Page 97 of Wedded to the Duke of Seduction

Marina shook her head. “We both know that isn’t true. You’ve deliberately withdrawn from me, and I need to understand why.”

Leo turned away, moving to the window to avoid meeting her gaze. “I think we may have been overly optimistic about our arrangement,” he said finally. “There are… complications I hadn’t expected.”

“Complications?” Marina moved closer though she stopped several feet away, respecting the invisible barrier he had erected between them. “You mean feelings.”

The word hung in the air between them, dangerous and undeniable. Leo’s hands clenched at his sides. “Whatever has developed between us was never part of our agreement.”

“Agreements can change,” Marina replied, her voice softening. “People change. I’m not the same woman who married you for protection, and you’re not the same man who only wanted to stop my stories.”

Leo closed his eyes briefly, fighting the pull of her words. “Perhaps that’s precisely the problem. We’ve strayed too far from our original purpose.”

“And that frightens you,” Marina observed, the quiet insight striking closer to home than he would have liked. “Why? What are you afraid of, Leo?”

He turned to face her, anger flaring to cover his vulnerability. “I’m not afraid. I’m being realistic. Our marriage was never meant to be a love match.”

Marina flinched as if he’d struck her but recovered quickly. “Then what was it meant to be? A business transaction? A convenient solution to mutual problems? Because it’s become something more, whether or not you’re willing to admit it.”

“And if it has?” Leo challenged. “What then? We continue this entanglement until one of us inevitably becomes disenchanted? Until you decide you no longer need my protection or my name?”

Understanding dawned in Marina’s eyes. “This isn’t about the watch at all, is it? This is about Felicity.”

The name fell between them like a stone. Leo felt his jaw tighten. “This has nothing to do with her.”

“It has everything to do with her,” Marina countered. “You think I’m going to betray you like she did. That I’ll leave you for someone else or for my own ambitions.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Leo snapped though her accuracy was like a blade between his ribs.

“Don’t I?” Marina stepped closer, her gaze holding his with fierce intensity. “I’ve given you everything, Leo. My body, my trust, pieces of myself I’ve shared with no one else. Yet, you hold parts of yourself back, keeping them locked away where I can’t reach them.”

Leo felt the walls he’d built crumbling under her direct assault. “Marina?—”

“No,” she interrupted, her voice rising with emotion. “I won’t live this way anymore. You can have all of me, Leo, but yourefuse to let me in. I can’t keep existing in halves! Half a wife, half a partner, loving a man who won’t let himself be loved.”

The word “loving” struck Leo like a physical blow. He took a step back, his defenses slamming into place. “I never asked for your love,” he said, the words harsh even to his own ears. “Our arrangement has always been clear.”

Marina went pale, but her gaze remained steady. “Yes, you’ve made that abundantly clear. You want my body but not my heart. My presence but not my love. My submission but not my partnership.”

“That’s not—” Leo began then stopped. Wasn’t that exactly what he was doing? Retreating to the safety of their original arrangement rather than risking the vulnerability of deeper connection?

“I can’t give you what you’re asking for,” he said finally, his voice cold despite the turmoil within. “I thought I could, but I was wrong.”

Marina stared at him for a long moment, her blue eyes bright with unshed tears. Then she nodded once, a sharp movement that conveyed more than words could express.

“Then there’s nothing more to be said,” she replied, her voice barely audible. “I’ll move my things back to my own chambers tonight.”

As she turned to leave, Leo fought the desperate urge to call her back, to explain the fear that gripped him, to confess that his withdrawal came not from indifference but from terrifying depth of feeling. But the words refused to come, trapped behind the wall of self-protection he had spent a decade building.

The door closed softly behind her, the quiet click more devastating than any slam could have been. Leo stood motionless in the center of his study, the emptiness of the room suddenly unbearable.

He had driven her away to protect himself from the pain of potential betrayal, only to inflict a more immediate and certain pain on them both. In his determination to avoid Felicity’s path, he had created a self-fulfilling prophecy, pushing Marina away before she could leave him.

The irony would have been amusing if it weren’t so agonizing.

Leo poured more brandy, his hand shaking. Noah was right. He’d ruined the best thing in his life because he couldn’t trust his own heart.

His eyes caught the gold watch still sitting on the mantel where he’d left it a week ago. Marina’s gift gleamed in the firelight, a reminder of what he’d thrown away.

Too late he realized his mistake. Running from the past, he’d created a new loss all on his own.

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