Mastering the Marquess by Vanessa Kelly Read Free Book Online Page A

looked at the pair of them sitting next to each other, so different yet remarkably alike in their self-assured, engaging, and thoroughly aristocratic manner. She sighed and gave up.
    â€œI am almost five and twenty, my lady.”
    Lady Stanton laughed. “My dear child, you are in your prime. You must not be so eager to climb onto the shelf. You haven’t even had a Season in London, which is something I know my daughter intended for you.”
    Meredith froze, wondering for an awful moment if the older woman was joking. She cast a doubtful look at Lord Silverton, but he didn’t seem to find the remark amusing, either. In fact, he studied his aunt with an intensity that Meredith found a bit unnerving.
    â€œA Season! Surely you must be joking, ma’am.” Meredith gave an uncertain laugh. “I am nothing but a wool merchant’s granddaughter from Bristol. I have no acquaintance in London, only my half-sister’s family. You may be gracious enough to acknowledge Annabel, and indeed, I am eternally grateful for that, but who would sponsor a nobody like me?”
    Lady Stanton’s eyes sparkled with a mischievous gleam. “Well, Miss Burnley,” she gently retorted, “as far as I am concerned, you are a part of this family. And as to who will sponsor your Season, there is simply no question. I will.”
    Meredith found herself speechless once again—a condition that, as far as she was concerned, had struck her all too frequently this day. She breathed a sigh of relief when the carriage slowed to a stop in front of a small house.
    A groomsman let out the steps of the carriage, and the marquess took one long stride down to the pavement. He extended his hand to Lady Stanton to assist her. Meredith was next. Lord Silverton squeezed her hand slightly as he helped her down, startling her with what seemed to be an expression of support.
    She hesitated on the stoop of the house, glancing back at the dignified old woman leaning on her nephew’s muscular arm. Taking a deep breath, Meredith knocked on the front door. Almost immediately it swung open, and Miss Noyes’s young housemaid, Agatha, ushered them into the cramped hallway. The girl’s eyes popped wide as she took in Lord Silverton’s polished magnificence. She dropped a hasty curtsy and rushed ahead to open the doors to the small sitting room.
    Lady Stanton advanced into the room, tightly clutching Lord Silverton’s sleeve. Her face was pale, and Meredith could see her fine-boned hands were trembling.
    Annabel sat next to Miss Noyes on a shabby couch at the other end of the simply furnished room. She had obviously been trying to distract herself with some needlework. The poor girl gripped the material so tightly Meredith was amazed it didn’t shred in her grasp. Annabel blinked anxiously at her grandmother, her pretty face a bleached white except for a faint blush high on her cheekbones.
    Lady Stanton suddenly looked decades younger, her careworn expression replaced with one of beaming joy.
    Annabel came slowly to her feet, her eyes starting to shimmer with tears. “Grandmamma?” she asked softly, taking a small step forward.
    Tears began to course down Lady Stanton’s cheeks. She dropped her hand from Lord Silverton’s sleeve and, without uttering a word, opened her arms wide. Annabel flung aside her embroidery and ran across the room, throwing herself into her grandmother’s embrace.
    No one spoke. The only sounds in the room were the sobs of the young girl and Lady Stanton as they clung to each other, the older woman reaching up to stroke her granddaughter’s vibrant auburn hair.
    Meredith stood in the doorway and let their happiness wash over her as she fought to hold back the tears constricting her throat.
    And just like that, all the years of grief and worry finally came to an end. Meredith and Annabel were no longer alone.
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    Meredith sighed as she surreptitiously blotted