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“You can have as many as you want,” she said. He nodded, understanding her request.
Nicholas turned his head sharply to look at him. His eyes moved from Earnest to the plate of sandwiches on the table. “There is no way you can finish all of thatandhave more.”
“It might take me the entire afternoon but it is possible,” Ernest returned.
Nicholas returned his attention to the rock in his hand. “I didn’t know you still liked these, Jenny.”
“Not much has changed about me.”
He set the rock down. “The day I left for Eton, you wouldn’t come out of that cave to see me. I lost to rocks that day.”
Jenny remembered that day very well. She had been upset that he was leaving her and stayed in a tiny cave that he had never been able to fit into with her rocks. After begging her to come out for what had seemed like hours, he had given up and left before he could be late.
She had compensated him when he came home for the summer. She joined him at the table. “It’s a geode. That day was the first time I ever discovered a geode but I didn’t open it until months later to see what was inside.”
“When did you find this geode?” He pointed at one on the table in front of them.
“I discovered this one last winter. I named it Azure.”
“You give them names?” He sounded surprised.
“Only the significant ones. This one has quite a story.” Her thought traveled back to that day when she had been filled with pain and longing.
“Will you tell me the story?”
The story involved him. No, she couldn’t tell him. “Not today,” she said.
“Fair enough. I suppose I shall have to earn it.” He picked up a geology treatise and began to examine it. “You take this very seriously.”
“Quite. I have a dream of becoming a member of the Geological Society one day,” she revealed to him.
“How are you going to manage that? They do not include women.”
“Hardly anything beyond the realm of marriage includes women. There is a specific matter that I am studying. It might make them take me seriously when I reveal my findings.”
“It is not going to be easy.”
“I know that but I am willing to try.” There was nothing she wanted more than to share her knowledge with the world and the best way to accomplish that was to be acknowledged by the Geological Society.
“Perhaps your status as a duchess might help,” he suggested.
Jenny had not thought of that: Using her rank and power to her advantage like that. “I didn’t know I could do that.”
“The Geological Society might be more inclined to listen to a duchess.”
“What are we talking about?” Ernest called from his seat.
“Rocks and the Geological Society,” Jenny supplied.
“Carry on, then. I have never been able to understand that subject.”
Nicholas turned to her and lowered his voice a notch. “I am happy you agreed to marry me.”
That ought to have drawn a smile from her but it didn’t. “Why?” she asked. “What changed your mind?”
“I already told you, we are a good match.” He smiled.
“I don’t recall you saying that. You spoke of the advantage my family would gain.”
