Ravished

Chapter Thirteen

The Earl of Hardcastle was obviously not pleased to have a daughter-in-law presented to him on such short notice.

The Countess of Hardcastle was making an effort to be civil, but it was obvious she was taken aback at the announcement that her son had married so suddenly. Harriet imagined the lady was also somewhat put off by the notion of Gideon having formed an alliance with an unknown creature from Upper Biddleton.

For his part, Gideon was clearly preparing to enjoy the fireworks he had set off by arriving on his parents' doorstep with his new wife.

It was not the most comfortable welcome a new bride had ever experienced. But Harriet consoled herself with the knowledge that it probably was not the worst reception one had ever received, either.

Even though she took a philosophical stand on the matter, there was no getting around the fact that dinner was a rather strained affair. The earl sat stiffly at one end of the long table, his lady at the other.

Gideon sprawled like a great, predatory cat in his chair across from Harriet. His eyes glittered with a watchful amusement that Harriet knew could switch instantly into cold anger.

"We understand you have been in London quite recently, Harriet," Lady Hardcastle murmured.

"Yes, madam, I have." Harriet helped herself to a small portion of the tongue in red currant sauce that a footman was offering. Tongue was not one of her favorite foods. "My aunt took me there to acquire a social polish. She convinced me that I needed some, so as not to disgrace myself when I became a viscountess."

"I see," Lady Hardcastle said. "And did you? Acquire a polish, that is?"

"Well, no," Harriet admitted, adding some potatoes to her plate. She really was quite hungry, she realized. It had been a busy day, what with getting married and the long drive to Hardcastle House. "At least not a very thorough one. But I decided there was not much point in my becoming polished, as St. Justin certainly is not."

Lady Hardcastle flinched. She cast an uncertain glance down the table at the earl who grunted something beneath his breath.

Gideon grinned briefly as he picked up his wineglass. "I am crushed, madam wife, that you think so little of my social skills."

Harriet frowned at him. "Well, it is perfectly true. You must admit that you enjoy baiting anyone and everyone in Society. And you are quite willing to quarrel over the smallest of matters. Do not think I have forgotten that ridiculous challenge you planned to issue to poor Applegate."

The earl looked up sharply. "What is this about a challenge?"

Lady Hardcastle's hand fluttered in the air. "Dear heaven. Surely you have not provoked a quarrel with Applegate, Gideon?"

Gideon looked bored, but his eyes were gleaming as he gazed at Harriet. "Applegate started it."

The earl bristled. "How the devil did young Applegate start anything that could possibly lead to a challenge?"

"He kidnapped Harriet. Tried to whisk her off to Gretna Green. I caught up with them yesterday on the road north," Gideon explained blandly. There was a shocked silence.

"Kidnapped her? Dear God." Lady Hardcastle's eyes darted between Gideon and Harriet. "I do not believe it."

"Just as well," Harriet said approvingly. "Because it was most certainly not a kidnapping. But St. Justin was devilishly stubborn about comprehending that it had all been nothing more than a misunderstanding. However, there is no need to concern yourselves. It is all over and done. There will be no dawn meeting. Is that not so, my lord?"

Gideon shrugged. "As you say I have agreed not to call out Applegate."

"This is rather confusing," lady Hardcastle complained.

Harriet nodded briskly. "Yes, I know. People often get confused around St. Justin. But that is his own fault, if you ask me. He does not go out of his way to enlighten anyone. Perfectly understandable, of course."

The earl gave her a belligerent glare. "What do you mean, it is understandable? Why the devil does he not explain himself?"

Harriet munched a bite of her potatoes and swallowed politely before responding. "I expect it is because he has gotten very tired of everyone always thinking the worst of him. He has decided to actively encourage them to do so. It is his perverse notion of amusement, you see."

Gideon smiled faintly and cut into the curried rabbit on his plate.

"That is ridiculous," Lady Hardcastle whispered. She gave her son a searching glance.

Harriet took a sip of her wine. "Not ridiculous, precisely. One can see how he got in the habit of it. He is very stubborn. And very arrogant. And inclined to be far too secretive about his plans. It does make things difficult from time to time."

"Charming, madam." Gideon inclined his head mockingly. "Ah, the early blissful days of married life when one's wife sees only the best qualities in her new husband. One wonders what you will think of me a year hence."

The earl paid no attention to Gideon. His gaze sharpened as he fixed it on Harriet. "I am told that your engagement to my son came about under somewhat unusual circumstances. Was that a deliberate misunderstanding, too?"

"Hardcastle, really," Lady Hardcastle admonished, her expression anxious. "That is hardly a suitable subject for the dinner table."

