A/N Thank you for following this story and for the nice reviews! They really make happy! Just to let you know that it should be updated every weekend, saturday or sunday. And when my finals will be over at Uni I'll see if I can update more often I promise. Still do not own any characters, only James is mine.

Chapter 2

Matthew was having a really normal day, as normal as it could be. He still couldn't believe how lucky he was to have found this place near the wood. It was the perfect spot for him. Far enough from any other cottages that he could pretend he was all alone on the land. But still close enough from the village that if he took his bicycle, he could always run some errands if he needed to, and that, in a matter of a few hours. Matthew loved to bike, so it wasn't a problem for him.

It had been three months since he first arrived in England. Time goes by so fast he thought. It felt only like yesterday when he walked out of that boat with only his one tiny bag in hand. But he decided that so far, it had been a good decision to come here.

Matthew was cooking some lunch for himself when he heard the first stroke of thunder. He was quite happy to be already inside the house when he noticed the heavy rain falling down and washing everything on its passage. He was just about to sit at the table when he heard a knock at the door. Quickly he went to open it.

On the other side, he found a very pretty, but soaked woman standing on his doorstep.

After a few seconds of looking into the man's eyes, Mary remembered why she was here in the first place. "Pardon me Sir. But would you mind if I come in?"

"Heavens no! Not at all. I'm sorry. Please come in." Matthew said embarrassed. How could he just stand there without saying a word? But before he could dwell on the fact that he probably made a very bad first impression on this woman, she spoke again.

"I'm terribly sorry to disturb you, but I was surprised by the storm and I saw your house and thought I would stop" She was freezing in her damp coat, her teeth chattering against each other for a brief moment.

"Don't be sorry. I'm glad you did. I wouldn't want anybody to be stuck outside in that weather. Especially not…" He realized he was babbling now. Blushing a bit from embarrassment at his awkwardness he added, "You're freezing! Let me take your coat. This can't be good for your health ma'am…"

Taking her riding coat off she suddenly realized that this man with the thick American accent (she believed it was American anyway) didn't know who she was. And she thought that maybe, it would be nice if it could stay that way. "Mary. You can call me Mary"

"Well then Mary, I'll go and fetch you something warm to cover you." Smiling he took her coat, spread it on a chair next to the foyer so it could dry properly and went in what seemed like a little room at the back of the house.

While he was gone, Mary took the time to look at the interior of the cottage. It was quite lovely really. Very different from what she was used to, but still very nice. The dark hardwood floor mixed with the warm color of the stones covering the walls made the whole house seem really, really warm and … comfortable.

After a moment, she saw the man reappear with an enormous blanket in his arms. "Here you go! I hope it's going to warm you up a bit!" He said while handing the blanket to her.

She gladly took it from his hands. "Thank you very much. This is really kind of you." She said with a genuine smile. She definitely felt much better once she finished wrapping herself into it. "Sir, I took the liberty of hiding my horse in your shed. I hope you don't mind."

"No, definitely not. It's quite all right. Do you think it'll be warm enough in there?" He inquired seriously. And then he added with a little laugh "And my name is Matthew. There's no need to call me Sir."

Mary smiled at his last remark. Finally, the stranger had name. And a fine one she thought. "Yes, I'm sure my horse will be just fine. Thank you Matthew."

After a brief moment of dancing from one foot to another Matthew finally spoke "Would you like some tea?" He blathered, his cheeks flushing from embarrassment. He didn't even know why he was being so nervous. Maybe it was because he never had any guest in this house before, and certainly not an English woman. At least, he was quite positive that he knew how to make some good tea.

Mary looked at him closely; his gestures and manners were different from what she was used to. It was, casual. Of course, he didn't know she was the daughter of an Earl. But she thought that if she was going to pretend not to be that girl for an hour or two, well she should act as if this situation was perfectly normal. "I would love some tea!" she finally replied, her voice cheerful. Actually, this could be fun.

She followed him into to kitchen. The room was pretty, just like the rest of the house. He offered her a seat and she took it gratefully. They sat in an uncomfortable silence while they waited for the water to boil, both glancing at each other without really knowing what to say.

"I'm afraid I don't have many types of tea in the house." Matthew finally said looking through the window.

The corner of Mary's mouth turned up a bit. This Matthew definitely wasn't an Englishman. "I'm not very picky when it comes to tea I assure you. I'm sure whatever you have will be just fine." When she saw what she thought was a relieved look on his face she added, "You're not from here are you?"

Matthew finally looked back at her. "Is it my accent or the fact that I don't have various types of tea that gave me away?" He was smiling now. He knew that her question was not an offensive one.

