A/N: I'm so glad you guys enjoyed the last chapter! I hope it satisfied your needs :P Now, I'm sorry, but this chapter is a little bit more serious- but only because it needs to be. I hope you'll understand what I mean when you read it!

…

Mary immediately regretted her words upon seeing Matthew's startled expression. What had she been thinking, springing that on him so soon? They hadn't even discussed whether they wanted a proper relationship. But surely Matthew must know that I wouldn't have slept with him if I didn't feel strongly about him?

During the drunken heart-to-heart which had led to their friendship, Mary had revealed that she'd only ever been with two people before; her first was her good-for-nothing playboy boyfriend whom she'd dated for eighteen months in her late teens. She'd thought herself to be in love with him (she now recognises it as infatuation), and had subsequently given herself to him. When she found out several months later that he'd been seeing an older woman at the same time as dating her, Mary vowed never to let a man be with her so intimately unless she was in love, or close to it. Unfortunately, she'd gone back on her vow in her final two weeks of university, and had a one-night-stand with the son of an aristocrat; word had spread around college like wildfire. Chatter began to circulate around Belgravia, where she lived, but she managed to dismiss most of it as nonsense- although, inevitably, some people preferred to believe the gossip.

Most of her suitors had since divided themselves into two camps; one believed her to be frigid (but wanted to have a go at it anyway) and the larger camp thought her 'classiness' and 'purity' was all a front- nobody that sought-after could resist sleeping around, surely? (It hadn't helped that her delightful ex-boyfriend, bitter at being dumped by her, had spread false and salacious rumours about her to anybody who'd listen). Matthew, however, had all but applauded her on her mature decision, saying that he'd also made a similar vow. But had Matthew let lust get the better of him? Had he merely used her as a way to relieve himself of the omnipresent sexual tension between them? It had only been a fortnight since his long-term relationship with Lavinia had ended- of course he couldn't love her.

Mary's fears were allayed by the joyous smile on Matthew's face as he looked down at her. "I love you too." He whispered, leaning down to gently take her bottom lip in his, sucking sweetly.

"You do?" Mary asked in disbelief, once he'd pulled away.

"I do." Matthew confirmed, his eyes smiling. Nuzzling her neck, he added, "In fact, I don't just love you- I absolutely adore you." The sensuality in his voice was potent enough to cause goosebumps all over Mary's warm body. Yet, she remained unconvinced. He'd been in love with another woman a mere two weeks ago! Was Matthew just speaking out of a post-coital haze?

"But, I don't understand." Mary pushed Matthew away from her (despite her enjoyment of his lips on her neck). "You can't be in love with me. It's too soon. It's only been a couple of weeks since…" Mary trailed off, not being especially enthusiastic about mentioning Lavinia's name while she was naked in bed with Matthew.

Matthew slowly rolled over to his side and sat up against the pillows. Mary immediately missed the feeling of his body inside and over her. Maybe she should have just taken his word for it. Sighing, she too sat up so that she was level with him.

"Mary, I think I've been in love with you for a while." Matthew said seriously. Being romantic and silly with Mary was inexplicably wonderful, but this conversation needed to be had if they were going to be able to have a proper relationship. She needed to believe him, she needed to know exactly how he felt about her if this was going to work.

Mary's eyes widened in shock as her heart skipped several beats. "Even while you were with…"

"Yes." Matthew stated firmly. "For the last couple of months, I'd say. But I've just been living in this huge vat of denial. A vat as big as The Nile. There's a joke in there somewhere…" Matthew's brow furrowed momentarily, and Mary would have laughed if she wasn't so gobsmacked. Matthew was in love with her? And had been for at least two months? Her heartbeat was becoming increasingly erratic. Mary began to wonder if the hotel had a defibrillator.

"So, when did you realise?" Mary asked, finally able to catch her breath.

"After Lavinia and I bumped into you on Oxford Street. Do you want to know what happened after you left?" Matthew didn't really want to delve into the details of how his relationship with Lavinia ended, but he would if Mary wanted him to.

Mary felt like saying no. The night so far had been like the most blissful dream. She didn't want to interrupt it with serious conversations about Matthew and Lavinia's break-up, but she realised that it was necessary. She wanted so much to believe him when he said that he loved her, but she needed to hear his story if she was to understand how that could be true. She looked at Matthew and nodded. He smiled slightly at her, taking her hand in his and rubbing his thumb over it affectionately before he began.

…

"What the bloody hell was that?" Matthew asked Lavinia angrily as he watched Mary walk away.

"Language." Lavinia warned, gesturing to her little sister, who was still very confused about what had just happened. "We'll talk about this later. Now, which way is Green Park?"

"You know, I think I'm going to go home, actually." Matthew said. He didn't much feel like being around Lavinia when she was being so absurdly jealous. "Let me know when you're able to talk." He reached into his wallet and pulled out some money which he handed to Emily. He'd promised to buy her some London souvenirs and didn't want to let her down just because Lavinia was being ridiculous. "Enjoy the rest of your day" he said to the little girl, before marching off towards the station.

