Page 12 of Wedded to the Duke of Seduction (Dukes of Passion #3)

CHAPTER 12

“ W hat were you thinking?” Leo said as he stormed into the parlor with a copy of Marina’s latest story clutched in his hand. “A library scene? During a ball? With nearly being discovered? You might as well have taken out an advertisement in the Times announcing our encounter!”

Marina looked up from her embroidery, her expression oddly blank compared to the fire he’d expected. “Your Grace. What an unexpected pleasure.”

“Pleasure?” Leo scoffed, tossing the pages onto a nearby table. “Is that what you call deliberately flaunting our agreement? I asked you to consider writing about someone else, and instead, you publish this—this embellished account of what happened between us.”

She set her needlework aside with careful precision. “We had no agreement. I told you I would consider it, nothing more.”

Leo opened his mouth to argue then paused, studying her more carefully.

Something was wrong.

The defiance Marina usually showed was gone, replaced by an odd, detached exhaustion. The usual sparkle was gone from her eyes, and her shoulders drooped.

“Are you ill?” he asked, his anger leaving him.

“Perfectly well.” She placed her hands in her lap. “But please leave. This isn’t a convenient time for a visit.”

Leo was so shocked by her dismissal that he was momentarily speechless. Looking around the parlor, he noticed how unusually dim it was. Only two candles burned in the room. The fire was banked low and barely provided any warmth against the evening chill.

“Where are your servants?” he asked.

There had only been the single maid who had answered his knock at the servants’ entrance—a maid who had seemed startled not by his unexpected appearance but because anyone had called at all.

“That shouldn’t concern you, Your Grace.” Marina’s voice sharpened, a brief flash of her usual spirit.

Leo moved closer, his gaze catching other details he’d missed in his initial anger. The tea service on the side table held only one cup. The curtains, which he recalled as being an elegant blue silk, had been replaced with simpler muslin. And Marina herself wore a gown he’d seen before though it had been nearly a fortnight since their encounter in the Ellinsworths’ library.

“Something has happened,” he said, not a question but a statement. “Tell me.”

“Please, Your Grace, I have much to attend to this evening.”

Leo sat in the chair across from her, his expression filled with determination. “I am not leaving until you tell me what’s going on. Why is your house practically dark?”

“I like the atmosphere.”

“Nonsense. Where are your staff?”

“I have given them a day off. They deserve it.”

She was lying. He knew it.

“Why do you look as though you have barely slept?”

Marina’s composure finally cracked. “Because I haven’t!” she snapped, rising abruptly. “I have spent the past three nights trying to determine how to avoid complete ruin—not that it’s any of your business!”

“Make it my business,” he insisted, rising as well.

She turned away, her shoulders tight with tension. For a moment, he thought she would order him out again. Then she exhaled, a sound of pure defeat.

“What does it matter? You will find out soon enough when word gets out.” She faced him with resignation. “My late husband left substantial debts. One of his creditors has decided that now is the perfect time to collect, given my recent… literary success.”

Leo’s brow furrowed. “How substantial?”

“Six thousand originally. With interest, over nine thousand pounds.”

He let out a low whistle. “That is a significant sum, but surely arrangements could be made for payment over time?”

“He’s demanding five hundred pounds immediately with quarterly payments thereafter.” Marina gave a bitter laugh. “I barely have enough to feed myself and Betty for the month. I had to let the rest of my staff go today.”

Understanding dawned. “That explains the state of the house.”

“Yes.” Her voice grew small. “Betty insisted on staying though I can’t pay her properly.”

“And this creditor—who is he?”

“Robert Giles.” Marina’s expression twisted with distaste. “He learned of my writing from Mr. Lupton. They have apparently formed quite the convenient alliance. If I do not pay, they will expose me as the author of the stories.”

Leo’s mind rapidly processed this new information. “So that’s their leverage. Social ruin if you don’t pay.”

“Precisely.” She sank back into her chair. “Now will you leave? I would prefer to face my humiliation without an audience.”

Instead of leaving, Leo knelt before her chair, taking one of her cold hands in his. “Let me pay the debt.”

Marina jerked back as though burned. “Absolutely not!”

“Do not be foolish. I can easily afford it.”

“My financial problems are not your concern,” she insisted, her chin lifting with familiar stubbornness.

“They became my concern the moment they involved my private life,” he countered.

Marina’s eyes flashed. “So that’s it? You would pay simply to silence me?”

“No, I would pay because you’re in trouble, and I have the means to help.” Leo squeezed her hand. “Let me do this for you.”

She pulled her hand away. “I cannot accept such charity.”

“It is not charity, it’s?—”

“If you pay Giles directly, the ton will learn of it.” Marina interrupted. “He isn’t the sort to keep quiet about such matters, especially if it hurts me. And once people connect us…”

Leo paused, considering. She had a point. Giles would certainly spread word of the Duke’s intervention on behalf of a scandalous authoress. The connection would be drawn immediately, and both their reputations would suffer.

“Then marry me,” he said.

Marina’s eyes widened. “What?”

“Marry me,” Leo repeated, the solution suddenly seeming perfectly logical. “As your husband, I could settle your husband’s debts without raising eyebrows. It would be expected.”

“You cannot be serious.” Marina stood and moved away from him.

