Page 85 of The Duke's Sinful Deal
Maxwell’s gaze remained on her, steady as before. “So am I.”
It was a small thing, the exchange, but it was hardly insignificant.
Arabella looked down briefly, then back up again, something thoughtful settling behind her expression. “We shall need to prepare for it,” she said. “If she invites us.”
“She will,” he said.
“Yes,” Arabella agreed. “She will.”
And though the prospect still carried a measure of unease, it no longer felt as though she would face it alone.
* * *
Maxwell did not leave the room immediately.
The conversation might have ended cleanly there, with nothing more required of either of them, but he remained where he was, his attention still resting on Arabella as she sat across from him. The tension that had filled the room earlier had softened, though it had not entirely dissolved. It had shifted into something quieter, less confrontational, but no less present.
He had seen her unsettled before. That was not new. What was new was the way she had steadied herself.
“You are scowling again,” she said, drawing him from it.
Maxwell’s gaze sharpened slightly. “Am I?”
“Yes, what are you thinking about this time?”
“About your sister, in part…” he started.
Arabella shifted in her seat, not withdrawing, but turning more fully toward him, her posture open in a way that suggested she did not intend to let the subject pass so easily. “And the rest?”
He did not answer at once.
There was no immediate reason to withhold it. Still, he found himself measuring the words before offering them. That, too, was new.
“The manner in which this arrangement appears,” he said at last. “To others.”
Arabella’s expression changed, subtly but distinctly. Not surprise, but recognition.
“Yes,” she said. “I had thought as much.”
Maxwell leaned back slightly, though his attention did not shift from her. “Your sister’s reaction was not unreasonable.”
Arabella inclined her head. “No.”
“It was direct,” he added. “But not without cause.”
“She has never been one to temper her opinions,” Arabella said, though there was no real criticism in it. Only familiarity.
Maxwell exhaled faintly. “She is correct in one respect,” he said. “We have given little reason for this to be understood as anything other than… expedient.”
The word settled between them, neither harsh nor inaccurate.
Arabella did not immediately respond. Her gaze dropped briefly to her hands before lifting again, thoughtful rather than defensive. “It was expedient,” she said. “At the time.”
“At the time,” Maxwell echoed.
There was a brief pause, though it did not fracture the conversation.
“And now?” she asked.
