No Duke Will Do by Devon Eva & Devon Eva

Author:Devon, Eva & Devon, Eva
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Historical, Romance
Publisher: Bard Productions
Published: 2020-06-29T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

Mary had weathered the fear in her mother’s eyes and the desperation in her brother for months.

She’d tried everything she could to assure her mother that all would be well. Robert had paced the halls of their empty house, most of the furniture having been sold, desperate to find a way to put them back on the right footing.

Mary was no longer terribly concerned with the right footing.

She’d had a glimpse of freedom, and she wasn’t going to go back.

But, she admitted to herself she had slipped slightly backwards. She had agreed to try to find a wealthy husband for her mother’s benefit. But now, she knew she couldn’t. She had danced dances. She had drank more tea than was good for anyone. And swilled, tepid lemonade until she felt she was a lemon herself.

No more.

Thanks to one very insistent Duke of Drake.

And so, she sat in the dark hackney coach cab, riding back to a place she had visited almost a year ago.

It was impossible to ignore the feelings of need any longer. Her gloved hands were clenched in her lap. It was a secret she would have to keep from her mother and brother for now, but she’d endured her self-betrayal too long.

She’d tried too hard.

And she knew one thing for certain.

She was not going to make a good marriage with a city man or a lord. It helped that her brother had fallen in love. She knew it for certain. Her brother had fallen for his best friend’s sister, and the two were going to be married soon. Certainly.

It was even more fortuitous that the young woman was wealthy. Thus, the family no longer needed to worry as much. And she, she need not sacrifice herself on any altars any longer. And she wasn’t going to. The hackney coach rumbled to a halt before the gaming club, and she peered up at it with entirely different eyes than she had so many months ago.

She smiled this time.

And this time, she opened the door and stepped down with confidence in her step. She strode across the pavement, walked through those doors. She didn’t bother with the footmen and crossed through the crowded gaming hall, ignoring everyone and the eyes that occasionally turned to her, and went straight for the secret door at the back of the room.

A footman started to make his way towards her.

She locked eyes with him and arched a single brow.

That seemed to stop him in his tracks.

It was a trick she had learned recently, that trick of stopping people in their tracks, and she adored it. So without bothering to wait to see if he would gather up the courage to confront her, she opened the door, slipped into the dark corridor, and made her way to Heath’s office.

She entered without even a knock.

A pair of booted feet greeted her eyes.

And she was ready to announce she could not bear being without him any longer.

But it was then she realized it was not the man she’d expected.

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