Harriet waved off her hostess's concern with a cheerful gesture. "Not at all. I do not mind discussing the circumstances of my engagement. It was all an unfortunate chain of events precipitated by me. I wound up quite hopelessly compromised and poor St. Justin was left with no honorable alternative but to marry me. We plan to make the best of things, do we not, my lord?" She smiled encouragingly at Gideon.

"Yes," Gideon said. "That is certainly our intention. And I must say, the best is not half bad. At least not at the moment. I feel certain Harriet will adjust to marriage quite adequately, given time."

"Hah," Harriet retorted. "It is you who will be doing the adjusting, sir."

Gideon's brows rose in silent challenge.

"Just what were the actual events that led to your engagement?" the earl asked ominously.

"Well," Harriet said, "St. Justin had set a trap to catch a ring of thieves that were using my caves to hide stolen goods."

"Hardcastle caves," Gideon corrected dryly.

"Thieves?" Lady Hardcastle looked baffled. "What on earth is this about thieves?"

"What's this?" The earl glared at Gideon. "I was not told of any thieves on Hardcastle lands."

Gideon lifted one large shoulder in a massive, utterly negligent shrug. "You have not demonstrated much interest in what happens on your estates for some time now, sir. I saw no need to bother you with the details."

Hardcastle's eyes glittered with anger. "Bloody damned arrogant of you, Gideon."

"Precisely my point." Harriet looked at Hardcastle with approval for his perceptive observation. "He has a strong tendency to be that way, sir. Extremely arrogant."

"Finish the tale of the thieves," Hardcastle thundered, sounding a great deal like his son when he was in a foul mood.

"Now I know where he gets the tendency," Harriet murmured.

Gideon grinned. "Tell him the rest of the story, my dear."

"Well," Harriet said obligingly, "The night of the trap, I got taken as a hostage by one of the ring. I will admit it was my fault. But the problem could have been avoided entirely if St. Justin had discussed his plan of action with me ahead of time as I had instructed."

"Dear me." Lady Hardcastle was clearly dazed. "A hostage?"

"Yes. St. Justin dashed heroically into the caves to rescue me, and by the time he got to me the tide had come in, filling the lower portion of the caverns." Harriet looked down the table at Hardcastle's scowling features. "I expect you know the tides around Upper Biddleton, sir."

"I know them." Hardcastle's bushy brows formed a solid line. "Those caves are dangerous."

"I agree with you, sir," Gideon said quietly. "But so far I have had little success in convincing my wife of that fact."

"Rubbish," Harriet snapped. "They are not dangerous if one pays sufficient attention to the tides and to charting one's path inside the cliffs. But, as I was saying, on this particular evening, St. Justin and I got trapped inside and were obliged to spend the night. So, of course, he felt he had to offer for me the next day."

"I see." Lady Hardcastle reached for her wine with fluttering fingers.

"I did my best to talk him out of it," Harriet said, warming to her subject. "I saw no reason I could not live out my days in Upper Biddleton as a ruined woman. After all, that sort of reputation would hardly get in the way of my fossil collecting. But St. Justin was most insistent."

Lady Hardcastle sputtered and nearly choked on her wine. The butler stepped forward in alarm. She waved him off. "I am fine, Hawkins."

The earl's gaze was still riveted on Harriet. "You collect fossils?"

"Yes, I do," Harriet said. She thought she recognized the spark of interest in Hardcastle's gaze. "Are you interested in geological matters, sir?"

"Was at one time. When I lived in Upper Biddleton, as a matter of fact. Found several interesting specimens."

Harriet was instantly intrigued. "Do you still have them, my lord?"

"Oh, yes. They're stored away somewhere. Haven't looked at 'em in years. I daresay Hawkins or the housekeeper could find them. Would you care to see them?"

Harriet bubbled with enthusiasm. She decided she could trust the earl with the secret of her tooth. After all, he was family now. "I should love that above all things, sir. I, myself, have discovered the most interesting tooth. Do you know anything about teeth, my lord?"

"A bit." The earl's eyes grew thoughtful. "What sort of tooth have you got?"

"My tooth is most unusual and I am still trying to identify it," Harriet explained. "It appears to be that of a large lizard, but it does not adhere to the jawbone itself, as is the case with lizards. It is set in a socket. And it appears to be the tooth of a carnivore. A very large carnivore."

"Sockets, eh? And large?" The earl paused. "Crocodile, perhaps?"

"No, sir, I am quite certain it is not a crocodile tooth. I believe it to be that of a reptile, however. A gigantic reptile."

"Very interesting," the earl murmured. "Very interesting, indeed. We shall have to go through my collection and see if I have anything that appears related. Rather forgotten what's in those boxes now."

