Page 1 of Duke of Pride

CHAPTER1

Broken Wheels

“Your Grace?”

The butler peeked outside, his eyes struggling to pierce through the darkness. At first, he seemed annoyed and even scared of the late visitor, but then his eyes adjusted, and he could now discern who the tall, broad man standing before him was.

“Let me in, Alfred.”

The door swung open, and Stephen, the Duke of Colborne, confidently walked into the house, filling the hall with his frame. He was dripping on the polished floor, but there was nothing to be done about that.

Stephen had known traveling at night in this weather was foolish, but the urgency of the news left him no choice. And now, drenched to the bone, he was paying the price. A broken wheel had forced him to abandon his carriage and walk the remaining distance to Colborne House through the slick London streets in a downpour.

The butler struggled to come to grips with his presence. He took his master’s wet coat and then remained almost speechless while the massive man removed his boots.

“Y-Your Grace, we were not expecting you.”

“That makes two of us, Alfred,” Stephen said coldly and made his way to the stairs.

“Y-Your Grace, your mother has?—”

“Do not wake up my mother,” Stephen cut him off. “It’s too late, and I do not want to worry her.”

“No. I mean, yes, Your Grace, but I must?—”

“Whatever it is can wait.” Stephen was losing his patience as the cold bit into his skin.

With sure strides, he ate the stairs up to his room, already loosening his tie and unfastening his soaked coat.

“I just wanted?—”

“Alfred!”

Stephen wanted this night to end and had no patience for any small talk or trivial estate matters. All he wanted was to get out of his soaked clothes, get warm, and get a good night’s sleep.

“Your Grace.” Alfred seemed apprehensive of his sharp tone. “I just wanted to?—”

“Whatever it is, bother me with it in the morning,” Stephen added in a tone that left no room for argument.

Leaving the butler stunned in the hallway, Stephen entered his dark room and shut the door behind him to spare himself from his butler’s inquiries. The familiar room was illuminated just by the fireplace.

This was the room he grew up in—a warm blanket of nostalgia came over him. His family always spent more time in Colborne House than the countryside estate. And he hasn’t set foot in the place for more than a year.

After his father died, he left for the countryside. He needed time to process his death, his new station, and his new responsibilities. But now he was back. Not under the best of circumstances, but still… He missed it.

He stood looking into the fire as he adjusted to his old room. It felt both familiar and foreign. As if he belonged and somehow not fully. He had written to his mother, Dorothy, the only family staying in the house, and his sister, Annabelle, now the very pregnant Duchess of Heartwick. But setting foot here? It’d been a minute.

“Home, sweet home,” he muttered to himself.

He undid his cravat and unbuttoned his shirt and his breeches. He removed all the wet clothes off his ice-cold skin. He found it strangely odd that there was a fire burning in an unoccupied room in the middle of the night, but he was not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. The truth was that he was not looking forward to sleeping in a cold room, so he welcomed the warmth seeping into his prickling skin.

Now, he needed something dry to wear and then sleep.

Stephen was sure that his old dressing room still contained lots of his clothes, so he would for sure find something suitable.

Luckily for him, the dressing room was just beyond the door on the far side of the room, so he made his way there. He opened the door and let the faint, flickering firelight illuminate the smaller room.

He crossed the threshold, not waiting for his eyes to properly adjust to the darkness. That’s when his body collided with something. Something warm and soft. Something that let out a surprised whimper as it stumbled backward due to the impact.

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