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“I thought so too,” Mary agreed. “I also took the liberty of selecting jewelry that included that necklace you looked at the other day.”

Rebecca barely breathed as Mary helped her dress in more finery than she felt she had any right to. She was terrified to breath too hard and somehow rip the gown or move to hard and accidentally break the jewelry. It was all far more than she deserved.

When Mary was done, Rebecca turned to her in awe. “Thank you for doing all this. I don’t think I have ever felt this beautiful before.”

“I am glad to hear you are pleased with my work, but it was nothing, really. All I did was work with what was already there.”

“Be that as it may, you did amazing work. Thank you.” She glanced to the clock and gasped. “Goodness! I need to get to dinner. Thank you again.”

“It was nothing. I will see you when you come back up. Enjoy your evening.”

“I will. Thank you.”

Rebecca was surprised to find she made it down before William had. She let out a sigh of relive when she realized that meant she wouldn’t be able to keep him waiting.

Maybe she could talk to Mary and arrange things so that she would always be ready before him.

Before she could think too much on that, the doors opened and William stepped inside.

Rebecca’s breath caught in her throat. She wasn’t sure if she had ever seen him in full formal attire. He cut an imposing figure in his suit coat and vest. She looked away before she could get caught staring.

CHAPTER 12

When William stepped into the dinning hall, he found himself speechless. He didn’t think he had ever seen a more beautiful sight. Rebecca was in one of the new gowns she had ordered, the neckline was a bit more daring than her usual attire.

Then there was the stunning bit of diamonds in her ears and around her neck. The whole thing was pulled together with a few jeweled pins holding back her hair.

She wasn’t looking at him. Rebecca must have noticed she was staring. He needed to say something.

“You look lovely this evening,” William finally said.

Her eyes darted up to look at him, a smile speaking across her face. “That’s very kind of you to say. Thank you, it is all thanks to Mary’s hard work.”

“Somehow I doubt everything about how you look can be credited to the work of a lady’s maid.”

She flushed looking away. “That might be true, but everything of note is.”

He shook his head. “Some how I doubt that,” he repeated.

Her faced warmed even further. “Shall we sit to eat?”

William found himself unable to take his eyes from her for the entire meal.

She was breath taking. A fresh wave of guilt threated to wash over him, but he did his best to push it down. Rebecca may have been forced to marry him, but his guilt did nothing to help the situation now.

The least he could do is try to court her properly, try to give her the kind of marriage she deserved.

They ate in a haze of pleasant conversation.

“I was thinking we might go on a picnic tomorrow,” he said during one of the natural lulls in conversation. “We could go on a walk of the whole grounds, give you a bit of a tour, make a day of it if you like.”

She lit up. “I would love that! Tru ly.”

“Then it is settled.”

“But don’t you have work I would be keeping you from?”

“I can assure you, that if I offer you my time, it is because I have it, I promise.”