Read To Marry a Marquess for Free Online Page B

pain.
    "Pshaw! Nothing can become something if one does not take care of oneself. I was just telling Sarah that we should have insisted you come along. You talked me into it, you know. And you do not look fine. What are those dark circles under your eyes?"
    Victoria smiled. "You are a worrier, Aunt Phoebe. I am in the best of health. But I do admit, I missed you all terribly."
    "Depend upon it, my girl. I will never leave you alone again. I know you are very capable, and I am certain Mrs. Dorling cared for you like a mother, but I did worry, you know."
    Victoria took her aunt's hand in hers. "I recovered faster than William could hop across that rug."
    William giggled. "Want to see me do it again?"
    Phoebe eyed the child with a disapproving glare. "No thank you, William. We have seen enough of your hopping for an entire year." She turned back to Victoria and gave her a wink. "Nevertheless, we did so many things in the country. Why, we even dined with His Grace, the Duke of Glenshire."
    "Indeed, we had such a grand time."
    Eighteen-year-old Sarah, her brown curls bouncing about her heart-shaped face, smiled as she passed through the doors and enveloped Victoria in a loving embrace. "We missed you terribly, and I won't hear of you staying home the next time we venture into the country, even if you do have the sniffles."
    "Next time, I promise to go with you."If I am not in Newgate, Victoria thought with dread.
    Sarah gave an amusing nod toward her aunt. "I daresay, we will be traveling there soon, if Aunt Phoebe can help it."
    Victoria lifted an inquisitive brow. "Ah, do I see a handsome man throwing his amorous advances in your direction?" She touched her finger to her aunt's shoulder.
    "Now, girls." Phoebe's cheeks grew red. "The situation is nothing like that."
    "Like what?" William protested, pulling on his cousin's violet skirt. "Who is throwing arms and ants at Mama?"
    Phoebe's eyes widened. The girls giggled.
    "Amorous advances, silly." Sarah patted his curly blond head and scooted him off toward their housekeeper and part-time nanny, Mrs. Dorling. "And it would be best if you had no more information than that."
    The plump lady smiled as she stood by the open doors waiting for William. The boy squirmed in Mrs. Dorling' s arms when he caught the wink his mother gave the housekeeper.
    "Let-me-go, I say! Botheration! I do not want a horrid bath!"
    Mrs. Dorling grabbed his flying arms. "'Tis not a bath, William. You are to be a pirate in your own wee boat. A captain must be clean as a whistle when he meets up with his crew."
    William looked up, eyes wide. "Why the blazes did you not say that in the first place?"
    Phoebe glowered at her son. "William, your language, please. Go upstairs and a tray will be sent up before you go to bed."
    William frowned, then looked at Mrs. Dorling. "Very well. Take me to your ship, my lady." He skipped passed the drawing room doors, but before his head disappeared from view, he managed to lean back and throw in the last word. "And you silly girls think I don't know what amors advances are, do you?"
    Mrs. Dorling tugged, but William would not hear of it until he finished what he wanted to say. "Botheration! You think me an idiot? That means old Georgie's going to marry Mama!"
    Victoria jerked her head toward Aunt Phoebe, who in turn rolled her eyes and sank onto the green sofa behind her. Sarah threw her hand to her mouth in surprise.
    "Georgie?" Victoria choked out, taking a seat in the wing chair opposite her aunt. She pursed her lips, struggling to hide the smile that tugged at the corners of her mouth.
    "Georgie?" Sarah squeaked as she took a seat beside Phoebe. "I had not realized it had progressed that far. The Duke perhaps, but Georgie?" She lifted her light brows in question.
    "I have no notion how that boy of mine knows everything that happens almost before I do."
    Victoria was caught off guard by her aunt's flustered expression. Along with Sarah, she waited for Phoebe to explain the