A few hours later, Matthew stepped into Lavinia's flat. She'd dropped Emily off at her cousin's place for a couple of hours, and called Matthew to ask him to come over. She was disappointed to see that his anger had not yet abated.

"I don't see why you don't understand how I feel, Matthew." She argued. "That girl is clearly after you and she's doing whatever she can to lure you into her trap! She invites you to spend the night with her, drops by unannounced to your flat, interrupts your dinners out with me, teases you and hugs you…And you're falling for it all, like an idiot!" Her voice was raised.

Matthew didn't think he'd ever been so frustrated in his life. "She is not 'after me' and she is not doing anything to 'lure me away'. How many times do I have to tell you?" Matthew was getting rather tired of this conversation.

"How do you explain all of that, then? Hmm?" Lavinia stood with her hands on her hips.

"For God's sake, Lavinia." Matthew sighed wearily. "I've told you- it was Robert who asked me to spend the night, not Mary. Mary didn't even want me there, she thought it was ridiculous!" He cried.

"Oh, I'm sure she was totally against the whole thing. I'm sure she hated having you all to herself." Lavinia's voice dripped with sarcasm. "I'll bet she had it all planned out right from the start. From the moment she met you." She huffed.

"You're actually deluded." Matthew stated. "Why are you suddenly so against her? She's been nothing but nice to you. She even invited you to her birthday party!" Matthew reasoned. He disliked seeing his girlfriend be so insecure, but even more than that, he realised with surprise, he didn't like hearing anybody speak ill of Mary.

"I met up with Lizzie in Chelsea the other day, after she got back from her honeymoon. The boys on the table next to us were having a fine old time talking about Mary Crawley's 'assets' and how flexible she was in bed. Apparently one of their friends was a conquest of hers. He'd had a girlfriend at the time." Lavinia finished sternly.

"That's utter bullshit." Matthew was even more infuriated at the knowledge that these things were being said about Mary behind her back. She didn't deserve it; she was one of the classiest, most self-respecting people he knew. He felt the overwhelming urge to hunt down the source of these rumours and put his rifle training from Sandhurst to good use.

Lavinia flung her arms up in despair. "How can you be so obtuse, Matthew? She's doing the exact same thing to you! She's cast you under her spell. From what I heard, she's probably got several other guys on the go, the little sl-"

"Don't you dare." Matthew said menacingly.

Lavinia was shocked to see her boyfriend glare at her in that way. But she wasn't going to shy away- she needed to put her foot down. "Look, Matthew. All it comes down to is this- I don't trust her. Not one bit."

"You know what? It's not her that you need to worry about." Matthew said, still fuming from what he'd heard Lavinia say in these last few minutes.

"What? Why?" Lavinia asked, confused.

"Because I was the one that leaned in to kiss her!" Matthew shouted.

Lavinia paled.

The only sound in the room was Matthew's heavy breathing. He rubbed a hand over his face, realising what he'd just said. He hadn't meant to be malicious. But, he reasoned, it was probably for the best that it came out- this conversation should have taken place a while ago.

"You kissed?" Lavinia whispered tremblingly, her eyes watering.

Matthew approached her slowly, nodding regretfully. Lavinia reached out and gripped the chair near her to steady herself. Tears fell down her face.

"Lavinia," Matthew began quietly. What could he say? She'd been the perfect girlfriend and he'd cheated on her. Nothing could make this better. "I thought it was a mistake. That's why I didn't tell you. I thought it was just a silly aberration in my behaviour and I didn't want to dwell on it or let it affect anything. I'm not saying that what I did wasn't wrong, or that you shouldn't hate me, because you should. It was an awful thing to do to you. Despicable. But I want you to know that I stayed with you because I genuinely wanted to." He watched her weep. "You've been so good to me." He whispered, feeling a lump in his throat and his eyes welling up.

Lavinia continued to sob. A few minutes later, she collected herself and looked up to meet Matthew's pained eyes. "I don't hate you." She said, her voice still unsteady. "I don't think I could, even if I wanted to." She laughed humourlessly. "Do you love her?" She asked after a moment.

Matthew was taken aback. He'd considered the possibility of having feelings for Mary, but the notion of him loving her had never entered his mind. "I don't think so" he said truthfully. Lavinia seemed mildly placated by this.

"So nothing else happened? Aside from…the kiss?" Lavinia's voice broke again as she uttered the last two words. Matthew's heart broke, knowing that he'd caused her sorrow.

"No, nothing. It happened completely unintentionally- neither of us expected it at all." He reassured her. "When she came over to my flat that day, unannounced- the reason she left so abruptly was because I asked her to leave. I didn't want her to be there, to remind me of what I'd done. We spoke about it later and agreed that we should pretend it never happened."

