By late autumn of their first year of marriage, Eliza was with child. They would have a wonderful, healthy baby boy or girl by the beginning of spring. Matthew didn’t think that his heart couldn’t have been any fuller than it was.

Only, it still swelled even more as he watched his beloved wife float about as she prepared for the first ball they would be hosting that evening in their new home.

The couple had decided to purchase a lovely townhouse not too far away from his family’s estate. Matthew had given Eliza leave to decorate it as she saw fit, and he was more than pleased with her simple yet elegant taste. The decorating was completed last month, and they, along with Matilda, had moved in.

“Do you think we’ll have enough food?” Eliza asked him as she fussed over the floral arrangements nestled in the nooks of the side of the ballroom.

“I think we have enough to feed all of London, not just our attendees,” Matthew called over to her, smiling.

“What about the beverages? We have ratafia, lemonade, and champagne enough, but should I have ordered more brandy for the smoking-room?” she asked, peering around the enormous urn.

Matthew paced over to her and wrapped his arms around her waist to rest his palms against her slightly rounded belly. “Everything is in place. The flowers are perfect. The food and drink will be more than sufficient. Everything will go smoothly, my love. There is nothing else to do but find something to occupy us until we need to change into our finery.”

“Occupy ourselves?” she asked coyly. “I can think of many ways we can occupy ourselves. We could oversee the polishing of the silver or retire to your study to go over plans for the repairs to your country seat.”

He pressed a fingertip to her lips to silence her, then leaned in and replaced it with his mouth. His teasing kisses soon became more urgent, and he moved to place her back against the wall.

Matthew’s hands roamed over Eliza’s body as his lips made their way across her jaw to move down the column of her neck.

“You know, My Lord, I am already with child. This wanton display is entirely superfluous,” she teased.

“I beg to differ, my dear wife,” Matthew said, nuzzling his nose behind her ear, making her shiver. “I can think of myriad reasons why making love to you is anything but unnecessary. In fact, I believe it is very necessary, vital even that I take you upstairs right now and show you just how essential it is.”

He gave her a wicked grin and took her hand as he practically dragged her to the staircase. Once they entered their bedchamber, Matthew made quick work of divesting them of their clothes. He eased Eliza onto the bed and paused to lovingly caress her belly.

“How is little Lydia doing this afternoon?” he asked playfully.

“So you’ve decided it is a girl now, have you?” she teased.

“Perhaps. Or maybe it is a boy, little Mathias.”

She laughed. “We may as well name him Matthew if you want to call the baby something so similar to yours.”

Matthew laughed with her, but soon all talk of baby names ceased as they kissed again, and he proceeded to show Eliza just how important lovemaking was, whether or not it resulted in a child.

*****

Matthew paced the hall at the bottom of the grand staircase, waiting for his wife to descend. They had spent a pleasant afternoon in bed, then had parted to dress for the ball. Matilda had come down a few minutes ago, regally dressed in an extravagant navy-blue gown. After Matthew kissed her cheek and extended some heartfelt compliments, she excused herself to see to some last-minute preparations.

His thoughts roamed to his family’s country estate. The moment the Baron had turned over Eliza’s dowry, he put his plans into motion. He invested a good portion of the funds wisely, and they already saw an increase in the capital. He’d paid off his father’s debts and began the long-awaited repairs to his tenants’ homes and farms. The Earldom was once again financially sound. Everything was as good as he had never even dreamed it could be.

The sound of footsteps above him drew him out of his thoughts. His eyes moved to the top of the staircase, where his beloved wife had paused to adjust one long white glove.

Eliza felt Matthew’s eyes on her and looked up to see him smiling brightly at her. She smiled in return, lifted the hem of her maroon satin ballgown, and slowly descended the steps.

Matthew met her at the bottom and took in the breathtaking side of his wife. Her gown fit her to perfection, and the deep jewel tone highlighted the honey color of her eyes. Her hair was done up in an elaborate coiffure. A few curls were artfully arranged around her face. The diamond necklace he had gifted her with when he learned of her pregnancy glinted just above the tantalizing cleft between her breasts.

He took her hands in his and placed a gentle kiss on her lips. “You are a vision, my love,” he said. She smiled, and they moved to the ballroom arm in arm.

The first of the guests began to arrive soon after. Matthew beamed with pride as he watched his wife greet each guest warmly, often with a personal comment or question about loved ones or mutual friends that made the person feel like the Countess truly cared about them. And they would have been right. Eliza genuinely cared about everyone she met. Her warmth shone through and fell upon the recipient of her smile with a radiance they couldn’t help but respond to. She was the perfect hostess and the best wife he could ever ask for.

Matthew was happy to see that one of the guests was Lady Catherine and her fiancé. Catherine had weathered the storm of their failed engagement and news of her father’s double life better than either Matthew or Eliza expected. And while it had taken some time for the gossip to die down, Catherine’s position was helped by Eliza’s calming presence. Neither Catherine nor her mother was prepared to receive Eliza at first, but Eliza persisted in reaching out to the ladies, and eventually, her kindness wore them down.

