Gillian finished her breakfast and set down her fork. She reached for the package beside her. “I have something for you, Seger. It’s an engagement gift.” She stood and brought the gift around the table and handed it to him.
He gazed up at her warmly. “What an unexpected surprise. Thank you, Gillian.”
She sat down in Quintina’s usual spot while Seger used his breakfast knife to cut the string and open the package.
“The latest edition ofThe Popular Atlas,” he said with delight. “What a perfect gift, Gillian. How did you know I enjoy maps?”
“I’ve noticed that you read a lot of travel books, and the atlas you have is very old. This one is new and has more detail.”
He leafed through it. “I dare say it does. This is magnificent. Thank you again.” He smiled at her, reached across the table and patted her hand. “I will treasure it always.”
Her eyes lit up at the compliment and he was pleased to at last see some evidence of a spark.
Chapter 13
Dear Clara,
Mother is determined to have me follow in your footsteps next year. She has hired an Englishwoman as my new governess. Mrs. Wadsworth is helping me to learn all about aristocratic etiquette. Just today I learned that if I was ever to break a vase or a glass in a noblewoman’s home, I should not offer to pay for it. That would be very bad form. Keep that in mind if you are ever so clumsy, dear sister...
Love,
Adele
Shortly before three o’clock inthe morning, Clara tiptoed downstairs to open the door she and Seger had decided upon—the same one she had used to sneak out on the night she met him in his coach.
Tonight, however, she would not go outside. He would come to her. For one hour, while everyone slept, he would share her bed.
It was risky and imprudent she knew, but she was overwhelmingly desperate to be alone with him again. And they were engaged. It wasn’t as if she was doing this with a stranger. Seger was going to marry her. Besides that, it was never too soon to start building upon the foundation that she hoped would grow into something more. That was perhaps her primary objective, why she couldn’t help but be accommodating to his needs, which at the moment were solely physical.
Consequently, she had given him detailed instructions on how to make his way through the house in the dark, and how to find her room. She told him she would leave her door ajar and light a candle. She explained which floorboards creaked, and which doors were routinely left open. Thankfully there were no dogs in Wentworth House to raise a ruckus, so Seger could be sure of reaching her room without incident.
Clara sat on her bed on top of the covers, her nightgown unbuttoned at the collar, her hair freshly combed, feeling as if she were waiting for a train to crash through her door and plow across her bed. Her heart was pounding, her senses humming as she listened for the slightest sound from outside her room. The nervous excitement coursing through her veins was enough to make her giddy.
The clock chimed three times in the entryway downstairs, then a few more minutes ticked by. Anxious about Seger’s safe and undetected arrival, Clara slipped off her bed and padded to the door to peer out into the hall.
He wouldn’t forget, would he? she wondered uneasily. Maybe he did this sort of thing all the time—snuck into ladies’ bedrooms in the middle of the night—and it was easy to disregard. He might have fallen asleep. He might be at a party somewhere and lost track of time.
But then suddenly, without warning, there he was. He appeared like a phantom out of the darkness, backed her into the room, and closed and locked the door quietly behind him. “Let’s hope your maid is a sound sleeper,” he said in a low, husky voice as he took her face in his hands and kissed her passionately.
The next thing she knew, Clara was being eased down upon the bed. Seger removed his jacket and waistcoat and lay down beside her, leaning over her while running his forefinger down her cheek and neck, causing her to shiver all over with thrilling anticipation.
“I thought you’d never get here,” she said.
“Well, I’m here now. Can I convince you to let me stay for two hours, not one?” he whispered with an appealing boyish grin.
“I suspect that in a few minutes, you’ll be able to convince me to do just about anything, so give me your word, while I still have control of my senses. One hour, then you must go. Promise.”
He nodded and unfastened another button at the collar of her nightgown, gazing flirtatiously into her eyes the whole time. “I’m always making promises where you are concerned. But yes, I promise.”
His mouth covered hers and she drank in the exquisite taste of him as he gathered her nightgown in his fist and slowly tugged it upwards.
For a while they kissed and pressed their bodies together on the bed, thrusting and heaving as he used his hands to stroke and pleasure her everywhere. Before long, Clara’s nightgown became too great of a hindrance, so she sat up and pulled it off over her head. Suddenly she was naked in the candlelight, without shyness, allowing Seger to gaze openly at her body. Sitting up on her heels, she realized she never knew couples did this sort of thing together. She’d imagined that everything would take place in pitch darkness, under the covers, with the lovers’ eyes closed.
“You are so lovely,” Seger whispered. Then he eased her onto the soft mattress again and swept his tongue over the rigid peaks of her breasts. Clara wriggled with rapture and had to fight not to let out an impassioned sigh that might wake others in the household. Soon, she was breathless with desire and twisted lasciviously as his mouth covered hers and he kissed her deeply.
It was enough to drive her mad into the beyond. She tore at his neckcloth, then sat up again to pull his shirt off so that she could rub her hands up and down his beautiful muscled chest.
A moment later he was on top of her, kissing, stroking her thighs with his warm hands and flicking his tongue over her swollen nipples. He still wore his trousers, and she suspected it would take a great deal of convincing to get him to take them off. But oh, how her body yearned for more, though more of what she had no idea. There was still so much she had yet to experience.
