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Yes. That was what this was. He was embarrassed, she thought.

Eliza knew what she had seen, and she would not let that burst her little bubble of hope.

"Second, did your father explain the terms of our arrangement to you?" he said.

His gaze remained cold, pinning her in place until she felt incapable of moving, so she managed only the smallest nod in response to his question.

"Repeat them to me," he commanded, as though she were one of his soldiers and he required confirmation of their orders.

"You offered a marriage bargain. You wanted a wife of mutual convenience. You wanted her to be of childbearing age and of good character in exchange for twenty thousand pounds," she managed breathlessly, never taking her eyes off his.

"And forgive me for not knowing the extent of your education, Duchess."

It was not what she had asked him to call her. Yet somehow, and she would never admit it aloud, but the way Duchess rolled from his tongue still pleased her.

"Do you understand what the words mutual convenience mean?" Arthur questioned.

She nodded. Gods, did he think her an idiot? She may not have had the benefit of a paid education, but she prided herself on being knowledgeable.

Watching her nod, he continued.

"So you will be aware, then, that this is not a love match. I am not going to fall for your charms. I do not require you to edge your seat closer to me at breakfast, lunch, or dinner; I will not be pausing to engage you at midday for idle chitchat about the weather, and I will certainly not be whispering sweet nothings in your ear, no matter how much your eyes seem to beg me for it."

She swallowed.

Heavens help her, was she really that transparent? Eliza had never tried to hide how she felt, but she had thought herself capable of keeping at least a few secrets. It was mortifying enough that he had seen her hopes for them as clear as day upon her face. Worse still, he had rejected them.

The little bubble of hope she had carried over from her incident with the stables seemed to shrink ever so slightly, and her chest tightened.

"I did not mean to offend," she said quietly. "I simply assumed you were worried about me."

For the first time, she tore her eyes away from his and looked down at her hands, twisting the bed linen between her fingers. When heard aloud, the words sounded humiliatingly desperate.

Perhaps she had imagined it after all. She did not know this man. How could she possibly presume to know what he felt? He had known her scarcely a day and could hardly have come to care for her already.

She had thought, rather naively, she now realised, that she would make swift progress with their arrangement. That they might even become friends, then lovers and then, by the end of the month, they would resemble a true husband and wife.

Apparently, she had been sorely mistaken.

"It was not a worry for you," the Duke said.

Silence.

"It was a worry for the investment I had made."

The words settled between them like a weight, pressing the air from her lungs. She did not dare look up. In fact, for a moment, she found herself unable to do so. If her face truly were as transparent as he claimed, he would see exactly how deeply those words had struck her.

She knew it was plausible. One glance at Winworth House proved that the Duke was immensely wealthy. Still, she had known of wealthy families squandering entire fortunes in a single generation, leading them to move to towns like Windleham just to survive. The Duke must have worked incredibly hard to preserve what wealth he had, and she was simply another investment he needed to protect.

One that had cost twenty thousand pounds.

She winced as her chest tightened; whether from the fall or the ache of her own humiliation, she could not tell.

"Understood, Arthur," she said quietly, still unable to meet his eyes.

With that, she felt a shift in the mattress, and his hands left the mattress. He was no longer leaning over her, but he was still standing at the foot of the bed. This whole encounter left her with more questions than answers, and she couldn't help herself. It was in her nature, and she had no desire to misunderstand him again.

So she steadied her voice enough to ask the question that had been lingering in her mind.