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

Emma smiled, looking around the ballroom with wonder. The walls were all alight with glowing candles. The string quartet played, each pass of their bows across the violin, each note fluttering into the air. Young girls and suitors held hands in the center of the room, spinning in circles, dancing a lively cotillion.

     Emma looked up at Colin, smiling warmly. He watched. ‘Miss Harriet Hale looks so happy.’

     Harriet and Lord Northwick were part of the dance. The two shared boundless energy, each dancing and jumping with every step as if they were still teenagers. Lord Northwick’s smile was wide, his brown hair messy, pasted to his temples with sweat. Harriet wasn’t much better off, but she had a way of wearing her exhaustion with grace. The sweat that glistened on her forehead merely served as a reminder that she was bubbly and more excitable than most women her age. Emma had always admired that about her.

     When their engagement was announced, Lord Northwick had taken her hand and tossed it in the air, cheering together as if they had championed a particularly challenging sport. Of course, no one in the room was all that surprised. The two had been inseparable for years, glued together by common interests, values, and personalities. It had only been a matter of time. This moment had always felt inevitable.

     “I cannot believe this,” Emma said.

     “You cannot?”

     “Just that, I lied so that this could happen, and somehow I am still standing here just as delirious as she is.”

     “And I, in debt from my father’s gambling habit. Maybe the reason he never had any luck was because was waiting for me.”

     Emma watched her sister dancing and skipping like the child she still felt like. ‘Oh goodness, I cannot imagine the two of them. They are the same person.” Emma bit her cheek with amusement. “And their children? The whole lot of them will be a clatter of energy.”

     “And we are the quiet ones,” he said. “Looks like we do not know how to have that much fun.”

     “Quiet can be plenty fun,” she said. “Quiet is evenings lying in the grass, watching the sky change shades. Quiet is sketching, reading, and watching Lemon Drop contend with that itchy yellow collar your sister makes him wear.’

     “Hm. I do like the sound of that,” he said. “Maybe we can make a habit of reading together?”

“What sort of genre? I am picky.”

“Poetry?” he asked. “Properly romantic, right?”

“Only if funny voices can be involved.”

“Deal, but only if you promise to never let anyone know that I would be that ridiculous with you.” Colin laughed, taking her hand and pulling her out onto the floor as the cotillion ended and a new song began. The dancers lined up, each facing their partner. Beside Emma and Colin stood Lord Northwick and Harriet. Further down the line, Lucy was regarding her partner with boredom.

     Emma placed her palm against Colin’s, and they stepped back and forth, elegantly gliding to the music. Emma swept her leg across the floor, falling into a curtsy, while Colin tried his best to keep up with the steps.

     “I take it you didn’t practice?”

     “Allow me to explain to you, Your Grace, that over the course of my life, I have not danced as much as you have required of me to in the last three months.”

     “Hm.” She tilted her head, swapping placement in line with Colin, her movements mirrored by every other woman on either side of her. “I believe you were the one who initiated this dance.”

     He grinned; his mouth pressed together as if trying to swallow it down. He looked like one slip of the lips and a live rabbit would hop out from his mouth. Emma snorted in amusement before she swapped partners with her sister. Lord Northwick took her hand and completed the steps much more elegantly than Colin ever could. “You seem to be having fun,” Emma said.

     “Any excuse for celebration is welcomed,” he nodded.

“Your engagement, then.”

“Uh.” He looked up at her and shrugged. “Anything.”

He glanced over at Harriet, looking up at Colin with her big full-moon eyes. She had never stopped looking at him with admiration. She had been so glad that he was a part of the family. Even Lucy melted over him a bit. He was incredibly charming when he was trying. When he wasn’t trying, Emma still found his sense of discontent to be a delightful foil to her own positivity. Love made you admire things you never thought you could. He could be a fatalist sometimes, but the way it made him remain level-headed in the presence of everything except her made her heart flutter.

     Emma twirled back into Colin, but instead of catching her, he collided with her. Together they stopped in the middle of the floor while the dancers continued on each side. They laughed, and she glanced up at him, tears in her eyes, although this time, they were anything but sad.

     “I could use another glass of wine, if you expect me to be any lighter on my feet,” he said.

