Falling for the Marquess - Julianne MacLean Page 0,91

been communicating with that man I told you about—the one from America. He has incriminating information about Clara and his very presence will knock her clear off her glowing pedestal. I have asked him to come to London, and I assure you, it’s going to be sordid. He is on his way here as we speak.”

Gillian sat down and tried to stop crying as she listened in foggy comprehension to what her aunt told her would happen next.

Chapter 19

Dear Adele,

I love Seger and I want to make him happy, but there are still so many barriers between us. While I believe I have overcome the problem with Gillian, I am still not at ease. I must continue to live with the knowledge that what happened to the woman he loved eight years ago has left a deep hole in his heart. She is the sole reason that his heart has been so inaccessible, and while I knew that from the beginning, I believed my love would fill that hole. I have just learned, however, that he has not returned to his home in the country since she died. We are traveling there today, and I do not know what to expect....

Clara

As the carriage approached Rawdon Hall and drove around the circular fountain in front of the house, Seger realized with unease that an emotional awakening did not come without some discomfort, for he could not seem to escape thoughts of Daphne.

He had always been able to avoid reminiscing—he had spent eight years teaching himself how to bury his feelings—but at present, he could not push her from his mind. She was so much a part of his youth and his memories of this house, which was why he had never returned. Until now.

He gazed out the carriage window at the south garden. All at once, a host of vivid images came hurling, spinning back at him. He recalled the excitement and anticipation of running through that garden, sneaking away in the evenings before dinner, to meet her secretly down at the lake. He remembered how his feet would carry him across the lawns and through the woods, how his heart would race at the thought of seeing her. For four years she had been his best friend, his confidante. She was—and would always be—his first love.

A knot of tension formed in his gut as the carriage rolled to a stop. He remembered the last time he had been there, when he’d driven away devastated and shattered—emotionally bruised and beaten down into a state of complete and utter grief over Daphne’s death. He had not looked back. He couldn’t. He’d been so full of rage toward his father for sending Daphne away. For being the cause of her death.

Why had she gotten on that ship? he had wondered so desperately afterward. Why hadn’t she come to him? If she had, they could have run away together.

The question had haunted him for years. He had wondered what he’d done wrong. In the end, he finally accepted that she’d chosen to leave, thinking it was for his own good. She’d always worried about his parents’ disapproval. She had not wanted to be the reason his father would disinherit him, as he had threatened to do.

The carriage stopped in front of the house, and Clara squeezed Seger’s hand. He smiled at her, pleased at least that she was here to distract him from those memories and remind him that life was not the same as it was. Now he was married to an extraordinary woman he desired beyond any imagining. He had come around full circle. He was home, and he was about to start a new life.

He helped Clara out of the carriage and escorted her into the front hall where the servants were standing in two straight lines, eager to greet the new marchioness. Seger recognized almost no one. He supposed many of the former servants must have moved on and been replaced over the years. Even the butler was strange to him.

A short while later they were shown to their rooms, and Clara seemed genuinely pleased with her boudoir and the house in general.

“It’s lovely,” she said. “I’ll be very happy here, Seger. We will live here, won’t we? You won’t continue to manage things from London?”

Seger kissed her hand. “If you wish to live here, then we will make it our home.”

He was surprised to hear himself speak those words so quickly, without really thinking it through. He had expected