Page 85

“No,” he said almost immediately, and he really did mean it.

“Then, why have you…?” She stopped, her brows furrowing with confusion. Then, she looked at the desk before looking squarely back at him. “Adam. Something has changed. You know it has.”

He came around the desk, stopping far enough from her that the question of distance was answered before she could raise it. He answered it nonetheless. “You have done nothing wrong,” he said. “I mean that.”

Juliet made a sound of frustration in her throat as she glared at him. “Then what is it?”

Adam could do nothing but look at her. She was truly magnificent, her chin lifted and eyes unwavering. Her knuckles were white where her fingers gripped the spine of the book.

“I think perhaps we became too comfortable,” he said. “Too quickly.”

Juliet gasped, her fingers tightening on the book. Adam looked away from her before he could see the emotions forming in her eyes.

“I think it would be better,” he continued, swallowing hard, “if we remembered why we married in the first place.”

She was quiet for a long while after he made that pronouncement, the only sounds intrusions from the world outside trying to invade the space—a cart moving past in the street, the fire clicking in the fireplace behind him.

He noticed when her chin came down one degree…saw the way her face went entirely still.

“I see,” she said, her voice even. Then she stepped back, and he opened his mouth, hoping to ease the jagged-edged silence between them.

“No.” She said it quietly. “You needn’t.” And she pulled the door closed before he could say another word.

He stood at his desk and did not move, telling himself it was the sensible thing. That Juliet deserved…That he was giving them both clarity, drawing a line before something irreversible happened.

Yet, her asking whether she had done something wrong echoed in his head many minutes after she’d left.

And he realized that maybe he could be cruel, too.

Because, of course, she had not done a single thing wrong…but that was exactly the reason why he couldn’t go after her now.

Juliet made it to her room before the tears came, and she let them come for about four minutes, long enough to establish that they wouldn't produce any useful result. Then she stopped, washed her face at the basin, and went back downstairs because Eloise wanted her reading hour, and Eloise had not done anything wrong.

No, it was her father who was being a rather stubborn dolt. Eloise was already settled in the armchair with the frog book open across her lap when Juliet came in, and she looked up with a bright expression.

“Did you know,” she said, without preamble, “that the smooth newt and the great crested newt are entirely different in temperament?”

At that, Juliet smiled. Every night, she found new reasons to laud her decision to take over Eloise’s nightly reading hour from her governess. Not only did the poor woman get to rest more now, but Juliet also got to see her daughter’s bright smile night after night.

Your daughter?

The thought nearly gave her pause, because it quickly clashed with Adam’s cruel words. “I think it would be better if we remembered why we married in the first place.”

No. Juliet pushed the thought aside before it could overwhelm her, and focused on the adorable child in front of her. Come what may, Eloise was her daughter, as well.

“I did not,” Juliet said, settling onto the footstool beside her and arranging her face into attentiveness. “Tell me.”

And so Eloise did, at considerable length, too. “The great crested newt,” Eloise began, her finger on the illustration, “is considerably larger. And its markings are far more dramatic.”

“How dramatic?” Juliet said.

“It has a crest. Along its back, in the breeding season. The smooth newt has none.” She turned the page with some authority. “The smooth newt is small. But,” she held up one finger, “do not let that mislead you. It is entirely confident for its size.”

“A confident newt,” Juliet said. “Admirable.”

“I think so too.” Eloise moved her finger down the page. “They also prefer different habitats. The great crested newt requires larger ponds with good water quality and sufficient aquatic vegetation. The smooth newt is less demanding.”

“Easier to please, then.”