Falling for the Marquess - Julianne MacLean Page 0,103
You would have been disinherited. You would have had no family. I didn’t want to drag you down.”
“You would have been my family.”
“But we would have been social outcasts. Penniless.”
His eyebrows drew together in dismay. “You knew that didn’t matter to me. I never cared about society’s approval. I ended up a social outcast anyway. By choice.”
She nodded.
He realized by her response that from a distance, she had been following his path through life. The knowledge gave him a chill. “You knew that?”
“Yes. It was one of my conditions when I accepted your father’s petition to see me leave England. I made Quintina promise to keep me abreast of your news.”
Seger tried to stay calm and focus on the questions still burning in his brain, not the fact that his stepmother had been secretly communicating with Daphne all along.
“My father told me you went to him and asked for money in exchange for leaving me.”
She shook her head. “No, he came to me with the proposition and the money.”
“Which you accepted.”
“Yes, and I will not apologize for that. I knew I would have to begin a new life, and believe me, it was a meager consolation.”
A meager consolation. Seger’s chest constricted. A panicky sensation moved through him, and he found himself breathing hard.
He wanted to hear her tell him that it had been devastating for her, too. He wanted to hear her say that had loved him, because that was the thing that had plagued him all these years and made him wary of trusting women’s affections. He’d always believed that his only love, Daphne, had not really loved him so deeply after all. That their years together had been a lie. He had not been able to trust any emotion since then because of that doubt.
His voice shook when he spoke. “Did you suffer?”
Her eyes filled with tears, and she took a few seconds before replying. “Yes, Seger, more than you will ever know. I did what I did because of how much I loved you.”
He blinked down at her and found himself at a loss for words. He could say nothing, do nothing, but stand there and stare at Daphne. Daphne.
Then something made him look back at the coach. He thought of Clara and how she must be feeling, watching this. She was probably wondering if he was about to leave her and return to the woman who she believed was his one and only true love.
He swallowed hard and faced Daphne again. “Why did you send that telegram on my wedding day? What were you trying to do?”
She nodded as if she had been waiting for that question but seemed reluctant to answer it. She turned and began to pace under the arch.
“For the past eight years, I’ve known what kind of life you were living, Seger, and a selfish part of me was glad—glad that you had never gotten over me. I liked knowing that I was the great love of your life, and that if things didn’t work out for me in America, you would always be there, willing to take me back. Then I read about your marriage in the papers, and suddenly you weren’t there for me anymore. Quintina wrote to me and told me that Clara was a terrible match for you, that she was a greedy, title-seeking vixen. I was more than happy to believe it and help her put a stop to the marriage.”
Daphne stopped pacing. “But know this, Seger—I wasn’t doing it for Quintina. I despised her and I still despise her now for being the cause of our separation. I was doing it for me, because learning about your marriage made me want you back. I began to fantasize that when it did end, I would find the courage to return to you. I imagined being held in your arms again.”
Daphney paused, gazing intently at him. Seger made no move to take her into his arms now. He wanted only to hear the rest of her explanation.
“So I offered myself to the Wilson family,” she continued, lowering her gaze and pacing again, “as a governess for Adele, hoping I would be able to find something to make you reconsider your marriage to Clara. I took things from Adele’s room. I went through her letters and diaries, and the scandal with Gordon Tucker was more than I ever could have bargained for. It was like a gift from heaven, I thought. I was sure that would be enough to