SWNOVELS Chapter A Bluestocking for the Duke: Prologue
Colin Weston rose his head up from the mess of documents on his desk and squinted as his study door opened. Colin certainly hadn’t expected visitors, especially ones who so boldly entered the study without so much as a knock. Adam, his younger brother, stepped past the threshold, rubbing the sleep off his face.
“It is eleven o’clock,” Colin muttered, looking at the twenty-five-year-old who should have better controlled his alcohol intake the evening prior. He was certainly old enough to know better but incapable of showing it.
Adam shrugged lightly, looking out the window at the far of the study. Light rain pattered against the glass and sent ripples across the pond on the property. Back when they were just boys, Colin recalled playing in the water and capturing frogs from the shallows. That was a much simpler time. Now, life was about money, status, and family.
Adam was starkly similar to his older brother. His hair was dark and slightly waved. His eyes were a rich hazel color, and he was tall and thin. The difference that marked the two of them apart was the contrast between their facial features. Colin was sharp, intense, and handsome, and Adam had softer features—a rounded nose, well-shaped lips that were always smiling, and an impish sparkle in his eyes.
Eight months prior, their father had sat down at the dinner table as they had each evening. As soon as the footman set the pheasant soup down, the previous Duke of Radford’s face blanched. In his hand, his spoon tottered, clinking again and again against the bowl. Only the whites of his eyes were visible as he shook, hand gripping his shirt. He died right there at the table without so much as a parting word.
Eight months wasn’t long. In fact, Colin still felt like a boy clomping around in his father’s shoes. If you asked anyone who had known his father well enough to dislike him, Colin was doing his best with the challenges that had come. Maybe his own criticisms of himself were unwarranted, but Colin was still teetering on the precipice of denial.
That morning, much of his focus was on the financial hellscape littered across the desk. Colin had spent his entire life knowing that one day, he would become the Duke of Radford. He had never foreseen it to be like this, however. It seemed that each passing week brought new debts incurred by his father’s gambling habit.
Adam yawned, stretching his arms out and standing on the tips of his toes for a moment. He quieted, leaning over the desk and looking at the mess of papers. “Is that…” he trailed off. He had never been one to dampen a good mood. Most everyone would agree that Adam was the life of the party, and Colin was usually observing passively from behind a wine glass.
“More debts,” Colin sighed, tapping his quill against the desk. “He hid it well, did he not?”
Adam chuckled shortly. It truly wasn’t that funny at all. “To everyone else but us. Is that not where you got it from?”
Colin set his quill down and looked up, his brow twitching with annoyance. “What, pray tell?”
Adam pressed his lips into a thin line like he was choking back some mischief. He waved his finger around, gesturing at his brother’s appearance. “There’s an air about you.”
Colin glowered. “If anyone is like father, it is you. Everything is an amusement.”
“Yes, yes,” Adam said. “And I have bad habits too, I am willing to admit, but I am hardly charming enough to hide it. But that is what you do. Morose for those who love you and charming towards the world. If anything, he taught you to be a fantastic actor.”
As much as Colin wished for it to not be true, it was. Colin was a great actor, but that was because he wasn’t naturally likable like his brother was. Adam’s life was about enjoyment, but Colin’s life was about duty. For as long as he could remember, he had been treated with different expectations than his siblings. He was destined for the dukedom. It seemed sort of cosmically cruel that his father had raised him, knowing full well the mess Colin would have to clean up when he passed. Colin didn’t have the natural charisma of his brother. He would certainly fake it until the world believed that he did.
Colin shouldered the thought aside and looked back at the papers on his desk. “I had been speaking with the Southingtons about investing in their land.”
“And?”
“And it fell through,” Colin sighed. “And even if we found some more tenants for our land…”
“Not enough,” Adam finished his sentence.
“I’d been talking to Lord Fromley about investing in the American mines.”
Adam snorted softly, smiling at his brother.
“What?” Colin snapped.
“Ah, sorry,” he put his hands up. “I assumed you were being droll. Lord Fromley is a right fool. And the Americas? Really? If there was anything left there, the ton has dug it all up by now. The place must be a proper wasteland.”
Colin sighed. Lord Fromley wasn’t a fool. He had just happened to marry a woman that Adam had designs for. Despite that, it seemed like he had a point. Investing in American business was risky. A loss would sink the dukedom without a doubt. He pushed some of the papers to a clear spot on the desk. At the bottom of the stack were his family’s most urgent debts. Without intervention, the family would be ruined within months. “And yet you have no better ideas?”
Adam frowned, leaning up on his toes and giving his arms a second big stretch. He settled into the chair opposite the desk, stretching out like he hadn’t a care in the world. “I do, and I think you know what it is.”
