“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.