Oh. She was English. That was unusual in these parts, but not unheard of. Dominic inspected the English girl more closely and found himself unable to breathe.
It was the ghost girl.
Well, not a ghost girl, obviously, but the mysterious veiled woman he'd seen sneaking around. That was her dress, all right, but he hadn't immediately put two and two together since she no longer wore her veil.
He could see the pathetic scrap of thin black material wadded up and discarded on the floor, and realized with a shock that it must have been torn from her.
There was no time to inspect her more closely – beside noticing that she had golden brown hair, half pulled down from a tight knot on top of her head – because the bald man lunged towards her again.
The woman gave a shriek, neatly sidestepping him, and stabbed him in the arm with her hatpin. The man bellowed in anger and pain, swiping at her. She ducked again, coming almost face to face with Dominic, who took the opportunity to step in front of her.
The bald man had the good sense to falter, backing away from the expression on Dominic's face.
"Did ye nae know that I don't permit violence towards women on me premises?" Dominic said tightly.
"She cheated!" the bald man insisted. "We all saw it. Didn't we?"
He glanced around at his friends for backup, but they all avoided his eyes.
Good,Dominic thought grimly.I'm not a good man to piss off.
"I didn't cheat," the English lass repeated, although her voice was wobbly. She was afraid, and he didn't blame her.
"She says nae," Dominic replied coolly. "What makes ye think she cheated?"
"How could she have won? I've never had a woman beat me at cards!"
He rolled his eyes. "What hand did she win with? Come on," Dominic snapped, when the men hesitated. "What hand did she have?"
"Two aces and two queens," the girl spoke up, her voice quiet. "Hehad an ace, a four, a five, and a ten,hehad three nines and..."
She proceeded to list off the hand that every man had produced in the final round, never missing a beat. Dominic had little experience with that particular card game, but that sounded right.
"Well?" he said when she had finished.
The men glanced at each other uncertainly, mumbling. Dominic was fast losing patience.
"All right, so none of ye remember. Well, I'm going to assume she won fair and square, then. And none of this nonsense about her being a woman. Get out of me pub, all of ye. Go!"
They scattered, glancing viciously towards the woman. She hung back, her breathing starting to return to normal again.
"If I find that ye were cheatin'," Dominic said conversationally, not turning around to face her, "ye will be sorry."
"I was not cheating," the woman replied simply. The last of the men disappeared up the stairs, grumbling among themselves, and Dominic turned to right the table which had been tipped over.
The woman snatched up her hat from the ground, jamming it on her head, and picked up the veil next. It was visibly torn, and she sighed, slipping it into a deep pocket.
This gave Dominic the chance to look at her properly, and he found himself staring.
He would guess that she was around twenty-five, tall enough to almost look him in the eye, and slim. Her clothes were nicely made, and were probably expensive, but hung strangely on her, as if she'd lost weight recently.
She still had a marvelous bosom, though.
Stop it, Dominic! Get yourself a woman to join ye in bed and stop this nonsense!
"I suppose I should thank you," she said, her voice cultured, soft, and above all,English. Not something that would make her popular in these parts.
She had eyes which might have been blue or green, it was hard to tell, and a well-featured face. Her nose was just a fraction too long and pointed, giving her a pixie-like look. Her hair was falling around her face in disheveled strands, and she pushed self-consciously at them, trying to tuck her hair behind her ears.
