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“We have to look out for your welfare, and if we’ve made a mistake, we need to be prepared for it.”
Dorothy wanted to scream. She didn’t think she had made a mistake. Not yet, anyway. Now everyone around her was saying that maybe she needed to keep her options open? While Dorothy didn’t believe that Lucas would court her further now he had got her into bed, she thought she would be free to choose afterwards.
Evidently, nobody was going to give that to her.
“I think I would prefer it that you didn’t decide my future for me, Mother.” Dorothy stepped around her mother and headed towards the house. “What’s the point in saying I have some freedom, and you won’t let me have that?”
“Where are you going, Dorothy? We haven’t finished speaking.”
“Well, I have,” Dorothy muttered under her breath as she stormed into the house.
It took some time, but she did manage to find Frederica in the library. Her friend was curled up in a chair reading a book. She put it aside and stood up as Dorothy stormed into the room.
“What happened?”
“I need to get out of here.” Dorothy realised she was breathing heavily. “Anywhere that isn’t here.”
“Dorothy?” Frederica put aside the book and got up, hurrying over. “What’s wrong?”
“I’ll tell you. Just not here.” Dorothy took a deep breath, but it didn’t loosen the tightness in her chest. “I need to go for a long walk.”
Frederica didn’t need to ask anything further. She took Dorothy’s arm and led her to the door.
“We’ll go for a walk around the estate until you’re too exhausted to move. Whatever you want.”
Dorothy had a feeling it was going to be a while before she was properly exhausted. She needed a place where she could let out a scream without anyone intruding.
She could do with screaming quite a lot.
#
“You’re serious about this?” Pierce asked as Lucas checked himself in the mirror again. “You’re going to propose marriage to her?”
“I am.” Lucas turned to him. “I don’t know why you’re so surprised. You were practically expecting it, weren’t you?”
“Well … I thought I wouldn’t be surprised if you did propose to her, but now it’s happening …” Pierce rubbed the back of his neck. “This feels … surreal.”
Lucas rolled his eyes and checked that his cufflinks hadn’t fallen out. He was feeling rather nervous, and it was driving him mad. He really needed to calm down before Dorothy arrived; otherwise this would go wrong.
Proposing marriage was not something Lucas had really expected. Especially not to the woman to whom he had been previously engaged. And yet when he had thought about it the day before, after Dorothy had left his estate with Frederica, it felt like the most natural thing in the world. It left him feeling calm and happy. Lucas didn’t think that would happen.
Yet after he had taken Dorothy’s innocence and made her scream for him several times before they were exhausted, Lucas was possessed by a desire to keep Dorothy close. He wanted to hold her and not let go. The idea of waking up with her next to him every morning, or being around her in the same house, was not as scary as he thought it would be with any woman.
As far as he was concerned, Dorothy Napier was his. Lucas wouldn’t allow anything else.
But would Dorothy accept him? Would she agree to it after what happened to them previously? Had she forgiven him for that? If Lucas had been in her shoes, it would have taken a very long time to forgive him for his behaviour, if there was any forgiveness at all.
This was going to be a difficult moment for Lucas, and he didn’t like that. Proposing marriage to someone was supposed to be a beautiful moment, not something where he was scared of being rejected and kicked into the next county.
Given what he did before, he wouldn’t be surprised if that happened.
“What if she turns you down?” Pierce asked. “There is that possibility.”
“I’m trying not to think about it.” Lucas wished his hands weren’t shaking. Since when had he been so nervous being around a woman? Probably not since he was entering society for the first time. “But if she turns me down, I’ll have to back off. And then go back and try again later.”
Pierce snorted.
“You really are mad. I doubt that she’s going to allow that to happen.”