"Could we go through them after dinner, my lord?" Harriet suggested immediately.

"Well, don't see any reason why not," Hardcastle allowed.

"Thank you, sir," Harriet breathed. "I just happen to have my tooth with me. I had it in my reticule when I was kidnapped. That is to say, when I was taken for a short ride in the country by my friends."

Gideon gave his mother a mocking glance. "And that is the end of all polite social discourse this evening unless you forcibly intervene, madam. Once my wife is launched on the subject of fossils, she is very difficult to deflect."

Lady Hardcastle took the hint. "I believe the study of fossils can wait until tomorrow," she said firmly.

Harriet tried to conceal her disappointment. "Of course, madam."

"It will take Hawkins and the housekeeper a good while to find the crates in which his lordship's old finds are stored," Lady Hardcastle added consolingly. "One cannot ask them to begin the search at this hour of the night."

"No, I suppose not," Harriet admitted. But privately she really saw no good reason at all why the staff could not be sent off to search for Hardcastle's crates of fossils. After all, it was not that late.

"Now, then, you must tell us all about the Season, Harriet," Lady Hardcastle said coaxingly. "I have not been to London for the Season in years. Not since—" She broke off quickly. "Well, it has been some time."

Harriet attempted to summon up polite conversation. It was difficult because she would have much preferred to have talked to the earl about fossils. "The Season is very exciting, I suppose. If one enjoys that sort of thing. My sister is enjoying herself immensely. She wants to do it all again next year."

"But you do not find it amusing?" Lady Hardcastle asked.

"No." Harriet brightened. "Except for the waltz. I do enjoy dancing the waltz with St. Justin."

Gideon raised his wineglass in a silent salute. He smiled at her across the table. "The feeling is mutual, madam."

Harriet was pleased by his gallantry. "Thank you, sir." She turned back to Lady Hardcastle. "The best part about London, madam, is that I have joined the Fossils and Antiquities Society."

Hardcastle spoke up from the far end of the table. "I used to be a member. Haven't attended a meeting in years, of course."

Harriet turned back to him eagerly. "It is quite a large group now, and there are several very knowledgeable people attending meetings. Unfortunately, I have not made the acquaintance of anyone who knows a great deal about teeth."

"There she goes again," Gideon warned his mother. "You had better stop her quickly unless you want the conversation to revert to fossils."

Harriet blushed. "I beg your pardon, madam. I am frequently told I am too enthusiastic about the subject."

"Do not concern yourself," Lady Hardcastle said graciously. She glanced at her husband. "I recall when his lordship was equally enthusiastic. It has been some time since I have heard him talk about fossils. Nevertheless, it does limit the conversation somewhat. Can you tell us anything else of interest about London?"

Harriet considered that carefully. "Actually, no," she finally admitted. "To be perfectly truthful, I much prefer country life. I cannot wait to get back to Upper Biddleton so that I can go to work in my cave."

Gideon gave her an indulgent look. "As you can see, I have married the perfect wife for a man who prefers to devote himself to his family's lands."

"It will be a great pleasure to travel about with Gideon while he supervises the Hardcastle estates," Harriet said with satisfaction. "I shall be able to explore all sorts of new terrain for fossils."

"It is a relief to know I have something of value to offer you in this marriage," Gideon said. "For a while I was beginning to wonder if you were going to get anything at all useful out of our relationship. I am well aware that a few trifles such as an old title and several profitable estates are not terribly important to a fossil collector such as yourself."

The earl and countess of Hardcastle stared at their son in amazement.

Harriet wrinkled her nose. "You see what I mean?" she said in an aside to Lady Hardcastle. "He cannot resist deliberately provoking others on occasion. It has become a habit with him."

When the meal was finally finished, Gideon sat back in his chair and watched, amused, as his mother prompted Harriet to leave the table and accompany her to the drawing room.

"Shall we leave the gentlemen to their port?" Lady Hardcastle murmured.

"I do not mind if they drink it in front of us," Harriet said blithely.

Gideon grinned. "You obviously did not get enough of a Town polish to realize that my mother is trying to give you a gentle hint. You are supposed to leave the table now so that the gentlemen can drink themselves into a drunken stupor in private."

Harriet scowled. "I trust you are not in the habit of drinking too heavily, my lord. My father never approved of drunkards, and neither do I."

"I shall endeavor to keep my wits about me so that I may perform my duties as a husband tonight, my dear. This is, after all, our wedding night, if you will recall."

Across the table Harriet registered the unsubtle meaning behind the remark and turned a delightful shade of pink. Gideon's mother, however, was not the least bit delighted.

