How to Marry a Rogue

How to Marry a Rogue Read Online Free PDF

Book: How to Marry a Rogue Read Online Free PDF
Author: Anna Small
Tags: Marriage of Convenience,Regency
say, Pudding Face, you are rather green around the gills.”
    “How is it you are not ill?” She released his coat to hold her middle and prayed she wouldn’t humiliate herself by being sick all over her shoes.
    “I have made this trip many times in the past few years. My grandfather’s heart is too weak for him to make the voyage. So, it has fallen to me.”
    “You’re very good to do it.” She was grateful for the conversation, as it kept her attention off the horizon dipping over the bow.
    “He pays me well.” He gave a wry smile. “I do not mind the journey. There is usually a little business to see to, and then I have an extraordinary amount of spare time to waste in the gambling halls and salons of Paris. If only you weren’t so young, I would take you.”
    She choked. “My brother would have you strung up by your bootstraps!” But her heart panged for a moment. How exciting it would be to attend a ball with someone as exuberant as Jack.
    She remembered Jonathan’s halting words to Sophie about Jack’s—what had Jonathan called them? “Truly, Jack; you must find some more wholesome pursuits.”
    “Look at the little girl, lecturing me! Yes, I should. I will stop in for tea with you and Aunt Adele twice a week, and you can teach me knitting.”
    “I do not knit.” She would have said more, but another wave almost sent her hurtling to the deck. Instantly, he pulled her close to his side, and she gritted her teeth, hiding her face in his coat. “Oh, God, make it stop.”
    He brushed his hand over her cheek, just under her bonnet. “Close your eyes, Georgiana. It will make it a little better. I’ll hold onto you so you do not fall. This weather cannot last.”
    His right hand rested on his knee. She gripped three of his fingers as hard as she could. “Keep talking to me, Jack. It’s not so bad when you’re talking too me.”
    “What shall I talk about?”
    Already, she felt a little better, with the familiar scent of his hair pomade and cologne in her nose, and his arm, heavy and safe, about her. He’d comforted her so often in the past it was perfectly natural to lay her cheek on his shoulder. For a moment, the hard muscles in his arm disappeared, and she felt the reassuring familiarity of his body. Grown or not, he was still the dear friend who’d always protected her.
    “Tell me about the naughty things Jonathan and you did at Cambridge.” She fought a rise of bile as the ship bucked and danced over another crashing wave.
    “There are so many. I hardly know where to begin.”
    His broad, thick fingers clamped around her palm. She focused on the scars—some old, some more recent. Jack’s hands could tell stories her brother’s never could.
    “Just…just think of something. Did you not wake up drunk on the steps of a chapel once?”
    “That is hardly a suitable bedtime story for such a proper young lady. Your brother will not like it.”
    She pinched his hand. “My brother is not here. Besides, I’ve already heard it. I especially like the part when you dropped unconscious at the Latin master’s feet after insisting you were dry as a monk. Tell it to me again.”
    Sighing elaborately, Jack made a show of settling her against his side in preparation of telling a great tale. He brushed a drop of sea spray from her cheek. “Lockewood should not have told you these unsavory things about me. I wouldn’t want you to lose respect for me.”
    “I lost respect for you long ago, so you are safe.”
    He pinched the spot on her cheek he had just dried. “This is going to be a long voyage if you maintain your attitude, miss.”
    “I promise I’ll be good,” she said demurely, patting his hand where it rested on his knee.
    He turned his hand over and clasped her fingers. “How many times have you broken that promise?” he chided.

Chapter Four
    “Terra firma at last!” Jack called out, helping Georgiana assist Aunt Adele, whose legs shook from her exhausting seasickness. They emerged
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