Page 30 of The Earl’s Marriage of Convenience

Pere laughed softly. “Yes,” Pere said. “We expect him this afternoon.”

Anna leaned forward. “And does he meet all your requirements?”

Edwin’s attention sharpened. “Requirements?” he repeated.

Eliza flushed slightly. “I regret ever mentioning that.”

“A list,” Anna supplied.

Edwin’s brows lifted.

A list.

He found himself more intrigued than he ought.

“I imagine,” Eliza said carefully, “it is not so very different from what any lady might hope for. Kindness. Integrity. Honesty—”

“Wealth,” Edwin interjected.

She stilled.

“Influence. Connections,” he continued, leaning back. “And perhaps a disposition inclined toward … compliance?”

Her eyes flashed. “Quite the opposite,” she said, her tone sharpening despite her composure. “Though I imagine that is a preference more commonly found on a gentleman’s list.”

“Is it?”

She met his gaze directly now. “A gentleman might prefer a wife who is agreeable, soft-spoken, and unlikely to challenge him. One who has not yet had the opportunity to form too many independent opinions. Fortune and name would, of course, be considered essential.”

There was nothing softened in the way she said it.

Nothing rehearsed.

It was wholly unvarnished.

And Edwin found, to his surprise, that he did not dislike it.

“Do not retreat now, Lady Eliza,” he said quietly. “You have only just begun.”

“I did not—”

“Yes,” he said, cutting her off, “you did.”

A brief silence settled between them, charged with something neither entirely named.

“And I find that I do not object to it.”

Their gazes held, and in that moment, there was a clear and mutual recognition—not merely of what the other was doing, but of what lay beneath it. It was not entirely comfortable, but it was undeniably real, and for that reason it carried a strange and unexpected appeal.

“You are not incorrect,” he said after a moment. “Such qualities would certainly appeal to a gentleman seeking stability. Much as a lady might seek to secure her future.”

Her expression flickered, though she recovered quickly.

“Then we understand one another,” she said.

“Yes,” he replied. “We do.” Edwin became dimly aware that the room had gone rather quiet.

His family was watching with a degree of attention that suggested they had observed more than he had intended to reveal.