Quintina put her arm around her distraught niece and led her toward her boudoir. “Don’t worry, my dear. Dry your eyes. I will handle this. I have an English acquaintance—a woman currently abroad in America. She will be a useful connection in New York. Everything will work out just fine. You’ll see. Now let us go and fix your hair. From now on, you must always look your best. Come, we will talk about what you will need to do next.”
Clara entered Rawdon House with James and Sophia, and handed her cloak over to the butler. She looked up at the crystal chandelier over her head in the entryway, and the numerous, large family portraits that lined the wall up the wide, carpeted staircase. It was difficult to believe this was going to be her home one day, when she became Seger’s wife.
Never in her life had she imagined such a future for herself, certainly not when she was a child living in Wisconsin, where stories of princes and dukes and duchesses with coronets on their heads were just fairy tales.
Then, after what had occurred two years ago just after Sophia had married James, Clara believed her future was doomed forever. She never expected to marry a man she adored. She’d expected to have very little choice in the matter and consider herself lucky if anyone was willing to take her on. Or she had expected not to marry at all.
But two years had passed, and that particular time in her life seemed like a distant memory. She could barely even picture Gordon’s face in her mind. Thank goodness she had been able to move on.
Clara walked with Sophia and James upstairs to the drawing room. She continued to gaze at the portraits on the second floor. Everyone was very grand. Her belly quivered suddenly at the daunting notion of becoming part of a family such as this.
She followed the butler toward the double doors of the drawing room and tried not to feel intimidated. Instead, she focused on the simple fact that in the very near future, she would share a bed with Seger and it would all be perfectly respectable.
That was the best part in all this. She would not need to worry about being ruined. In fact, it would be her duty to let him “ruin” her. She could hardly wait.
The butler showed them into the drawing room where Lady Rawdon stood by the window, and her niece, who Clara remembered from the assembly, sat by the fireplace. She stood, however, when they all walked in.
“Your Grace,” Lady Rawdon said, turning toward James with a warm smile. She approached and greeted each of them, then invited them to sit down.
The woman’s gracious manner and her amiable welcome caused a whole slew of Clara’s apprehensions to fall away. She found herself smiling in return as she shook hands with Gillian, realizing that this shy young woman was her future cousin by marriage.
Just then, Seger appeared in the doorway. Clara’s heart tumbled over itself at the mere sight of him looking so handsome in the light from a wall sconce next to him. He wore a formal black jacket and white waistcoat. His face was pure perfection—all fine lines and classical elegance. But beyond his physical beauty, he possessed a free and open disposition that was such a large part of his extraordinary charisma. In this era of restraint and sexual repression, he was quite the opposite. He exuded an offer of pleasure and laughter.
That, perhaps, was what made people uncomfortable around him. He drew attention. He was extreme in his pursuit of gratification, and he made women think lustful thoughts. Perhaps they worried that it showed. Perhaps they felt their cheeks flushing with desires for this, that, and everything, and they feared the whole world would know it.
Seger’s gaze fell upon her, and he smiled. “Clara.”
All her senses came alive at the husky sound of his voice and the fierce intensity in his eyes as he entered and approached her, kissed her hand, then greeted James and Sophia. He was so suave and irresistible that he took her breath away.
Oh, she hoped Mrs. Gunther had been wrong about him. Clara prayed she was not making a serious mistake, agreeing to marry a man who would have the power to break her heart into a million pieces, because she adored him so much and he was not so ardent in his affections.
He had told her he wouldtryto be faithful.Try.
How hard would he try?
A footman entered the room and brought a tray of champagne around. Clara gratefully accepted a glass.
They all stood and talked about wedding plans and about Clara’s family: when they would be able to travel to London, where Clara planned to purchase her wedding gown, and other topics related to the upcoming nuptials.
“Had they set a date yet?” someone asked. “Why not next spring?” Lady Rawdon suggested. “Sooner,” Seger had replied, with a seductive, knowing glance in Clara’s direction.
She felt as if she were watching the conversation from a great distance away.
A short while later, Seger lured Clara to a quiet corner of the room and watched the others, as if to make sure no one was watching.
“You look lovely tonight.” He ran a finger along her forearm and up to the top of her long glove. “But you always look beautiful.”
“Thank you. I’m nervous, Seger.”
“Why? We are engaged now. All is right and proper.”
She glanced uneasily at the others, who were laughing about something. “Yes, but it all happened so fast. Aren’t you worried? You don’t have cold feet?”
He smiled. “If anything, I want to move the wedding date forward. That’s how badly I want you. I’d like to move straight to the honeymoon.”
He touched her briefly behind the ear, kissed her on the mouth, and sent a wave of gooseflesh down the length of her body. It was all done so quickly, so discreetly, that it left her trembling with desire for something more.
How skilled he was at seduction. He could reduce her to a blob of besotted pudding with a single touch.
