Free The Duke's Christmas Greetings (Regency Christmas Summons Book 3) by Ava Stone, Rose Gordon, Lily George Page A

weren’t receiving anyone yet this morning.”
    “Is he sick or injured?”
    She shook her head once more. “Just appears to be angry.”
    Perfect. Matt glanced towards his parlor and nodded. “Thank you, I’ll see to the fellow straight away.” Then he strode past his housekeeper, into the parlor and saw the very reason he was only able to see out of one eye that morning.
    Quentin Post was lounged in one of Matt’s soft leather chairs and he didn’t seem inclined to stand. Instead, he rubbed his chin as he assessed Matt and probably his own handiwork. “Well, aren’t you pretty this morning?”
    Matt didn’t even try to keep the growl from his voice when he said, “If that’s all you came for, you can leave.”
    “I don’t think I’m quite ready to do that, yet.” The gentleman narrowed his eyes on him. “I saw my sisters yesterday.”
    “How is Patience?” Matt couldn’t help but ask.
    “Well, I saw two of them,” Post amended. “My step-mother insisted Patience wasn’t feeling well enough to attend dinner.”
    Panic swirled around Matt’s heart. What did that mean? “She’s not well?” he breathed out. Had he kept her out in the elements too long? Was it the snow that fell on them at his doorway? Or—
    “Hope and Grace assure me that she is well, and that she is unharmed.”
    Matt breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank God.”
    “My step-mother has always had a flare for the dramatic, but in this case, you should count yourself fortunate that she hasn’t demanded your head on a platter.”
    “I shouldn’t have taken Patience with me yesterday, I—”
    “No.” Quentin Post agreed with a definite nod. “You shouldn’t have taken my sister to a bloody inn, even if it was just to care for some injured child. Surely you must realize what that must have appeared like to Lady Bradenham, to me.”
    Actually, Matt hadn’t given it a second thought. He’d been concerned about little Robby Gibson’s broken leg and the locale of the injured boy hadn’t crossed his mind. “I’m an idiot.”
    “Aren’t we all sometimes?” the man said, which Matt didn’t expect in the least. Then he sat a little taller and heaved a sigh. “Anyway, Hope and Grace insist I speak to you and find out your intentions.”
    His intentions. Finally, someone was willing to listen. Matt dropped into the chair across from Post. “I’ve never met anyone like her,” he began. “She’s the most perfect girl I’ve ever known. Now, I can’t imagine I’m the sort of man you have in mind for your sister, but...”
    “Why? What’s wrong with you?”
    The question knocked Matt backward and he sputtered slightly. “Well, I just…that is…I mean, I’m the son of a doctor, the grandson of a doctor. I…”
    “And she’s the daughter of a thrill seeker who died in a race before she was born. I hardly see your point.”
    Did the man truly not care that Matt wasn’t a peer, that he had no claim to any title or greatness in any way. “She’s the daughter of a marquess.”
    “Yes, well, the current marquess sent me here to keep an eye on our three sisters. Fortunes can come and go and a title can be tarnished, but the core of a man remains constant. I can assure you that my brother and I are less concerned about a man’s station and more concerned with how that man might treat our sister.”
    Matt could hardly believe what he was hearing. Was the man serious? “With care,” he breathed out. “As though she was the most precious thing in the world.”
    Quentin Post nodded at that. “And what is it you like about her, Campion? Her dowry or—”
    “Good God!” Matt sputtered. He hadn’t given a dowry even the slightest consideration. “Patience is kind and beautiful and…”
    “There are two other girls who look just like her, if it’s her beauty that struck you.” Her brother’s eyes narrowed slightly, assessing Matt once more.
    “But they’re not her ,” he replied, with a little fire in his belly.