Lavinia seemed to accept this. "Do you have any feelings for her?" She asked.

Matthew paused to consider his answer. He didn't want to lie to her, or to anyone, ever again. "I do, yes. I've been in denial about it, though. I've been pushing it all to one side, because I didn't want the complication of having to deal with it. I have no idea if anything will come of it, though. But I should have told you. Whatever may or may not happen with Mary and me, I should have told you. I'm so sorry." He apologised, realising he hadn't yet said those words to her.

Lavinia flinched as she heard him admit his feelings for Mary. "What do you want, Matthew?" She suspected she knew what the answer would be.

Matthew let out a shaky breath. This was difficult. "I…think it might be best if we…" He trailed off, unable to find the right words. They were unnecessary, however, as Lavinia seemed to grasp his meaning.

"That's probably a good idea." She said.

Late that night, Matthew reluctantly stood up from the sofa and made his way over to the kitchen, to pour himself another drink. His break-up with Lavinia had been the hardest, most draining conversation he'd ever had. Two years was the longest he'd ever been in a relationship, and now it was all over. He suddenly felt very alone.

Minutes later, he received a message on his phone. It was from Lavinia.

Matthew, I just wanted you to know- I still love you. I'm angry and hurt, of course, but I can't bear the thought of never being with you again. I don't know what to do. Maybe we should be apart for now, and see how things go?

Matthew read the message several times, considering his response. As lonely as he was feeling at the moment, he couldn't bear to give her false hope.

Lavinia, I don't want to make any promises or pacts that I don't know if I can keep. I feel like I've hurt you enough already, I care for you too much to risk doing it again. Maybe we can be friends? I'm so sorry. Take care.

A reply appeared after a minute or two.

OK, that sounds sensible. All the best, Matthew.

Matthew looked down at the floor. He'd had no real right to be angry at Lavinia. Although she hadn't handled her jealousy very well, she had been correct to suspect that something inappropriate was going on between him and Mary. He realised that, over the last few hours, he'd given more thought to, and been more concerned over, how Mary felt than how Lavinia felt. When he'd returned home from Oxford Street, it was Mary whom he'd wanted to run to and comfort, not his girlfriend. Come to think of it, he thought, I've never been as supportive of Lavinia as I have been of Mary. Granted, he had been there for Lavinia when she'd needed him- anytime she was upset or worried, he'd been there to soothe her. But he'd done this mostly out of a sense of duty- he was her boyfriend, so it fell to him to be her support.

With Mary, on the other hand- he'd had no reason to search for her when she disappeared after a fight with her parents. He'd had no reason to help her to her room after she'd had one too many drinks at her birthday party. He'd had no reason to drive all the way from his flat to Kensington at 2am to pick her up when she couldn't get a cab home. He'd had no reason to speak of Mary so highly to John Cole, when he'd asked for Matthew's opinion. Indeed, Lavinia had asked him a few months ago to be a referee for her brother, thinking Matthew's status as a lawyer would look good on her brother's CV. Matthew had declined, explaining that he didn't want to mix his personal and professional life together.

But as soon as it was Mary's interests at stake, all his self-imposed rules flew out of the window. Come to think of it, he thought, I've never cared for anyone as much as I have for Mary. It seemed as if there wasn't anything he wouldn't do for that gloriously beautiful, intelligent, witty, infuriatingly head-strong woman.

His thoughts wondered back to his kiss with Mary. He'd worried that he'd changed as a person- that he'd gone from being the trustworthy guy to the guy who cheats. Previously, he'd never dreamed of even flirting with another woman while he was in a relationship. But now he realised, the fact that he kissed Mary wasn't a sign that he'd changed as a person- it was a sign of the depth of his feelings for her. He wondered if Lavinia had been onto something. Maybe the notion of loving Mary isn't so ludicrous after all. But he didn't want to commit himself to that idea yet. He couldn't be sure until he saw her.

…

"And now I'm sure." Matthew concluded. He brought Mary's hand up to his mouth and kissed it softly.

"Matthew," Mary breathed. She was speechless. Hearing Matthew recount his final conversation with Lavinia had been difficult for her, knowing that she'd played a large part in causing all this heartache. But hearing him explain how he came to realise the strength of his feelings for her- it made Mary feel like she was floating. "I don't know what to say." She admitted.

"Well, that's good." Matthew said cheekily, "Now I know to just tell you that story everytime I want a moment of peace."

His adorably mischievous smile topped it all off. Mary practically pounced on him, wrapping her arms around his shoulder and waist, and kissing him passionately. Matthew smiled into the kiss as his own arms stroked her back, unable to believe his luck.

…

A/N: theoretically, I could finish the story there. BUT I figured there are a couple of loose ends to tie up, like the issue with Mary's parents etc. So there will be a few more chapters! Let me know your thoughts!