Page 144 of Lessons for Marquesses
“Excuse me,” Georgiana said, “while I find your Uncle Nick.”
Georgiana marched toward the house, a riot of cries and squeals following, except ladylike Sophia, who walked quietly by Georgiana’s side.
She found her husband taking shelter in the study, stretched out on the settee with Daniel, their three-month-old, sleeping in the crook of his big arm and a ledger opened at his side.
They had not planned to have two children in just over two years, but passion as it was, it proved unavoidable. Luckily for Georgiana, like riding horses, birthing children was something she was good at. A sum of five hours labor for the both of them. With Daniel, she had barely made it to bed.
“Uncle Nick!” All the girls shouted it as they swarmed the room.
Daniel jerked up and promptly wailed. Nicholas might also be on the verge of tears, but he hid it with a grin, bouncing Daniel in his arms and soothing a large hand over his son’s wispy blond hair.
Charlotte, sweet, wonderful Charlotte, gathered a screeching Daniel and rounded up the girls like a seasoned collie. “I will take the girls to the nursery?—”
“I’m too old for the nursery,” Sophia said. “I have my own room.”
Cassandra spoke over her sister. “And my birthday is next month, and I was promised that I would have my own room then, so I shan’t go to the nursery either.”
Mariah squinted. “I refuse to stay in a nursery with Edie as my only company.”
Edie’s shoulders drooped. “I don’t care where I am. I want my hair blue.”
Over continued protests, Charlotte herded the children from the room. If they could be called children.
Georgiana shut the study door and collapsed on the panels.
“Exhilarating,” Nicholas said, leaning his elbows to his knees, his hair falling to his unshaven cheeks.
“Oh? Then why are you hiding?”
“Hiding?”
Georgiana charged him, landing on her knees across his lap and tickling under her arms. “Uncle Nick! Uncle Nick! Would not! Would too! Would not!”
Nicholas chuckled, clamping his arms shut at her assault. “You forgot ‘I hate you’ and sticking out your tongue prior to declaring so.”
Georgiana stuck out her tongue, and his arms wrapped around her, bringing her in for a deep kiss.
“I love you,” he murmured as he nibbled her bottom lip. “I love you here.” He kissed her jaw. “And here.” At her neck. “And here.” He drew her waistcoat aside and pressed his warm mouth to her linen shirt.
She planted her chin atop his head where it rested against her heart. “Not enough to save me from my cousins, Uncle Nick. What urgent business allowed you to turn tail and hide?”
He looked aside at the ledger beneath her knee. “Interesting you should ask.”
“Is it?”
“The tax assayer called three days past.”
“Oh, you’re to blame the tax man? This should be a rousing tale.”
“Not rousing but certainly unsettling.”
She traced the line between his brows. “What is it?”
“We debated the valuation of Farendon, his calculation more than twice my estimation and obviously wrong. I may have called the man a scoundrel.”
“Imagine,” she said, pressing her forehead to his. “You losing your temper.”
“You have worn off on me, love. But that is neither here nor there. I called him a greedy arse and threatened to throw him out our door on said arse. He left decidedly agitated. And today while you were suffering the St. Clair sisters?—”
