly in your sleep.”
Mary bolted into a sitting position, and cool humiliation flooded her. She knew what she had been dreaming and could not imagine what on earth she had been saying aloud. “I, erm, I was?” she asked while rubbing her head hard. “I am terribly sorry; I must have been having a deep sleep.”
Daisy did not break from the routine of clearing up Mary’s room as she talked. She did not want the young Lady to be embarrassed by her sleep talking which was why she would never let her friend know what she had been saying.
“Of course,” she replied evasively. “You do not need to be sorry; I just wanted to check that you are alright.”
“Hmm, yes,” Mary said as if she was not truly listening to Daisy. Her eyes were fixed towards the window, and her mind was somewhere else entirely. “I am just fine.”
Daisy dusted around, growing increasingly close to Mary with each passing second. There was a lot that she wanted to ask her friend, but she was not sure where to begin. The last thing that she wanted was to hurt Miss Roberts’ feelings. She had seen signs of progression between her and the Duke, but she did not know how to address that, or even if she should.
“Is there anything you wish to discuss?” she eventually said quietly. “You seem like you have a lot playing on your mind.”
Mary turned to stare at Daisy, almost as if she had only just realised that she was there. The dream had continued to affect her mind for a few moments longer, and she had not even managed to shake off the intensity yet. She needed to get some of her feelings off her chest. While she knew that she could talk to Charlotte about it, she did not feel right rubbing her happiness in her face. Daisy was a safe bet, and she could speak to her easily.
“You were right about His Grace,” she said calmly. “You were right to convince me to give him a second chance. The first impression that he gave me was not him at all.”
A bright grin broke out on Daisy’s face. She perched on the edge of the bed and turned to look at Mary. Yes, she still had work to do, but that could wait for a moment. Since learning of her friendship with Lady Roberts, all the other staff members were keen to know where their future lay. Some positive information was what they all needed right now because morale among the workers was incredibly low.
“I am glad to hear that,” she prodded. “So what has been happening?”
A blissful expression came across Mary’s f
ace which really cheered Daisy up. That had to be a good sign. She found her fingers gripping onto the bed sheet below her while she waited for Mary to answer.
“We have been spending a lot of time together,” Mary told Daisy with happiness lilting her tone. “And the more I get to know him, the more I like him.”
Daisy forced herself to pause for a second so that she did not sound too keen. She did not want to be seen as selfish, only concerned with keeping her place of work. That was a large part of it; Daisy could not deny that she did not want to lose the amazing position that she held with the Roberts family, but it was also about Mary and her happiness.
The Lady was sweet; she deserved true happiness.
“You think you might want to marry him? You think your father was correct?”
As Mary turned to look at Daisy, her heart froze in her chest. Maybe her keenness had shone through without her intending it to. But then the Lady’s face shone like the sunshine was pouring out of it, and she relaxed.