However, Lady Fenton didn’t require a reply from Clarissa for her blunt comment. “Please don’t show me out. I know my way.” She left, gliding out the door as if she was Someone of Importance. Clarissa didn’t believe she could spend another moment in the woman’s presence without losing her good manners—
Mars grabbed her by both arms, pulled her against him and bussed her on the lips. He let her go as abruptly as he’d grabbed her. “What is this about?” she wondered.
“That you are not my mother,” he answered.
“I’m glad I’m not either,” Clarissa agreed. “Although, now I understand why you don’t trust women.”
“Don’t trust them?” He frowned. “I like women.”
“For friends?”
That stopped him, and then he said, “I like you.”
He liked her... and he wanted her.
Before Clarissa could frame a response, Dalton knocked on the open door. “My lord,” he said, seeing that they had noticed his presence, “I meant to offer this earlier.” He held out a letter.
“I know, you were waylaid,” Mars said, excusing him. “My mother is a strong personality.” He took the letter. “It is from Balfour.” He happily broke the seal, and read the letter. “He congratulates us on our wedding. The news has traveled fast.”
Clarissa was not surprised. The matrons were remarkable in their ability to spread news.
He continued reading, and then looked over to Clarissa, his eyes bright with good news. “Balfour designed the sets for a production ofAntony and Cleopatraopening at Drury Lane this evening. They asked us to join them in their box.”
“I would like that.” Clarissa had never been to a play other than the performances Mr. Balfour’s wife, Kate, had presented in Maidenshop last year. Kate had headed her own traveling troupe and she had certainly stirred up the village. Clarissa liked her very much.
“They invited us for dinner before the performance as well. What do you think?”
“That would be nice.”
He folded the letter, holding it a second before saying, “Thurlowe and Gemma are in London as well. They will be members of the party.”
Thurlowe, the man she should have married and would have, except he was in love with another—Gemma. By all accounts, they were deeply in love.
Mars watched her as if gauging her reaction. As if her response mattered to him.
Did he worry that she had feelings for Mr. Thurlowe or that Gemma’s presence would bother her?
“We don’t have to go,” Mars started, and she realized he was forming his own conclusions.
Quickly, she said, “I believe we should. They are your friends and I would like to see Kate and Gemma.”
Gemma’s name had been hard to say, but looking at Mars, Clarissa realized she just might be married to the better man.
Especially when he smiled as if relieved there wouldn’t be any problems. “Well, then, I will send word that we accept.”
Chapter Fourteen
I will kill Dervil.
—Book of Mars
The Balfour residence was in a square as coveted as Grosvenor and was as well-appointed as Marsden House. Clarissa wore her wedding dress, the one of cream muslin shot through with gold.
The dinner party was intimate and the conversation light and easy. Mr. Balfour insisted Clarissa call him Brandon because she was now one of their number. Toasts were made in celebration of Mars and Clarissa’s marriage and everyone acted genuinely happy for them.
Was it strange to see Ned Thurlowe after the passage of time?
Actually, it wasn’t. Indeed, conversation seemed easier because Clarissa no longer felt she had to please him. She’d always liked Ned. She admired him. He was a good doctor with a keen interest in natural philosophy, geology,and other academic endeavors. The lecture series on those subjects that he had started in Maidenshop was of benefit to the village.