"Gideon. What a perfectly outrageous thing to say." Lady Hardcastle glared furiously at him. "This is a polite household and you will behave yourself. One does not talk about such things at the dinner table. You know that perfectly well. Your manners have disintegrated completely during the past six years."

"Damn right," Hardcastle muttered. "You're embarrassing the chit. Apologize to your wife."

Harriet grinned cheekily at Gideon. "Yes, St. Justin, please do so at once. I do not believe I have ever heard you apologize. I cannot wait to hear this."

Gideon rose to his feet and gave her a courtly bow. His eyes glinted. "My apologies, madam. I did not mean to offend your delicate sensibilities."

"Very pretty." Harriet turned to his parents. "Was that not nicely done? I have great hopes that he can eventually be taught to move in Society without causing undue chaos."

Gideon's mother stood up abruptly, mouth set in stern lines. "I believe Harriet and I will withdraw to the drawing room."

Harriet rose gracefully. "Yes, we had best be on our way before St. Justin says anything else outrageous. Behave yourself while I am gone, my lord."

"I will do my best," Gideon said.

He watched as his mother led Harriet out of the dining room. When the door closed behind them, he sat down again.

A deep silence descended on the room. Hawkins stepped forward with the port and poured a glass for Gideon and his father. Then the butler departed.

The silence lengthened between the two men. Gideon made no move to break it. It was the first time he and his father had been alone together in a long while. If Hardcastle wished to speak to him, Gideon decided, he could damn well make the effort.

"She's interesting," the earl said at last. "I'll grant you that. Not at all in the usual style."

"No. She's not. It is one of her most attractive features."

Another silence filled the room.

"Not quite what I would have expected," Hardcastle said.

"After Deirdre, you mean?" Gideon tasted the rich port and studied the elegantly chased silver candlesticks in front of him. "I am six years older now, sir. And for all my faults, I rarely make the same mistake twice."

Hardcastle grunted. "You mean this time you had the decency to do the right thing?"

Gideon's hand tightened around the stem of his glass. "No, sir. I mean that this time I found a woman I could trust."

The silence swept back into the dining room.

"Your lady certainly seems to trust you," Hardcastle muttered.

"Yes. It is a very enjoyable experience. It has been a long while since anyone has trusted me."

"Well, what the devil did you expect after that business with Deirdre?" Hardcastle snapped.

"Trust."

Hardcastle slammed his palm down on the table, causing the wineglasses to jump. "The girl was pregnant when she died. You broke off the engagement just before she shot herself. She told her father you cast her off after forcing yourself on her. What were we all to think?"

"That mayhap she lied."

"Why should she have lied? She was planning to kill herself, for God's sake. She had nothing left to lose."

"I do not know what her reasoning was. She was not rational when she came to me that last time. She…" Gideon stopped.

There was no point trying to explain what Deirdre had been like on that night. He had realized at once that something was wrong when she suddenly became bent on seducing him.

After months of showing no response to his tentative and extremely chaste kisses, she had suddenly thrown herself at him. There had been a wild air of desperation about her. Gideon knew somehow that she had been with another man.

When he had confronted her with his suspicions, she had flown into a rage. Her words still rang in his ears.

Yes, there is someone else. And I am glad you did not put your great, ugly hands on me, you monstrous creature. I do not think I could have borne your touch. I could not have stood the sight of your hideous face looming over me. Did you really believe I wanted you to make love to me? Did you really think I wanted to marry you? It was my father who made me accept your suit.

The earl swallowed a great gulp of port. "If there had been another man, why would she not have confessed it? Left a note to that effect or some such thing. Damnation, man. Do you have any notion of how hard your poor mother worked to convince herself Deirdre had allowed herself to be seduced by someone else? But the facts spoke for themselves."

"Perhaps we should discuss another topic," Gideon suggested.

"Damn you, my one and only grandchild died with Deirdre Rushton."

Gideon's self-control snapped. "No, goddammit, that was not your grandchild who died with Deirdre. It was someone else's grandchild. The babe was not mine. "

"Gideon, for God's sake, be careful with that wineglass."

"For the last time," Gideon said with a snarl, "I swear to you on my honor, even though I know you do not think me honorable, that I did not take Deirdre Rushton. I never touched her. She could not abide my touch, if you must know the damned truth. She made that quite clear."

With a tremendous effort of will, Gideon regained his control. He put down the wineglass with great care. His father was eying him warily.

"Mayhap you are right," Hardcastle said. "Mayhap we should discuss another topic."

