Page 104 of Wedded to the Duke of Seduction

“Felicity?” Dorian’s voice sharpened. “Your brother’s?—”

“Yes.” Leo headed for the door. “And if I’m right, Marina’s in real danger.”

Before they could stop him, Leo was out the door and into his waiting carriage.

“To Drury Lane,” he ordered his driver. “Fast as you can.”

As the carriage thundered through London’s empty streets, Leo gripped his pistol tighter. The thought of Marina alone and afraid, facing Felicity because of his failures, made him sick with worry.

Leo’s stomach knotted with dread as memories surfaced—Felicity’s secretive smile as she pulled him through the theater’s side entrance, the musty smell of decaying velvet seats, the thrill of forbidden trysts in the shadows of the boxes. It had been the perfect place for clandestine meetings, hidden from society’s prying eyes but accessible enough for convenience.

If someone wanted to lure Marina into a trap, they could hardly choose better.

“Faster,” he urged his driver, leaning forward as if his own body could hasten their progress.

As the carriage rattled through London’s darkened streets, Leo confronted the possibility that he might already be too late. The thought of Marina alone and vulnerable, facing an unknown threat because of his cowardice, was unbearable.

“I’m coming, Marina,” he whispered, as if she might somehow hear him across the distance that separated them. “Hold on.”

CHAPTER 37

“Is anyone here?” Marina called into the darkness, her voice echoing through the abandoned theater.

The silence that greeted her was unnerving. Moonlight filtered through broken windows casting ghostly patterns across the decaying stage. Marina clutched her purse tighter, the weight of five hundred pounds suddenly seeming trivial compared to the growing dread in her stomach.

She took another hesitant step forward, the floorboards creaking beneath her feet. The blackmail note had said midnight at the old theater on Drury Lane, yet the appointed hour had come and gone with no sign of her blackmailer.

A soft laugh broke the silence and stopped Marina in her tracks.

“How dutiful you are, Your Grace.” A woman’s voice, cultured and melodious, drifted from the shadows. “Arriving precisely on time with your little bag of coins.”

A slender figure emerged into a shaft of moonlight. She was beautiful—golden-haired and elegant with a face that might have seemed angelic were it not for the cold calculation in her eyes.

“I’ve brought what you asked for,” Marina said, keeping her voice steady. “Take it and let this be the end of it.”

“The end?” The woman stepped closer, her smile sharp as a blade. “Oh no, my dear. We’re just beginning.”

Marina studied the woman’s face, a terrible suspicion forming. “You’re not simply a blackmailer, are you?”

“Very perceptive.” The woman circled Marina slowly, appraising her like a buyer at a horse auction. “Tell me, does Leo appreciate that intelligence? Or did he marry you merely for your other… attributes?”

The casual use of Leo’s name confirmed Marina’s suspicion. “You’re Felicity.”

The woman paused, surprise flickering across her face before her smile widened. “Clever girl. Has Leo been telling tales about me? So unlike him to discuss the past.”

“He told me enough.” Marina turned to keep Felicity in view, unwilling to show her back to this predator. “What do you want from me?”

“Want?” Felicity laughed again, the sound brittle in the empty theater. “I want what’s mine. Leo took my future when he refused to defy his father for me. He drove me to desperate measures.”

“You stole from him.” Marina kept her voice level despite the anger building inside her. “You seduced his brother and disappeared with his family’s money.”

Felicity’s eyes hardened. “Is that what he told you? How convenient for him to paint himself as the victim.”

“And is that not what happened?”

“Life is rarely so simple, Duchess.” Felicity spat the title like a curse. “Leo was always so dutiful, so concerned with what others thought. His brother, William, understood passion, understood sacrifice for love.”

Marina took a step back, not liking the manic gleam in Felicity’s eyes. “If you loved William so much, why blackmail me? Why not simply stay away?”

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