Page 4 of The Heartless Duke's Bride
“Oh, they can, but it’s foolish.”
“Even so, knowing what the problem is might help you to solve it for them,” Colin suggested reasonably. “If you know what it is they don’t like, you can make a change, can’t you? Make yourself more pleasant for them to work with.”
“Hardly.” Edward snorted. “There’s nothing the matter with the way I run my business. My books are unimpeachable. Anyone can see it. What they don’t like about me is something personal.”
“But what is it?”
“They say that I’mintimidating.”
“Well,” Colin said apologetically, “you are, a little bit.”
“You’re intimidated by me?”
“I’m not. But you’re my brother. It would be senseless for me to feel that way because I know you too well. I do understand why others might find you intimidating, though. I know Nancy did when she first met you.”
Edward grumbled, “She doesn’t feel like that now.”
“No, she doesn’t. She knows you better.”
“And, anyway, she’s a lady. Of course, the way she feels about me is different from the way my business associates do. It’s not at all the same thing.”
“I’m not saying it’s exactly the same,” Colin said. “But I am saying I can imagine someone finding you intimidating. It doesn’t shock me to hear what you’re saying. That’s all.”
“It’s more than that,” Edward continued. “It isn’t just my demeanor. If it was, I suppose I could try to be… softer. Even though I shouldn’t have to do that, and it’s a foolish and needy thing for anyone to ask for.”
“All right, then what’s the other problem?”
“It’s so foolish that I’m almost embarrassed to say it aloud,” Edward admitted. “But the truth is that it bothers them that I’m not married.”
“Well, thatisrather silly,” Colin agreed.
“Didn’t I tell you it was?”
“You did. But are you telling me that they’re only willing to do business with people who are married? I can’t understand what difference that makes.”
“Apparently, they don’t like what it says about me,” Edward explained.
“What does it say about you?”
“That there’s something wrong with me, according to the men I work with,” Edward said. “They look at my personality—myintimidatingpersonality—and they look at the fact that I’m over thirty years old, and between those two facts, they put together a picture of a man who can’t be trusted. A man who is so fundamentally flawed that, in spite of his being a duke, no lady will give him the time of day.”
“That’s not true at all,” Colin argued. “You’re not married because you’re so dedicated to your work. It has nothing to do with ladies not taking an interest in you. I can vouch for that.”
“I know that,” Edward agreed. “Of course, I know that. But what can I do? I can’t sit in business meetings, explaining that I’ve chosen not to marry because the institution holds no interest for me. Why would anyone believe that? Besides, I shouldn’t be forced to have such a strange conversation over and over. It’s no way to do business, and it prevents me from being able to talk about the things that are really important.”
“I see your problem,” Colin said. “But what are you going to do about it?”
“I know of only one thing I can do,” Edward replied. “Little though I like the idea, it’s time for me to think seriously about marrying.”
“Do you mean that?”
“I see no other option! If I’m to continue my business uninterrupted by this foolishness, I’m going to have to find myself a wife.”
“I always hoped you would come to that conclusion eventually,” Colin admitted. “But I never thought it would look like this—marrying for the sake of business! I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. If there was anything that would ever motivate you to take an action—anyaction—business would be that thing. That’s all you really love.”
He didn’t say it critically. His tone was matter-of-fact, and Edward took no offense.
It was perhaps a harsh way to communicate the point, but Colin was not wrong. Business was the most important thing to Edward, more important than anything else he did, and itwasthe motivating factor behind all of his decisions. Of course, it would be the thing that drove him to consider marriage, at last.
