Bit of a day jump with the italics being the flashbacks =). Sorry for taking a month to update! This is just going to be a small chapter with Mary thinking about Bash. I have to get ready to go to L.A for my cousin's wedding this weekend (which I'm a bridesmaid in) so there wasn't much time to write

"Mary...Mary...MARY!"

Mary jumped in her seat. James was looking at her with a frown on his face, while Count Donaghue and his wife looked at her questioningly.

"I am so sorry. What was that, dear?"

Her husband did not answer, merely continuing his discussion with Count Donaghue and his wife, the woman who was also the mistress of Mary's husband. It was a poorly kept secret. James did not believe Mary knew anything about that, not when his friend and business partner was completely ignorant about it.

Yet, her thoughts were not with them tonight. Merely, they were on the stranger her husband had introduced to her last night. He was tall, as white as snow, with the most beautiful eyes she had ever looked into. He was also much younger than her husband and Count Donaghue, yet carried himself with as much as grace as everyone else.

There had been something else as well.

He was so cold.

Even through the gloves which covered her, she could feel it. His hands were like ice on a cold winter's day. And when his lips had touched her hands, they sent a shiver up her spine. So cold. He had apologized for it when her husband mentioned it, but did not give the reason.

"Your grace," the stranger said, smiling up at her.

She stared, speechless.

"Mary," her husband urged.

"Pleasure," she said to the man.

He stood up straight. "Count Sebastian de Poitiers. How do you do?"

"Very well," she answered, still looking at him, curiously. There was something different about him. "How do you do on this night, Count de Poitiers?"

"Perfect," he said to her, before turning to her husband. "I am afraid I am not able to stay for long tonight. I am here with my brother and my sister and they are to awake early in the morning for business."

"I see," Count Blackthorne looked around. "And where are they?"

"No idea right now. I would assume meeting the other guests," Count de Poitiers did not even look around him.

"What are their names?"

"Francis and Elizabeth," he answered with no hesitation.

"Forgive us, Count, we have not offered you any food to eat!" Count Donaghue spoke up. "Shall we ask the servants what you want?"

"No," Count de Poitiers said rather quickly. "My family and I ate prior to our arrival."

"Before a party?" Count Donaghue asked, drunk on wine. "My boy, why would you ever think to do such a thing and bring yourself to all that trouble, rather than coming here and feeding off another man's wealth?"

"I would not wish to be a nuisance," he merely replied. "I wished to come because Count Donaghue was spoken so highly of."

Count Donaghue patted Count de Poitiers on the shoulder. "Shall I introduce you to my friends and acquaintances? Oh, why shall I even wait for an answer? Of course I will!" Count de Poitiers took one last look to Mary before following Count Donaghue.

He had left that night with whom Mary presumed to be Francis and Elizabeth. The boy had golden locks and the girl had hair as dark as her brother's. They were gone before anyone could notice.

Mary had thought about him all day. She was curious.

"Well, this has been a most pleasant evening," Count Donaghue stood up, his wife following suit. "But I am afraid my wife and I must retire for the night."

Mary and James stood up as well.

"So early?" James asked his friend.

"Some of us have work in the morning James," Count Donaghue gave him a proud smile. "I am a working man, after all!"

"Very well," James shook his friend's hand and kissed Countess Donaghue on the cheek. "We will see you lot later."

Mary excused herself, also retiring for the evening. Count Blackthorne went into his study, as she went into their room. Aylee, a young servant girl not much younger than Mary herself, helped her into getting ready for the evening. Mary allowed Aylee to leave once she was finished. It was for the best. Mary needed time to herself, grateful James had not asked her again if she was ready to bear a child. They had already lost one months ago before Mary was showing.

Instead, she took out her book and quill, writing her private thoughts. James may have been 20 years older than she, and a husband she had never wanted, but she did love that he respected her privacy as much as she did his. Her parents had put her into this marriage, when she had caught his eye at a party. A year later, she was still a child, at 19 years of age. One year later and James was already bored with his own wife, choosing to give his affections to his darling mistress, the wife of his dear best friend no less!

Mary stared at the page. Her quill had made a hole in the paper.

"Oh dear," Mary muttered to herself. Was she so angry?

No, it wasn't anger.

Sadness, maybe?

She should have run away when her parents had told her of their plans to marry her to Count Blackthorne. The first several months of their marriage had been happy enough. James was gone more than he was not, but he did try to make her happy and she opened her heart to him. Much had changed since the loss of their child.

And now here she was, unable to think of what to write. Perhaps because there was nothing about the day that she wanted to remember.

She could, however, write about the previous night.

Mary did not understand why she was so fascinated with Sebastian de Poitiers. She was not sure if she had written his name properly when she did, but she found herself writing down everything that she remembered of him- his eyes, his skin as white as snow, the red of his lips, the coldness of his touch, his hair as dark as the night sky. . .

Mary stopped writing and smiled to herself. He was a very handsome stranger.

Oh, she wished to see him again.

He had discussed business with Count Donaghue, but not with her husband. However, as James was his business partner, there was a small chance Count de Poitiers would come back.

She just hoped it would be sooner rather than later.

Mary's got a little crush lol.

No, this won't be Twilight where vampires can have babies. I just wanted to give Mary some angst since she lost a baby.

Review? =D