Effie groaned. "They will all say poor Harriet tried to escape the clutches of the Beast of Blackthorne Hall by running away to Gretna Green and that when she got there Applegate changed his mind. The dear girl will be ruined twice."

Gideon got to his feet and pulled the bell cord to summon his butler. "You are quite right, both of you. There is already enough talk. I shall deal with this matter immediately."

Felicity glanced toward the door as Owl opened it. Then she looked back at Gideon. "You are going after them, my lord?"

"Of course. If, as you say, they have taken Lady Youngstreet's ancient traveling coach, you may rest assured I will overtake them in a short while. That carnage of hers is at least twenty years old. Very heavy and badly sprung. And her animals are almost as old as her coach. They will not be able to make good time."

"Yes, my lord?" Owl inquired in his graveyard tones.

"Order the phaeton horsed with Cyclops and Minotaur and brought around immediately, Owl," Gideon said.

"Very good, my lord. Not a pleasant evening for driving, if I may say so, sir. I feel there may be a storm on the way."

"I will take my chances, Owl. Kindly do not delay relaying my orders."

"As you wish, sir. Never say I did not warn you." Owl withdrew, shutting the door softly behind him.

"Well, then." Effie got to her feet and retied the strings of her bonnet. "I suppose we had best be off, Felicity. We have done all we can."

"Yes, Aunt Effie." Felicity stood up and gave Gideon a sharp look. "My lord, if you do catch up with them—"

"I will most certainly catch up with them, Miss Pomeroy."

She studied his expression for a few seconds and then drew a deep breath. "Yes, well, when you do, sir, I trust you will not be unpleasant to my sister. I am certain she will have a satisfactory explanation for this affair."

"She will no doubt have an explanation." Gideon strode to the door and opened it for the women. "Harriet is never short of explanations. Whether or not it will be a satisfactory one is another matter."

Felicity frowned. "Sir, you must give me your word you will not be harsh with her. I would not have insisted on coming here to tell you what has occurred if I had thought you would be angry with her."

Impatience flared in Gideon at the sight of the concern in Felicity's eyes. "Do not trouble yourself, Miss Pomeroy. Your sister and I understand each other very well."

"That is what she keeps saying," Felicity murmured as she followed her aunt out the door. "I trust you are both correct."

"By the bye," Gideon said as Felicity and Effie stepped out into the hall. "Pack a bag for my fiancée as soon as you return home. I shall stop for it on my way out of Town."

Effie looked suddenly wary. "You do not believe you will be able to return her safely to us before dawn?"

It was Felicity who responded to that. "Of course he will not return her to us this evening, Aunt Effie. Who knows how far Harriet and her friends will have gotten on the road north? In any event, I expect that the next time we see Harriet, she will be a married woman. Is that not right, my lord?"

"Yes," said Gideon. "Quite right. I think the time has come to put an end to this nonsense once and for all. I cannot have all and sundry trying to rescue my fiancée from the Beast of Blackthorne Hall. This sort of thing could become a damned nuisance."

Owl had been wrong in his prediction of the weather. The evening sky was overcast, but there was no rain and the road was dry. Gideon made good progress through the streets of the city, and as soon as he was free of the traffic, he gave his horses the signal to move out at a swifter pace. Cyclops and Minotaur exploded into action, big hooves striking the ground with relentless, rhythmic power.

It would not be truly dark for another two hours. Plenty of time to catch up with Lady Youngstreet's heavy old traveling coach.

Plenty of time to think. Perhaps too much time.

Was he pursuing a kidnapped fiancée or a fiancée who was fleeing from the Beast of Blackthorne Hall?

He longed to believe Felicity was correct when she said Harriet considered herself committed to him. But the notion that Harriet might have run off willingly into the arms of the lovestruck Applegate was a possibility Gideon could not ignore.

She had been very annoyed with him yesterday when he had taken her for that drive in the park. He remembered the little lecture she had delivered on what she called his dictatorial tendencies. She had made it clear she was not accustomed to being ordered about, no matter how well intentioned the one was who was issuing the orders.

Gideon's jaw clenched. She had obviously been doing a great deal of thinking lately about what being married would mean. She had wanted to make it clear that she did not expect to give up her independence after the wedding.

The problem, as Gideon saw it, was that Harriet had been independent for a long time. She had been forced to make decisions for herself and others for several years. She had grown accustomed to doing so, just as she had grown accustomed to running about alone in caves.

She had grown accustomed to her freedom.

Gideon watched the road ahead, absently aware of the play of the leather in his hands as the horses bounded forward. He had chosen Cyclops and Minotaur just as he chose everything else in his world, for their stamina and endurance, not their looks. Gideon had long ago learned that superficial beauty mattered little in horses, women, or friends.

A man who was obliged to face the world with the scarred features and the ruined reputation Gideon possessed and who found himself judged on that basis soon learned the virtue of looking beneath the surface in others.

Harriet was like his horses, he reflected. She was made of sturdy stuff. But she had a mind of her own.

Perhaps she had decided life would be more pleasant for her if she married someone like Applegate, who would never dream of issuing orders to her.

Applegate had a great deal to offer, including a title and a fortune. On top of all that, Gideon realized, Applegate shared Harriet's interest in fossils. Harriet might have found herself overwhelmingly attracted to Applegate's brain.

Marriage to Applegate would have a number of advantages and none of the drawbacks that would most assuredly accompany marriage to the Beast of Blackthorne Hall.

If he were truly a gentleman, Gideon thought, he would probably allow her to run off with Applegate tonight.

Then he pictured Harriet in Applegate's arms. Gideon suddenly felt coldly sick. He imagined Applegate touching her sweet breasts, kissing her soft mouth, pushing himself into her tight, welcoming heat. Anguish and a shattering sense of loss tore through Gideon.

It was impossible. Gideon knew he could not give her up.

Life without Harriet was too bleak to contemplate.

He remembered something Felicity had said earlier about exhibiting Harriet to Society as though she were some rare creature from a distant part of the globe. Gideon's hands tightened briefly on the reins as he acknowledged to himself that he might have done just that.

The only woman on earth who is not afraid to marry the Beast.

Gideon loosened his grip on the reins, urging the horses to an even faster pace. He could only pray to whatever god had abandoned him six years ago that Harriet was not running away willingly tonight.

The brandy fumes filled the interior of Lady Youngstreet's massive traveling coach as it bowled along the road to the north.

Harriet opened a window as Lady Youngstreet led Lord Fry in a rousing rendition of yet another bawdy tavern song. She made a note to ask the lady where she had learned such ballads.

There was a voting lady from Lower East Dipples Who was blessed with an astonishing pair of nipples.