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Maybe it was Thomas himself. He had already made it clear he knew about her and the Duke. Perhaps he wanted to make clear the consequences if she chose to spurn him.

Still, it should have been clear enough after their earlier conversation.

Panic filled her the longer she sat there.

There wasn’t enough air in the room.

Their plan hadn’t worked. Ruining herself, as much as she hadn’t wanted to do it, wouldn’t have been enough anyway.

And now, it wasn’t just her who would suffer the consequences. Christopher would be implicated in ways far worse than they had intended. What should have stayed the small subject of gossip at a party was now potentially all through the gossip pages.

That wasn’t even to mention the way this could harm Felicity.

She gasped, struggling to get her shaking hands under control.

She needed to run.

She needed to get out of there.

But where could she go?

It was too late.

Her fate was sealed. No one could help her.

She gasped for air.

Before she even knew what she was doing, Amber shoved to her feet, pulling on her dressing gown, and raced into the hall.

CHAPTER15

Christopher paced his borrowed room. There wasn’t much space for it, but he was making it work.

It was a small neutral space clearly made to be used by whoever was staying there—nothing more than a standard guest room.

A pettier Duke would have been offended by the offered space; fortunately for all involved, he was not a petty man.

Christopher understood it was just the natural consequence of waiting too long to reply to an invitation. If he was honest, he had put it off because he was hoping Felicity would change her mind and not want to come.

Now, he had to admit, he was glad she insisted on it though even now, he wasn’t quite sure why she had.

But none of that mattered at that moment. All that he needed to do was think. He needed to figure something out. They were running out of time. No matter what, he couldn’t let Amber marry that dreadful man.

The problem was, he could only think of one way to stop it, and the very thought made his heart pound. Could he really do something like that? It would work after all. Simon would have no way to argue against his plan and all he had to do was?—

Christopher shook his head, cutting the thought off before it could truly take root.

He couldn’t do that.

It was a terrible idea.

He couldn’t even be sure if she would agree to?—

A soft knock at the door cut off his thoughts.

Christopher frowned. Who could be at his door at this hour?

When he opened it, his heart almost stopped. Amber was standing in front of him, eyes wide and filled with tears, a note clenched in her shaking hand.