Page 58 of Married to a Frozen Duke

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"Just drunks," Alexander said.

"Or highwaymen come to rob us all."

"They'd be disappointed. I have three and six to my name."

"Three and six? The mighty Duke of Montclaire has three and six?"

"I had three shillings and sixpence. The room cost two shillings."

"So you're poorer than most of the merchants downstairs."

"Temporarily."

"Still. How the mighty have fallen."

"Are you enjoying this?"

"A little bit."

"You're enjoying my misery?"

"I'm enjoying that you're human. You've seemed rather above such petty concerns before."

"I've never been inhuman."

"Haven't you? You proposed to me like I was a business contract."

"You were a business contract."

"I was a person."

"You were both."

"But you only saw the contract."

He couldn't deny it. "And now?"

"Now you're lying in an inn bed wearing a borrowed shirt with one shilling and sixpence to your name."

"Your point?"

"You're almost a person too."

"Almost?"

"Well, you're still rather stiff."

"I'm lying in bed with a woman I barely know."

"Your wife."

"My wife whom I barely know."

"We could fix that."

"How?"

"By talking. Like we're doing now."

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