"Yes." Gideon took a calming breath. "I apologize for the theatrics, sir. One would think that after all these years I would have learned the futility of such tactics. You may blame it on my wife. She is forever complaining that I do not explain myself." He smiled grimly. "But you see what happens when I do. No one believes me."

"Except your wife?" Hardcastle suggested coolly.

"She believed in my innocence before I bothered to explain," Gideon said, not without a surge of deep satisfaction. "In fact, I have never told her the whole story. Yet she stood in the middle of a crowded ballroom and announced to the Polite World that it was obvious Deirdre's babe had someone other than me for its father."

"Little wonder you married her," Hardcastle said dryly.

"Yes. Little wonder. What other subject did you wish to discuss, sir?"

Hardcastle gazed at him for a long while. "Thieves, I believe. Tell me about these villains who were using the caves to hide the stolen goods."

With an effort Gideon pulled his thoughts back to the business at hand. "There is not much to tell. I set a trap using a Bow Street Runner. We caught the men who were hiding the goods."

"How did you know what was going on?"

Gideon smiled wryly. "Harriet discovered the cave full of stolen items while collecting fossils. She summoned me back to Upper Biddleton and instructed me to deal with the matter as quickly as possible, as she wanted to continue to explore the cave. If you have not already guessed, I can tell you that Harriet has a tyrannical streak."

"I see. So you caught the thieves. And acquired Harriet in the process."

"Yes." Gideon turned the glass of port between his palms, watching the ruby highlights. "There is just one thing that still bothers me. I believe there was a fourth man. One we did not catch."

"What makes you think that?"

"First, when I interviewed the thieves later they all claimed to have gotten their instructions from a mysterious man whose face they never saw. I'm inclined to believe them."

"Why?"

"The items we found in the cavern were all of excellent quality. Extremely fine workmanship, and not traceable to any of the better houses in Upper Biddleton. None of the three men we captured seemed the sort to have a discerning eye, if you take my meaning. They were the sort who would have simply smashed a window of a likely looking house and grabbed whatever looked valuable."

"I understand," Hardcastle said slowly.

"Furthermore, when the Runner returned some of the stolen items to their owners in London, he learned that no one had been aware of having been the victim of burglars until someone happened to notice an item had gone missing."

Hardcastle was startled. "No one noticed the burglaries at the time?"

Gideon shook his head slowly. "The thing is there were no smashed windows or broken locks to alert the owners. Think of how large Hardcastle House or Blackthorne Hall is. Even the townhouse you used to keep in London is huge. If someone had not broken a door or window to get inside, would you know you had been robbed until you missed an object?"

"Well, no. I suppose not. But what about the staff?"

"It was frequently a member of the staff who first noticed the missing item, according to Dobbs, the man I hired from Bow Street."

The earl looked at him with intent curiosity. "So what conclusions do you draw?"

"That there was someone who was able to investigate the houses before the burglaries and ascertain what valuables were present and where they were located," Gideon said. "And then that same someone arranged for the objects to be taken in a neat, efficient manner that did not require any smashing of windows and locks."

"And you believe this person may still be abroad?"

"I know we did not catch him." Gideon finished his port. "There is one very interesting thing we know about him, in addition to the fact that he has a discerning eye and entre into the best houses."

"He is familiar with the caves around Upper Biddleton," Hardcastle concluded.

"Yes. He knows them very well."

"There could not be too many people who fit all the facts," Hardcastle said.

"On the contrary." Gideon smiled grimly. "Any number of men have hunted fossils in the caves of Upper Biddleton over the years. A fair proportion of them are gentlemen who are received in Society. Consider yourself, sir."

"Myself?"

"You fit the profile perfectly. A gentleman with a discerning eye who is comfortable in the best drawing rooms and who is also an expert on the caves of Upper Biddleton."

The earl was stunned. Then his eyes lit with fury. "How dare you imply such a thing about your own father?"

Gideon got to his feet at once. He inclined his head in a cool bow. "I beg your pardon, sir. I did not mean to imply anything. Of course I do not suspect you of thievery. Your honor is above reproach."

"I should bloody well think so."

"Furthermore, as the manager of your estates, I am very well acquainted with the extent of your wealth. You have no need to resort to robbery. So I am not putting you on my list of suspicious persons."

"Good God," Hardcastle stormed. "Of all the disrespectful, disgraceful things to say. To even imply I could be a suspicious person is beyond the pale, sir."

Gideon went to the door. "It is an interesting feeling, is it not?"

"What is?" the earl snapped.

"Finding out that someone whose respect you think you have might just possibly doubt your honor and knowing that you could never prove your innocence to him?"

Gideon did not wait for a response. He walked out of the dining room and closed the door behind him.