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Arabella shot Edward a worried glance. “He was just out here. Is he feeling all right?”

Herbert nodded. “He is all right, My Lady. He… he had to go back, as he forgot a prior commitment. He requires your presence for a brief moment.”

“We will join him then,” Arabella said.

Edward could hear the nervousness in her voice.

The three of them walked back to the estate in utter silence, Herbert staying several feet behind them. They made their way up the stairs.

“What was your plan, Lady Arabella?” Edward asked quietly.

“It was desperate, Your Grace.”

“Tell me,” he urged, his hand coming up to lightly grip her elbow.

This surprised both of them. They had not touched since the previous night, and doing so was not appropriate.

She glanced around, her expression shifting. Though she looked worried, she also came off as sweet. Her small nose reddened. Edward noticed this a few times when she had appeared worried before.

“I had hoped we could just pretend to court,” she whispered.

“Pretend?” Edward echoed.

“I thought that if the ton were to find out, then it might have worked, but…” she trailed off.

“Lady Arabella, this could end in marriage if we’re not careful,” Edward warned, his crushing anxiety making his voice shaky.

“That’s why I said it was rather desperate. If it comes down to marriage, perhaps we would just enjoy the freedoms that come with it. We don’t need to act in love.”

“Lady Arabella, surely you do not think I was jesting when I said I didn’t want to marry.”

“I did not think you were jesting. I just?—”

“Then please do not put those cards on the table.”

“I’m only saying so because I’m trying to help you adjust to the fact that it is a possibility.” She glared at him.

He looked at her thoughtfully, wondering how many times she had never been taken seriously.

They were standing before the door to Lord Thorne’s study now, both of them itching to walk away and pretend they never got the message to see him. Arabella was the first to act. She rapped at the heavy wooden door so softly that Edward barely heard it.

“Come in,” the Earl’s stern voice called out from behind the door.

They both pushed open the door, only to be greeted by a clearly agitated Lord Thorne.

“Please make yourselves comfortable. Both of you.” He pointed to two chairs in from of his grand red mahogany desk.

“Brother—”

“Ara, please keep quiet and let me speak,” Lord Thorne ordered through heavy, harsh breaths.

Arabella immediately closed her mouth.

Lord Thorne slowly rounded his desk and stopped before them, leaning against the edge of the desk.

“I have heard a rather unsettling rumor this morning,” he began slowly, shooting Edward a rather cold glare.

It was Edward’s mistake anyway, so he had accepted he’d get the brunt of the Earl’s ire.