Page 20 of A Wallflower's Convenient Duke
He had always admired history, but seeing it through her eyes felt different.
This was what had drawn them into conversation that first time.
This was what had gotten them into trouble.
Philip had entered this marriage wary, resigned. But now, as Blanche’s passion illuminated each relic, he found himself drawn in, the walls between them beginning to lower. She spoke with an infectious enthusiasm, her love for antiquities mirroring his own.
He had spent so long seeing her as a complication. Now, for the first time, he saw her as something else entirely.
A scholar. A partner.
A woman who understood the past just as deeply as he did.
Philip straightened, a thought forming, sudden yet undeniably right.
"Blanche," he said, a new certainty in his tone. "Would you care to visit the Egyptian Hall with me?"
She blinked in surprise. "The Egyptian Hall?"
"Yes. There is an exhibition on newly discovered artefacts from a Greek excavation. I believe you would find it fascinating." He hesitated for only a moment before adding, "I would very much like for us to see it together."
Blanche studied him, curiosity flickering in her gaze. The prospect of exploring such an exhibition, the chance to engage inintellectual pursuit rather than mere obligation, seemed to spark something in her.
"Philip, that sounds wonderful," she said, a genuine smile breaking through the tension of the afternoon. "I would be delighted."
Philip returned her smile, something inside him settling for the first time in weeks.
Perhaps this was how it began.
Perhaps, with time, they might find common ground beyond duty and expectation.
Perhaps, against all odds, they might yet build something real.
