Falling for the Marquess - Julianne MacLean Page 0,97

me off guard. I was on my way home from Piccadilly, when he opened the door of the coach and got in. There was no warning. He must have been following me.”

“He got into the coach with you?”

“Yes. I told him to leave, but he wouldn’t.”

Seger reached around to pry her arms off him. He stared at her, trying to see the truth.

Just then, Quintina entered.

Seger held up a hand. “Give my wife a chance to explain.” He turned his attention back to Clara. “He did not come to the house? You didn’t go with him willingly?”

She shook her head.

Quintina stepped forward. “What do you mean, Clara? Of course he was here. Mrs. Carruthers told me who he was, and I watched you leave with him. I watched you from my window upstairs.”

A heavy silence descended upon them while Clara and Quintina stared at each other, as if they were each trying to comprehend what the other was saying.

“I didn’t leave with him,” Clara finally professed. “I don’t know what you think you saw, but I did not see Gordon in this house.”

Quintina shook her head in disbelief. “You think both the housekeeper and I imagined it?”

“Yes!”

Quintina turned to Seger and gestured toward Clara with a hand. “Perhaps she wishes to spare your feelings, Seger.”

Clara’s voice took on a more aggressive tone. “I do not wish to spare my husband’s feelings. I did not go anywhere willingly with Gordon Tucker. He stepped into my coach uninvited. Seger, you must believe me.”

Seger’s gaze darted back and forth between his wife and his stepmother. “One of you is not telling the truth.” He looked down at his wife, whose face had gone ashen. He felt a stabbing sensation in his heart. It was fear, and it was sickeningly familiar.

He tried to ignore it and focus on the matter at hand—uncovering the facts.

“I swear on my honor,” Clara said, “I did not leave this house with that man.”

“But what motive would I have to lie?” Quintina asked. “And the housekeeper, too?”

Seger was not about to guess anyone’s motives. He had not trusted his stepmother in many years, yet how well did he really know Clara? She had kept the secret about the embezzlement from him until he discovered it on his own on their wedding day. Now Quintina was telling him that Clara was not innocent after all, that her signature had been discovered on certain related documents.

He didn’t know what to believe. His gut pitched and rolled.

Clara took a desperate step forward. “Seger, please....”

He held up a hand to silence her, then turned to his stepmother. “Leave us, Quintina. I must speak with my wife privately.”

“Seger, I am terribly sorry. Perhaps I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“I am glad that you did. Now leave us.”

Quintina hesitated a moment before she walked out and closed the door behind her.

Chapter 21

Dear Adele,

I pray that all will work out between Seger and me. I believe that if I lose him now, after we have come so far, I would never recover from the heartbreak....

Clara

“It seems to be your word against Quintina’s,” Seger said to his wife.

Meanwhile, the thought of Clara in the presence of her ex-lover—whether she was telling the truth or not—made Seger see red. He tried to push the fury away but couldn’t. He wasn’t accustomed to such vulnerability where a woman was concerned. It had been years since he’d felt anything like it. Jealousy was not even a word in his vocabulary when it came to his temporary relationships. His hands shook.

“I am telling the truth,” Clara said. “I don’t know how to convince you, except to ask for your trust.”

“My trust? You lied to me once before about this matter. I would be a fool to offer my trust blindly.”

“I never lied. I told you about Gordon, I just didn’t tell you everything, because we barely knew each other. There was so little time.”

“But you could have found the time if you’d wished to.”

She sighed heavily, collapsed onto the sofa, and buried her face in her hands. “You’re right, I could have. My only excuse is that I was afraid you would change your mind about marrying me, and I wanted you more than anything. If I neglected to tell you, it was only because I was so desperately in love with you.”

He almost laughed at the idea. “Love? You just said, Clara, that we barely knew each other.”

She looked up at him, her eyes red and puffy, laden with a mixture