Both of them had the good grace to blush and she nodded, and glanced from her mother to Edward. “Won’t you please come in, Edward?” As she stepped forward to close the door behind him as she did so, she made the introductions.

“Momma, this is Mr. Edward Masen. Mr. Masen, this is my mother, Mrs. Sarah Ward.”

Edward took of his hat and held it in the same hand as the bouquet of flowers and extended his hand to Mrs. Ward. “Pleasure to meet you, ma’am.”

Her mother smiled, shook his hand, and gave him a warm smile. “It’s a pleasure to meet you too, Edward. Elizabeth, why don’t you show Mr. Ward to the sitting room and I’ll have Bessie send in some refreshments?”

Her mother walked off in the direction the maid had disappeared and stifled a giggle. Elizabeth and Edward were staring at each other again.

It took her a moment to realize she was just standing there and she flushed. “Please, come in. Have a seat.”

She showed him to the living room and sat down with a smile as she whispered, “I was afraid you wouldn’t come.”

He blinked at that and looked confused, “Why wouldn’t I?” Though, the answer seemed to occur to him as soon as the question left his lips and he continued, “I’ve been waiting around all morning waiting for it to be an appropriate time for me to call. The park across the street is quite lovely.”

It was obvious he was nervous. In addition to the blush that tinted his cheeks he was absently hitting the bouquet of flowers against his knee.

She let her gaze wander to the flowers and she tried to hide her smile by worrying her lower lip. He followed her gaze and turned a bright crimson color as he realized what he was doing and he held out the now thoroughly damaged bouquet. “These are for you.”

With a soft smile she took the flowers and sniffed at them delicately. “Thank you.” She let her eyes linger on the flowers as she whispered, “I was anxious for your visit, too.”

She got enough courage to peek up at him at her confession and he grinned brightly at her and chuckled a bit as he made a confession of his own. “I’ve been at the park since before breakfast.”

Before anything else could be said, Bessie, the maid, brought in a tray holding some cookies and lemonade. The young girl smiled at them both and nodded when Elizabeth thanked her.

When the maid was gone she held out the whole plate of cookies to him. “You must be hungry then.”

He laughed a bit as he took a cookie and just held it in his hands as he nodded. “Yes, I was too nervous to eat.”

Giving him a speculative look she tilted her head as she asked, “Nervous?”

He nodded and smiled softly at her. “I thought I had dreamt our meeting in the gardens last night. After all, I was dancing with an angel.

Blushing she smiled and answered, “I thought it was a dream, too.”

He gave her a crooked smile, winked, and started to nibble on the cookie.