     Emma took his hand and guided him off the floor mid-dance. They walked up to the libations table and poured themselves some wine. With every sip, Emma felt a little lighter. Her chest popped with excitement, and the top of her scalp fizzed.

     “Leave some for me,” Emma’s father said as he hobbled up to the table. “It is past my bedtime, you know.”

     “Yes, Papa.” Emma rolled her eyes lightly. “I know.”

     “I saw you two dancing,” he said, gesturing to the couples still dancing on the floor. “You look happy. Happier than ever.”

     “Thank you, Lord Wilkes.” Colin nodded before pouring a drink for his father-in-law. “We truly are.”

     Emma glanced up at him from over her shoulder. The warmth in his eyes was like nothing she had ever experienced. When she was younger, she had known particular boys from the same social circles who admired her. Throughout her entire life, though, she had never been regarded with that look. So often, Colin regarded a certain look on her face that made him struggle with self-control. For Emma, the look on his face now—the half smile and the vibrance in his hazel eyes ran wild through her. All she could think of was dragging him up the staircase by his hand and having a second chance at their wedding night.

     “Well, I should go check on your mother,” the baron said, stepping away from the table.

     Colin held out his arm, and Emma accepted. He guided her to a table where they sat, enjoying their glasses of wine, and watching the excitement around them. Emma smoothed out the tablecloth. “I feel so bad we wasted so much time fighting.”

     “What matters is—’

     “Look who it is!”

     Emma and Colin turned their heads toward the source of the voice. Adam shimmied across the floor, once again making a fool out of himself for the joke. Colin sighed. “What are you doing here?” he asked.

     “Rose really wanted to go shortly after you both left, so Mother talked me into escorting her, and I thought, what a lovely opportunity to see if that headache subsided.”

     Colin looked around. “Have you gone and lost our sister, then?”

     Adam swatted the air. “She is probably with Miss Lucy. I am sure she is fine.”

     Emma patted the seat beside her. “Come sit with us.”

     Adam bowed politely and took a seat beside her. “You’re much more gracious than my brother,” Adam said.

     “Are you going back to the estate tonight?”

     “It will be quite late,” Adam said. “I figured Colin would let us stay at the townhouse.”

     Colin’s eyebrows narrowed. “What makes you think that?”

     Adam shrugged. “We’re family. Did you—’ He flashed a grin. “Did you forget?”

     “Listen,” Emma cooed softly to cut through the argument. “Why don’t you stay here? Lucy and Rose will probably be thrilled to spend the evening together.”

     Adam waved her away. “I could not possibly impose on your family.”

     “But you can impose on me?” Colin said.

     Adam nodded, eyes wide like it was common sense. “Of course. I’ve no qualms.”

     “Perhaps then,” Colin muttered, taking his wine glass to his lips. “It is time to develop some.”

     Emma lightly touched her brother-in-law on the shoulder. “Do not see it as an imposition. My parents will be thrilled to welcome you both this evening and treat you to breakfast before you leave in the morning.”

     “That is very kind,” Adam said. “Since my own brother is being so—’ He paused, throat bobbing like he was swallowing his words. He narrowed his eyes, looking between the two. He stood up, reaching across the table to grab Colin’s glass of wine. He tipped it back. “You must think me a fool, brother. I understand perfectly.”

     Emma blushed, covering her face with her hand.

     “I always think you a fool.” Colin offered a tight smile, yet there was a look of amusement in his eyes. “There are no surprises between us. Go find our sister, will you?”

     “My apologies.” Adam bowed. “I did not realize the headache had passed so quickly.” He walked away, and Emma and Colin put their hands over their mouths, stifling the laughter. His eyes creased happily, something she didn’t see much of but had seen countless times that evening.

     “You are so mean to him,” Emma giggled.

     “It is how we are,” he said. “If I should be too kind, he will worry about my health. I would hate to worry him.”

     Emma smiled, looking down at her gloved hands. The last time she’d worn a similar pair, they had a wine stain. It was sort of funny how it was. Now the stain was erased, and it seemed like everything for her and Colin had righted just as well. She stood up. “One more dance?”

     “One more.” he smiled, standing up and holding out his elbow for her.

