"Yes." Gideon drew in the horses and turned them in to the inn yard. Their big hooves clattered on the cobblestones. "It will be more efficient this way. In the morning I shall secure the license. After we are wed I suppose I had better take you straight to Hardcastle House and introduce you to my parents. Some things are unavoidable."

The door of the inn burst open before Harriet could reply. A young boy dashed out to attend to the animals. Gideon stepped down from the phaeton.

Events were happening too quickly Harriet tried to keep her voice calm. "What about my family, sir? They will worry about me."

"We shall send word from this inn telling them that you are safe and that I am taking you to Hardcastle House. By the time we get back to Town, some of the furor will have died down. And I will have you securely in my clutches."

Chapter Twelve

Gideon surveyed the small inn room. It was the best the innkeeper had to offer, but that was not saying much. There was only one bed, a rather small one.

"I trust you do not object too strongly to my telling the innkeeper that we are man and wife." Gideon went down on one knee to stir up the coals on the hearth. He did not look behind him, but he could sense Harriet's tension.

"No. I do not mind," Harriet said softly.

"It will soon be the truth."

"Yes."

Gideon was all too conscious of his own size tonight, for some reason. He felt awkward and clumsy in the small chamber. He was almost afraid to move about or touch anything for fear he would break something. Everything around him seemed small and fragile, including Harriet.

"I did not think it a wise idea for you to stay by yourself in a room down the hall tonight," he said, still not looking at her. "If you had your maid with you or your sister, that would have been one thing."

"I understand."

"A woman alone in an inn is always at risk. There are already several drunken louts downstairs in the taproom. There is no knowing when one of them might take a notion to come upstairs and start trying the doors."

"An unpleasant thought."

"And there is the awkward fact that people would speculate about your claim to being a lady if it got out that we were not man and wife." Gideon got to his feet as the fire took hold. He watched the flames flow together into a cheerful blaze. "Certain assumptions might be made."

"I understand. It is quite all right, Gideon. Pray, do not concern yourself." Harriet moved toward the fire, extending her hands to the warmth. "As you say, we will be man and wife soon enough."

He looked at her profile and his whole body tightened in response. The glow of the fire had turned her skin to gold. Her soft, springy hair stood out around her face. He thought he could almost hear it crackling with vitality. She looked so sweet and vulnerable.

"Damnation, Harriet, I am not going to demand the privileges of a husband tonight," Gideon muttered. "You have a right to expect me to restrain myself and I fully intend to do so."

"I see." She did not look at him.

"Just because I lost my head that night in the cave does not mean I am incapable of self-control."

Harriet gave him a brief, curious glance. "I never thought you lacking in self-control, my lord. Indeed, you are the most controlled man I have ever known. Sometimes it worries me. It is the only thing about you that occasionally makes me uneasy, if you must know the truth."

He eyed her in disbelief. "You find me too self-controlled?"

"I expect it is because you have been obliged to endure so much savage gossip during the past few years," Harriet said matter-of-factly. "You have learned to keep your feelings to yourself. Perhaps too much so. Sometimes I am not at all certain what you are thinking."

Gideon jerked at his cravat, unknotting it swiftly. "I frequently feel much the same way about you, Harriet."

"Me?" Her eyes widened. "But I rarely bother to even try to conceal my emotions."

"Is that so?" He paced to the room's single chair and dropped his cravat over the back. He shrugged out of his jacket. "It may surprise you to know that I have no real notion of your feelings toward me, Miss Pomeroy." He started to unfasten his shirt. "I do not know if you find me amusing or obnoxious or a damned nuisance."

"Gideon, for heaven's sake—"

"That was the principal reason why I was exceedingly alarmed to learn that you had been spirited out of Town and were on your way to Gretna Green." Leaving his shirt open and hanging loose, he sat down on the edge of the bed and yanked off one boot. "It occurred to me that you might have decided you could do better than one disreputable, somewhat surly viscount."

Harriet studied him for a moment. "You are occasionally surly, St. Justin. I'll grant you that much. Stubborn, also."

"And inclined to issue orders," he reminded her.

"A most lamentable tendency, to be sure."

He yanked off the other boot and dropped it on the floor. "I have no great knowledge of fossils or geology or theories of the earth's formation."

"Very true. Although you seem quite intelligent. I expect you could learn."

Gideon gave her a sharp glance, uncertain if she was actually teasing him. "I cannot change my face or my past."

"I do not recall asking you to do so."

"Damnation, Harriet," he said harshly, "why are you so willing to marry me?"

She tilted her head to one side, looking thoughtful. "Perhaps because we have much in common."

"Bloody hell, woman. That is just the point," he shot back. "We have nothing in common except the fact that we spent one night together in a cave."

"I, too, have a tendency to be somewhat stubborn on occasion," she said thoughtfully. "You, yourself, called me tyrannical the first time you met me."

Gideon grunted. " 'Tis a fact, Miss Pomeroy. 'Tis a fact."

"And I tend to become enthralled with old teeth and bones to the point of being ill-mannered and, I am told, occasionally rude."

"Your fascination with fossils is not all that offensive," Gideon said magnanimously.

"Thank you, sir. However, in addition I feel I must add that, just like you, I cannot change my face or my past," Harriet continued, as though itemizing a list of slightly damaged goods she wished to sell.

Gideon was startled. "There is nothing wrong with your face or your past."

"On the contrary. There is no getting around the fact that I am not the great beauty my sister is and there is no avoiding the subject of my age. I am very nearly five and twenty, not precisely a sweet-tempered, pliable young chit fresh out of the schoolroom."

Gideon saw the hint of a smile playing around her soft mouth. He felt something deep inside him start to unclench. "Well, there is that," he agreed slowly. "It would doubtless be far easier to school a brainless little goose who had never learned to think for herself. But as I am hardly an unfledged lad myself, I daresay I cannot complain too much of your advanced years."

Harriet grinned. "Very generous of you, my lord."

Gideon stared at her, aware of the hunger that was warming his blood. It was going to be a long night, he thought. "There is just one detail I would like to clarify."

"And what is that, my lord?"

"You are the most beautiful woman I have ever known," he whispered thickly.

Harriet's mouth fell open in astonishment. "What rubbish. Gideon, how can you possibly say such a thing?"

He shrugged. "It is no more than the truth."

"Oh, Gideon." Harriet blinked quickly. Her mouth trembled. "Oh, Gideon."

She flew across the room and hurled herself straight into his arms.

Pleasantly stunned by the unexpected reaction, Gideon allowed himself to be toppled backward onto the bed. His arms closed around Harriet and he pulled her down across his chest.