Captured

Captured The Duel, Book 2 Mary Lancaster © Copyright 2023 by Mary Lancaster Text by Mary Lancaster Cover by Dar Albert Dragonblade Publishing, Inc. is an imprint of Kathryn Le Veque Novels, Inc. P.O. Box 23 Moreno Valley, CA 92556 [email protected] Produced in the United States of America First Edition April 2023 Kindle Edition Reproduction of any kind except where it pertains to short quotes in relation to advertising or promotion is strictly prohibited. All Rights Reserved. The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author. License Notes: This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook, once purchased, may not be re-sold. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. 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CEO, Dragonblade Publishing Additional Dragonblade books by Author Mary Lancaster The Duel Series Entangled (Book 1) Captured (Book 2) Last Flame of Alba Series Rebellion’s Fire (Book 1) A Constant Blaze (Book 2) Burning Embers (Book 3) Gentlemen of Pleasure Series The Devil and the Viscount (Book 1) Temptation and the Artist (Book 2) Sin and the Soldier (Book 3) Debauchery and the Earl (Book 4) Blue Skies (Novella) Pleasure Garden Series Unmasking the Hero (Book 1) Unmasking Deception (Book 2) Unmasking Sin (Book 3) Unmasking the Duke (Book 4) Unmasking the Thief (Book 5) Crime & Passion Series Mysterious Lover (Book 1) Letters to a Lover (Book 2) Dangerous Lover (Book 3) Merry Lover (Novella) The Husband Dilemma Series How to Fool a Duke Season of Scandal Series Pursued by the Rake Abandoned to the Prodigal Married to the Rogue Unmasked by her Lover Her Star from the East (Novella) Imperial Season Series Vienna Waltz Vienna Woods Vienna Dawn Blackhaven Brides Series The Wicked Baron The Wicked Lady The Wicked Rebel The Wicked Husband The Wicked Marquis The Wicked Governess The Wicked Spy The Wicked Gypsy The Wicked Wife Wicked Christmas (A Novella) The Wicked Waif The Wicked Heir The Wicked Captain The Wicked Sister Unmarriageable Series The Deserted Heart The Sinister Heart The Vulgar Heart The Broken Heart The Weary Heart The Secret Heart Christmas Heart The Lyon’s Den Series Fed to the Lyon De Wolfe Pack: The Series The Wicked Wolfe Vienna Wolfe Also from Mary Lancaster Madeleine The Others of Ochil Table of Contents Title Page Copyright Page Publisher’s Note Additional Dragonblade books by Author Mary Lancaster Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Chapter Thirteen Chapter Fourteen Chapter Fifteen Chapter Sixteen Chapter Seventeen Chapter Eighteen Chapter Nineteen Chapter Twenty Chapter Twenty-One Epilogue About Mary Lancaster Chapter One “You must be very brave, Hera. I am afraid your father is dead.” Lady Hera Severne, who had just swept into the salon for tea, to discover her aunt and uncle looking solemn, came to an abrupt halt and frowned at such a huge pronouncement. For some reason, she felt she must have misheard. “His Grace is dead?” Hera said cautiously. Her aunt, Lady Hadleigh, dabbed at her eyes with a tiny square of lace. “A tragedy for all of us. Struck down in the prime of his life.” Hera sank slowly into the nearest chair. Curiously detached, she wondered if the world expected her to show grief like her aunt’s, but she didn’t seem to feel any. His Grace had been a distant figure whom she barely knew and, if she was honest, didn’t much like. But he had always been a massive presence in her life—like God, she thought irreverently. One never saw him, but one knew he was there with power over every aspect of one’s life. “How did he die?” she blurted. His Grace was not yet fifty and had always seemed in vigorous health. Her aunt and uncle exchanged glances, and Hera felt a surge of irritation. Even in this, was her information to be censored and filtered, as though she were a child or an imbecile? “It was a duel,” her aunt said. Hera blinked. “A duel? His Grace fought a duel?” Aunt Hadleigh waved her tiny handkerchief in apparent distress. “With some upstart young army officer. I daresay he forced a quarrel on His Grace to impress his foolish friends. Perhaps they are all Jacobins!” “Army officers?” Hera asked, frowning. “Have they not been fighting revolutionary France for years? In fact, they are about to do so again.” “That is not the point,” Lord Hadleigh growled. “The point is, this fellow, whoever he was, killed your father and orphaned you and Victor.” And quite suddenly, what Hera felt was not grief or sadness, but hope. Her brother was now Duke of Cuttyngham. She could stop this charade