Page 62 of Bound to a Wicked Duke

“You cannot have me. I have made my feelings, or the lack thereof where you are concerned, quite clear. You dishonored your cousin when you attempted to seduce me while she was on her death bed, and you dishonor yourself in this relentless pursuit of a man who does not want you.”

“You are mine.” Her eyes held his possessively as a viper gauging the actions of its prey.

“I am not yours, nor shall I ever be.”

Laura cocked her eyebrow at him in a coquettish fashion. “You cannot tell me that your heart belongs to another. I know of you and the Gillett girl’s ruse. Your courtship was never real.”

Percy took a step forward in warning. He did not like hearing Madeleine being spoken of by such a terrible person as Laura Knight had shown herself to be. “Do not speak of her. I belong to no one but myself.”

“I will be speaking plenty of her once I tell everyone of how you defiled her in the shrubbery.” Laura laughed in delight as the color drained from Percy’s face then flooded back in a rage.

“You know nothing,” he growled between his teeth. He had never wished to hit a woman in his life until now.

Laura laughed maniacally. “I know everything. I saw everything.” She leveled him with a knowing look. The excitement of her threat glinted in her eyes. She meant every word.

“Get out!” Percy commanded, but Laura did not listen. Instead, she moved further into the room, running her fingers possessively over the back of the settee.

She smiled predatorily at him. “I will inform the entire English ton that you deflowered the lovely Lady Madeleine Gillett, unless you marry me.”

“I will never marry you,” Percy practically spat upon the floor in disgust.

“Why not? I love you. I am the only one who has ever truly loved you. Madeleine Gillett does not love you. It was all a pretense.Francis did not love you as she was in love with someone else. A true scandal that as she was in love with her carriage driver.” Laura laughed in disgust at this last. “You should have seen the way he lovingly carried her out to the carriage, wrapped so warmly in his coat.”

Alarm bells went off inside Percy’s head. “You were there?”

“Of course, I was there. I was always there.” The way she spoke held a sinister tone that made the hairs on Percy’s neck stand up.

“What do you know of her last day? Why was she trying to speak with me when she should not have been out of her bed?”

Laura smiled, crooking a finger at him. “Marry me, and I will tell you.”

Percy took a threatening step forward. He had carried the burden of guilt for Francis’ death in the years that followed, and now before him was the only chance he would ever have to know the truth. He did not appreciate it being offered in the form of extortion. “Tell me now, or you can tell the magistrate why you were attempting to extort a duke of the realm.”

Laura looked at his large bulk standing over her, his hands bundled into fists, and her eyes sparkled in delight at the danger of it. “She was trying to warn you about me.”

Percy stepped back; his brow furrowed in confusion. “What about you? What did you do, Laura?” All sense of propriety was now gone. He needed answers, and he needed them now.

She smiled like a cat who had just eaten a mouse. “She never deserved you. No one deserves you but me.”

Percy closed the distance between them, grabbing her by the arms. “What did you do?”

“I poisoned her.” She said it offhandedly as if it were nothing but another promenade in the park. “Francis discovered the truth and was coming to tell you. Thankfully, she was foolish enough not to tell anyone else but her carriage-driver lover about it. All it took was the compromising of a wheel, and all evidence of my hand in her death was gone, vanished in the blink of an eye.” She paused to laugh at this. “When they found her, her body was too damaged to be able to tell anything about her having been poisoned.”

“Why did the doctor not see it? Surely, he would have noticed.” Percy tried to understand what he was hearing. He had never liked Laura, but he had not thought her capable of something like this.

Laura shook her head. “I was the one in charge of her care. I hired the most inept physician I could find and paid him well. He never suspected a thing.”

Percy had never wanted to harm a woman in his life until now. “All of this time, I believed myself to be cursed. All of this time I believed that her death was my fault.”

“Oh, her death was most certainly your fault,” Laura reassured him. “Had you turned your attentions and affections towards me and broken off the engagement to Francis, I would have spared her life. Sadly, you did not, and I was left without recourse. I will remove any woman who is in my way, and their deaths are upon your head as well.”

“Their?” Percy’s mind raced. “Madeleine!”

“Yes, your dear precious Madeleine is next. She used you for her own aims, and for that, she deserves her fate.”

“What have you done?” Percy shook her, his fury barely held in check. Were she a man, he would have killed her already for her treachery. As it was, he would leave that to the hangman.

Laura smiled, thrilled by his violent vehemence. “You are too late.” She laughed in wild delight. “It is already done. By now, she will be Lady Herbert Mowbray and of no threat to anyone. She will never come between us again.”

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