A Night of Desire

Clara didn’t dare to meet his eyes. Mustering her courage, she repeated herself. "I said... let’s get a divorce. You can marry Autumn Shelby. That way, the Shelby Family won’t force Sarah to get married anymore..."

Seth didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He reached out and turned her face toward him, forcing her to meet his gaze as he sighed. "Whether or not we get a divorce has no direct bearing on Sarah Shelby having to marry Ewan Stratton. Even if I divorced you and married Autumn Shelby, the Shelby Family would still make Sarah marry into the Stratton Family.

By marrying off two daughters, they can forge ties with both the most powerful and second-most powerful families in Novaria. Why would the Shelby Family ever pass up an opportunity like that?

Besides, Sarah Shelby and her mother already have an awkward status in the Shelby Family. Yvette Zimmerman would never pick a good match for her. Even if she dodges Ewan Stratton this time, there will just be someone else, and then another one after that!"

What he said was more or less what Sarah had said, but Clara still couldn’t accept it. "I don’t care what happens later, as long as we can get her out of this! That Ewan Stratton is in poor health and has a bad temper. Sarah is only twenty-three. Is she really going to waste the best years of her life on someone like that?"

"Clara, calm down." Seth said thoughtfully, "How about this? I’ll go and sound out the Stratton Family. If there are any conditions that would make them give up on marrying Sarah Shelby, then there’s still hope."

Clara’s eyes lit up at his words. She grabbed Seth’s arm tightly and nodded. "Seth, I’ll be counting on you, then. As long as there’s even a sliver of hope, I have to help Sarah!"

Seth gently pulled her close and planted a kiss on her cheek. "Silly girl," he said softly, "don’t talk about it being a ’trouble.’ But don’t get your hopes up too high, either. I promise I’ll do it, but there’s no guarantee it will work."

Clara nodded. "Mm, I know. We just have to do everything we can for her."

Seth glanced at the time. It was almost time for lunch, so he said to her, "Let me take you to lunch first. After we’re done, I’ll take you wherever you want to go."

"Okay." Clara nodded. Then she looked at him, a thought suddenly occurring to her. "Did I interrupt your meeting by calling you out here so suddenly?"

She remembered him saying yesterday that he had a very important meeting today.

Seth started the car and pulled smoothly onto the road before replying nonchalantly, "It was mostly over. I left the rest to River."

Clara pressed her lips together, feeling a little sheepish. ’So I did end up interrupting his work after all.’

The better Seth treated her, the more determined she became that she couldn’t let Sarah marry Ewan Stratton. ’Even though it’s all just rumors about him... but where there’s smoke, there’s fire. What if it’s all true?’

’What woman doesn’t want her husband to treat her well? What woman doesn’t want a happy marriage?’

’She had made her own gamble and won, but could she guarantee Sarah would be just as lucky?’

After a moment of thought, she ventured, "Seth, what if... before Sarah gets married, we have her and Rowan Linden spend some time together to develop feelings for each other? Then Rowan could just elope with her."

Seth shot her an exasperated look. ’This girl... what kind of crazy ideas does she come up with?’

Then, with a single sentence, he shattered her hope.

"That’s impossible. Even if Sarah Shelby were willing, Rowan Linden would never do that. He’s Ewan Stratton’s cousin."

It took Clara a moment to wrap her head around that. "You’re saying... Dr. Linden is the son of the Linden Family, the second-most powerful family in Novaria?"

Seth glanced at her and nodded.

Clara was instantly deflated. ’Rowan Linden is from the Linden Family, the second-most powerful family in Novaria... A man like him would probably never steal a woman from his own cousin. Besides, even if he were willing, his mother would never allow it!’