A Matchmaker for a Marquess Quotes

“I’m going to help you find pleasure”—her breath hitched—“in life again, Miss Durant.” And it took a force the weight of Atlas’s strength to step away from her. The breathless minx didn’t blink for several moments. Confusion clouded her eyes. “What?”
Did he imagine the disappointment in her hoarse voice? He thought not. “A deal. I’ll allow you to serve in your role as matchmaker, and you are to allow me to help you find again what brings you happiness.”
“No,” she said on a rush, her previous defensive, stern-faced edge back up.
“I’m not agreeing to this.”
“Then I’m afraid the deal is off, Miss Durant.” He sketched a bow and made for the door.
“Wait,” she called after him. He continued forward, drawing out the moment. “Wait, Barry,” she repeated, a greater stridency in her voice. He rcotton skirts whirred slightly in the quiet as she raced over to join him. “I’ll… allow it if, and only if, your plans for me are scheduled for first thing in the mornings.”
― Christi Caldwell, A Matchmaker for a Marquess

“A microscope? What do you want with a microscope?”
Barry looked over at his tutor, who hung his head, avoiding his eyes. Barry opened his mouth to explain to his papa, but his father interrupted him.
“Boys do not worry themselves with flower terminology, and they certainly do not worry themselves with flowers.”
And with that, a nine-year-old’s hopes of a future in botany had been dashed with the sacking of the tutor who’d indulged him. A new one replaced him, with a ducal curriculum suiting the heir.
“You’re not a botanist. You’re first and foremost a duke. Everything else comes second to that.” That had been the lesson ingrained into him by his every subsequent, esteemed tutor: ducal responsibilities.”
― Christi Caldwell, A Matchmaker for a Marquess