A Bluestocking for the Duke: A Steamy Historical Regency Romance Novel (The Hale Sisters Book 1)

One Year Later

Colin smiled, glancing across the room to where Emma sat, curled up on the bench under the picture window. The golden light of the later afternoon enveloped her in her white dress and set all the streaks of blonde in her hair aglow. Her sketchbook balanced on her thighs, and she drew, engrossed in the pond at the end of the property.

He jumped at his desk when a knock on the door startled him. “Come in!”

Emma set down her sketchbook and looked at the door. It opened slowly. Neither of them had expected to see Adam. He usually barged right in, holding a pithy remark between his lips, ready to unleash it on the two of them before they could tell him to go away. Colin’s eyes widened, surprised that he was dressed so nicely while around the home. He tended to look a bit like a freethinker or a poet (despite having no artistic inclinations) when he was around the estate. Today, however, he was dressed nicely despite having gone nowhere unusual.”

“Do you have a moment?” he asked, grimacing slightly.

Colin set his quill down and gestured to the seat. He poured them a glass of brandy each from the decanter on his desk. “I must admit, brother, you’re making me nervous,” Colin said, handing the glass to his brother.

Adam tipped the drink back, not taking the time to sip it. The illusion of him as a proper gentleman shattered instantaneously, but it did seem he was making an effort. Old habits never broke that easily.

Adam sat down. “I wanted to ask for um…” Adam paused, rubbing his cheek. “An investment.”

“No.” Colin hadn’t needed to consider it. The answer was no. It would always be no.

“For what?” Emma asked, sitting up from the cushion. She placed her bare feet on the floor.

Adam broke the glare he was giving his brother to smile at Emma. “I want to start a racetrack,” he said.

Colin couldn’t help that laugh that bubbled up in his chest. “You?” Colin asked. “You want to start a racetrack?”

“Yes, Colin.” He seemed rather annoyed for once in his life. Maybe this was serious. “Horses. I’ve thought about it for a while. I have all the plans. I’ve looked into my expenses. I’ve met with several jockeys. The racetrack a few miles east is for sale. If we buy it, Colin—”

Colin groaned, cutting his brother off. “Do you think that’s in poor taste?” he asked. “Considering our father’s worst habits?”

“We are not our father,” Adam said, his voice full of confidence. Colin had never seen him so assured. “If anyone should know that it is you.”

Colin exhaled and reclined back in his desk chair, considering the situation. Emma stepped over, leaning on the desk. “You want to be a jockey?”

“No,” Adam said. “I like riding, and I know a lot about horses, but,” he said as he shook his head. “Professionally, I am not built for it, but I do know much about the sport.”

Emma nodded. “So.” She took a deep breath. “You want Colin to finance your purchase of the track, and then, if you make money, he will get a return?”

“If?” Adam shook his head. “There is no if. I am serious about this.”

Colin chuckled. “Sorry, I cannot take you seriously.”

“Brother,” Adam said sharply. “Consider it because I promise you, I am serious. I’ve been planning this for months. I just…I feel like I suddenly have this passion, this—this calling. You’ve been pushing me all my life to do something. I finally want to do something now. You’re going to tell me no?”

Colin took a deep breath. “Adam, I admire your passion, I do…”

“But?”

“But—”

“He will consider it,” Emma cut him off. Colin turned to look at her, eyes widening. She looked back at him with that unyielding tenacity that he had always admired much. She was challenging him to argue with her, but he didn’t want to. Maybe she was right. Perhaps Adam’s plans required a bit more thought before they were discarded.

“I will…” Colin swallowed. “I will consider it.”

“Yes!” Adam swopped his fist in the air, cheering like his favorite horse had crossed the finish line, a clear winner. He held out his hand excitedly. “I will have all my research prepared when you’re ready to talk. At your earliest convenience.”

Colin’s mouth hung open. It seemed Adam had taken his consideration as a definitive yes. That wasn’t exactly how he’d expected it to go. Adam left the room, winking at Emma before he closed the door.

Colin huffed. He looked up, watching Emma sit on the corner of his desk. She offered a toothy smile. Her hair was down that day, cascading around her shoulders in beautiful golden waves. She always talked about how much better it looked when fixed in an arrangement on her head. What Colin had never told her, though, was that when she wore her hair down in this very same office that day, it had driven him wild. She had done it thinking it made her look less captivating, but she was wrong. She looked beautiful in every light, dress, and state of health. He’d never seen her on a bad day.

“Did you say yes for me?” Colin asked incredulously.

“I—” she grimaced, and her voice got small. “I have a good feeling about this.”

“Mhm.” he nodded. “Well, then tell me about that.”

“What?”

“Well, Your Grace,” he said. “You are trying so hard to be my business partner, so go on, and we will talk business.”