She smiled, laughing softly. "Let's say that the lack of tea only confirmed my suspicions." Now she was quite sure he was in fact American. "You're American aren't you?"

"Yes I am. Born and raised." He grinned at her

He stood up then and poured them two cups of tea. "Thank you." She said before taking a sip. "This tea is very good. I don't know why you were worried about it."

"Well thank you. My mother thought me. She would be pleased to hear that." He said while sitting back at the table.

They drank in silence for a moment. A thousand of questions running in Mary's mind, until she noticed what seemed like a sandwich on the counter. "I know that I probably interrupted your lunch, but you can still eat even if I'm here you know."

"Oh yes, the sandwich. I completely forgot about it." And it was true. When he saw her on his doorstep he had completely forgotten everything about his lunch. "But I'll only eat something if you do too." He looked intently at her, waiting for an answer and hoping she would say yes because if he was honest with himself, he really was hungry.

Mary eyed him, and then the sandwich. She realized she was starving. After all, she had skipped breakfast that morning. And that sandwich looked quite good in fact. "All right, if you're willing to share some with me, then I don't see why not." As soon as she finished her sentence, she heard her stomach grumbled. She looked down, blushing a bit from embarrassment. This was so unladylike she thought.

But to her surprise, Matthew only started to laugh. Not even a chuckle, but a good heartfelt laugh. "I guess I'll hurry up to prepare the plates then." He said still laughing a little.

The storm was still raging outside. Mary watched Matthew working his way in the kitchen. Spreading, cutting, mixing. She had never seen a man cook before. He certainly looked like he knew very well what he was doing. She also took the opportunity to really look at him. His hair was a really nice shade of blond. He had broad shoulders and strong arms she thought. And he was also very tall, taller than her father and James. But she pushed that thought away quickly and instead concentrated back on Matthew. He certainly was a very handsome man; with the most beautiful blue eyes she had ever seen. She could lose herself in those eyes…

Matthew really tried his best to make the plates presentable. He turned his head around glancing at Mary, who seemed lost in thoughts. So he took the chance to look at her more properly. Don't get him wrong, he saw right away, as soon as he opened the door earlier that she was a beautiful woman. But now, sitting in his kitchen all wrapped up in the blanket he gave her, he thought that she looked even more beautiful. Her dark brown hair was starting to dry, and some strands were falling down. Her cheeks were a light shade of pink. But he thought that her lips were so very, very beautiful. He had to force himself to turn around and finished his task.

"Here you go Mary." Matthew said, placing a plate filled with a sandwich, some vegetables and pieces of cheese in front of her.

"Oh Matthew! You shouldn't have given yourself all that trouble. But I must say it looks delicious." She decided to give him her brightest smile, which she hadn't given to anybody in a long while.

Right at this moment Mary couldn't care about the fact that she was in the house of a man she barely knew, a man living on her father's land. So beneath their kind of people her aunt would say. Because right now, sitting here with Matthew, without any chaperon felt so normal, so casual and so… right. He didn't know who she was and that, most of all felt liberating in such a way that she wasn't sure she understood it.

They chatted a bit about the weather in England and how Diamond had always hated storms. But Mary was curious. "May I ask you a question Matthew?"

"Why yes of course!" He looked amused by her formality.

"I was wondering why someone like you would leave America and come all the way to Yorkshire? It seems a bit strange to me. Isn't America the place where everything's possible?" She had a feeling his answer would be interesting. It needed to be. Nobody crosses an ocean without a good reason.

The smile on Matthew's face faded. He suddenly looked very serious. Twisting his hands together, he breathed a few times. "I'm afraid my answer will be disappointing Mary. Let's say that there was too many bad memories there for me to handle…."

"Oh! Matthew, you don't need to explain! I'm so very sorry. I shouldn't have asked you in the first place. It wasn't my place to do so." She truly was sorry. Seeing the look on his face and the sadness in his eyes, she knew she had made a mistake. Whatever happened to him, it was not a happy story she realized.

"Mary, you had all the right in the world to ask. You simply didn't know." He said locking his eyes with hers, making sure she understood that it was all right. "My mother grew up in Manchester and it seemed like a nice place to go. But on my way I stopped here and accidently met Lord Grantham. And as you can see I decided to stay here instead."

Mary's face fell. Of course he had met her father. How else would he have gotten the cottage without meeting him? "He must have liked you to give you this cottage right away then." She said trying to compose herself.

"Oh well, I don't know. He just seemed like a nice and generous man to me. Do you know him?" Matthew asked her nonchalantly. And it was true. He thought that Lord Grantham was indeed a nice man, old fashioned certainly, but still of enjoyable company.

