"My lord, if this is your unsubtle way of warning me not to get any such notions, you may rest assured you are quite safe."

"I am well aware that I am safe enough, Miss Pomeroy. It is you who should exercise some caution."

Harriet had had enough. She came to a sudden halt and whirled around to confront him. She discovered he was almost on top of her and she took a quick step back. She scowled up at him. "Is it true, then? Did you cast aside the previous rector's daughter after getting her with child?"

Gideon studied her gravely. "You are very curious for someone who professes no interest in my past."

"You are the one who insisted on bringing it up."

"So I did. I fear I could not resist. Not after it became obvious you had already heard the tale."

"Well?" she challenged after a taut moment. "Did you?"

Gideon quirked one heavy black brow and appeared to give the matter serious consideration. His eyes burned with a cold fire as he gazed down at Harriet. "The facts are exactly as they were no doubt related to you, Miss Pomeroy. My fiancée was with child. I knew it when I ended the engagement. She apparently went home and shot herself."

Harriet gasped and recoiled another step. She forgot all about the cavern full of stolen goods. "I do not believe it."

"Thank you, Miss Pomeroy." He inclined his head with mocking politeness. "But I assure you that everyone else certainly does."

"Oh." Harriet recovered herself. "Yes. Well, as I said, it is no concern of mine." She spun about to hasten toward the cave entrance. Her face was flaming. She should have kept her mouth shut, she told herself furiously. The whole situation was unbelievably embarrassing.

A few minutes later Harriet breathed a sigh of relief as she reached her goal. The dark opening in the cliff wall loomed dimly in the mist. If she had not known precisely where it was located she would have missed it in the fog.

"This is the entrance, my lord." Harriet halted and turned once more to face him. "The cavern the thieves are using lies some distance inside this passageway."

Gideon gazed at the opening in the cliff for a moment r and then set down the bag he had carried. "I believe we will need the lamps now."

"Yes. One cannot see a thing once one is more than a few steps inside the entrance."

Harriet watched Gideon light the lamps. For all their size and power, his hands moved with an unexpected grace and deftness. When he held one of the lamps out to her, his eyes caught hers studying him. He smiled without any sign of real warmth. The scar on his face twisted evilly.

"Have you started to have a few second thoughts about going into the caves alone with me, Miss Pomeroy?"

She glowered at him and practically snatched the lamp from his hand. "Of course not. Let us get on with it."

Harriet stepped through the narrow entrance and held the lamp aloft. Tendrils of fog had drifted into the cave and caused the lamp to throw strange shadows against the damp rock walls. She shivered and wondered why this passage seemed so extraordinarily eerie and forbidding this morning. She reminded herself that this was certainly not the first time she had been alone in it.

It was the viscount's presence that was making her nervous, she decided. She really must get a firm grasp on her imagination. Stick to the business at hand, she lectured herself silently.

Gideon came up behind her, moving with his noiseless, gliding tread. The glow of his lamp added to the bizarre shadows on the walls. He looked around, his face set in disapproving lines. "Have you been in the habit of entering these caves alone, Miss Pomeroy, or do you generally have someone accompany you?"

"When my father was alive, he was usually my companion. He was the one who instilled an interest in fossils in me, you see. He was always an avid collector and he took me with him on his explorations from the time I was old enough to walk. But since he was carried off by the fever, I have always gone exploring alone."

"I do not think it a particularly sound notion."

She slanted him a wary glance. "So you have said. But I assure you my father and I learned to explore caves long before we moved to Upper Biddleton. I am an expert. This way, my lord." She walked deeper into the cave, chillingly aware of Gideon hard on her heels. "I trust you are not one of those people who become unsettled in confined areas such as this?"

"I assure you, it takes a great deal to unsettle my nerves, Miss Pomeroy."

She swallowed. "Yes, well many people do have a problem in caves. But the passage is actually quite comfortably wide, as you can see. It does not get much narrower than this even at its smallest point."

"Your notion of comfort is somewhat different than my own, Miss Pomeroy." Gideon's tone was dry.

Harriet glanced back and saw that he was having to stoop and angle his massive shoulders in order to get through the passage. "You are rather large, are you not?"

"A good deal larger than you, Miss Pomeroy."

She bit her lip. "Well, do try not to get stuck. It would be very awkward."

"Yes, it would. Especially given the fact that this portion of the cave is obviously flooded when the tide is in." Gideon examined the dripping rock walls. A small, pale crab scurried out of the glare of the lamplight and darted into the shadows.

"All the lower portions of these caverns along the base of the cliffs are filled with seawater during high tide," Harriet said, moving forward again. "That should be extremely useful information for you to utilize when you plan how you will apprehend the thieves. The villains are, after all, only around late at night and only when the tide is out. Any scheme constructed for catching them will need to be based on those facts."

"Thank you, Miss Pomeroy, I shall bear that in mind."

She frowned at his sarcasm. "I was merely trying to assist you in this matter."

"Hmm."

"Need I remind you, my lord, that I am the one who has been observing the villains? It seems to me you should be glad of the opportunity to consult with me on how best to go about laying a trap for them."

"And I would remind you, Miss Pomeroy, that I used to live in this district. I am well aware of the terrain."

"Yes, I know, but you have no doubt forgotten a great many small details. And due to my extensive explorations I am something of an expert on these caves."

"I promise you, Miss Pomeroy, that should I need your advice, I will request it."

Irritation overcame Harriet's wariness. "You would no doubt enjoy somewhat broader social acceptance, sir, if you would contrive to be more polite."

"I have no particular interest in expanding my social life."

"Apparently not," she muttered. She was about to say something more on the subject when she skidded on a stray bit of seaweed that had been left behind by the departing waters. She slipped and reached out to catch herself. Her gloved hand slid along the slimy wall without finding purchase. "Good grief."

"I have you," Gideon said calmly. His arm circled her waist and pulled her securely back against his broad chest.

"Excuse me." Harriet was suddenly breathless as she found herself locked to Gideon. His arm was like a band of steel, hard and utterly unyielding.

She could feel the solid, muscled outlines of his chest against her back. The broad toe of one of his massive boots had somehow wedged itself intimately between her feet. She was acutely conscious of the pressure of his thigh against her buttocks.

When she took a deep breath she caught the warm, masculine scent of his body. It was richly laced with the smell of damp wool and leather. She tensed instinctively at the unaccustomed sensation of being held so close to a man.

"You must exercise more care, Miss Pomeroy." Gideon released her. "Or you will surely come to a bad end in these caves."