She narrowed her brows, not enjoying his taunts. “You are always looking for business opportunities,” she explained. “He is right. The track is being sold. Someone is going to buy it, and someone is going to make money off it. Why not you?”

“How can you be so sure that it will make money?”

“Because you and your brother are intelligent people,” she said. “And we live in the country. There is hardly anything to do out here. I am sure a day at the track would be a lovely diversion.”

He stood up, standing in front of her, eyes glancing over her face. Maybe that should have annoyed him. He didn’t like the thought of other people playing with his money. Emma, however, never liked risk-taking. She was reserved when she had her doubts. There was that look, though—the passion in her eyes. When she was ardent about something, it hit him hard in the chest and knocked the air out of him. He loved that. He trusted that.

“What are you thinking?” She asked.

“I’m wondering when I will stop this constant cycle of falling in love with you over and over.” And with that, he kissed her, sliding her body to the middle of the desk. She wrapped her arms around his neck. Even after a year, he’d found it difficult to keep his hands off her. She was always doing things that made him feel just as passionate as he had when he kissed her for the first time. Now it was different. They were in his office again, but this time, he didn’t need to hold back. If she wanted him, she could have him as much as she wanted.

“Colin,” she whispered. “If you’re going to—” she gasped when his lips met with a particularly sensitive part of her neck. “We should go upstairs.”

“Or,” he began, lifting her dress up until it rested around her hips. His fingers danced across her thighs, and he felt her body shiver under him. “You’ll have to be very quiet.”

She leaned her head back, catching her breath while he undid his trousers. “Hurry up,” she said.

He stopped, giving her a disbelieving look. “Really? Are you impatient now?”

She pulled him back towards her, kissing him and rendering him speechless.

“I am exhausted by carriage rides. Living so far away from London is proving tedious,” Colin said. His glasses were placed on the tip of his nose, and he was buried in another book, this time one the baron recommended.

Over the course of the past year, Colin had read about a hundred different books that were recommended by Emma’s father. She had likely over or underexaggerated the number. She liked to read but didn’t like to read quite as much as the two of them. Although once a week, Colin and she would lay in bed together and take turns reading together, sometimes in the stupidest voices they could muster until they were laughing in a heap on the sheets. It had become one of Emma’s favorite past times.

Colin closed his book. “Oh, I think you might be interested in hearing some news,” he said.

Emma raised her brows, nodding, although she already knew that the news she had to share with him would be at the forefront of his mind for the next nine months.

“The Horton Trading Company is ready to expand again, and I have offered to buy them another vessel.”

Emma huffed, eyes lighting up with excitement. “That would be the third time this year! Are they not expanding too quickly?”

Colin set the book beside him. “No, everything has been perfect,” he said. “If I can make this investment, I have some big plans.”

“Tell me!” Emma had seen a lot of change in the past year. The Terrel Estate underwent some renovations that replaced some of the outdated features of the home. The conservatory had also been remodeled the way Colin’s father had always wanted.

“Well, I have finally taken your advice. I’m sure you will never let me hear the end of that.”

“Your brother’s racetrack?” Emma was pleasantly surprised. She had been growing ever more excited after hearing all of Adam’s plans for the track. Sometimes she’d go to the stables just to pick his brain about it. He seemed like a different person when he talked about it. As much as she loved the life of the party Adam, she had started to enjoy the company of Adam when he had goals and drive.

“Yes. I have agreed to invest,” Colin said. “He seems serious. You were both right. This could be a very lucrative opportunity. He has made impressive plans. If all goes well with my current investment, I want to invest in him as well.”

“That is incredible!” Emma hugged her husband, pressing a kiss on cheek.

“I will also have enough to give our staff a raise.”

Emma nodded. “Yes, that has been important to you for some time.”

Colin put his arm around Emma and held her close, bodies pressed together in the enclosed carriage. With a languid finger, Emma traced the lines on his palm. “Do you think,” she asked. “That life could get any better?”

“If it shall, I do not know what I would do with myself.” He chuckled, holding her closer. A mischievous grin played out on Emma’s face, but she said nothing, only laid with her head on his chest as the carriage rocked through the streets.

“Life seems to go that way,” she said. “After a particularly difficult time, things have a way of just slipping into place.”

“We’re fortunate for that,” he agreed.

“Very,” Emma whispered. After some time resting together, the carriage rolled to a stop in front of the church. Emma pulled away from Colin. And looked at him. He looked back, his mouth twisted in a perplexed smile. The door of the carriage opened. “You might try to figure out what to do with yourself quickly, Your Grace.”

Why? He merely mouthed the words, his face already suspecting the news she was about to give him.

