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Surprised that Mrs. Hampton would show them here rather than have them wait in the parlor, she looked up just as her housekeeper said, “Mr. Worsley to see you on urgent business, Ma’am.”

Standing before her, just inside the door, was the man who had turned her life upside down, the man Mary hoped most earnestly to someday marry.

She stood, and said, “Mr. Worsley, it is both a pleasure and a surprise to see you.” Though she had intended to maintain decorum, she could feel a grin growing on her face, one so wide her cheeks already ached.

A matching smile grew on his lips. His dark, entrancing eyes sparkled with pleasure. “I promised I would see you again,” he said.

The two of them stared at each other for many long moments.

Mary had no concept of how long it was, because time had no meaning.

Eventually, it was Mr. Worsley who broke the silence.

As he took a step towards her, he said, “I was hoping to take you for a drive, if you were willing. I brought my curricle with me.”

Before answering, Mary instinctively looked out the window to make certain it did not look like rain. When a short glance reminded her that it was a sunny day, she said, “That sounds delightful. If you will give me a few minutes to fetch my pelisse and bonnet, we can be on our way.”

A few minutes later, Mr. Worsley helped Mary into his curricle by the simple expedient of grasping her waist and lifting her into it. It was a heady feeling to be lifted by such strong, dependable hands, and the feeling of his hands on her waist burned delightfully.

As they set off, Mr. Worsley said, “You will have to direct me where to go. I am unfamiliar with the area, since I only arrived late last night.”

As Mary pointed him toward her favorite lane that wound among the various farm plots of her tenants, she said, “You must be the new tenant of the house in Meryton. The whole neighborhood has been speculating as to who you were.”

He laughed. “I suppose that is the nature of small towns like this where very few people come simply to visit.” After a brief silence, Mr. Worsley said, “May I call you Mary?”

Mary’s heart swooped with joy. “Yes, you may,” she answered.

He glanced at her, and their eyes met. There was such warmth and affection in his gaze that it caused Mary to catch her breath.

He said, “I must admit, it is an unexpected pleasure to find you so happy. Not that you were unhappy before, but you tend to be rather serious. Today, I find you full of smiles. It makes for quiet a lovely sight.”

Breathing in courage, Mary said, “I am only smiling so brightly, because I am happy to see you. I have missed you a great deal.”

Mr. Worsley’s smile dimmed. “I am sorry I had to be away for so long,” he said.

“I think I know why you did,” replied Mary, “and even if my assumption is incorrect, it was likely for the best.”

He gave her a quizzical look. “It is rather surprising to hear you say that,” he said. “It makes me rather curious what you think my reason was.”

Mary felt a blush stain her cheeks. “It would be incredibly presumptuous of me to tell you.”

“Very well,” he replied. “Then I shall tell you my reasoning, and you can tell me if you were correct. How does that sound?”

Mary simply agreed, “Very well.”

“At the ball where we danced in March, I realized that I love you,” said Mr. Worsley.

“The realization didn’t come as much of a surprise.

I have felt a growing affection for you since the earliest days of our acquaintance.

What did come as a rather strong shock, however, was the realization of how strong my feelings were, how deep they ran, and how complex the emotion was.

“I also realized something else that night. I knew you were drawn to me, though I cannot say with certainty how strong your feelings were. What I did know, however, was that my attempts to draw you closer to me resulted in hurting you, likely due to your status of being in mourning. I knew if I stayed in your company that I would eventually push you away, hurting both of us a great deal in the process. The only solution was to leave your side and let you finish mourning Mr. Allen in peace.”

Throughout his explanation, Mr. Worsley had continued driving down the quiet, secluded lane they were on. At this point, however, he pulled the reins, stopping the horse. He then turned to Mary. “You should know that my feelings have not waned in the interim. I love you, Mary.”

Mary looked up into the handsome, striking face of the man she loved more than any other, the man who could both unsettle her and calm her, the man who cared so much for her happiness that he had left her alone for six months. “I love you, too, Mr. Worsley,” she said.

At her words, a light lit in his deep, brown eyes.

She knew what such a light meant. It had been something she had seen many times in Mr. Allen’s eyes, but this time it was far more compelling than she had ever experienced, and she suspected there was a matching light in her own eyes.

“Gregory,” he said. “My name is Gregory.”

“Gregory,” she said immediately.

“I’m going to kiss you now,” he said. It sounded demanding, but he gave her a moment to refuse if she was so inclined.

She was not inclined to refuse, however.

He lifted one hand to her cheek with his fingers curling around the side of her head.

He then pulled her closer as he bent down to touch his lips to hers.

Mary’s whole body awoke in a way she had not felt in over a year. Without thought, her arms wrapped around him and pulled him even closer. Their kiss, which had begun gently, quickly grew fevered, and Mary forgot that she was sitting in a curricle surrounded by the farmlands of her own estate.

It was Mr. Worsley who came to his senses first. He pulled away and said, “I should probably not do that again for a while.” Mary was disappointed, but the very small part of her mind which was still thinking rationally agreed with him.

