The Claiming by The Claiming

Author:The Claiming [Claiming, The]
Format: epub
Published: 2010-01-07T07:11:42+00:00

Alain's brows snapped together as he sat forward in his chair. "The announcement of our marriage."

Jana's hand crept to her throat. She felt as if she were choking, as if her heart had leapt into her throat, and refused to be dislodged. She felt distinctly ill, realizing that she should never have allowed her deception to go on so long. She had not even considered what it must be like for Alain when the truth came out. She had not thought beyond herself, her own fears. But it had been announced. There would not be a handful of neighbors he must face, lie to to save himself from embarrassment. Everyone would know! And, if …when she suddenly disappeared, he would be left to explain. "Oh no! Ohh, this is ... is dreadful! Mr. Camar, I'm not....!"

She was interrupted by a knock on the door. Both she and Alain whirled toward the sound, Alain with barely controlled impatience at the interruption and Jana with patent horror.

"Come!" Alain snapped laconically.

The butler eased the door open and looked at Alain helplessly as a woman brushed past him and entered the room, curtly dismissing him. After a brief hesitation, Alain nodded and the relieved butler effaced himself, closing the door quietly behind him.

The woman was obviously laboring under some powerful emotion. "Mr. Camar, I must speak with you," she announced in a clipped, high-pitched voice that made Alain wince.

Alain rose from his seat and moved around to the front of the desk, studying her through narrowed eyes with barely concealed impatience. She had that type of figure considered buxom. Dressed primly in a navy blue suit, the top of which rose and fell alarmingly with the force of her agitation, she topped Jana's diminutive height by a good head.

Her hair was drawn into an equally prim and severe knot on the back of her head and was of a shade approaching cinnamon, not quite brown and not quite blond. By contrast, her brows and lashes were so pale as to make her appear both brow-less and lash-less. Her eyes, an exceptionally clear gray, were quite pretty and undeniably her best feature.

"What, may I ask, is the meaning of this sir!" she snapped, waving the newspaper she clutched in her hand in Alain's direction.

Alain indicated a chair. "Perhaps you'd like to explain, Madam," he said coldly.

The woman flounced onto the chair, seeming to collect herself with an effort and sparing hardly a glance at Jana—for which Jana could only be grateful—before turning her attention to Alain once more. "And who, may I ask, is that young woman?" she asked coldly.

"You may certainly ask," Alain said frigidly, pausing long enough for the impact of his words to strike her. "Who, Madam, are you?"

She gasped as if she'd indeed been struck. "Why I'm Jana! The woman you contracted with," she added, seeing his face become shuttered. “And, having just arrived, I must say I feel like the announcement of our marriage is entirely premature!”

Alain turned to Jana, feeling curiously as if he'd just been punched in his stomach as he saw her scared expression.

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