“I am entirely serious.” Leo rose as well. “Think about it logically. Marriage would solve both our problems. I could pay your debt without scandal, and you would no longer need to write about me for income.”

“You’re proposing marriage as a business arrangement?” Her voice held disbelief.

“It is hardly unprecedented among our class.”

Marina shook her head. “I have already endured one loveless marriage. I won’t trap myself in another, no matter how desperate my circumstances.”

“We get along well enough,” Leo argued. “And our kiss at the Ellinsworths’ suggested we’re hardly indifferent to each other.”

A pink flush crept up her neck. “Physical attraction is not enough basis for marriage.”

“It’s more than many marriages begin with.” Leo stepped closer. “Be practical, Marina. Giles won’t stop at a single payment. Once he knows you can produce such sums, he will continue extracting money until you have nothing left.”

She hesitated. “Even if what you say is true, marriage… it’s too extreme a solution.”

“Is it?” Leo pressed his advantage. “Think of what you gain—financial security, protection from men like Giles and Lupton, and a position in society that would make it impossible for anyone to credit you as the author of scandalous stories.”

Marina eyed him with wariness. “And what do you gain from this arrangement?”

Leo smirked. “Beyond the joy of rescuing a stubborn woman who refuses to be rescued? Perhaps I simply wish to save the ton from reading yet another scandalous tale featuring a certain brooding rogue with my face.”

“That’s not an answer.” Marina’s expression remained doubtful. “Why settle for me when you could have a duchess from a more prestigious family?

The smirk faded from Leo’s face, replaced by a seriousness that surprised even him. “Because I do not like the idea of you being beholden to men like Giles. This way, you’ll owe me and no one else.”

“And what will the nature of that obligation be?” Marina asked quietly. “What will you want from me in return?”

“I have already told you. I want you to stop writing about me.”

She was silent for a long moment. Then, almost reluctantly, she said, “I won’t give myself to you, if that’s what you expect.”

Leo recoiled. “Do you have such a low opinion of me that you think I would force you to do something you don’t want to do?”

“But you will expect me in your bed eventually,” she pressed.

“I have no interest in a reluctant lover,” he said, his voice dropping to a silken purr. “I prefer women who beg.”

Marina blushed crimson, but her gaze never wavered. “Then you’d better lower your expectations. I am not going to beg you for anything.”

Leo couldn’t help but smirk again. “Oh, darling, you very much will.”

“Forget it?—”

“Relax, I was jesting. I told you, I have no expectations from you, but I believe you are a woman who enjoys her passions far too much to pretend otherwise.”

She shook her head. “I’ve already had one terrible relationship. How can I trust that this won’t end just as badly?”

“Because I am not your late husband,” Leo said, his voice gentle now. “If you only need protection from this marriage, that’s all you’ll get. We can establish separate households if you prefer. At least once the ton’s attention has shifted elsewhere.”

Marina still looked doubtful. “I’ve already been through one failed marriage. I won’t survive another.”

“As I said, I am not Lord Asquith,” Leo repeated firmly. “I hadn’t planned to marry, but the circumstances have changed.”

“What about heirs?” she asked suddenly. “Won’t you need a son?”

Leo’s expression darkened momentarily. “My brother can produce heirs. Once I find him.”

Marina fell silent. Her fingers twisted the fabric of her gown. It felt like forever, but finally she looked up, her blue eyes meeting his.

“I accept your proposal,” she said quietly. “But I want your word that I can leave if this ends up being a terrible mistake. That I can live separately from you.”

Relief flooded through Leo, surprising in its intensity. “You have my word.”

“And you won’t force me to?—”

“I have already said that I won’t,” he said, a hint of impatience in his tone. “I am a man of many faults, but I am not that kind of monster.”

She nodded, apparently satisfied. “Then I will marry you.”

“Good.” Leo straightened, already mentally calculating what needed to be done. “I shall acquire a special license. We can be married within days.”

“So quickly?” Marina seemed startled.

“Giles gave you a week, did he not? Best to have it settled before his deadline.”

She nodded again. Her expression was a little dazed, as if she couldn’t quite believe that she had accepted his proposal.

Leo moved toward the door then paused. “Pack what you need for now. I will send servants tomorrow to help with the rest of your belongings.”

“Is that an order, Your Grace?” A hint of her usual spirit flickered in her eyes.

“Consider it a suggestion, Duchess.” He offered a slight bow before adding, “And Marina? Try to get some sleep. You look exhausted.”

With that, he departed, his mind already racing with plans.

A special license could be obtained through his connections. Noah would stand as his witness though he’d undoubtedly have questions about this sudden decision. The Clarkshires would likely support Marina.

It wouldn’t be the typical society wedding expected of a duke, but it would serve its purpose. Marina would be safe from Giles’s threats, and he would be free from the literary exploitation of his personal life.

If he felt a flicker of unease at the decisiveness with which he’d bound himself to a woman he barely knew, Leo quickly suppressed it.

This solved a mutual problem, nothing more.

Yet as he stepped into his waiting carriage, he couldn’t help but recall the vulnerability in Marina’s eyes when she’d accepted his proposal. Or the irresistible flush that had spread across her cheeks when he’d suggested she might one day beg for his touch.

Not that either of those reactions had influenced his decision of course. This was merely business.

Wasn’t it?