Page 109 of Wedded to the Duke of Seduction

His mind made up, Leo left the library, determined to find Marina and offer her the one thing he had been too afraid to give—his heart, fully and without reservation.

CHAPTER 39

Marina pressed her forehead against the cool windowpane, watching dawn break over the gardens of Berkeley Square.

She hadn’t attempted to sleep; her mind was too crowded with the night’s events to permit rest. Instead, she had bathed, changed into a fresh nightgown, and wrapped herself in a silk dressing gown that Betty had unpacked from her things.

The warm water had washed away the physical evidence of her ordeal—Felicity’s bruising grip on her arm, the grime of the abandoned theater—but nothing could cleanse the memory of William’s pistol pressed against her back or the wild hatred in Felicity’s eyes.

Yet those weren’t the images that kept sleep at bay. It was Leo’s face when he’d stepped from the shadows—the raw fear giving way to relief, the tenderness in his touch when he’d assured himself she was unharmed. For those brief moments, the distance he’d placed between them had vanished, revealingthe man who had shared her bed and her laughter before fear had driven him away.

A soft knock at her chamber door broke her reverie.

“Enter,” she called, expecting Betty with a breakfast tray.

The door opened, and Leo stood on the threshold. He had changed from his rumpled evening clothes into a fresh shirt and breeches, but exhaustion lined his face, a testimony to the night’s ordeal and the long conversation with his brother that had followed.

“May I come in?” he asked, his voice roughened by fatigue.

Marina nodded, tightening the sash of her dressing gown as she turned fully from the window. “Of course.”

Leo entered, closing the door quietly behind him. For a moment, he simply looked at her, his gaze traveling over her as if memorizing every detail.

“You should be resting,” Marina said, breaking the silence that stretched between them.

“As should you.” The hint of a smile touched his lips. “Yet here we both are.”

Marina moved to the small sitting area near the fireplace, gesturing to the chair opposite hers. “William?”

“Asleep,” Leo replied, taking the offered seat. “Finally. It took three glasses of brandy and the promise that I wouldn’t disappear while he slept.”

“And Felicity?”

“Sedated and under guard. Dr. Fielding has arranged for a private carriage to transport her to Dover tomorrow where associates of mine will ensure she boards a ship to France.” Leo’s expression hardened. “She’ll be closely monitored. If she ever attempts to return to England, she’ll face imprisonment.”

Marina nodded, relief washing through her. “Good.”

Another silence fell, more charged than the first. Marina waited, sensing Leo had come with purpose, not merely to inform her of these arrangements.

“I owe you an apology,” he said finally, his eyes meeting hers directly. “No, more than that—an explanation.”

Marina’s pulse quickened, but she kept her voice steady. “You don’t need to explain anything tonight, Leo. We’re both exhausted. It can wait until?—”

“It can’t wait,” he interrupted, leaning forward. “I nearly lost you tonight because of my cowardice. I won’t waste another moment in fear.”

The intensity in his voice stilled any further objection. Marina settled back in her chair, waiting.

Leo rose, suddenly restless, and paced to the window where she had been standing moments before. “Do you know why I spent a decade searching for William?”

The question seemed tangential, but Marina sensed it was central to whatever he needed to say. “To clear your name. To find your brother.”

“Yes, but it was more than that.” Leo turned to face her, his profile outlined against the dawn light. “I needed to understand why. Why Felicity chose him over me. Why my brother betrayed me. The questions consumed me, becoming an obsession I couldn’t escape.”

“And did you find your answers tonight?” Marina asked softly.

“Not entirely,” Leo admitted. “But I realized something far more important. I’ve been letting those questions define my life, rule my choices.” He moved toward her, dropping to one knee beside her chair. “Including my choices about us.”

Marina’s breath caught as he took her hands in his, his touch gentle yet urgent.

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