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. .”
    Paul sighed. “Lucky, will you please sit down and talk to me? None of this is making much sense.” She didn’t move, and he got out of his chair and went over to her. “Lucky . . .”
    When she finally raised her head, her eyes were full of tears, and he instinctively took her into his arms. “What is it, love? Surely you know you can tell me anything?”
    “Not this,” she whispered against the lapel of his coat.
    He smoothed a curl back from her pale forehead and tucked it behind her ear. He couldn’t have his Lucky in tears, and whatever had happened, he was sure he could fix it. If some young fool had tried to compromise her over a stolen kiss, he’d soon sort that out. He gave her his handkerchief.
    “Nonsense, you can tell me anything.” He paused. “What will it take to make you confide in me? Must I swear not to tell another soul under pain of death?”
    She finished dabbing at her face with the handkerchief and raised her head to look at him. “You would promise that?”
    He hadn’t really expected her to believe his melodramatic statement, but the desperate hope in her blue eyes undid him. Mentally he berated himself. How bad could it be? He was sure he would be able to persuade her to confide in her parents anyway. He traced a cross over his heart.
    “I promise I will not tell a soul.”
    She sighed and fixed her gaze on his waistcoat. “I wasn’t talking about a friend.”
    “I gathered that,” Paul said gravely. “Are you saying that some man is pestering you to marry him?”
    “He’s not pestering me. He’s insisting.”
    “Because you let him steal a kiss?”
    She pulled out of his arms. “No, because I let him steal everything .” She raised her chin, her gaze defiant. “Do you understand now why I don’t want to tell my parents? Their only daughter, ruined for the marriage mart.”
    Paul heard her through a gathering cloud of disbelief and rage. “Who was it?” She shook her head, but he took a step toward her. “Who in damnation was it?”
    She swallowed hard and flinched away from him. “I’m not telling you.”
    His rage cooled to a deadly white heat and his hand came to rest on the hilt of his sword. “I’ll kill him.”
    “And create exactly the kind of scandal I am trying to avoid?” Her voice was shaking, but he had to give her credit for standing her ground. “I will not marry him. I just need to find a way to avoid the scandal.”
    “When I’ve lopped off his head you’ll be able to avoid him permanently.”
    She touched his arm. “And have you facing a murder charge for me? I don’t think I could live with myself if that happened. I’d rather kill him.”
    “Lucinda, we can have him disposed of quietly. I have friends who could arrange it, I swear it.”
    “I can’t condone another human being’s murder. I just can’t.”
    “You won’t have to. I’ll take care of it for you. You’ll never even have to know,” Paul said urgently.
    “All I care about is protecting my parents from the folly of my actions,” Lucinda said. “My father has recently become a duke . I cannot let him down now.”
    Paul had taken up pacing now. “Lucky, he won’t care. His first priority will always be you and his family. If you won’t let me kill the bastard, tell your father and leave him to sort it out. Mayhap the fool will allow himself to be bought off.”
    “I don’t think he will. I truly believe he wants to marry me.” She sighed. “He thinks to influence my father and gain a substantial part of his fortune, supposedly on my behalf.”
    “He told you this?”
    “Well, he has no reason to lie to me anymore, does he? I met with him yesterday, and he laid out his plans quite plainly. He thinks the dukedom can be milked for his entire lifetime.”
    There was a bitter weariness in her tone that he’d never heard before. “Lucky, you have to tell your father.”
    “And what will he do, Paul?” She faced him, her hands clasped tightly at her waist.