While Adeline maintained a reserved but polite distance, Catherine embraced having a sister and was a frequent visitor during the early days of Eliza’s marriage. It was, in fact, Eliza who introduced Catherine to the gentleman she would soon marry.

Much to the surprise of everyone who knew her, Catherine had been smitten with the handsome young vicar Eliza was helping to set up a charity venture. And the vicar was equally enchanted. Catherine’s superior attitude swiftly changed to one of humility and sweetness during her courtship. Eliza was thrilled to see that her formerly snobbish half-sister had softened with love and was pleased that she had played a role in her transformation.

It had taken her longer to heal the rift her existence caused between Adeline and the Baron. Eliza found that she cared for Adeline after getting to know her better. The lady’s only crime had been that she had married the Baron when he was in love with Genevieve, but that was hardly Adeline’s fault. She had no inkling that the Baron had loved another and had done her best to be a good wife to him and a good mother to their child. She hadn’t deserved her husband’s deception, and Eliza felt great sympathy for the lady when the truth of Eliza’s parentage had come to light.

During that difficult time, Eliza discovered that her father did love his wife. It was not the burning passion he had for her mother, but a quieter love that grew over the years to a comfortable love that he mourned deeply when he felt he had lost it. It had taken many months and long conversations filled with apologies and promises to get Adeline to even allow her husband to sit in the same room she occupied. Now they were reconciled, and the couple seemed to be happy for the first time in years.

The ball was a veritable crush which was a sure sign of a successful ton event. There was plenty of food, and the gentlemen did not even come close to running out of brandy.

Near the close of the night, Matthew found his wife leaning against the open doors of the terrace. She was looking up into the starry sky with a wistful smile on her face.

As he approached, he felt the nip in the air and relished the cold breeze coming in from the garden after the heat of the crowded ballroom. “It has turned quite chilly,” he remarked as he put his arms around his wife from behind and rested his chin on the top of her hair.

“It almost feels like it might snow,” she replied dreamily.

“Are you overheated, my love?” Matthew asked. “Do you need to retire early?”

Eliza smiled at the note of concern she detected in his voice and turned in his embrace to face him. She looked up at him and said, “Not at all. I’m merely feeling a bit nostalgic.”

“Nostalgic? Why is that?”

“It was on a night very much like this a year ago when I found an unconscious Earl bleeding in my forest,” she replied with a fond smile. “Little did I know that helping one stranger would lead me here.”

“And I thank God every day that it did, Eliza,” Matthew said as he cupped her face for a kiss.

She giggled and backed away. “Now, My Lord, it is hardly appropriate for you to kiss me in a ballroom full of people. Think of the scandal that would cause.”

He laughed with her and drew her out onto the terrace and into the shadows just beyond the doors. “How about if I kiss you outside of the ballroom instead?” he asked just before he did just that.

After a sweet and loving kiss, he lifted his head and asked, “Do you miss the forest?”

She looked him in the eyes for a moment then ducked her head before she responded. “Yes. I do miss it sometimes. I wouldn’t change what we have now for anything, but I do sometimes miss the simplicity of the woods.”

Matthew pondered this for a moment. The past year had brought many changes into both of their lives, but more to Eliza’s. She had left the solitude of the forest, of the only home she knew, to be thrust into the glittering world of the city and society. And she had never once uttered a single complaint. She had uprooted her entire existence for him, and he knew she would do it again without a thought if he asked it of her. That was how much she loved him. And Matthew realized that he could do something for her in return for her love and devotion.

“Do you think you would like to spend more time in the country?” he asked.

“At your estate? Of course. I know that you will need to be there often to oversee the repairs and help the tenants,” Eliza said.

“Well, yes, I will, but that isn’t what I was speaking of,” he said, and at her questioning look, he added, “I thought we might spend some part of our summers in Thetford Forest.”

When Matthew saw Eliza’s eyes gloss over with tears and the smile on her face, he knew he had hit upon the perfect balance to make his wife happy.

“Oh, Matthew, do you really think we could?”

He smiled and said, “I do. We might even add on to the cottage a bit. Build you a proper library there and a nursery.”

Eliza threw her arms around him with abandon at this and squeezed him tightly. “That would be wonderful,” she whispered through her happy tears.

When she pulled back to smile at him, she felt a touch of cold dampness on her cheek. She looked up and laughed. “Look,” she said. “It’s snowing. It will be an early winter again this year.”

Matthew smiled. “And may this year hold as much love and wonder as the last, my dear.”

“How could it not, with you by my side?” Eliza asked happily.

He grinned at her and murmured, “I love you.” Then he led her back into the ballroom and swept her into the final waltz of the night, holding her just a bit closer than was proper.

No one watching them minded their display of affection, though. The ton was just as enchanted with Matthew’s pretty little forest sprite as he was, and Eliza basked in the glow of their acceptance. She had finally found her place in the world, and she couldn’t be happier.

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