Sweet Awakening Read Free Page A

safe and familiar context.
    “But I am sorry, Claire, I should not have done that.”
    Clare wondered at his apology. She supposed he was right; he should not have kissed her. Giles had surprised her, but she had also surprised herself. She would have had the kiss go on longer, with the sun beating down upon them and the sweet berry juice running down her throat and the soft pressure of Giles’s lips making her feel as wet and juicy as a berry itself.
    They filled their pails quickly, and by the time they reached Whitton, their everyday camaraderie had reasserted itself. But when Clare returned home to Rowland, she was very happy to think about her parents’ comments over the past two years. “It would be an ideal match,” her father had told her mother.
    And so, although the regular visits came to an end that summer, she kept up a correspondence with Sabrina and the two families sometimes got together for a holiday. There was no formal agreement, but it was assumed by both the Whittons and the Dysarts that by the time Giles was down from Oxford and Clare came up for her first Season, their children would see what an ideal couple they would make.
     

Chapter One
     
London, 1816
     
    Lady Straiton’s ball always took place on Thursday evening of the third week of the Season. It was her way of ensuring that hers would be the first real crush, for she purposely waited until everyone had arrived in London, even the Whittons, who invariably came up to town late.
    “It gets worse every year,” complained the earl, as he peered out the coach windows trying to see if the carriages in front of them were moving at all. “I always swear we will decline the invitation, and damned if you don’t always talk me into it, Helena.”
    “Now, William, you know one cannot refuse the countess. Why, when the Allendales did one year, she made sure they were hardly seen anywhere else.” Lady Sabrina stole a glance at her brother, who, as often happened, was turning to her at the same time to share his amusement. Although Giles had not been a witness to this little contretemps for four years as Sabrina had, he was familiar enough with similar scenes, both in London and the country, with his father protesting a social obligation and his mother gently but firmly persuading him into it.
    “I have to confess I sympathize with Father,” said Giles. “I am not looking forward to being squeezed and trampled on the dance floor. But I bow to your greater social wisdom, Mama,” he added with a teasing grin.
    His mother rapped him with her fan. “Don’t encourage your father, Giles. And I thought you would be looking forward to this evening. The Dysarts will be there, and you have not seen Clare for over a year.”
    “We are finally moving,” interrupted the earl, not wanting his wife to go further. He was hoping, nay, planning on this match, which he considered ideal for both families, but knew that the quickest way to put up a young man’s back was to push him at some eligible young lady. And this would be the first occasion that Giles would be meeting Clare as an eligible match. Whatever the unspoken understanding up until now, Clare had been too young and Giles too busy taking his first in Classics to see each other as anything but old friends.
    While the earl trusted to the deep and long friendship between them, many things could happen in a girl’s first Season. And a young man’s, for that matter. For although Giles had come to London off and on, this would be the first spring that his attention would be free and undivided. And there would be many new and attractive young ladies present beside Clare.
    The earl need not have worried. By that last summer, Giles had known that he loved her. It had grown slowly, this love, developed naturally and organically out of their old friendship. He had never spoken of it, however, even to Sabrina. And especially not to Clare, although he was sure she must know how he felt. On one hand, he was