Page 82 of The Earl’s Marriage of Convenience

“Then we have secured another voice in our favor,” she said smoothly. “Well done. It would seem we have resolved several matters at once,” she added.

“Loose ends,” he said.

“Important ones.”

“What loose ends?” Hawthorne asked as he took his seat.

“Lord Humford has been satisfied,” Edwin replied. “And Lady Molly’s reputation remains untouched—which was, I believe, a priority.”

Eliza inclined her head in quiet agreement.

There was a brief pause.

Not awkward—

But not entirely easy either.

“Lady Molly will be spared unnecessary speculation,” Eliza said at last, her tone composed, though softer than before. “That is … something.”

“Yes,” Edwin replied.

A beat.

“She deserved better than uncertainty,” he added, more quietly. “At the very least, she shall not be made a subject of it.”

Eliza’s fingers tightened slightly about the stem of her glass. “And Lord Langshire,” she said, almost as an afterthought—though not quite.

The room stilled, just perceptibly.

Edwin did not immediately answer. “There was no clean path,” he said at last.

“No,” she agreed.

But agreement did not ease it.

For a moment, neither of them spoke.

Then Eliza lifted her glass, the movement graceful, controlled—as though nothing at all had shifted beneath the surface.

“We have done what was necessary,” she said.

It was not justification.

But it would serve.

Edwin inclined his head. “We have.”

As she lifted her wineglass, Edwin found his attention drawn—unbidden—to the faint stain of color it left upon her lips.

It deepened their warmth.

Made her eyes appear brighter.

He looked away.

“Was that the extent of your adventures?” she asked lightly.

“For today,” he replied. “Even I have limits.”