Colin blinked, staring blankly at his brother. “No,” he said.
“No?”
“No,” Colin assured him. “I have made it very clear that the last thing this family needs is more family. I can hardly deal with the lot of you alone.”
“Tsk, tsk,” Adam clicked his tongue. “My dearest brother. The problem with you is that you hate taking care of other people.”
“Yes,” Colin admitted, looking through his desk drawer for a missing bill. “You have been the most eye-opening in that regard. Taking care of my juvenile, libertine brother has been my greatest cross to bear.” He scowled, his nose twitching with disdain. “Nor can I imagine a woman with a dowry hefty enough to drown our father’s debts.”
Just then, Colin looked up when he saw a silhouette passing the doorway down the hall. Adam, once he noticed his brother’s gaze, turned in his chair. “Mother!” he called out. Colin huffed, leaning back in his chair and staring at the ceiling savoring his last moments of peace before his mother and brother tore into him once again for his disinterest in marriage. He certainly didn’t have a disdain for women, but he might if he was forced to spend the entirety of his life catering to one.
Their mother peeked through the door, looking between her sons. She frowned. “Arguing again, are we?” She was tight-lipped, holding onto a book of poetry that Colin had recommended to her the evening prior.
“Colin is looking for a woman with a substantial dowry. Do you know anyone?”
“Excuse me!” Colin called out.
“Pardon,” his brother smiled. “Pretty women?”
Their mother smiled, tilting her head. She had wanted her sons to get married for some time, but Colin believed himself to be too busy and Adam too much of a rake. “Are you ready to marry?” she asked Colin, her voice soft with hesitant joy.
Colin couldn’t hide the scowl affixed to his face. Adam was a meddlesome gnat. Even their mother could be irksome at times. However, she was the most devastated to learn of her husband’s bad habits. Colin and Adam had always had some inkling, but she was never the wiser. If anything, Colin’s duty remained with her, to provide for and care for her now that she was a widow. Nor was it just her. Colin’s younger sister Rose was preparing to make her debut. Such was no inexpensive feat for the younger sister of a duke. Beautiful clothes, lavish balls, and a handsome dowry were all things that ensured she would find herself a suitable match.
Colin looked between his brother and mother. He opened his mouth to respond, but the words failed to come out. He looked back down at the bills. Within two to three months, the family’s fortune would be completely drained. Maybe there were some options, but Adam was right. Marriage was the easiest and fastest way. The only certain option. “You have someone in mind?”
His mother laughed, covering her mouth with her hand. Adam joined her, sniggering as if it was some kind of joke between the pair of them. “I have been waiting for this moment,” she sang.
“I will,” Adam kissed his fingertips and flicked his affection into the air. “Savor watching our Colin struggle to feel anything but apathy.”
“Oh, stop it now,” their mother said, swatting Adam on the shoulder. “The Hale family is wonderful. They have several beautiful daughters, each very sweet, from what I have heard. Their father speaks highly of them.” She paused, her lips curling with a musing smile. “Touching, considering the baron is such a stoic man.”
Colin raked his tongue across the dry roof of his mouth. He felt hardly able to speak. The thought terrified him. It made him feel cornered, and yet at the same time, it was his duty. If he could win one of the Hale daughter’s hearts, he would be able to save his family from the mistakes of his father.
“And the dowries?” he asked, eyes glued to his desk. “I assume they have substantial dowries?”
“Oh,” she frowned. “Not everything is about money.”
“This, mother,” he said sharply. “This is about money.”
His mother pursed her lips, obviously unhappy with his answer but understanding that he had other concerns than love or personal satisfaction. “The Baron of Wilkes is an incredibly wealthy man.”
He nodded solemnly. “Then it shall be arranged.” He glanced at Adam for just long enough to hate the smug and bemused grin on his face.
Adam gasped, placing a hand on his ear. “Do you hear that, brother?” he asked. “The wedding bells. A baby cooing in the distance. Is love not the purest thing?”
“Oh, it is,” their mother hummed again. Adam turned his head and smiled, having started a proper storm of chaos for his older brother to contend with. “I will write them this instant.” His mother smiled before hurrying out of the room.
Adam leaned back in his chair, propping his head up with crossed arms. “Not even noon, and I’ve already done so much!” He released a prideful exhale and closed his eyes, looking like he was ready to fall back asleep. “I suppose I will be off to the stables then.”
“Does it please you harass me endlessly?” Colin huffed. “Back to hell with you, then. Go on.” He swatted at the air to motion his brother towards the door.
Colin frowned. He’d expected to feel some relief knowing that his problem was as good as solved, but it seemed that the knot in his chest had only grown more pronounced. Adam liked to say that marriage was the easy way out, but there was nothing easy about selling your future and your independence for several thousand a year.