She needed to lie somehow. She couldn't tell that she was in fact the eldest daughter of the Earl in question. Its not like she never lied before. But lying to Matthew, after he had been so nice to her, it didn't feel right. But on the other hand he would probably threat her differently if he knew. Everyone does Mary thought. Why would he be any different from the others? And she was enjoying not being Lady Mary for once in her life. "He's the Earl of Grantham Matthew, everybody knows who he is." She was rather happy with her answer, which wasn't really a lie was it?

"Yes of course. I just thought that perhaps…" Mary froze in her seat. "Oh, never mind what I thought." Matthew smiled at her. "We don't have Earls back home, and I guess I just hadn't realized that everyone knew who he was."

She smiled back at him, relieved. "Well yes, everyone does. He's quite influent, especially in Yorkshire." She looked out the window then. Not wanting to look at Matthew. She felt bad for lying to him. Because let's be honest, she was lying. The storm seemed almost over. She could even see a few rays of sun trying to pierce the dark clouds.

"Mary?" Matthew said softly. She was lost in thoughts again.

"Yes?"

"You asked me a question earlier. May I ask you one in return?" He asked her with a boyish grin.

She contemplated the idea for a few seconds. "It would only be fair wouldn't it?" Honestly, she was a bit nervous. She really didn't want to lie to him again.

"I assume that you're not living in one of Lord Grantham's cottages." Her clothes, the way she spoke, the way she held herself Matthew thought, she surely was not a farmer's daughter. "And I was just wondering what you were doing so far away in such a weather."

He was looking at her expecting an answer. What was she going to tell him? Maybe she could avoid lying; maybe she should just be, evasive. "You assumed right. And you should know that it wasn't my plan to come all the way down here in the first place. But I had lots of things to think about, and then we were caught by the storm." This wasn't so bad she thought.

Matthew wasn't happy with her answer though. He didn't know more now than he did five minutes ago. So he pushed is luck a little. "And what was bothering you?"

She looked at him, right in the eyes. It's not because she had been here for an hour that she knew him, not really anyway. She didn't even know his last name! She certainly couldn't tell him she reflected. "I thought we had a deal for one question Matthew."

"I know." He smiled gently. "But maybe I would be able to help you somehow."

Mary softened a little at his last remark. This Matthew was too nice for his own sake. But he had no idea, no idea at all of her problems. "It is very nice of you Matthew. But you certainly couldn't help in this case." She suddenly stood up. "And I should be on my way now. The storm is over, finally. And I took enough of your time."

She removed herself from the warm blanket and gave it to Matthew who was now standing before her. They both walked towards to front of the house. Matthew gave Mary her, now dry coat, back. He had a feeling his question had offended her in a way.

"Mary I'm sorry. I…" He didn't know why exactly but he didn't want her to think badly of him.

"Don't be. I asked you a very bad question first didn't I? Not that yours was bad." She rectified. "I just can't talk about it." She buttoned up her coat, tried to put her hat back in place properly. Once she was ready, she looked at Matthew who seemed to find his feet extremely captivating. She cleared her throat to gain his attention. When he looked at her she suddenly felt anxious.

"Is there something wrong?" Matthew inquired seriously.

"Well I, I'm going to need some help to get back on my horse." Nobody other than Lynch ever helped her to get on a horse.

Matthew smiled brightly then. "You see, I knew I could be helpful!" He teased her, chuckling.

Mary decided that she liked his laugh. It was so spontaneous and she heard him laugh more in an hour time than she probably laughed in the past six months. It made her feel better in a way.

They walked side by side until they reached the shed. Matthew opened the door for her and saw her horse for the first time. The beautiful racy black stallion instantly eliminated all the doubts Matthew might have had about the fact that Mary and him were definitely not from the same social class. "That's a very beautiful horse you got there!"

"Thank you." She said while patting Diamond, reassuring him that it was all right and promising him an apple when they would be back at Downton. "Diamond is my faithful companion." She smiled with affection looking at her horse.

Once they managed to get Diamond out, Matthew became awfully nervous. How was he going to help her climb up on her horse…without touching her? It was impossible wasn't it?

He took a deep breath before asking, "How, what do I need to do?"

She looked away from him, needing to calm herself a little. He was only helping her to get on a horse for heavens sake! She internally summoned herself. "You need to come here and then, when my foot will be in the stirrup, you'll have to lift me up and I'll do the rest." She said the last part so quickly that she wasn't certain he had understood.

