AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I—” Judith stammered.
“Please?” Clara repeated.
Seeing the sisters’ heads shake noncommittally, Clara gave a great sigh of satisfaction and shook their hands in the air. “Oh, how wonderful! I will send along proper invitations to your husbands’ homes first thing tomorrow morning. What a wonderful moment, to feel we three brought closer together from this day!”
She released their hands roughly, and with that, the sisters fled to the far side of the room, trailed by their muttering entourage. For once, Judith did not even make a pretence of laughing.
Turning away, Clara breathed for what felt like the first time in several minutes. Sophia bobbed in front of her field of vision, and muttered under her breath in an impressed tone, “I did not realize you possessed such acting talents!”
“Working as a maid for your mother was a fine education in the art of acting innocent,” Clara replied under her breath. Then she looked up and gave Sophia a wink.
Just remember to keep breathing, foolish girl.
“Ah, there she is!” said a handsome young man in a garish red jacket and slicked-back hair. He stepped between Clara and the other revellers, took Clara’s hand, and kissed it with dry lips.
Looking up towards Edward, who was but a few paces behind him, he said in a droll voice, “I say, Morton, you didn’t mention the newest St. George sister was a beauty as well as a talent.”
Clara smiled, more genuinely this time. “Mr Fletcher, I presume.” She curtsied and dipped her head daintily. “It is a pleasure to meet you. I thank you for making me feel so welcome in your home.”
Mr Fletcher’s eyebrow arched dramatically, and he delivered with an actor’s flair to the crowd that was watching intently, “And mannered as well! Certainly more so than the sot who is lucky enough to be your host this evening.”
All it took was another thirty seconds of repartee with Jonathan Fletcher before Clara found herself half-surrounded by inquisitive gentlemen and ladies. Though Helena and Judith still eyed her warily from the far wall, and she detected a fair number of whisperers on the periphery of the crush, Clara was more than pleased by how suddenly Mr Fletcher had integrated her into society, judging by the enthusiastic questions she was barraged with.
“Do you dance, Miss Clara?”
“I knew your father well, Miss Clara. Terrible tragedy about his passing. You have my sympathies.”
“I pray you will pay us a visit at our next ball, Miss Clara. Any St. George is always welcome at the Crenham estate.”
“Excuse me, Miss Clara, did I hear you are an enthusiast of the dramatic arts? The local ladies’ club is putting on a series of monologues this June, and we would be most gratified if you were available to participate.”
Trying to answer each inquiry as gracefully as she was able, Clara still managed to catch Edward’s eye over her admirers’ heads. If she had her cup filled with a jot of pride at this treatment in the ton, the smile Edward gave her filled it up to the brim.
* * *
The clock struck midnight just as the St. George party returned home, the wheels of the carriage ground to a halt in the darkness that wrapped around the enormous house.
“Why can’t every dinner party be as much fun as the ones Mr Fletcher has?” the Duke asked as they walked through the open doorway past a stone-faced Mr Momplaisir.
Edward smiled and gave the young man a light punch on the arm at this proclamation. “Your Grace, you know I cannot condone any sort of adoration or approval directed at Mr Fletcher. I know him entirely too well to allow you to look up to him in any way whatsoever.”
Christopher laughed merrily, but this activity quickly turned into a robust yawn.
“I concur, Your Grace,” said Edward. He gave a brief look to Clara, and that was all that was needed to formulate and agree upon a plan. His heart pounding, he announced, “We should all retire, I think. Entirely too much ‘fun’ this evening.” The young Duke agreed without complaint, yawning once more and shuffling off towards his grand quarters.
“I’ll just be turning in after I take care of one small matter in my study,” Edward added, then took a lit candle from a sconce and began walking slowly down the corridor.
Clara looked around for Miss Forsythe, biting her lip with anticipation. Finally realizing her chaperone was still asleep in the carriage, she quietly asked Mr Momplaisir to have someone assist the old woman up to her room. “If she asks, please tell her I have gone to bed already myself.”
Once the butler was dispatched to this task, Clara retreated up the stairs, then quickly made her way back down the nearest servants’ staircase. Stalking quietly through the darkened halls, it was not long until she was closing the door of Edward’s study behind her, and the two were alone in the quiet of the night.
Edward scarce had drawn a breath before they wordlessly fell upon one another like wild dervishes. Their lips met with a fierce passion, and Clara found herself repeating some of the caresses Edward had done in their last encounter in the library—she had thought of them over and over in the nights since that glorious afternoon. From his reaction as she nibbled gently at his lower lip, she deduced she had chosen well in her lovemaking technique.
“I could not,” Edward said between kisses, “stop thinking—mmm—about this all evening.”
“I had wondered why you were smiling all during the dessert oh—” Clara said, her words interrupted by the brush of Edward’s lips against her bare shoulder. She was shocked by the forwardness of his touch, feeling him push the top of her dress to one side to better get access to this sensitive place, and the uncharacteristic nature of this action made her all the more aroused.
Agonizingly, terribly, as they had found themselves habitually doing, they tore themselves apart from one another and collapsed in chairs that they pulled next to one another. The two still held hands, Clara feeling her lustful yearnings brought to a low simmer by the touch of his skin on hers as they looked longingly into one another’s eyes.
