"Forgive me, my dear. I did not mean to tease you." Gideon got to his feet, heedless of his own nudity until he saw Harriet quickly avert her gaze. That amused him briefly. She did not appear to even notice his scarred face, but the sight of his maleness made her turn away. "You had best get dressed, Harriet. The tide will be out and Dobbs may come looking for us at any moment."

"Yes. Yes, of course." She got to her feet, still clutching the cloak about herself. Then she bent down and picked up her gown. She hesitated, obviously trying to decide how to get into the garment while keeping herself concealed beneath the cloak.

"I'll give you a hand in a moment," Gideon offered softly.

"That will not be necessary, my lord."

"As you wish." Gideon stretched again and walked over to where he had left his own clothing. He pulled on his shirt and stepped into his trousers, pleased to see they had dried overnight. His boots were stiff from their saltwater soaking.

"Gideon?"

"Yes, my dear?"

Harriet hesitated. "About last night, my lord. I would not want… That is to say, you should not feel—"

"You may tell your aunt to expect me at three this afternoon." Gideon tugged on one rigid boot. It was not an easy task. The leather seemed to have shrunk.

"Why?" Harriet demanded bluntly.

Gideon cocked a brow and slid her a speculative glance as he jerked on the other boot. Harriet was staring at him, looking exceedingly alarmed. He wondered if she was finally appreciating the full import of what had happened. "Under the circumstances I shall want to pay my respects, of course," he said.

"Your respects? Is that all?"

He shrugged. "And make a formal offer of marriage."

"I knew it." Harriet glowered at him. "I knew that was what you were thinking. Well, I will not have it, my lord. Do you understand me? I will not allow you to do it."

"You will not allow it?" Gideon eyed her consideringly.

"Absolutely not. Oh, I know what you are thinking. You believe that because of what happened between us last night you are honor-bound to make an offer of marriage. But I assure you, it is entirely unnecessary, sir"

"It is?"

"Definitely." Harriet drew herself up proudly. "What happened last night was not your fault. I was entirely to blame. If I had not been so foolish as to go out on the cliffs to watch the events, none of the rest would have occurred."

"But you did go out on the cliffs, Harriet. And the rest of it did occur."

"Nevertheless, I do not want you to feel obligated to propose." She looked very fierce.

"Harriet, you are distraught. When you have calmed down you will see that you have no option but to accept my offer of marriage. Indeed, your aunt and your sister will insist upon it."

"I do not particularly care if they insist. I make my own decisions, my lord, just as I did last night. And I will take full responsibility for them."

"I, too, make my own decisions, Harriet," he said, growing quietly angry at her mutinous attitude. "And I also take responsibility for them. We will become engaged this afternoon."

"No, we will not become engaged this afternoon. Damnation, Gideon, I will not be married just because I have been compromised."

Gideon was enraged now. "And I will not have it said a second time that the Beast of Blackthorne Hall has ravished and callously cast aside another rector's daughter."

Harriet paled. She stared at him, her eyes huge with dismay. "Dear God, Gideon. I had not thought of what they would say about you."

"Bloody hell." Gideon took three long strides across the cavern and gripped her shoulders. He wanted to shake her. Instead he held her very still and forced her to look up at him. "You were not thinking at all. You were merely indulging your naive, emotional whims with no real thought about the reality of what either of us will face when we leave here this morning."

She searched his face. "You knew all along what you would be obliged to do today, though. That was what you meant last night when you talked of fate."

"Of course I knew what the end result would be. And so did you."

She shook her head frantically. "No. I did not really think about it until this morning when I awoke and realized you might feel obliged to offer marriage. I told myself there was no need. I could endure the gossip here in the country. And as I do not go into Society and have no plans for marriage, I did not think it mattered what people said."

"And if you discovered that you were with child? How did you intend to deal with that?"

Harriet dropped her eyes, her cheeks reddening. "It is unlikely, my lord. It was, after all, only the one time."

"Harriet, it only takes one time."

Her lips tightened. "In any event, I will know for certain in a few short days."

"A few short days? They are likely to be the longest days of your life. Harriet, you are an intelligent female. I suggest you start acting like it instead of a naive, temperamental child."

Her fingers clutched at the folds of her cloak. "Yes, my lord."

The rage went out of Gideon as quickly as it had come. He pulled her close and pushed her head down onto his shoulder. He could feel the tension that stiffened her spine. "Will marriage to me be so bad, Harriet? Last night you did not appear to find me repulsive."

"You are not in the least repulsive, my lord." Her words were muffled against his shirt. "That is not the point. The point is that I did not wish to be married out of a sense of duty."

"I understand You are a very headstrong sort of female." He smiled wryly into her hair. "You are accustomed to going your own way without restraint. You no doubt fear losing some of your precious independence."

"I do not intend to lose any of my independence," she muttered.

"You will adjust to marriage in time."

"Now, see here, Gideon, what is all this talk of adjusting?"

"Never mind," he said gently. "We will deal with that later. In the meantime, you must allow me to inform your aunt that we are engaged."

"But Gideon—"

"You say you will know if you are carrying my babe within the next few days. If it transpires that you are, I will procure a special license and we will be married immediately. If you are not, we shall do things more formally and set the date for a more appropriate length of time."

Harriet raised her head, eyes bright with sudden understanding. "You wish to wait if possible, do you not?"

"If possible. It will help quell some of the gossip if we let it be known that there is no need to rush. Now, that is settled, and I think we had best be on our way. People will be looking for us soon." He released her and went to pick up the lamp.

Harriet said nothing as she followed him out of the cavern. Gideon was aware of her trailing close behind, tight-lipped and unhappy, but she made no further protest.

He knew she was feeling trapped and miserable, but he did not know how to improve her spirits. All he knew for certain was that she would be far more miserable if he did not enforce the decision to marry.

It was all very well for Harriet to claim that she did not need the protection of a formal offer of marriage because of what had occurred during the night, but Gideon knew the truth. Her life would be a living hell, even here in Upper Biddleton, if he did not do the proper thing. He would not have her ruined because of him.

Gideon realized she was not pleased with the prospect of marriage to him, but he also knew she had no choice.

Right now Harriet was too dazed to think clearly. Gideon wondered when it would occur to her that she had something even more terrible to worry about than the prospect of being forced into marriage.

It surely would not be long before some meddling soul took the trouble to warn her that the real danger was that she might not be married at all.