He still wanted more.
The knock at the door of his study broke his thoughts apart he cleared his throat, ignoring the stiffness in his breeches as he shifted his chair and stared down at his desk in hopes of looking busy as he called,
“Come in.”
The door opened Edward looked up from the correspondence he had been pretending to read to find his wife in his office.
He had not expected to see her again so soon. It had been about an hour since his aunt had left and he thought that Phoebe might have wanted to hide away for a bit — and he wouldn’t have minded if that was the case.
If he had endured what she had, he might have wanted to isolate himself too.
“Forgive the interruption,” she smiled apologetically, the expression lighting up her lovely face. “I only wanted a moment.”
“You are not interrupting anything too important.” He pushed the letter aside and gestured toward the chair across the desk. “Sit, if you like.”
She obliged, settling down in the chair delicately like a swan on a lake and for a moment, Edward wondered how he could havemade a better choice than her. It was clear that he was the only one who was aware of how much potential she had, how much of a good match she truly was to him. He knew she did not believe him at all but had chosen to trust his intentions and he knew it would have to suffice.
It was not as though their agreement required much more than that.
He sat back in his own seat and watched her ad she stared at his desk, following her gaze as it trailed over the surface — from the somewhat organized pack of papers, the inkwell and the paperweight made of green glass that had belonged to his father at one point. He let her drink in her fill of information, feeling completely contented to leave his gaze on her until she was ready to address him.
Eventually, she raised her gaze up to him and said, “I wanted to thank you, for what you said to Lady Shadborn. It was… rather kind. And I did not want you to think I had not noticed.”
“It was nothing more than was necessary,” Edward told her sincerely.
“Perhaps. But it was still something more than I had expected, and I am grateful for it.” She paused, then added, more quietly: “I imagine it is not easy, going against one's family. Even when one is right to do so.”
Edward considered this. “My aunt has never made things particularly easy. It is something of a constant, although inthat same vein, one can attest that she always means well. She was displeased about the advertisement from the start. She had been making plans to assist me in finding a wife in a manner she considered appropriate — through the correct social channels, introductions, the expected process — and she took the newspaper approach as a rather pointed dismissal of her efforts.”
Phoebe was quiet for a moment, then she surmised, “She wanted to find you a wife by conventional means. Why did you not let her? With her reputation and connections, she might have found you someone better.”
“She wanted to find me a wife by her means, which is not quite the same thing. Barbara considers herself a person of considerable expertise in the management of other people's affairs. And I have said it before, so while I am not fond of repeating myself, I will do so for your sake — there is no one better than you, Phoebe.”
Phoebe pressed her lips together and Edward could see that she was attempting not to smile, and he found he was somewhat curious as to what would happen if she simply gave in and did.
He got his wish in a second because she met his eyes, and the smile she had been trying to contain broke through, brief and genuine and rather lovely.
“In Lady Shadborn's words, your decision to find a bride using the newspaper as your channel of communication made youseem like a man selling off a carriage,” she informed him, her eyes shining with mirth.
“That is very nearly exactly what she said to me as well, when I told her. She was quite furious.” Edward responded sagely, pretending the look on his wife’s face had no effect on him or on the corners of his lips that were threatening to rise and well. “I believe she heavily implied that I had disgraced the family.”
“And yet you did it anyway.”
“The alternative was allowing Barbara to find me a wife, which I felt certain would end rather poorly for everyone involved.”
Phoebe laughed — a real one, this time, unburdened and unrestrained and he was stunned by how it changed her face entirely. He had noticed this before, the way amusement moved through her and altered everything, lowering her guards exponentially.
He watched it and found, to his mild and slightly inconvenient surprise, that he wanted to see it again.
“I begin to feel rather sorry for Lady Shadborn,” Phoebe sighed, recovering her composure.
“Do not,” Edward waved a hand in the air dismissively. “She is perfectly content as long as she has something to be displeased about. She would be at a loss without it.”
“Does she visit often?”
“Often enough. She means well, underneath the exterior. She is simply —” he considered the word carefully. “Singular in her views.”
“That is a very kind way of describing it.”