His Mistletoe Marchioness

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‘Lady Pariston!’ Clara could not believe she was having this conversation with a woman who could be her grandmother or that Lady Pariston was suggesting that Hugh had regarded her with a great deal of interest. The only thing he was probably interested in was her money.

‘Oh, don’t look so shocked. You’d be surprised by what all these ladies get up to, but you won’t hear about it because they’re discreet. I was discreet, too, and oh, I did have my fun, not when I was married, mind you, but on a number of occasions afterwards.’ She laid a wrinkled and bejewelled hand on her chest and smiled with winsome pride. ‘With a little discretion you could get up to a little trouble with that fine specimen of a marquess yourself.’

First Anne, now Lady Pariston. There were times when Clara seemed like the only one who cared about the blemishes of Hugh’s past. ‘I’ve already had enough trouble with Lord Delamare and, judging by what I’ve heard of him, he’s had a fair amount of his own trouble.’

‘Good, it means he knows his way around a woman.’ Lady Pariston winked at her before throwing back her head and laughing. Clara’s cheeks began to burn as people turned to view them before returning to their amusement. Then Lady Pariston sobered and faced her again. ‘Seriously, my dear, you have been placed in this position at far too young an age and now you must make the best of it. Don’t work so hard to please others, only yourself, and if that pleasure should include the young man, then so be it.’

Clara waved her hand in front of her face against the heat of the fire. ‘I assure you, what I want does not include Lord Delamare.’

‘Don’t be so set against it. It does no good for a woman to be alone, especially when there is a man willing to keep her company.’ Lady Pariston sat back, regarding her out of the corner of her eyes as if she didn’t believe for a moment what Clara had said.

Clara laid her hand in her lap with a sigh. She could insist it was true but there was no point. Lady Pariston was right, people would believe what they wanted and Clara should not be guided by a desire to try to control it. All she could control was how she responded to everyone, including Hugh, but she had no energy to do any more of that tonight. Rising, she offered the ladies goodnight and took her leave, unwilling to wait for the arrival of the men.

It would be a pleasure to be alone in her room where no one expected more of her than blowing out her candle before she fell asleep and she didn’t need to deal with the issue of Hugh and how to handle him while she was here. She wasn’t about to follow Lady Pariston’s advice, but she was at a loss for her own ideas about what to do. She needed her rest if she was going to face more of it tomorrow. Heaven knew this was not how she’d expected this week to be.

Chapter Three (#uf6785a65-3673-5f67-a5bd-bf7a6515685b)

‘You and Lord Delamare were quite silent at dinner last night,’ Anne remarked, taking the empty seat beside Clara in the sitting room where all the guests were gathering for the traditional partnering for the week’s activities. The ladies wore their sturdy pelisses and shoes and held their leather gloves in anticipation of an outside game. The weather had remained pleasant if not cold and everyone was sure the Tillmans would take advantage of it to amuse their guests. The men were equally bundled up in heavier coats and redingotes, but everyone had undone the top few buttons to keep from sweltering in the warm sitting room.