Marriage to a Mister (A Daughters of Regency #1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

more and rushed over to her sister's side. "Come away from the window at once. What will he think of us?" She hissed, trying to not look out of the window herself.
    Julia turned towards he sister. "What is there to think? He saw me, nodded, and I greeted him cordially."
    Fleur laughed, her mouth hanging open in disbelief. "Julia, you cannot casually wave at young men from windows. Do you want people to think you're acting in a flirtatious manner?" She asked, running her hands down her dress, smoothing nonexistent wrinkles in her embarrassment.
    Julia shook her head, removing her hand from the curtains, allowing the sheer fabric to fall closed. "Fleur, you can be such a goose sometimes. Nothing I did was even a little flirtatious."
    Fleur, frowned, unable to understand how Julia could think waving at men from second story windows was not flirtatious. "Well, at the very least staring at people is impertinent. What is Mr. Trentham to think of us?"
    "He wouldn't think anything — all he ever does is smile like he has not one thought in his pretty little head. Besides if it's rude of me to stare out of the window, wouldn't it be doubly rude of him to stare in?"
    "You're unimaginable sometimes, Julia. You really are," said Fleur, refusing to argue further. "Did you come here for a reason? Or did you just want to pester me?" She walked back to her chair, woefully eyeing her knitting. When she bent once more to pick it up, she tried in dismay to make sense of the emerald tangle. "Oh, dear."
    "Why do you insist on doing something that frustrates you so?"  
    "Because I find it relaxing ..." Fleur pulled a random string, only to make the knot tighter, "... usually."
    Julia laughed. "Did you hear the commotion this morning? He's done it again."
    "By the sound of it," said Fleur. "I've just left Lord Blackburn with him in the library. Perhaps he will soothe Papa's nerves."
    Julia snorted. "Unlikely. How many does that make this season?"
    Fleur counted in her head, surprised by the number. "Four? No, five."
      "Six, between the pair of us. We'll be laughed at again." Julia sighed, resigned to the situation, so common it had become. "No matter, since we're leaving soon. Prudence and I are making one last trip to Hatchard's before we are to away. Are you sure you wouldn't rather join us?"  
    "You know I agreed to accompany Mr. Hamilton on the row this afternoon." Fleur's fingers caught in the knotted mass. "This is impossible."
    Julia frowned. "I can't imagine a more tedious activity then riding about with Mr. Hamilton as he goes on and on about the virtues of his new phaeton. I'd rather untangle that wool you're holding."
    Fleur grinned before she could stop herself. "Julia, that is very rude."
    "Although very true," she countered. "Well, then, I must be off. Since I can't convince you to come with us, enjoy your afternoon of conversation, if you can squeeze in a word edgewise."
    Julia slid off the side of the arm chair and floated from the room. Fleur wondered if her sister would ever mature, though she knew she would miss Julia's vitality and free spirit if she did, having helped raise her after the death of their mother.
    When Julia was born it was true she had lost something that day, something precious, her beloved mother, but she had gained something infinitely more dear. First a sister she was able to love and spoil, then almost a daughter she could dote upon, and last a best friend and companion.  
    Fleur set down her wool and reached for her tea. Raising it to her lips she frowned into it as she tasted the dregs that signaled the end of her cup. Just as she was about to rise to ring for another pot, she heard a slight knock, and when she looked up she saw her father hovering in the doorway looking uncertain ... and quite ill.
    She rushed to him. "Papa? You look positively green," she said as she ushered him into a chair for fear he would fall over. "Is your head still bothering you? Should I send for the doctor?"
    "No, no,