"You are the most attractive, most handsome, most magnificent man I have ever met," Harriet murmured shyly against his throat.

"I see that, in addition to your other minor faults, we must conclude you have poor eyesight." Gideon slid his fingers into her thick hair. "But that seems a very slight and no doubt extremely useful sort of flaw in our situation."

"Your eyesight must be just as poor if you truly find me beautiful." Harriet giggled. "Well, there you have it, my lord. Matching flaws. Obviously we are ideally suited."

"Obviously." Gideon caught her face between his hands and brought her mouth down onto his.

She returned the kiss with a sweet, generous urgency that made the blood pound in his veins. He could feel the incredible softness of her breasts through the fabric of her pelisse and gown. His fingers tightened in her hair.

"Gideon?" Harriet raised her head a little to look down at him with bemused eyes.

"God, I want you." He searched her face, desperate for some sign that would tell him he need not act the gentleman on this eve of their marriage. "You cannot know how much."

Her lashes veiled her gaze. Gideon could see the warmth in her cheeks. "I want you, too, my lord. I have dreamed often of that night we spent together."

"After we are wed tomorrow, we shall spend every night together," he vowed.

"Gideon," she said softly, "I know that ours is to be a marriage founded upon necessity. I understand that you feel you must do the right thing by me. But I have wondered…"

"Wondered what?" He was impatient with her rationale of the situation, but he did not know how to counter her conclusions. She was right. He had proposed because he had compromised her.

"Do you think," she asked slowly, "that there will ever come a time when you might fall in love with me?"

Gideon froze. Then he closed his eyes briefly against the hope he saw in the depths of her turquoise gaze. "Harriet, I want there to be only honesty between us."

"Yes, my lord?"

He opened his eyes, aware of a feeling of pain deep inside himself. "Six years ago I forgot everything I knew of love. That part of me does not exist anymore. But I give you my solemn vow that I will be a good husband to you. I will care for you and protect you with my life. You will not want for anything if it is in my power to give it to you. I will be faithful."

A gleam of moisture appeared in Harriet's eyes, but she blinked it rapidly away. Her mouth trembled in a shy smile of womanly welcome. "Well, then, my lord, as we have already thoroughly compromised ourselves, I do not see any point in delaying the inevitable another night. You do not have to prove your honorable intentions to me, of all people."

Gideon's body went hard with desire. The glowing invitation in Harriet's eyes nearly robbed him of breath. "The inevitable?" he demanded hoarsely. "Is that what you call it? Is that how you envision our lovemaking? An inevitable duty?"

"It was not unpleasant," she assured him quickly. "I did not mean to insult you. It was actually quite exciting in some ways. It definitely had its moments."

"Thank you," Gideon murmured dryly. "I tried."

"I know you did. One must make allowances for the uncomfortable bed we shared, I suppose. I do not imagine a rock floor is conducive to lovemaking."

"No."

"And there is the added factor of your size, my lord," Harriet continued. "You are a very large man." She cleared her throat discreetly. "All the various parts of you are in proportion to your overall configuration, my lord. Rather like one of my fossil discoveries, if you take my meaning. Did you know that from a tooth one can frequently deduce the total length and size of an animal?"

Gideon groaned. "Harriet…"

"Yes, well, it was not altogether a great surprise, of course," she assured him. "After all, I have had a great deal of experience estimating the size and shape of a creature based on a detailed study of a handful of bones and teeth embedded in rocks. You were just as one would expect. Proportionally speaking."

"I see," Gideon managed in a half-strangled voice.

"In point of fact, looking back on the incident, it is amazing that we managed the thing as well as we did that first time. I have great hopes that in future such matters will go quite smoothly."

"Enough, Harriet." Gideon put his palm gently but firmly over her mouth. "I cannot take any more of this. You are right about one thing. It will go much more smoothly in future."

Her eyes widened above his hand as he rolled her over onto her back. When he started to undo the fastenings of her pelisse, she put her arms around his neck.

Gideon groaned and removed his hand from her mouth. He kissed her deeply, aware of the longing that was surging through him. It threatened to overwhelm everything before it. Never had he needed a woman the way he needed Harriet.

But tonight, Gideon told himself, he would hold his desire in check until Harriet had learned the strength of her own passion. She had given him the gift of herself and he was determined to repay her in the only way he could.

He managed to get the pelisse and gown off of her while she lay beneath him on the bed. When she was wearing only her chemise and stockings, he tugged her gently to her feet. Then he reached out and turned down the quilt.

Thank God the sheets looked reasonably clean, Gideon thought, greatly relieved. Such was not always the case in inns. He could not endure the notion of taking his sweet Harriet on a lice-infested bed. It was bad enough that he had taken her on the stone floor of a cave the first time. Harriet deserved the best.

Not that Harriet appeared to care, he thought. She was gazing up at him with dreamy eyes, her lips slightly parted. He could just see the cute little overlapping teeth when she smiled. She did not seem to mind that her rosy nipples were visible through the fine lawn of her chemise.

Gideon realized he felt good when he was with Harriet. She had a way of making him feel heroic and noble and proud. Her faith in him was obvious. For the first time he understood that what he had found in Harriet made up for all that he had lost in the eyes of his father and of Society six long years ago.

Harriet believed in him. It was enough.

"You are so lovely," Gideon whispered. He caught her by the waist and lifted her high against his chest. He kissed her breasts, using his tongue to dampen the delicate fabric of the chemise until it was transparent.

Harriet's fingers clutched at him and her head tipped back. She moaned softly as he took one tight little nipple into his mouth and bit gently.

"Oh, Gideon."

"Do you like that, little one?"

"Oh, yes. Yes, I like it very much." Her fingers splayed across his shoulders. She shivered when he took her other nipple between his teeth.

Gideon lowered her slowly down until she was standing once more in front of him, her arms circling his neck.

He grabbed two fistfuls of the chemise and pulled it off over her head. Then he knelt to untie her garters and slip off her stockings. He could feel her quivering at his intimate touch.

He rose and gazed hungrily down at her sweetly curved body. The contours of her full buttocks and graceful spine were bathed in the firelight. Carefully he speared his fingers through the triangle of dark, curling hair at the apex of her thighs. He felt the tremor that went through her.

Gideon slid his thigh between her legs, opening her. He kissed her as his fingers dipped lower, moving through the tight curls until they found the soft flower that shielded her secrets. He stroked slowly, easing apart the petals.

Harriet murmured his name in an urgent little voice and pushed aside his unfastened shirt. She kissed his chest. Her mouth felt like a butterfly against his taut skin. Her fingertips glided over his shoulders, edging his shirt out of the way so that she could drop more of the soft little kisses on his fire-warmed flesh.