The Virgin's Debt. Tatiana March

flinched. His angry tone told her more clearly than eloquent words might have done that Rothmore needed affection, the comfort of a woman’s touch. She expelled a long sigh as the choice took shape in her mind. She had fled her father’s estate to avoid an unwanted marriage to a man she despised. Being burned on the stake would have been too high a price to pay for her freedom, but becoming another man’s mistress was not.

      ‘Yes,’ Katrina said. ‘I’ll come with you.’