An Affair Most Wicked by Julianne Maclean

Author:Julianne Maclean [Maclean, Julianne]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Historical
Published: 2010-12-07T23:00:00+00:00

Clara entered Rawdon House with James and Sophia, and handed her cloak over to the butler. She looked up at the crystal chandelier over her head in the entryway, and the numerous, huge family portraits that lined the wall up the wide, carpeted staircase. It was difficult to believe this was going to be her home one day, when she became Seger’s wife.

Never in all her life had she imagined such a future for herself, certainly not when she was a child living in Wisconsin, where stories of princes and dukes and duchesses with coronets on their heads were merely fairy tales.

Then, after what had occurred two years ago just after Sophia had married James, Clara had thought her future was doomed. She had never expected to marry a man she adored. She had expected to have very little choice in the matter and consider herself lucky if anyone even asked her. Or she had expected not to marry at all.

But two years had passed and that particular time seemed like someone else’s life. It was ancient history. She could barely remember Gordon’s face. Thank goodness she had been able to move on.

Clara walked with Sophia and James as the butler led them upstairs to the drawing room. She continued to gaze at the portraits on the second floor. Everyone was very grand. Her belly quivered suddenly at the daunting idea of becoming part of a family such as this.

She followed the butler toward the double doors of the drawing room and tried not to feel intimidated. Instead, she focused on the crude and simple fact that in the near future, she would share a bed with Seger and it would all be perfectly respectable.

That was the best part in all this. She would not need to worry about being ruined. In fact, it would be her duty to let him “ruin” her. She could hardly wait.

The butler showed them into the drawing room where Lady Rawdon stood by the window, and her niece, who Clara remembered from the assembly, sat by the fireplace. She stood, however, when they all walked in.

“Your Grace,” Lady Rawdon said, turning toward them with a warm smile. She approached with her hands outstretched and greeted each of them, then invited them in to sit down.

The woman’s gracious manner and her amiable welcome caused a whole slew of Clara’s apprehensions to drain away. She found herself smiling in return as she shook hands with Gillian, realizing that this shy young woman was her future cousin by marriage.

Just then, Seger appeared in the doorway. Clara’s heart tumbled over itself at the mere sight of him looking so handsome in the light from a wall sconce next to him. He wore a formal black jacket and white waistcoat. His face was pure perfection—all fine lines and classical elegance.

But beyond his physical beauty, he possessed a free and open disposition that was such a large part of his extraordinary charisma. In this era of restraint and sexual repression, he was the opposite.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.