Given her strong response to him, she realized that their passion could very easily burn out of control, leading them to behave in very inappropriate ways.

“I think you forgot to take into account the fact that I was married for a year and have since been without any of those pleasures associated with the married state,” Mary said.

Mr. Worsley barked a laugh. “I did, indeed, forget to take that into account.” He turned back to the reins, picked them up, and started the horse moving again.

They rode in silence for a time. Mary was grateful for it as it allowed her to calm her racing heartbeat.

After a time, though, Mary realized there was something in their conversation that had been left unsaid.

It was a topic that was not usually broached by females, but Mary had learned to speak her mind, to recognize what she wanted, and to seek out how to achieve it.

“It feels as though there is still something left unsaid,” said Mary.

“Oh? And what is that?” Gregory asked, though the corner of his mouth quirked as though he knew what she was referring to, but he wanted to see if she would say it.

Mary did not back down from the challenge. “You have not mentioned marriage. Is that not the next step when two independent adults realize they are hopelessly in love with each other?”

He looked at her. The light was back in his eyes, and Mary had to force herself to lean away from him to prevent herself from distracting him from his driving with another kiss. Instead of being offended at her reaction, he merely grinned. “Are you hopelessly in love, Mary?”

“Perhaps not,” she said, turning back to face the front. She could see out of the corner of her eye that his flirtatious look lost its heat at her response. She did not wish to hurt him, however, so she quickly continued, “I think I would prefer to call it hopefully in love.”

Gregory laughed heartily. “As am I,” he said. “I believe that describes it perfectly. As to your question about marriage, I fully intend to ask you, but not before I have courted you so well that you are fully aware of the treasure you are to me.”

“That may have been your plan upon coming to this neighborhood,” said Mary, “but given our response to a simple kiss, do you still think it wise to continue to delay?”

“Ever the practical lady,” he said. “Are you concerned about me leading you into temptation?”

“I am practical,” Mary answered. “Practical enough to know that the most surefire way to avoid falling to temptation is to avoid placing yourself in its way as often as possible.”

Gregroy glanced back at her once again. The expression in his eyes was much softer now, though still clearly filled with affection for her.

“You know, that is one of the things I love most about you, your thoughtful approach to morality. You don’t just spout lines that you’ve heard.

You live it to the best of your ability, thoughtfully and sensibly. ”

It was the greatest compliment Mary had ever received, and she knew he meant it. He was complimenting that part of her personality that was most core to who she was, and it felt wonderful to know that he saw her so clearly.

He looked back towards the front and said, “Perhaps you are correct. Perhaps I shouldn’t delay it any longer than necessary. I did so hope to sweep you off your feet with a romantic and dramatic proposal, though.”

“I do not need romance and drama to know that you love me,” said Mary.

“Love is shown by the little things that a person does each day for the one person that matters the most to them. It is also shown by the big things that can be life changing. You showed me the latter when you chose to allow me time to grieve. The former is something that takes a lifetime.”

“How do you know so much about love?” Gregory asked.

“You are asking if I loved Mr. Allen,” she said.

“You have a right to know, I suppose. I did not love him, at least not in a romantic sense, but I did love him almost as a father.

Perhaps mentor is a better word. He taught me everything, far more than my parents taught me in sixteen years.

He gave me everything I wanted: opportunities to serve others, the confidence to become a more socially acceptable woman, and a great deal of knowledge about the world around me.

He even gave me both responsibility and independence by leaving his entire fortune to me, which he had no obligation to do.

“What knowledge I have of love, how it is expressed and how it grows, is because he loved me. I watched as he gradually fell in love with me over the course of a year, though I did not know what I was seeing at the time. It is only in thinking back over my life with him during my time of mourning that I was able to see the symptoms and their progression.”

Silence flowed between them when Mary finished her explanation. She could tell that Gregory was thinking a great deal about what she had said.

When he finally spoke, his words quite shocked Mary. “He did love you,” he said, “very much, but I don’t think it was a possessive sort of love like what one finds in most romance novels. He knew you very well, and he genuinely wanted to make you happy.”

It was odd to hear the same conclusion she had come to come out of Gregory’s mouth. She hadn’t even been aware that the two of them had ever spoken together about her. She decided not to question how he had come to this conclusion, so she simply said, “Yes, he did.”

“Are you certain you do not wish for romance and drama?” Gregory asked.

“I am quite certain,” she replied adamantly. “In fact, the more dramatic someone’s protestations are, the less I tend to believe them.”

Once again, Gregory halted the progress of the curricle. Then he turned towards her. “Mary Allen, will you please join your life with mine so that together we can be far happier, far better, than either of us could be alone? Will you marry me?”

His question was so sincere, so completely in tune with what she wanted and hoped for. She could not help but throw her arms around his neck and hug him tightly. “Yes, Gregory. Yes, I will marry you,” she said into his neck.

He held her close in return. “I promise, Mary…I promise I will do all in my power to make you a very happy lady.” He then leaned back just enough so that he could see her face.

“However, you must resign yourself to being courted and spoiled rotten between now and the day we marry. Even beyond that point if you will let me.”