Page 22 of Ravished

Gideon eyed her for a few seconds. Then his mouth curved in a faint smile. "I have not revealed my true intentions to Crane thus far and I have sent word to Bow Street. The arrangements for removing the thieves from your caves are under way, Miss Pomeroy. I trust you will be satisfied with my performance."

"I am certain I shall be quite satisfied. Tell me the whole of it. What, precisely, will happen now?"

"You must leave that to me, Miss Pomeroy."

"But I wish to know how it will all work, sir," she said impatiently.

"You must trust me, Miss Pomeroy."

"That is not the point, my lord."

"I fear it is very much the point." Gideon's smile was unreadable. "Do you think you can manage to do that, Miss Pomeroy?"

"Do what? Trust you? Of course. I know you will do what you have promised to do. But I wish to know the details, sir. I am involved in this matter. Those are my caves, after all."

"Your caves?"

Harriet flushed and chewed briefly on her lower lip. "Very well, perhaps they do not exactly belong to me, but I am not about to let someone such as Mr. Venable claim them, either."

"Calm yourself, Miss Pomeroy. You have my word that you will have exclusive rights to dig up any old bones that may lie in those caves."

She smiled tentatively. "I have your word of honor on that, my lord?"

His tawny gold eyes glittered behind his dark lashes as he studied her upturned face. "Yes, Miss Pomeroy," Gideon said softly. "For what it's worth, you have my word of honor."

Harriet was delighted. "Thank you, sir. That takes a certain weight off my mind, I assure you. All the same, I really would like to know what you have planned."

"You must possess yourself in patience, Miss Pomeroy."

The music came to a halt with a flourish. Harriet was irritated because she wanted to argue her case further. "My lord, I believe I could be very helpful in this matter," she said urgently. "I know those caves better than anyone else and your man from Bow Street will surely want to discuss the layout of the caverns with me."

Gideon took her arm and interrupted her coolly. "I believe you will want to introduce me to your aunt and your sister now, Miss Pomeroy."

"I will?"

"Yes. I think it is appropriate under the circumstances."

"What circumstances?" Harriet saw the look of anxious expectation on Aunt Effie's face from halfway across the room.

"We have just danced the waltz, Miss Pomeroy. People will talk."

"Rubbish. I do not care what anyone says. You cannot possibly blacken my reputation by merely dancing once with me."

"You would be astonished at how easily I can destroy a woman's reputation, Miss Pomeroy. Let us undo what damage we can tonight by means of a proper introduction to your family."

Harriet groaned. "Oh, very well. But I would really much rather discuss the plans for catching the thieves."

Gideon smiled his brief, fleeting smile. "Yes, I imagine you would. But, as I said, you must trust me to deal with the matter."

Harriet awoke the next morning shortly before dawn. She lay in bed for a while, reliving the events of the previous evening. Aunt Effie had been both thrilled and horrified to find herself being introduced to the notorious Viscount St. Justin.

Effie had handled the situation with admirable poise, however. She had betrayed very little of her flustered condition. Felicity had been her usual straightforward, pragmatic self. She had accepted the introduction with charming grace.

Gideon had managed to compound the effects of his outrageous behavior at the ball by leaving as soon as he had met Effie and Felicity.

The moment he disappeared into the night the entire room full of people had erupted into excited conversation. Harriet was well aware that she had been the focus of several pairs of curious eyes.

On the way home in the carriage Effie had not stopped talking about the incident.

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