Falling for the Marquess - Julianne MacLean Page 0,100
hers.
She felt an electric current surge through all her nerve endings.
Then he smiled, and slowly drew the note from her fingers.
Clara sat up in bed, waiting anxiously for Seger to come home, but he stayed away for most of the night—which gave her plenty of time to think about what happened that day.
Quintina had lied. She had looked Clara in the eye and spoken a complete fabrication. Clearly, she was carrying out some sort of scheme to disgrace Clara. But why?
The answer was obvious: Gillian wanted Seger, and Quintina wanted her niece to have him.
As soon as Clara realized that, she decided it would be best to remain in her bedchamber and wait for her husband to return, for she had no idea what might occur if she confronted Quintina or Gillian. She did not know how far they would take this.
Finally, after spending the entire evening entertaining every possible scenario about where Seger had gone, Clara heard the coach roll up outside. It was almost midnight. By the time he reached her bedchamber, Clara was wound up tighter than a tall case clock.
He walked in, and despite the fact that she was still uncertain of his feelings, every fragment of her being sighed with relief. At least he was home.
He closed the door behind him and moved to stand at the foot of her bed. “I spoke to Gordon Tucker today.”
“Did he tell you what happened? Do you believe me now?”
Her husband circled the bed and stood over her. “He told me you received him in the drawing room.”
Clara glared at him with burning eyes. “He’s lying, and I won’t have it. It’s a conspiracy, Seger. If you don’t believe me, I will get to the bottom of it myself.” She slipped out of bed and reached for her wrap. She’d barely pushed her arms into the sleeves, when Seger laid a hand on her shoulder.
“Where are you going?” he asked.
“To talk to your stepmother. She lied today, and if Gordon told the same lie, that means they are working together. Quintina wants to get rid of me. The only explanation I can see is that she must be doing this for Gillian.”
“Wait.” Seger turned her around to face him.
“Why should I wait? Despite what you think, I’m not being irrational, and I’m not making this up to hide an affair with my former fiancé. I have never been more serious about—”
Suddenly, her words were smothered by the intensity of her husband’s kiss. He crushed her mouth under his, as if he hadn’t seen her for a year. A tiny moan escaped her, and her knees turned to jelly. Clara wrapped her arms around his neck, kissed him deeply in return, and could barely remember what she had been saying only seconds ago....
After he finished kissing her quite thoroughly, he drew back and looked into her eyes. Clara felt weak and dazed. She couldn’t think straight.
“Do you think I’ve lost my mind?” she asked.
“No,” he replied, “but I spent the entire night thinking that maybe I’d lost mine.”
Her anger slowly receded, and she took a deep, calming breath. “Why?”
“Because despite what Quintina and Gordon Tucker profess, I want to take your side in this.”
Clara was cautiously hopeful. “Does that mean you believe me? That Gordon stepped into my coach uninvited?”
“My gut is telling me yes, but three people have said one thing while you say another.”
She took his face in her hands. “But surely, you must know that I would never do anything to jeopardize our marriage. You know that I love you, even if you aren’t ready to love me back.”
He looked doubtful.
“Please, Seger. I cannot stay in this house and face adversaries if you do not trust me—or if there is no hope that you will ever love me.”
He turned away from her and moved to the opposite side of the bed. “This has been a trying day, Clara. I wanted to kill Tucker because I nearly went mad with jealousy. And I didn’t want to feel any of that. I wanted to go back to the way things were before I met you. When life was less complicated.”
Clara swallowed over a sudden lump in her throat. “You mustn’t believe any of what Gordon said. I tried to get rid of him in the coach, Seger. Honestly.” She heard the desperation in her voice. “I told him I never wanted to see him again.”
“I want to believe you,” Seger replied, “but that’s the problem, you see. I