Page 175 of A Scandal for the Beastly Earl

He nodded, his fingers absently tracing the rim of his teacup. "This is actually our third meeting."

Lucien leaned forward, one brow arched. "The village encounters?"

"And once at the Potts’ ball last month," James added, glancing briefly toward Cordelia.

Arabella frowned, setting down her cup with a soft clink. "We weren’t at the Potts’ ball."

"No," James said mildly, "but Cordelia was. With her friend Miss Finch."

Lucien’s chair scraped lightly against the floor as he sat up straighter. "You went to a ball without us?" he demanded, his voice rising in mock outrage.

Cordelia’s lips twitched. "You hate balls!" she reminded him.

"I hate attending them," Lucien countered, gesturing expansively. "I don’t hate knowing about them."

Arabella groaned. "That makes no sense."

"It makes perfect sense," Lucien said with confidence.

"It makes Lucien sense," Arabella corrected dryly, tapping her spoon against the saucer. "Which is different from regular sense."

"Still sense," Lucien muttered.

"Barely sense."

"My sense."

Arabella threw up her hands. "Which explains everything."

They began to bicker in the easy, practised way of people who had been doing it for years, their voices rising and falling in rhythm. James and Cordelia exchanged a glance over the noise; a shared look that clearly said this is normal, just let them tire themselves out.

"So," James said finally, seizing a pause in the argument, "I hear there was a fire."

"Three fires," Lucien corrected immediately, leaning back and folding his arms. "All deliberately set."

“It was eventful,” Arabella said with a laugh that was half incredulous, half proud. "I gave birth during it!"

James blinked. "During the fire?"

"Immediately after," she said, waving a hand as if brushing aside the absurdity of it. "The stress brought on labour."

"That’s..." James began.

"Chaotic?" Arabella supplied before he could finish. "Yes. Everything with us is."

"I was going to say brave," he said, smiling faintly.

"Or foolish," Lucien suggested under his breath.

"Brave," James insisted. "Definitely brave."

Lucien smirked. "Like diving into a lake for a dog?"

"I heard it was more of a fall," James said, eyes glinting.

"It was a dive!" Lucien corrected.

Matilda chose that moment to wake from her nap with a cry that suggested the world was ending.