A wealth of emotions cascaded over Clara as she stared up at her beautiful husband in the afternoon light that was pouring in the nursery window.
“I sent Quintina and Gillian away,” he added. “They will never have another opportunity to cause you pain. No one will if I can help it.”
He kissed her again until her lips were burning with need. She clutched at him, feeling as if all her dreams had come true. She did trust him. Deep in her soul, she knew he was the man she’d always believed him to be. Today, she had feared the worst. She had thought she would be heartbroken for the rest of her life, but he had pulled her out of that abyss and shown her what was real.
“Please know in your heart,” he said, “that I will never leave you, nor will I ever go back to the empty existence that was my wretched life before you walked into it. You are my whole world, Clara, and I love you with all my heart.”
She smiled and gazed into his fathomless green eyes, then wrapped her arms around his neck and cried tears of pure, perfect joy.
Epilogue
Three weeks later
Quintina entered the blue guestchamber—the room Gillian had taken at her brother’s home in Wales. A note lay on the dresser.
Dear Auntie,
I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I am leaving. I am going to America to marry Gordon Tucker because I have fallen in love with him. He is a handsome and exciting man, and he tells me I am pretty. I believe I have finally found true happiness.
Love,
Gillian
P.S. I took the diamond pendent that you lent me, as we were short of funds.
Quintina read the note twice, then sank onto a chair by the bed.No, no. No!Gillian could not have gone off with a prison convict. She could not have been so foolish! She could have married a duke or an earl!
What would Susan think if she were alive today? She would blame Quintina for not making things right, for not taking better control of her daughter.
Quintina buried her face in her hands and sobbed. She could not accept that her niece—her dead sister’s only child—was going to become an American!
Clara raised the covers for Seger to slide into bed beside her, and inched down cozy and warm. “I’ve been waiting for you for almost ten minutes. What took you so long?”
He smiled that rakish grin that she loved. “I wanted to make sure my robe was on straight and my hair was just right.”
“Why?” she asked in a coquettish voice. “It’s just me.”
“Just you? You are the center of the universe, my love.”
“Not for long,” she replied.
He gazed questioningly at her. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, there’s going to be a new center in our universe very soon. In about eight months to be exact.”
His eyes sparked with joy. “Are you sure?”
“Yes. I saw the doctor today.”
Seger gazed down at her flat stomach and rested his warm hand upon it. “A baby.”
“Yes, Seger. Our first child.”
He lowered his lips to hers. “I am the luckiest man on earth. You have made me so.”
“Just as you have made me the luckiest woman.”
Seger covered her body with his own and kissed her again, more deeply this time with full abandon. His hips thrust forth, gently but firmly, causing a sensuous arousal deep in her feminine core. She pressed her own hips forward and wrapped her legs around him.
