Page 62 of The Study of Seduction
“But I am! He could do anything to you!”
With an indulgent smile, he reached over to clasp her hand. “I won’t let him. And you mustn’t be afraid of him, either. I swear I’ll do everything in my power to prevent him from hurting you.”
She did adore that about Edwin—he had a protective streak that ran wide and deep. Papa had been like that. He’d had to be, given Mama’s tendency to wander heedlessly into trouble.
Edwin threaded his fingers with hers, starting a quivering low in her belly. They were married now. Joined forever. How long would it take for her to get used to that?
“So,” she said nervously, “we’re going to Stoke Towers this very evening?”
“We might as well.” Releasing her hand, he tooled his rig toward Warren’s town house at the other end of the street. “Otherwise, you’d have to move to my town house for the night and then again to Stoke Towers tomorrow. As long as you’re packing up a few things anyway, you should go home with me to Hertfordshire.”
Home.With him. Another thing to get used to. She’d spent many a happy hour at Stoke Towers with Yvette, but this was entirely different. It would be the two of them alone.
Until the children came along. She loved babies, and these would be hers. If she had some. Which depended on whether she could endure the act of creating them.
“But when will you pack?” she asked.
“I already did. The carriages set off for Hertfordshire this morning before I came here.”
Lord, he’d certainly planned well. “Well, I haven’t packed a thing. So I should think it would be better to start off tomorrow.” She slipped her hand in his elbow. “We can stay at separate houses for one night, after all. That way I’ll have plenty of time to figure out what I might need in the country.”
“Anything that you need can be sent for once we’re there. And your familydoesown the estate next door, so it’s not as if you can’t go over to Margrave Manor to find a few things in your closets. We’ll leave tonight.”
“Yes, Edwin,” she said in her best coaxing voice, “but wouldn’t it make much more sense to—”
“I do hope you’re not trying to manage me already, Lady Blakeborough.”
His sharp tone wasn’t what arrested her.Lady Blakeborough.She hadn’t counted on how lovely that would sound. A married woman had more consequence than a single lady. A married woman was freer to live her life as she pleased—as long as her husband allowed it.
She made a face at him. “I would never try to manageyou, Edwin. You’re much too clever for that.”
“Hmm.” He looked skeptical.
“Besides,” she said truthfully, “I need to conserve my energies for what’s to come as soon as we reach the house.”
“Oh? And what is that?”
She stared grimly ahead. “Telling Mama that we had our wedding without her.”
Fourteen
Everyone in the street could probably hear Lady Margrave scream when they told her the news.
Edwin grimaced. He hadn’t intended to cause a rift between Clarissa and her mother.
Lady Margrave stomped about the drawing room with her cane, pausing occasionally to brandish it at them. “What do youmean, you were wed this morning? How could you just . . . justsneakoff to get married, without a word tome! No lace, no wedding breakfast . . . no orange blossoms . . . I can’t believe it!”
“We didn’t have a choice, Mama,” Clarissa said. “Besides, you know I hate that scent. I wouldn’t have worn orange blossoms anyway.”
“Yes, but you would have worn a more impressive gown,” she said, taking in Clarissa’s dress with a look of contempt. “Why, just this morning I laid out the recent copies ofLa Belle Assembléefor us to go over in picking your design.” Her mother pouted spectacularly. “And I saw the most perfect little wedding bonnet in a shopwindow a week ago that I wanted you to look at. And now . . . now . . . you’re already married!”
The dowager countess burst into tears.
Edwin blinked. Blast, blast, and double blast. He sincerely hoped that becoming a watering pot was not one of Clarissa’s attributes.
With a side glance at him, Clarissa put her arm around her mother and said, “There, there, Mama, I know it’s a disappointment. But Count Durand was threatening awful things, and we saw no way around it.”
Edwin felt he should saysomethingto help. “I saw him right outside your house the other night, Lady Margrave. I was afraid he might abduct Clarissa if we didn’t marry at once.”
