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could probably be free from her father’s grip with one swing if he wanted to.
    “I warned you, Thornewall,” her father roared. “I warned you not to play false.”
    “Father, pray stop,” Lucy begged, pulling on his arm. “I was as much to blame as he. I should not have even considered being alone with him.”
    Dominic’s brother must have heard the disturbance as he came bounding up the stairs. He watched them, his fists flexing. From what little she knew of him, he did not give the impression of being the violent type but he was a giant of a man. She did not wish to see her father hurt because of her folly.
    Dominic shook his head. “‘Twas my fault, my lord. I followed Lucy up.”
    Her father growled and drew back his fist. Her mother stepped sharply back, her eyes pleading with Lucy to do the same.
    “Nay!” Lucy shouted. “You will not harm him, he is our host. You would not assault a lord in his own home.”
    Her father flicked his eyes to her and they softened a fraction. She expelled a breath as he released Dominic with a dismissive shove. Dominic tugged his tunic back into place and offered her an apologetic look. She ignored it, instead reaching for her father’s hand and coaxing him away. She needed to put as much distance between the two men as possible. And, in truth, between her and Dominic.
    Her body still trembled with the after-effects of the kiss -- a kiss that should never have happened. Why she allowed it, why she pursued it, she knew not, but she could not let it happen again, no matter how divine it was.
    Lucy’s father eyed Dominic and she could feel the tension in his arm. Her father was as soft as they come with her, but she knew he had a reputation for being a fearsome warrior in his younger days. One wrong word and he would be back on Dominic in no time.
    “I will be taking my daughter home on the morrow,” her father ground out.
    Dominic straightened at this. “Nay! You cannot.”
    “You would presume to tell me what to do with my own daughter?”
    Lucy frowned as she observed the oddest expression come over Dominic’s face. A combination of desperation and uncertainty. Nay, surely she was mistaken, Lord Dominic had likely never been uncertain of a thing in his life.
    “Nay, I—”
    “Good. Then we shall leave after dawn.” Her father wrapped his arm around her shoulder and started to lead her away.
    “My lord,” Dominic called after them. “I wish to marry her.”
    Both Lucy and her father froze. He turned before she did. Had she heard him right? Her heart hammered in her ears. She faced him slowly, clasping her arms around herself as she studied his face. He drew his chin up, a quietly confident smile playing on his lips. Was he serious? There was nothing in his expression to make her doubt his words.
    “What did you just say?” she whispered.
    “What did you say, Thornewall?” her father bellowed.
    “I said I wish to marry her.”
    Her father tilted his head back and studied him. “Is that so?”
    “Aye, my lord.”
    “And you, Daughter, do you wish to marry him?”
    “I—” She glanced at her mother, who shrugged and then looked to the two men who were discussing her fate. She scowled. “Nay, of course not!”
    Giving Dominic a bitter smile, her father drew her back into his hold. “Well, there you have it, Thornewall, she will not have you. I warned you that I would not go through with this if you could not gain her good opinion.”
    Lucy held up a hand. “Wait. Go through with what?”
    “At least give me a chance to change your daughter’s mind. You owe me that much, Montgomery.”
    Stepping forward, her mother tugged her away from the two men but Lucy shrugged off her comforting hands. She would not stand idly by while two men discussed her future - a future that apparently they had previously deliberated.
    “I owe you naught,” Montgomery hissed. “Upon my return, I shall burn the contract and it will be as if it never existed.”
    Lucy stared