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She glanced up at her brother, his brooding eyes softening considerably once the Duke left the room.

“Ara, is what you said true? Are you actually in love with the Duke?” Leonard asked, sitting down and folding his arms on the desk.

Arabella felt her face flush as she lied. “Yes. I was not expecting to be swept off my feet that quickly.”

Leonard took a moment, studying her face. “I thought you said you could not fall in love again, and now you have fallen this hard this fast. I have to think something is not adding up here.”

Arabella furrowed her brow in frustration. Why couldn’t he just believe her? Men were used to women falling in love immediately, so why was it so hard for him to believe this?

“Well, I guess that’s manly wisdom you think you have over me,” she snarled, immediately regretting speaking to him like that. “I’m sorry, Leo. There has been a lot going on this last day. My emotions are a bit frazzled.”

“I understand, Sister. I am happy for you, though. I had always hoped you would find a love match,” Leonard said, his voice soft, but his gaze still a little wary.

Arabella felt like she could cry. Once, she too would have preferred a love match if she were to have it her way. But she would not.

“Me too,” she mumbled.

* * *

The wedding preparations swiftly began. Edward had gone to the local church, which was located not too far from the Thorne estate to obtain a special license, since they wanted to marry so soon.

The family had questioned Arabella on the lack of the Duke’s excitement, but she’d played it off as him being busy with other things. She could understand, but she had begun to see the brighter side of this predicament. Once they were married, they would be expected to spend the first several months together, as was customary. After that, she figured they could live separately.

After all, marriage was only a contract.

She had also begun thinking of how her family’s financial troubles may be alleviated greatly. She remembered that Sarah had told her that their family’s finances had been struggling since their father was alive, but now that she was getting married to one of the wealthiest dukes in Britain and would be joining his family, they could be saved from ruin.

“Ara, I cannot believe you are to wed the Duke,” her younger sister, Madeline, said to her the following afternoon as they sat in the drawing room.

“I, too, am surprised that I am to be married,” Arabella replied, a small smile tugging at her lips.

She hated that she was enjoying the preparations and the thought of her family’s safety, as she knew the Duke did not have anything to gain from the marriage. Just the loss of his freedom.

“You surprised us all,” Sarah chimed in from the sofa. She was crocheting something Arabella couldn’t quite make out.

“Do you truly love him, Sister?” Madeline asked with equal amounts of innocent wonder and slight disgust.

Arabella swallowed hard. “I do.”

“I hope I find a love match one day, though the idea of marriage also makes me quite ill,” Madeline cooed, her eyes glimmering.

“Madeline, that is quite enough,” Sarah chided, although she was struggling to hold in a giggle. “Why don’t you go ahead and take the dogs out? I need to speak to our sister in private.”

“Ugh,” Madeline huffed. “Fine. But I want to know the details later.”

She pointed at her eyes and then at Arabella, then waltzed out the drawing room door.

Arabella gave Sarah awhat is going on?look.

“I have to ask after our conversation last night, is there something else going on with this wedding?” Sarah asked, setting her crocheting down. “I would love to fully believe that you have found a love match. But I know that you were firm in your stance.”

Arabella laughed nervously but struggled to get any words out again. She wanted to tell her sister everything. She knew she could trust her because she never went to Leonard or anybody else after their talk in the hedge garden.

“I know that this is the right decision for me.” She smiled, masking her nerves as best as she could. “It’s more than a love match, Sister.”

It’s everything but.

“But you only met yesterday,” Sarah pointed out.