Page 103 of A Scandal for the Beastly Earl

"But we've only been married three months."

"And you've been enthusiastically married for all three months."

"That's not..."

"Please don't finish that sentence. I've seen you two. You can barely keep your hands off each other."

The door opened, and the physician emerged, smiling.

"Congratulations, Lord Blackthorn. Your wife is expecting."

The world tilted slightly. Lucien reached for the wall.

"Don't you dare faint too," Julian said. "One person fainting per family."

"I don't swoon."

"You're swaying."

"Strategic movement."

"Sit down before you fall down."

Lucien pushed past them both, entering the chamber to find Arabella propped up in bed, looking pale but radiant.

"So," she said, "apparently we're having a baby."

"Apparently?"

"Well, definitely. But apparently sounds less terrifying."

He crossed to her in three strides, pulling her into his arms. "You knew."

"I suspected."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I wasn't sure. And I didn't want to worry you if I was wrong."

"I'm your husband. Worrying about you is my primary occupation."

"I thought being a beast was your primary occupation."

"Reformed beast. The worrying comes with the reformation."

She laughed, then pulled back to look at him. "Are you happy?"

"Happy? Arabella, I'm..." He struggled for words. "I'm terrified and ecstatic and completely overwhelmed."

"So, happy?"

"Deliriously."

"Good. Because I think I'm going to be sick again."

"Still deliriously happy?" She asked after she came back from the bathroom.

"Completely."