The Christmas Kittens Read Free Page A

match-making momma in the ton. No less than three young ladies had made the attempt to get him alone and declare themselves compromised. One had actually come to his townhouse and tried to gain entry. Now by December, he'd taken to avoiding the company of any unmarried female below the age of thirty.
    Even worse, his own grandmother engaged in deceit of the worse kind. Harriet, Dowager Marchioness of Marsden, was determined to see him married again. His man, Elsworth, had fortunately stumbled upon the plot to force him to propose to the daughter of their neighbor during Harriet's Christmas house party. The dowager knew he would not miss being with Rosalind for the holidays and would be in residence.
    But Marsden was not a man to be manipulated. He'd warned his grandmother to stay out of his affairs when she pushed several young ladies in his path over the past months but she'd only reminded him he had no heir. Why did all Society think he must be married? After all, he was only thirty.
    Looking at the pale face of the sleeping child, he realized just how much his daughter needed him. He would never again surrender her care to another relative. He knew his grandmother must have been furious to return from her morning visits to discover that he'd fired the governess she'd employed and whisked his daughter away from her rigidly run household. Angry at her machinations, he'd left no word about their destination, only his apologies that he wouldn't be staying for her Christmas house party. With the help of Elsworth, the marquess had arranged to slip away to the one place no one would think to look, Whiteoaks, his late wife's abandoned home, leaving the valet behind to misinform all who inquired about his direction.
    Lord Marsden had no intention of rushing back into marriage. He'd barely been twenty-one when he'd wed the first time. He'd been completely bewitched by a pretty face and spent the next nine years paying the price for his foolishness. He didn't need a wife at this period in his life. There was time enough to worry about an heir later.
    His unexpected isolation from his family would give him time to concentrate on getting Rachel's old home in order. It was his daughter's legacy from her mother. He was certain Rachel, who'd retained possession of the estate in the marriage settlements, hadn't spent a farthing on the place in years. He needed to use this time to get reacquainted with his child as well.
    “Hello, Papa. I did not know you had joined us.” The child's voice startled him from his contemplate of his life. A pair of sky blue eyes looked at him from a thin, pale face framed by dark brown curls. The dowager had cut the child's hair fashionably short, but the style only emphasized her thinness.
    What bothered him the most was that Rosalind spoke to him almost as if he were a stranger, but then hadn't he been for the past year? Well, no more. “Good afternoon, Rosebud.”
    A grin brightened Lady Rosalind's countenance and she lurched forward in the rocking carriage to throw her arms around her father's neck. “Oh, Papa, I have missed you and missed being called Rosebud.”
    Pulling the child onto his lap, he kissed her. Her unexpected display of affection warmed his heart. “And I missed you. Can you forgive me for being away so long?”
    “I forgive you. But promise you won't go and leave me with Grandmama again, Papa.”
    “I promise and will seal the bargain with a kiss.” Holding his young daughter felt so right.
    Lady Rosalind gazed lovingly up at him, absently asking, “Where are we going to spend Christmas, Papa?”
    “I am taking you to Whiteoaks. Your mother left it to you and I want you to help me fix it up.”
    “Can it be like it was when I was young and you would come to see me and take me for rides?”
    The marquess told her he had much to do in Warwickshire, but he promised to take her with him when weather permitted.
    Father and daughter talked as the carriage rumbled through the