To Wed a Wicked Prince Read Online Free PDF Page A

Aurelia. “Although, if my father hadn’t needed me the other week, I would have liked to have visited Nell and Harry in Scotland. Where are they now? Still in Ringwood, or did they come back to London with you?”
    “No, they’re still in Hampshire, at Dagenham Manor. Harry has Markby twisted around his little finger…it’s a miracle. You wouldn’t believe it.”
    “No, I wouldn’t,” Livia agreed, pulling herself up against the pillows. The earl of Markby, the father of Nell’s first husband, who had died in the war, was a formidable gentleman. “So he’s come round to Nell’s marriage, then?”
    “Seemingly,” Aurelia said. She went to open the door at a discreet knock. “Ah, tea, thank you, Hester.” She held the door for a young maidservant struggling under the weight of a laden tray.
    Hester set it down on the dresser and bobbed a curtsy. “Will I pour, ma’am?”
    “No, I’ll do it,” Aurelia said, picking up the silver teapot. “Could you ask Daisy to come and collect Franny for her breakfast.”
    “Yes, ma’am.”
    “Thank you, Hester,” Livia said in smiling dismissal. The girl bobbed another curtsy and hurried away.
    “Don’t want breakfast,” Franny declared, pouting. “I want to stay here with you.”
    “You were famished ten minutes ago,” her mother said, pouring tea into two delicate Sèvres cups. “And you don’t want to upset Miss Ada or Miss Mavis by not eating the breakfast they will have made for you. You know how they always put honey on your porridge.”
    Franny looked doubtful but went off without too much protest when her nursemaid appeared a couple of minutes later.
    “I adore that child, but she does exhaust me,” Aurelia said, closing the door on their departure. “She chatters ten times more than Stevie and Susannah put together.” She smiled ruefully at the contrast between their friend Nell’s children and her own chatterbox of a daughter. She came over to perch companionably on the bed with her teacup. “So, what have you been up to?”
    “Nothing particularly remarkable,” Livia said, dipping a macaroon into her tea. “I did have a rather unusual encounter last night…but first, tell me how Nell and Harry and the children are. I haven’t heard from Nell since they left Scotland to come home. I want to hear all about how Harry charmed the earl. I would have thought Markby would have had an apoplexy about the elopement.”
    “He probably did when he first heard of it,” Aurelia said. “But he had to accept the fait accompli in the end.”
    Aurelia and her sister-in-law, Cornelia Dagenham, had both been widowed at the Battle of Trafalgar, and Cornelia’s father-in-law, the earl of Markby, had been the chief trustee for their children’s inheritances. When Cornelia had fallen in love with Harry, Viscount Bonham, and eloped with him six months ago, everyone had expected the earl to unleash his wrath on all and sundry.
    “But he didn’t have to accept it graciously,” Livia pointed out, leaning sideways to set down her teacup.
    “True enough, but there’s something about Harry…more tea?”
    “Yes, please. I know what you mean, he’s some kind of an invincible force,” Livia said with a chuckle. “Nell couldn’t resist him after all, and she tried hard enough.”
    “She did,” her friend agreed with a responding chuckle as she handed her a refilled cup. “But she’s so happy now, Liv.” She sighed a little. “I envy her. It’s wrong of me to envy her happiness, but I can’t help it.”
    “It’s not wrong of you,” Livia said swiftly, reaching out a hand to her friend. “And there’ll be a Harry out there for you too, Ellie. I’m sure of it.” Her fingers squeezed Aurelia’s tightly.
    Aurelia shrugged and smiled. “Maybe so,” she said. “But now I want to hear about this peculiar encounter you had last night.”
    “A Russian prince, would you believe,” Livia said, settling back against the pillows, her gray eyes