Colin hadn’t remembered being this happy. Even before he had met Emma, Colin’s life had been one complication after the other. As a child, Colin’s day-to-day had been nothing but duty and preparation for the eventuality of inheriting his father’s dukedom. He had expected things to follow the same script when he agreed to meet Emma. In fact, it felt like he never gave her much of a chance. His first expectation of her was that she was feigning interest in him for the sake of her own motives. Even though she had her own reasons, he had been a fool to deny all the genuine moments they had.

He had accused her of trying to break him down. He thought she was his weakness, but here, holding her in his arms while the tremolo of the music shuttered and built in the air around them, he had never felt stronger. She looked back at him, eyes glazed, mouth tilted into the hint of a smile like she had something clever she was dying to say to him. He twirled her and went back to his steps.

They counted together, ‘One, two, three.’

Emma smiled. ‘See? You did it perfectly.’

‘If not for you, I would be acting a fool.’

‘Mm.’ She nodded. ‘But now we are fools together.’

He wished he could hold her closer, her chest against his, hearts beating in time. He followed her gaze. Across the room, Adam had talked Lucy into dancing with him. Although neither were acting quite that elegant. They were agents of chaos, with dramatic flourishes and triple spins. Surely all that wine was getting to him. Colin laughed. ‘I cannot take him anywhere in proper society. He still acts like the dolt who had a live mourning dove in his Oxford dorm room for a week before he caught it.’

Emma snorted. “He what?”

‘I do not…I could not explain it.’ Colin shook his head, dismissing the thought. “I will admit, to you and no one else, however, that I love him. He has the capability to make me so angry, but my life would be sort of dull without all of his mischief. If anyone can see right through me, it is he.”

Emma smiled. “Was that so hard to say?” she asked.

“Terribly.”

“If we love someone, we must tell them.”

Colin rubbed her arm with his thumb softly. ‘This is why I admire you. You have the same role in your house, yet you never let it affect your spirit and generosity.’

‘Well,’ she said. ‘Sometimes, my generosity can get me into trouble. For example, should Adam have asked me, I would have allowed him to stay in the townhouse tonight without another thought.’

‘It is my townhouse,’ he said incredulously.

‘It is our townhouse,’ she corrected him, giving him a teasing smile. ‘I am your duchess, after all.’

Together they danced in quiet. Colin accepted that Emma owned everything he did. After all, if not for her, he wondered how successful he could have been. Money and an Italian greyhound can only get one so far. Emma had been more than just a romance. She had grown to become a valuable friend.

She blew out through her mouth, trying to push a rogue curl out of her face. Her eyes were a beautiful dark brown that looked more inviting the longer he stared at them. ‘Emma,’ he said.

She smiled.

‘Did you ever finish that sketch of me?’

Her cheeks reddened. ‘You were never meant to see that,’ she looked away, grimacing.

He put his finger up to the corner of her jaw and turned her back. ‘I was um…’ His mouth tightened into a secretive smile. ‘Very flattered, actually.’

‘Well,’ she began. ‘You were right. I hadn’t gotten the jaw correct. I can finish it if you model for me.’

‘A model, am I?’ He blinked slowly, feeling proud of himself. She rolled her eyes. ‘Only if you model for me as well,’ he said.

‘For…’ she giggled. ‘You can draw now?”

When the song ended, Emma gasped, being bowled over to the side by a surprising force. All she saw as she stumbled away was the shock on Colin’s face. “Emma! I am engaged!” Harriet squealed.

“You scared me!” Emma shouted.

“I am just so excited!” Harriet hadn’t needed to say it. She was excited from her head to her toes, caffeine personified.

“I have you to thank,” Emma said. “Because of you, we are both preparing for our happily-ever-afters.”

Harriet jumped up, playfully taking Colin by the arm and dancing with him in a circle. He stumbled through the steps, having no foresight to predict a single one. At the end of the spin, Harriet broke away and pressed a kiss to her sister’s cheek. “I have better go find my viscount,” she said, hurrying off.

“She is…” Colin swallowed hard. “Intense.”

“I am well aware.”

Colin leaned into her ear. ‘I imagine you’re tired by now?”

Emma tilted her head. “No, I’m doing—“

“Emma,” he said, lightly brushing his hand against her shoulder. “I mean to say that we have the townhouse to ourselves, so we might as well take advantage of it.”

“Oh.” Emma bit her lip. “I think. Yes, I think I am tired.”

“Let us say our goodbyes, then,” he said.