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She stared blankly at her sister, unable to comprehend where this was coming from. And what it all meant.

Louisa just doesn’t understand! That is why.

“I am sorry you feel that way.” Isabella stood up, doing her best to ignore her sister’s tears because she was starting to feel angry. Even manipulated. “Truly, I am. But your preconceptions about my relationship with Duncan are wrong.” She strode from the bed and to the doorway, pausing in it so she could look back at her sister. “For the first time Duncan and I are getting along. And rather than celebrate that with me, you choose to be petty. You think so little of my husband, perhaps you should look at yourself.”

A final glare at her sister’s head, a pause because she wanted Louisa to turn around and apologize – she did not like fighting with her sister.

But Louisa did no such thing, leaving Isabella to storm out, furious in ways she had not felt in weeks.

Most of it was for her sister, as was deserved. But it was later, as she began to calm down on the carriage ride home, that Isabella wondered if maybe the reason that she was so angry was because her sister’s words had struck just a little too close for her liking.

Yes, she and Duncan were close right now. And yes, they were happy and thriving. But among it all, Isabella had wondered from time to time if it might last. If such a thing was possible? Was Duncan just one bad day away from snapping and turning back into his true form? And was Isabella just one day or boredom away from provoking it?

She had never wanted to marry in the first place.

Duncan was not the kind, caring, even softly spoken man whom he had been at pains to portray himself as these last five days.

Eventually, something in this relationship was going to give. There would be a breaking point, a test that would force their true selves to the fore once more. And when that happened, what would become of this marriage?

Would they take it in stride and grow from it, proving that they were in fact meant to be together?

Or would it shatter their reality and be the final straw that broke them apart once and for all?

Chapter Twenty-Eight

"Are you really saying no to me?” Isabella laughed softly as she traced a finger on Duncan’s chest. “You were quick to say yes a few moments ago.”

Duncan laughed. “Under very different circumstances.”

“Still...” She leaned over and pressed soft kisses all over his upper body. This had Duncan moaning as sparks of pleasure rolled through his chest and across his body.

“You really want me to say yes, don’t you?”

“Is it that obvious?” she grinned as her teeth grazed over his pec. Then she slowly pulled back, Duncan gasped, and she let go.

“Personally, I am surprised that you’re so eager to go,” Duncan continued, wiggling back slightly so that his nipples were out of reach of Isabella’s mouth. “And so pushy.”

She gasped. “Who did you just call pushy?”

“The person who is pushing me, is who.”

“Fair.” She wiggled up closer, this time resting her head on his chest. Then, her fingers began to trace over his nipple once more. “But I thought it might be fun? And when I mentioned it a few days ago...”

“I never said I wanted to go.”

“But you didn’t say that you did not want to, either.” She pushed herself up on her elbow and raised an eyebrow at him. “Which I naturally took as an acquiescence.”

“Are you going to fight me on this?”

“Only if you make me.”

Duncan grimaced. “Isabella, I really, really am not so sure --”

“It will be fun,” she cut him off. “And besides, I told my sister and mother that we are going so if we do not, that will make me a liar. You wouldn’t make me a liar, would you?”

He groaned. “Why did you tell them we were going before asking me?”

She shrugged. “What are you going to do about it?”