Matthew took a few a steps in her direction, getting closer, and then another. He could see the freckles on her face now. He hadn't noticed them before. She was so, so beautiful. He could smell her perfume. It suited her he thought smiling unconsciously.

"Earth to Matthew." Mary said in a soft voice. Why was he smiling like that anyway?

"Sorry, sorry" He blathered. Why was he being so stupid? He was not a silly schoolboy anymore. He mentally slapped himself for his behaviour. "Are you ready?"

Mary nodded, so Matthew placed his hands on her waist. Instantly her mind started running wild. He was so, so close she realized. It certainly never felt like this when Lynch helped her. His hands were warm. It felt like, like a caress. If he wanted to he could just bend down and kiss her. No matter how wrong it would be, so terribly wrong, a part of her couldn't help but wish he would. She didn't know, but similar thoughts were going into Matthew's head.

"Mary" He whispered. "I'm going to lift you up."

And he did so. She recovered quickly enough from the "moment" she just had, to be able to settle herself properly on her horse.

"Here you go!" He said proud of himself.

"Thank you Matthew. You were indeed very helpful today." She tried to joke to cover up the whirlwind of thoughts and feelings going on inside of her.

She looked at him and smiled. As it only been an hour since she knocked on his door? She barely knew him still. They hadn't talked that much really. But she knew he could cook, knew he had a long, sad story locked up somewhere inside of him, and she knew that this man wouldn't hurt her, never. "Good bye Matthew."

"Good bye Mary." He responded before she ordered Diamond to walk.

He watched her go away for a little while, hoping that he would have the chance to see her again.

Mary pushed Diamond to go as fast as possible. They certainly all noticed she had been gone longer than she was supposed to at Downton. And knowing her mother, Mary knew that she must've been worried for a while now. About half a mile away from the big house Mary saw Lynch on his horse. He must have seen her too because he was coming right in her direction.

"Milady are you all right?" asked Lynch when he finally reached her.

"Yes, I am perfectly fine, thank you." Mary answered not stopping her horse.

"I'm glad to hear that milady. The Countess as been…" He tried to inform her but Mary already knew what he was going to say.

"Worried. Yes I know." And she also knew that there would be a hundred of questions to answer when she'll arrive.

When they reached the big house, Mary left Diamond to the good care of Lynch and went directly to the main entrance. Confirming her expectations, her mother was waiting for her on the other side, looking relieved to finally see her.

"Oh Mary darling! Here you are! Where have you been? Are you all right? Why didn't you take Lynch with you this morning?" Cora said very quickly taking Mary's hand in hers.

Mary rolled her eyes at her mother. "Hello mama. I'm glad to see you too. I'm all right and I'll tell you what happened when everyone will be there." Mary really didn't want to repeat the same story over and over again. Just like she didn't want to explain why she needed some time to herself that morning.

The Countess took Mary to the library where everyone was waiting. Her father, both of her sisters, even her granny was there. But she was pleased to see that James was not around. She sat down on one of the fluffy chairs, and told her family what had happened that day. Leaving a lot of details on the side. Making up a silly excuse to explain how she thought she would be able to manage without Lynch. She wanted the memories of this hour to belong to her, only her…and Matthew.

"Nice chap this Matthew Hartley." Her father interrupted her at one point. "Did he tell you that his mother was a Crawley from Manchester?" He inquired next.

"Are they related to us in any way?" Rapidly responded her granny Violet.

"No, I don't think they are. I've done some research but nothing came out of them." He said sadly. If there was something that Robert had learned over the past few years, it probably was that it was safer to have more than one heir on your list.

Mary was a bit taken aback. She didn't know all that. It felt strange somehow knowing is last name. Like it was not the same Matthew they were actually discussing. "No, I, I didn't know Papa." She finally answered.

"And what is he doing here?" asked Edith. Who seemed interested for the first time in Mary's story.

Robert was the first one the answer and Mary was glad about that. "Well, from what I understood, it seems that he lost his family in an accident and he wanted to see where his mother grew up." He paused then. "He is a lawyer you know, I guess the poor chap just needed some time for himself." Robert rationalized.

A lawyer, Mary repeated in her head. That would explain why he tried to know more about her problems. Why he wanted to help her… Wasn't it the job of a lawyer to get people out of bad situations? It made sense Mary thought. "If you'll excuse me, I think I'm going to rest for the remainder of the afternoon." She looked at her mother who nodded her approval and exited the room.

Thoughts were running a mile a minute in her head. Trying to analyse everything that had happened earlier that day. His eyes, his hands…Trying to integrate the new information to the equation. She definitely had lots of things to think about.