She swallowed a laugh. “I am with child,” she said. And with that, she turned, allowing their driver to help her out of the carriage. With pursed lips, she held her excitement in and walked up the lane to the church, leaving a shocked Colin standing outside the carriage. The path was lined with all manner of beautiful spring flowers in yellows, pinks, and purples. The air smelled slightly sweet, mixed with the acrid possibility of another spring shower. Outside the church were plenty of friends and relatives, all lined up to witness Harriet leave the church a married woman.

“Emma! Emma!” Colin chased after her. She turned around, and he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her in for a hug. “Oh my God, Emma, I love you,” he whispered. With a hand, he gently touched her stomach.

“And I love you, too.”

It wasn’t the most polite thing to do in the middle of the street, but Emma didn’t care. This was the start of the next chapter of her life. She had wanted a child for so long. She knew she’d be a fantastic mother. She wanted to nurture, adore, and raise a child to live and love as fiercely as she and Colin did.

Emma melted under his warm embrace. When she pulled away, their eyes were already misty with tears. She wiped her away. “I am already crying, and I haven’t even seen our Harriet walk down the aisle.”

“Come,” he said, offering his elbow. “We must contain ourselves so as not to absorb the joy of her big day.” Emma nodded, smiling at him as if he were the dearest man in the world. And that was because he very clearly was. She could not love him more.

Up at the front of the church, they took their place among The Hale family, scooching in the pew. Priscilla fanned her face. All around were beautiful bouquets of garden roses in every color. Big pink ribbons were fixed to the end of every bench. On the altar was a giant bouquet that looked about three flowers short of swallowing the entire room.

“Goodness, I am so nervous,” Priscilla stated, dabbing the sweat off her head with the baron’s handkerchief. “Harriet will forget all her words up there; I just know it.”

“Mama, all will be well,” Emma promised, patting her mother’s shoulder.

Achoo!

Emma and Colin rubbernecked to watch Adam sneeze at least three more times. “Phew!” he said. “These flowers are trouncing me.”

Lucy giggled, quickly clearing her throat and pretending she’d not made a noise. Emma rolled her eyes. She hadn’t changed a bit. At least, not yet. Maybe one day she’d meet someone who would make her want to settle down, but Emma imagined it would have to be a man as clever and disinterested in tradition as she was.

Colin sighed. “Brother, if your nose continues to abuse you, excuse yourself to the washroom. You know how important Miss Harriet’s wedding day is.”

“Yes,” Lucy muttered. “She will positively kill you. It has been all I’ve heard about for a year straight, and I am sick of it. Mess it up, and I will endure another year of agony.”

Adam tilted his head, considering the thought. He nodded. “I can see that. Very well, then.” He got up, stepping past wedding guests with his long gangly legs and a toothy smile. “Excuse me, thank you, What a handsome cravat! Gosh, I apologize. Mind moving your reticule, my dear?” He tumbled into the aisle, saluting the group before another round of sneezes caught up with him.

Colin sighed. “I will not let him ruin my day,” he shook his head. “I will not let him.” Several months earlier, he had begun practicing thoughtfulness to keep his frustrations at bay. At first, Emma had thought it was a wonderful idea, but it had seemed like the entire thing had morphed into something else entirely. As of late, Colin had several incantations designed to soothe him over his brother’s vexing behaviors.

Emma hated to admit it, but she had found all of Adam’s awkwardness and foolishness rather entertaining. When he was around, she was grateful that she would get at least a few good laughs out of his company. Colin loved him too, but he still had trouble admitting it.

And when he wasn’t being a lovable fool, he was working hard on his plans for the racetrack. Maybe in a few years, Emma would find herself going to one of the races with a colorful hat perched atop her head.

“I had wished Lemon Drop could have been the ring bearer,” Colin whispered.

“I truly believe he’d swallow the ring.”

Colin considered it before he nodded his head. “Yes, but he’d look quite handsome with the thing tied off to his collar.”

“Yes, Colin,” she sighed. “If you really think so.” Emma did like Lemon Drop, but he was certainly the strangest new in-law she had. He had never grown out of staring at her with the same vacant eyes he always had. It unnerved her if she was being honest.

The group jumped as the music began. “Oh! It’s beginning!” Pricilla shouted.

The guests all stood up, turning back, waiting for the doors to open.

Achoo! Achoo!

Colin inhaled sharply as his brother’s sneezes echoed throughout the church.

Emma pressed her hand to his arm and whispered in his ear. “Think about the baby,” she whispered.

“The what?” Lucy’s eyes widened.

“Shh!” Emma hissed. She looked at Colin, and together they snorted, trying not to laugh too loud. Finally, Lord Northwick took his place at the altar, fidgeting restlessly with his cuffs, bobbing back and forth from leg to leg. On his forehead, sweat beaded.

Then the doors opened, and Harriet appeared in a peach-colored dress that draped over her athletic body with grace. Emma sniffled back a tear. This was the moment she had waited for. If not for this, right here, Emma would never have married her dear Colin.

The end?