Page 93 of Wedded to the Duke of Seduction

“Marina!” Caroline’s delighted voice called from across the street. Her friend waved enthusiastically before navigating the crossing to join her. “What a lovely surprise! I was just about to call on you.”

“I decided to walk to Madame Delarue’s for some ribbons,” Marina explained, linking arms with Caroline. “Will you join me?”

“Happily. I’ve been meaning to look at her new laces, too.” Caroline studied Marina’s face with concern. “You seem troubled. Is everything well?”

Marina hesitated, unwilling to voice her vague concerns yet needing her friend’s perspective. “Leo has been different since yesterday. Distant somehow, but I can’t pinpoint why.”

“Men are rarely as inscrutable as they believe themselves to be,” Caroline said as they continued walking. “Was there a reason for this shift?”

“Nothing I can think of. He seemed perfectly happy when he left to deliver my manuscript to the printer.” Marina frowned, recalling the shift in his demeanor upon his return. “But bydinner, he was watching me with a…strange intensity. Almost as if he were looking for something.”

Caroline squeezed her arm sympathetically. “Maybe something happened during his afternoon out that troubled him. Have you asked him?”

“He said it was merely business concerns,” Marina replied. “But I know him well enough now to recognize when he’s being less than forthright.”

They let a carriage pass, and Marina felt a sudden sensation of being watched. Glancing across the street, she caught sight of a blonde woman in an elegant blue pelisse, staring directly at her with an unsettling intensity. The woman’s face wasn’t visible beneath her fashionable bonnet, but something in her posture sent a chill through Marina.

When the carriage passed, the woman was gone, leaving Marina wondering if she’d imagined the entire encounter.

“Did you see that woman?” she asked Caroline, searching the crowd.

“Which woman?”

“In the blue pelisse across the street. She was watching us.”

Caroline looked puzzled. “I didn’t notice anyone in particular. The streets are rather crowded today.”

Marina shook her head and dismissed the incident. “It’s nothing. My imagination is overactive lately.”

They continued to Madame Delarue’s shop where the promised ribbons and laces provided a welcome distraction. As Marina selected several lengths in soft greens and blues, her thoughts returned to Leo’s strange behavior and the uneasy sense of being watched.

“Your latest story has caused quite a sensation,” Caroline remarked as they examined a display of silk flowers. “Lady Jersey invited me to tea specifically to discuss it. She claims the sea captain’s longing for his lost love moved her to tears.”

Marina smiled, pleased by the reception of her work. “It’s different from my earlier stories.”

“Yes, and it’s even more moving because of that,” Caroline agreed. “There’s a depth of emotion that speaks to the heart rather than… other areas.” She raised a suggestive eyebrow that made Marina laugh despite her troubled thoughts.

“Perhaps I’m maturing as a writer,” Marina said.

“Maybe your own life is influencing your work in new ways?” Caroline suggested thoughtfully. “Your marriage may have begun as an arrangement, but it’s clearly grown into something more meaningful.”

Marina couldn’t deny the truth of her friend’s observation. Her feelings for Leo had deepened from reluctant attraction to genuine affection and respect and yes, something that increasingly resembled love though she hesitated to say it.

Which made his sudden withdrawal even more painful and confusing.

After completing their purchases, the women parted ways, Caroline to continue her shopping and Marina to return home. As Thomas fell into step behind her, Marina scanned the crowds more carefully, half-expecting to glimpse the blonde woman again.

Instead, her attention was caught by a different figure—a man in a dark coat, partially concealed in the doorway of a coffee house, his hat pulled low over his eyes. Something in his posture suggested he was watching rather than merely waiting.

Marina quickened her pace, turning down Brook Street rather than continuing along the more direct route. The footman followed, his expression concerned.

“Is everything all right, Your Grace?” he asked, moving closer as they left the busier thoroughfare.

“Yes, Thomas,” Marina replied with more confidence than she felt. “I merely remembered I wanted to stop at the bookshop on Curzon Street.”

She glanced back as they turned the corner and was relieved to see no sign of the man in the dark coat. Perhaps she truly was allowing her imagination to run wild, influenced by Leo’s uncharacteristic behavior and her own unsettled thoughts.

At the bookshop, Marina browsed without really seeing the volumes before her, her mind preoccupied with the morning’s strange occurrences. The displaced book in her study, the woman in blue, the watchful man—individually, each could be easily explained away. The pattern they formed was too striking to ignore.

---