Sweet Awakening by Marjorie Farrell Page B

oblong box. “This is a sort of pledge, Clare,” he said quietly. “I saw it and thought of you immediately.”
    “Justin, you did not need to do anything like this,” she protested.
    He came over to her and put his finger gently on her lips. “Hush, my darling. Close your eyes and let me fasten this.” Clare felt his fingers brush the nape of her neck as he fastened a small necklace around her throat. She was relieved it was nothing as big as the sapphire choker, for he had been far too generous with jewelry during their short marriage.
    “Stay there,” he whispered into her ear, “and keep your eyes closed.” He went and got her hand mirror from the dressing table and coming back, held it in front of her. “Now you can open them, Clare.”
    Clare opened them and caught her breath in surprise, gratitude, and strangely enough, dismay. Around her throat was a delicate gold chain and suspended from it a heart-shaped amethyst. It was so similar to Giles’s gift and so different from Justin’s usual taste that there was something disturbing about it. Clare fingered it gently, completely at a loss for words.
    “I don’t know what to say, Justin.”
    “You don’t have to, Clare. It looks just how I imagined it: a perfect length and a deep enough purple to bring out the violet in your eyes. I have always regretted making you remove Whitton’s gift, Clare, for it was flattering. Now you have something as lovely that I gave you.”
    “It is very beautiful Justin. I will treasure it.” Clare was touched and grateful, and she wished she felt only that. But her gratitude was somehow marred by a feeling of ... well, she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. It just seemed strange that Justin would want to remind her of Giles, after his jealousy. It was as though he were giving her and Giles a sort of message. Almost marking her as his own. Normally she loved his slightly possessive shows of affection. They made her feel essential to him. But although the necklace was an exquisite piece and she would wear it to honor Justin’s gesture, she was sure she would never feel quite comfortable in it.
    It was three days before Clare’s face was back to normal and when the Rainsborough’s finally reappeared at the next rout, the glances down at her waistline and the inquiries after her health were not subtle at all.
    Sabrina was at Clare’s side almost immediately, solicitous and concerned. “I was getting really worried, Clare, when Peters sent me away again yesterday.”
    “I hated to do it, Sabrina, but I was still not feeling quite myself,” apologized Clare.
    “I don’t mean to pry, but I hope it wasn’t anything serious?”
    “No, just fatigue and a cold. And no, I am not increasing,” added Clare, with a twinkle in her eyes, answering Sabrina’s unspoken question. “And don’t you start inspecting my waist. I promise you will be one of the first to know, after Justin, of course,” she added.
    Giles had seen their arrival from across the room. Clare was dressed in lavender sarcenet and had violets threaded through her hair. There was a flash of purple at her throat as she walked by a candelabra and he realized it was something new, obviously a gift from her husband. When he saw her with Sabrina, he made his way over.
    “Clare, I am very happy to see you here,” he said after they greeted one another. “When I came back with your punch the other night and you had gone, I was afraid you had been taken ill. And then Sabrina told me I was right. You are recovered, I hope?”
    “Lady Rainsborough is completely recovered, Whitton,” said a voice behind Giles as Justin joined them. “Thank you for your concern.”
    “Clare is an old friend, and I will always be concerned for her welfare,” Giles said easily.
    “Ah, but that is not at all necessary, Whitton, for she now has a loving husband to care for her. Come, my dear, I wish to introduce you to someone who has just returned from the West Indies. I