The Secret Life of Miss Anna Marsh Read Free Page A

mother told me that since he didn’t do a good job attaching Lady Phoebe . . .”
    â€œMama,” Anna interrupted. “Phoebe had no interest in Rutherford. They are friends. That is all.”
    â€œAs I was saying, my dear, Lord Rutherford is free and in need of a wife. I am sure, if you would only make yourself agreeable to him, he’d be happy to make you an offer.”
    Anna resisted the urge to cast her eyes upward. She missed the intimacy she’d had with her mother before Harry’s death. Everything was so different now. Anna certainly wasn’t going to tell her mother Sebastian had proposed. Trying to turn the conversation away from marriage, Anna said. “Mama, why do you call him Lord Rutherford, when you’ve known him all his life?”
    â€œThat is what we do, my dear. You would be well advised to remember he is no longer a schoolboy, but rather a very eligible gentleman.”
    â€œYes, Mama,” Anna replied meekly, and rose. “I must check on Lizzy. She has a lot to pack and not much time. I shall see you at dinner.”
    â€œOh, my dear, I forgot to tell you. I am dining with Lady Worthington. I do not plan to make a late evening of it, but if you have retired by the time I come home, I shall see you in the morning before you leave.”
    â€œPlease give Lady Worthington my best wishes and enjoy yourself.” Anna kissed her mother’s cheek and left the room.
    Anna walked to the library. If she was to spend the better part of two days in a coach, she’d need books. After searching the shelves, she selected a novel she hadn’t seen before. She looked more closely at the cover, opened it, and tilted her head. The pages were full of pictures of naked couples doing the most shocking things and directions as to how to do them. She shut the book, then opened it up again, fascinated by the pictures.
    Oh my, Mama certainly didn’t buy this book! It must have been Harry’s. Anna put it back on the shelf. Tears filled her eyes. She wished Harry were here. He’d know how to help her. Even though he was ten years older than she, they had always been close. She remembered him holding her when she was very young. He had always been the first one to arrive when she woke terrified at night.
    Even when she was five and he was fifteen, although he didn’t really want her following him and Sebastian around, Harry had never tried to stop her. When he’d left, Harry had made her responsible for the smugglers he’d led. Granted he had thought it would only be for a few months, but he’d taught her well. Anna had held the group together for almost three years without mishap, and she would continue to lead them.
    She wondered briefly how Sebastian would take that part of her life. The secret part. Only Lizzy, her brother, Kev, and Harry’s old groom, Humphrey, knew Anna’s identity and that she was female. Her position in the smuggling gang was one of the many reasons Sebastian must be in love with her before she could agree to marry him. He’d have to accept her as she was now.
    Anna remained in the library curled up in a chair. When she was ten years old, she had decided to marry Sebastian. That he was twenty hadn’t bothered her a bit. That he might wed someone else had never entered her mind. Even now, marriage to someone else wasn’t a consideration. She’d marry him or no one. Unfortunately, no one was now a real possibility. Anna stared into the fire trying to envision her future without him and got absolutely nowhere. He was such an integral part of her past.
    A footman came in, closed the drapes against the late afternoon gloom, and lit the wall sconces and candelabras.
    â€œPlease ask Cook if dinner can be served earlier.”
    â€œYes, miss.”
    He came back a few minutes later, to assure her Cook would be happy to bring dinner forward.
    Once the footman left, she got up and went back to the