Page 82 of A Scandal for the Beastly Earl

"What on earth?" Arabella opened it to find a complete morning dress in sapphire blue, along with a note.

"Pour la comtesse qui a conquis la bête," she read. "For the countess who conquered the beast."

"That is excessively direct," Lucien observed.

"There's more. 'Wear this when you call on society. Show them that love transforms everything, even beasts into princes.'"

"I was never a beast," Lucien protested.

"You were definitely beastly," Julian corrected. "Remember when you growled at the vicar?"

"He was trying to convince me to remarry. Six months after the fire."

"Still beastly."

"That was protective growling."

"Is there a difference?"

"Yes. Protective growling has noble intent."

"All growling is just growling," Arabella said, holding up the dress. "Oh, this is beautiful."

"Wear it to call on Lady Potts," Julian suggested. "Strike while the iron is hot."

"Today?"

"Why not? You've already conquered the worst. Cassandra's fled, society's curious rather than condemning, and you have a new dress. Seize the moment."

"What do you think?" Arabella asked Lucien.

He was quiet for a moment, clearly wrestling with his instincts. "I think," he said finally, "that my wife deserves to be seen in society as more than just the woman who tamed the beast."

"But I like being the woman who tamed the beast."

"You're the woman who dived into a lake for a dog. The taming was incidental."

"The taming was essential," she corrected, moving to perch on the arm of his chair. "Without it, I'd just be wet."

"You're frequently wet around water."

"And you're frequently irritable around people."

"I'm not irritable. I'm selectively social."

"That's what irritable people say."

"Would those people let their wives drag them to morning calls?"

"Are you letting me drag you to morning calls?"

"Apparently."

"You're going to make morning calls?" Julian asked with delight. "The Beast of Blackthorn is going to sit in drawing rooms and discuss the weather?"

"I draw the line at discussing the weather."

"What will you discuss then?"