Page 122 of A Duchess for his Family

Years of discipline saved him. He completed the turn without the smallest outward hesitation.

“What precisely are you asking?”

“Whether we shall continue performing happiness for everyone else while avoiding one another in our own home.” Sophia kept smiling as the dance carried them past another couple. “You hardly speak to me unless someone else is present. You spend your days in the study and whenever we are alone, you find some reason not to remain so.”

Benedict felt every word precisely because she spoke without accusation.

“You are imagining intention where there is only circumstance.”

“No.” Her gaze met his. “I know the difference between your silence and your absence, Benedict. Lately, you have given me both.”

He understood, and that understanding forced him to look away first. The music carried them forward. He felt the warmth of the ballroom against his collar, the pressure of her hand, the faint scent of roses in her hair.

She waited. He knew Sophia would wait indefinitely if necessary. Her patience was often more difficult to resist than another person’s anger.

“What are you asking me?” he said at last.

The dance brought them closer. Sophia looked up at him.

“I am asking whether this is what our marriage will be.”

He understood. Of course he understood.

Benedict felt the old instinct rise immediately.

Make the matter clear. Define it. Contain it.

“There has been no change in our marriage.”

Sophia’s lips parted slightly. “That is not true.”

“It is.”

“Then perhaps the change is only in you.”

The accuracy of it struck hard.

Benedict kept his expression composed. “Sophia, you have always known what this marriage was.”

Her gaze did not leave his. “Have I?”

“Yes.” The word came too firmly. He softened his voice. “It was an arrangement.”

Sophia’s face became very still.

“For Amelia and Marjorie,” he continued. “That was why I proposed it. That was why you accepted.”

“I know.”

“We agreed upon the terms before we married.”

“I remember.”

“You wished the marriage to remain in name only.”

The faintest flush touched her cheeks. Benedict hated himself for mentioning it here. He continued anyway because stopping would be worse. Hhhhhhhggh“That was your rule, Sophia.”

For one moment, something almost like hurt crossed her face. Then she smiled as the dance required them to pass another couple. Anyone watching would have thought Benedict had whispered some private affection. Only he heard her answer.