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“Now you’re not sure you want the divorce.”

She nodded with a sigh.

“I just… He makes me feel so… I’m so confused,” she admitted. “There’s this uncomfortable fluttering in my belly that makes me feel like I’m going to throw up, and my heart pounds when he’s near. At the same time, he makes me feel so angry and so afraid. It feel so many things at once that I can’t help but feel perhaps there’s something wrong with me.”

“You haven’t still told me what happened between you this afternoon to make you blush so,” Joana probed. “I can’t help you if you don’t tell me everything.”

Arabella wondered if it was proper to discuss such intimate things with an unwed lady.

“We…we kissed.” She blushed.

It wasn’t a lie, but it was all she was ready to admit.

“And? Did you like it?” Joana asked as they started up the stairs.

“Oh, Joana, it was wonderful,” Arabella gushed. “I felt… I felt like I was floating. It was so very magical.”

“So you love him, then?”

Arabella froze. Did she love Edward?

Yes, she loved his little, lopsided smiles, which twisted her insides in a knot, and his full grins, which made him look even more handsome. She loved how he would throw his head back and laugh loudly, boisterously.

She loved how he listened to her jokes and the odd jokes he made himself. She loved how he worried he’d hurt any woman and loved how he’d been honest about his past.

Most of all, she loved…

“I… I don’t know… Do I love him?”

“It is possible you have come to love him,” Joana mused. “What do you think?”

Arabella thought back to how he’d chosen to marry her to save her from ruin and how he’d gotten angry on her behalf when she’d told him about the Duke of Green. She thought of how much she wanted them to have children of their own someday that they’d both try to escape from when they were tired.

“I guess I am in love with him.” She laughed as a heavy weight lifted off her chest. “I can’t wait to tell him tomorrow. Oh, I?—”

Pain suddenly burst inside her as she registered a sharp blow to the back of her head. Her legs gave out, and she landed hard on the edge of the step she’d been about to climb.

“What…” Black spots dotted her vision as she tried to process the pain racking her body.

“Jo…” she tried to call out, but she turned to see the woman glaring down at her with so much hatred.

“He…”

Help, she wanted to call out, but she couldn’t get the words out as she finally fell unconscious.

ChapterSixteen

Edward tried not to stare at Arabella as she walked away, but it was hard with the way her hips swayed. He couldn’t believe how their relationship had transformed so quickly, couldn’t believe he’d found himself so at ease with a woman that he’d been in no hurry to take his pleasure.

He remembered how she’d sounded as she’d come apart in his arms and the sweet taste of her, and desire began to simmer in his veins again.

They’d talked about staying married, but he couldn’t help but wonder if she was having second thoughts, as she’d asked if they could discuss it on the morrow.

He’d been honest with her about his feelings and felt a twinge of fear that she’d only said what she said in the heat of the moment and was fast regretting her words.

He led their horses to the stables and handed them to the stable master, trying not to let the dark thoughts weigh him down, but it was a difficult feat, considering how deep she was imprinted in his mind and heart.

He considered how loudly she’d laughed when he’d teased her and her soft smiles when she wanted to say something she was afraid to admit. She’d made it easy for him to open up to her, and now that he had, he couldn’t help but worry he’d handed her his heart too quickly.