“What would that matter?”
Clara paused a moment. “Earlier tonight, after she learned what Gillian had said to me about Lady Cleveland, she came to my room and was very kind to me. I believe that her intentions were good. She said she never had a daughter of her own, and I feel there might be a chance for affection between us. I don’t want to spoil that. Please, all that matters is that you and I are clear with each other. If I am confident in your faithfulness, Gillian cannot hurt me.”
But was she truly confident? She wanted to be. She wanted to believe that he was sincere in everything he’d said tonight—that he was no longer seeing Lady Cleveland, that his grief over Daphne was fading away, and that he was finally ready to love Clara.
Seger hesitated, then walked around the bed. “Are you sure?”
“Yes. I don’t want a confrontation over me to divide this family. I’ll be able to handle Gillian from now on. Now that you know what she is trying to do, she has no power. I will tell her that you know, you can even say so yourself, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she leaves quietly on her own.”
He shook his head, as if in disbelief, then urged Clara down onto the bed and covered her body with his own. Soon, she was writhing with pleasure, feeling the onerous weight of the day lifting. Her body grew warm, and she buried her fingers in her husband’s thick hair.
“I wish we could go on our honeymoon now,” she whispered. “If only we could be alone together.”
She wanted to forge a deeper bond.
Seger kissed her tenderly on the mouth. “I would like that, too, but I have an interview with a business speculator at the end of the week that cannot be rescheduled. I have many questions I want to ask him, and he is only in town on the twenty-third.”
“Could we go somewhere closer and be back in time?” Clara asked. “What about your country estate? I haven’t seen it yet, Seger, and I am desperate to see your home. Our home.”
He stopped what he was doing and looked down at her. “Why not just stay here? We could spend the days together.”
Clara sighed. “There are so many distractions. I want to be alone with you. Just the two of us. I want to stay in bed all day and not worry about my mother-in-law knowing what we are doing, or my sister dropping by to visit. I want to go for long walks across country meadows with you and listen to the birds. I want to make love in the woods.”
A slow, lazy smile touched his lips. “You know that I am always at your service. Anywhere and anytime.”
She ran her fingers through his hair, and replied playfully, “I’ve come to discover that. Please say you’ll take me, Seger. I want to see our home.”
Seger rolled to the side to lean on an elbow. “You should know, Clara, that I don’t consider Rawdon Hall to be my home.”
Surprised, she gazed at him blankly. “But it’s where you were born and raised, isn’t it?”
“Yes, but I haven’t been there in a very long time.”
She felt a heaviness settle in her chest. “Why ever not?”
“I’ve always traveled abroad during the winters, and when I return to England I come here to the London House. I deal with estate matters from a distance.”
“But why?” she asked again, fearing she already knew the answer.
He shrugged. “The place does not hold happy memories for me.”
Clara stared at her husband in bleak silence and sat up. “Because of Daphne?”There it was...out in the open at last.
For a long moment, Seger said nothing. Then he sat up as well and touched her cheek. “You look wounded, Clara.”
“No, I’m not.” But her voice was trembling.
“I promise you, my feelings for Daphne are ancient history. She might have been my reason to leave eight years ago, and the reason why I haven’t returned, but that’s merely because I became a creature of habit. I assure you, she is forgotten. You’re all that matters to me now. Come, lie down. Seger inched toward the pillows. “There has been too much talk of other women tonight, and I don’t want to think of anyone but you.”
Clara forced herself to lie back and snuggle close to her husband.
“And you’re right, my darling,” he added. “We are newly married. We need to spend some time alone together. I will send word to Rawdon Hall first thing in the morning and tell them to expect us the day after. It’s time we embarked upon our new life.”
Clara rested her cheek on his warm shoulder, smiled when he kissed her forehead, and wished she could feel better about the new life she had begun.
Gillian stood at the window in her bedchamber and did not even try to fight the tears that were pouring from her eyes like two cascading waterfalls. Her cheeks were drenched. Her nose was running, and she couldn’t stop sniffling.
She pressed her hand to the cool pane of glass and watched Seger’s coach disappear down the road. She cursed that vile American cow. Clara had lured him away with sex. How could Gillian compete with that?
