Miss Featherton's Christmas Prince (The Marriage Game Book 9) by Ella Quinn Read Free Book Online Page A

ask.”
    She reached over and tugged the bell-pull. “We shall have tea, and you will tell me what you have been up to. By then I will be in the correct frame of mind to answer your questions.”
    “Yes, ma’am.” He folded his hands on his lap, chastised.
    The tea tray arrived filled with sandwiches and biscuits. Damon took several of the sandwiches. He would not want her to think he didn’t appreciate the offer of food, and he was hungry.
    “I hear that you visited your mother’s family before returning home?”
    He hid his surprise by draining his tea-cup. He had thought only his step-mother knew about that. “Yes, to my father’s infinite displeasure.”
    “One would suppose”—Lady Bellamny’s tone was supercilious—“that after sending you off to war, your father would have better sense than to think he could demand your obedience. I have never found military men to be particularly disposed to take orders from civilians.”
    “He is a duke,” Damon replied in his driest tone. He did not like to discuss his father, even with her.
    “And you, my dear, are a Greek prince.”
    She refilled his cup, and he saluted her with it. “Has no one ever told you that Greek princes are thick on the ground? It is true, actually.”
    “They might be, but not all of them are in the succession,” she retorted. “Your father’s stance might make more sense if you did not own any property in Greece. However, I am well aware of not only your holdings but the funds that made up your mother’s estate. All of which went to you upon her death.”
    “And about which my father neglected to inform me until two years ago when I was facing a battle the next day.”
    “In fairness”—she grimaced, giving him the impression that she would rather not be fair to his father—“he could hardly know you were about to go into battle when you received the news.” He opened his mouth, and she held up her hand. “Although you were at war, and being in a battle is not unexpected.”
    “Precisely.” At the time, Damon had been so angry he would have gladly throttled his father. By his mother’s settlement agreements, he had come into the properties when she died, and the trust had ended when he was one and twenty. Yet his father had kept the information from him until one of his Greek relatives contacted a solicitor who threatened to send him the news if the duke did not. Disappointment and bitterness still burned in him over his father’s deception. He had been made to memorize every piece of property down to the smallest item he would receive if he lived to become duke, but what he inherited from his mother had been kept secret. Even though he had been very young, Damon had never had the impression that his father hated his mother so much as to deny him any part of her. Yet that seemed to be the case.
    “Now.” Lady Bellamny placed her tea-cup on the low table between them. “What can I help you with?”
    He gave himself an inner shake before answering. “Miss Featherton. I wish to know how close she actually was to receiving an offer from Tarlington.”
    “Why do you want to know?”
    “Is there a reason you ask?”
    “Her grandmother is a dear friend of mine. I consider it my duty to keep an eye on her.”
    Fair enough. “As you know, I lurked through most of last Season, and I have been actively looking for a possible wife most of this Season. Yet by the time you introduced us, Tarlington was courting her. I am interested in her and would like to know what I’m up against.”
    Lady Bellamny fixed Damon with a basilisk gaze. “He had spoken to her father.”
    Damon fought down the strong urge to swear long and fluently in several languages, but his godmother would probably box his ears, and he needed her assistance. “What happened?”
    “Sometime before Tarlington was to propose to Miss Featherton, she was given information about his mistress and children. He will never marry the woman, but neither would he have