Page 78 of A Scandal for the Beastly Earl

"It builds resistance to poison, maybe."

They bickered gently, the kind of comfortable disagreement that came from security rather than discord. Then, Lucien said, "we should write to your mother tomorrow. Tell her about tonight."

"She'll want all the details."

"Then we'll give them to her. Well, most of them. She doesn't need to know about the fountain incident."

"What fountain incident?"

"Julian may have pushed Lord Potts into a fountain on our way out."

"What? Why?"

"Potts made a comment about you. Something about lake-dwelling creatures and their natural habitats."

"And Julian pushed him into a fountain?"

"With remarkable efficiency. Then he said, 'now you're in your natural habitat too' and walked away."

"I love Julian."

"He's a good friend," Lucien agreed. "Even if he does make charts about my social interactions."

"The charts worked."

"The charts were colour-coded, Arabella. No man should colour-code another man's emotional responses."

"But did they work?"

"...Yes."

She laughed, curling closer to him. Outside, she could hear a storm building—not like the one that had first brought them together physically, but a gentle rain that pattered against the windows like applause.

"Are you happy?" she asked.

"Ridiculously so."

"Even though your life is no longer ordered and peaceful?"

"Especially because of that. Order is overrated."

They lay in comfortable silence for a moment, then Lucien said, "Cassandra won't give up, you know. Tonight was just her opening salvo."

"Then we'll be ready for whatever comes next."

"We?"

"Always we. That's what marriage means."

"I thought it meant joint ownership of a criminal dog."

"That too."

Thistle, hearing himself referenced, made a contented noise and somehow managed to claim even more of the bed.

"He's going to push us onto the floor eventually," Lucien observed.

"Probably."