Page 20 of Loving a Noble Gentleman
Mary grinned at his self-deprecating comment. It was much nicer to hear about the things that he wanted to do and had not yet done, than all the things he was amazing at. “I am afraid to say that my eighteen years of life have only been spent in London.”
“Would you like to go to other places?”
Mary pondered this for a moment. She had not ever thought about travelling far; it was not anything that had ever occurred to her. Travel was not common, even among the wealthiest of people, but now that Edmund had mentioned it, she figured it would be nice to see more of the world ... or even the country. London was such a small place in the grand scale of things.
“Maybe I would,” she finally answered cheerfully. “Maybe there are other places I would like to see.”
Walter flicked his eyes between the pair, wondering what was happening. This was so different from the last time he had sat in a room with Lady Mary Roberts and Duke Edmund Smith. The frostiness had gone, so had the tension. It felt so much easier. He did not quite know what to make of it; he was not sure that this was going as he planned.
“I have not been anywhere either,” he interjected unnecessarily as if all he wanted was the attention on him. “Except to the countryside, of course. I have been there a lot. On business mostly, so I guess I have not seen too much of it, but that hardly matters, does it? It is all about going to these places ...”
But Mary and Edmund were barely listening to the gentleman. They were staring intently at one another, trying to make out their own feelings. Neither of them was sure what had changed and why. They had gone from utter disdain to something completely different, something that they could not even define just yet. They needed time to figure out what that meant for the both of them ...
***
Edmund was like a whole new man when he returned to the room where his mother had sat, waiting anxiously for him. He had been gone much longer than expected, which Iris knew was either a really good thing or an utterly terrible one. Judging by the overly happy expression on his face, it was the former.
Thank goodness,she thought as relief flooded her. Iris was not sure why, but she had a gut instinct that this was the right thing to do, that Mary would turn out to be the one for her son. She felt glad to learn that her gut might be right.
“How did it go?” she asked innocently enough as she took a sip of her tea. It was hard for her to contain her excitement, but Iris just about managed it.“Different to last time?”
“Oh yes, very different,” Edmund gushed, unable to contain himself in the way that his mother was. “You were right to send me again; that was a good decision. I do believe nerves hindered us the first time around, and now I have been given the opportunity to get to see a different side to Mary.”
“Oh yes.” Iris did her best to stifle a smile. “And what did you discover?”
Edmund took a seat opposite his mother and stared into the distance thoughtfully. So many different emotions raced through him that he did not know where to begin. Everything was wonderful, though. He knew now that he felt very positive about what the future held. He had no idea exactly what would happen between him and Mary yet; he was not in a position to make any sort of decision on that front. His opinion on only being married to someone he loved dearly remained central to him, but hedidwant to see her again which was a start.
“She is interested,” he said with pursed lips as he gazed out the window. “Unlike anyone I have ever met before. She has clearly led a very sheltered life, but that is understandable considering she has not had both parents for quite some time.”
Iris held in a laugh. It amused her that her son thought himself so worldly when he was also sheltered, just in a different way. He kept his own world quite small; it just seemed bigger to him because it involved many countries. Iris hoped that he and Mary could bring out the best in one another. Her son was wonderful, but he did need to open up more.
“Well, that is lovely. I presume you will not be sending out any rash letters and attending any more balls anytime soon?”
While Iris did not know exactly what happened at the ball, she could tell that it had affected her son. His whole attitude changed dramatically afterwards, so obviously he did not enjoy the experience. Maybe he had seen how false the whole thing was, how awful it felt to be on display, or maybe someone had behaved terribly.
Either way, it had led to a lot of good things. Now he was considering Mary as an option, which was utterly wonderful.
“No, I shall not. Not for the time being. I am happy to see where things will go.”
Edmund left the room and walked through the house with a bounce in each step. Happiness lifted him like he was filled with air; he had never felt so positive about the future. This proved to him that he really needed to start giving people a second chance. He had not recognised how much he judged people by the first impression he got from them before. It was a ruthless attitude that had done him well in business, but clearly not in his personal life.
From now on, he would view the world in a very different way. Mary had already altered his perception of the world. Who knew what would happen next?
