Page 46 of A Scandal for the Beastly Earl

"Especially last night. I'm supposed to be a proper lady."

"You are a proper lady. You're also my wife. The two aren't mutually opposed."

"Aren't they?"

He stopped walking, turning to face her. "Arabella, what happened between us... there's nothing improper about it. Perhaps unexpected, certainly unplanned, but not improper."

"Even though we agreed..."

"Agreements can be renegotiated."

"Is that what we're doing? Renegotiating?"

"I don't know what we're doing," he admitted. "But I know I don't regret it."

Before she could respond, Jane appeared from the direction of the rose suite, carrying an armload of clothing.

"My lady! I was just coming to look for you. Your morning dress is laid out, and..." She stopped, taking in Arabella's attire and location. "Oh. Oh, I see. Shall I.....Would you prefer…?"

"I'll be there shortly, Jane."

"Yes, my lady." Jane bobbed a curtsey and fled, but not before Arabella caught her delighted grin.

"By noon, the entire household will know," Arabella sighed.

"Good. Maybe they'll stop looking at us like we're about to murder each other."

"Have they been doing that?"

"You haven't noticed? Every meal, Morrison watches us like he's expecting bloodshed."

"That's just his face."

"No, his normal face is disapproving. His worried face involves more eyebrow."

Arabella laughed despite herself. "You've made a study of Morrison's eyebrows?"

"There's not much else to do in the evenings when one is avoiding one's wife."

"Were you? Avoiding me?"

"Desperately. You're very difficult to ignore."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"You should."

They reached her chambers, and she paused at the door. "I should dress. Face the day. Deal with whatever Thistle has destroyed in our absence."

"Our absence," he repeated. "I like the sound of that."

"Don't get too comfortable with it. This might have been a one-time aberration."

"Was it?"

She looked at him, this man she'd married in haste and was apparently repenting at leisure; though repenting seemed the wrong word for what they'd done last night.

"I don't know," she said honestly. "Can we take it day by day?"