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“What do you want now, Mrs. Rose?” Duke Harry Graham asked, smiling at her as h headed towards the dining room.
“Your grace, it is a small favor,” she responded.
“Then, it should be easy to grant,” he said to her.
His response made her smile. It would be easy for the blessed benevolent soul to grant her request.
“Your grace, it is about my little cousin. Her employer passed away a month ago and she is currently without a job. As you know, being a servant in a great household is the preferred occupation choice among poor commoners like myself. I was hoping to get her a job here. I need your permission to increase the staff by one more person, your grace,” Mrs. Rose said to her employer.
The Duke smiled. He understood that the poor folk preferred working in great households because of the job security that came with it. The mining jobs, for instance, were usually done on a contract basis and once the contract expired, the workers had their contracts terminated. The same thing applied to most of the other industrial jobs.
“You have my permission, Mrs. Rose. I would like to meet your cousin” he said to Mrs. Rose and watched as a beautiful smile broke out on her face again.
He could see she was relieved and happy. He liked seeing everyone in his household happy. It made him feel happy too.
He went into the dining room. His breakfast was ready and his butler was already on hand to serve him. This morning, he would have to hurry up with his meal. He had decided he would go check up on his farms and on his workers today. He also wanted to get to the mining company and see how business was going. He could request them to send someone to his castle but he did not want to do that. He felt like he needed to go out more often. So, he was going to go out and only come back to the castle in the evening.
“What is your little cousin’s name and how old is she?” the young Duke asked Mrs. Rose who stood close to the door of the dining room as she whispered instructions to a Housemaid.
“Your grace?” She asked. She did not hear what he said to her.
“Your cousin. How old is she? What is her name?” Duke Harry Graham asked her.
She smiled excitedly. It made her feel happy that the issue was still on his mind. He was a busy man who was always in his chambers. She did not think he would even remember after their first conversation.
“Mary, your grace. Her name is Mary Brandon. She is twenty years old, your grace,” Mrs. Rose said to her employer.
“Well, then, she isn’t so “little” now, is she?” The Duke said and smiled as he drank from his glass of wine.
CHAPTER TWO
AN UNOFFICIAL RELATIONSHIP
Later that evening, the Duke came back to his castle. His day had been a little bit on the rough side. There had been a little scuffle between his farmers and those of wealthy merchant. It had not taken much to resolve but it had required him meeting up with the merchant. He did not like these merchants much. They were too arrogant for his liking. They subtly disrespected royals and mistreated peasants at the slightest opportunity.
The merchants had become an integral part of the society and they generated a lot of revenue for the country and the crown. They knew their importance and they often exploited it. He could barely deal with the way they paraded themselves as some sort of royalty just because they had some money. However, he did not like the way a lot of them abused their workers. They seemed to be mean to the members of the lower class. They were like kids who had just been given power over other kids for the first time. A few of those merchants had been given titles by the queen and had become Noblemen. That did not sit well with some of the royals. Most of them felt it was a break from tradition. Duke Harry Graham was among this group. Some felt they were being usurped and that land that was meant to be for their grabbing was being given to Merchants simply because the Merchants were rich.
As soon as he entered his castle, the Duke tried to smile. He had realized that his unhappiness put pressure on his workers. So, he tried to avoid frowning at home so as not to put them on edge. He wondered if it was okay to show this much respect to his servants. Some of the Royal nobles tried to discourage him from it.
“Welcome, your grace” Duke Harry Graham received a chorus of warm greetings as he stepped out of his coach once he was inside the Castle gates.
The first person he noticed was a beautiful young Maid. He had never seen her before and he wondered if she was Mary Brandon, Mrs. Rose’s “little” cousin. She smiled at him even as she seemed shy. Her smile was beautiful and it immediately took his mind off the merchants. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest over this beautiful commoner. He was curious to know who she was. He had never met a commoner with such beauty.
However, he could not afford to seem overly interested in her. At least, not in the way he would be interested in a noble Lady of same looks and same virtues. It was not something so nice for a noble person to have a relationship, or to seem to have a relationship with a commoner. So, he was going to be calm.
Just then, he noticed Mrs. Rose for the first time. She seemed to be smiling mischievously at him and he wondered if she knew what was going through his mind.
“Welcome, your grace,” Mrs. Rose said to him.
She then introduced her “little” cousin to him. That was when the young Duke got the best news of the day. The beautiful Mary was going to be a chambermaid. His room was one of the three rooms allotted to her for care.
A few days had passed since she was employed and Mary was enjoying every bit of her work, especially when she had to work around the young Duke. She found him to be very attractive. He was so handsome that she always looked forward to a chance to look at him. She had never been around a nobleman who was this young and this rich at the same time. He had a lot over other nobles. He was young, he was handsome, he was rich, he was caring, he was generous and the poor people loved him. She was crushing on him from day one.
She found that every time she entered his room to clean it and wake him up, he would give her a charming smile, which she suspected was sexual. She was not sure though. She had dreams of being romantically involved with him but she was not sure what to do about it. She could feel his eyes heavily on her back once she turned it to him. Once she began feeling the weight of his gaz
e, her mind automatically began to feel the desired weight of his hands on her body even though he never even came near her.
One morning, she knocked on his door by 6:30 AM. She wanted to wake him up, as was her duty and clean his room as well. She had a key to his room, which she had to take from her cousin every morning. This morning, however, she did not have to get the key from Mrs. Rose. The housekeeper had requested permission to have a holiday and she had been granted four days leave. Mrs. Rose had given the key to Mary. Duke Graham had told her to wake him up by 6:30 AM. He wanted to write some letters before the sun was shining and smiling happily.
