Page 76 of The Earl’s Marriage of Convenience

“Continue to look at me,” Edwin murmured. “In case he glances back.”

She nodded, tightening her hold on his arm.

“Thank you,” she said softly. “Your words were … kind. He will find some peace in them, I think.”

She wanted that to be true.

Needed it to be.

“He cared,” Edwin said quietly. “But not soon enough.”

Yes.

There it was.

The reasoning. The structure. The justification.

She had already told herself the same.

That he had hesitated. That he had not acted. That he had allowed the moment to pass.

That she had simply … moved forward.

It was not untrue.

But neither was it the whole of it.

“Yes,” she said. “You are right.”

The lie—and the truth—sat side by side between them.

“Even this,” she added thoughtfully, “will spread. One or two witnesses are all it requires. Such moments are always embellished.”

“And remembered,” Edwin said.

She did not answer.

Some things were remembered whether one wished them to be or not.

They continued walking.

Step for step.

Perfectly aligned.

And once more—

They performed.

*

At Rotten Row, she felt the shift again—the attention, the glances, the quiet speculation.

She ignored it.

Instead, she turned her focus entirely to Edwin.

She let her gaze soften.