Page 36 of Ravished

Gideon was enraged now. "And I will not have it said a second time that the Beast of Blackthorne Hall has ravished and callously cast aside another rector's daughter."

Harriet paled. She stared at him, her eyes huge with dismay. "Dear God, Gideon. I had not thought of what they would say about you."

"Bloody hell." Gideon took three long strides across the cavern and gripped her shoulders. He wanted to shake her. Instead he held her very still and forced her to look up at him. "You were not thinking at all. You were merely indulging your naive, emotional whims with no real thought about the reality of what either of us will face when we leave here this morning."

She searched his face. "You knew all along what you would be obliged to do today, though. That was what you meant last night when you talked of fate."

"Of course I knew what the end result would be. And so did you."

She shook her head frantically. "No. I did not really think about it until this morning when I awoke and realized you might feel obliged to offer marriage. I told myself there was no need. I could endure the gossip here in the country. And as I do not go into Society and have no plans for marriage, I did not think it mattered what people said."

"And if you discovered that you were with child? How did you intend to deal with that?"

Harriet dropped her eyes, her cheeks reddening. "It is unlikely, my lord. It was, after all, only the one time."

"Harriet, it only takes one time."

Her lips tightened. "In any event, I will know for certain in a few short days."

"A fewshortdays? They are likely to be the longest days of your life. Harriet, you are an intelligent female. I suggest you start acting like it instead of a naive, temperamental child."

Her fingers clutched at the folds of her cloak. "Yes, my lord."

The rage went out of Gideon as quickly as it had come. He pulled her close and pushed her head down onto his shoulder. He could feel the tension that stiffened her spine. "Will marriage to me be so bad, Harriet? Last night you did not appear to find me repulsive."

"You are not in the least repulsive, my lord." Her words were muffled against his shirt. "That is not the point. The point is that I did not wish to be married out of a sense of duty."

"I understand You are a very headstrong sort of female." He smiled wryly into her hair. "You are accustomed to going your own way without restraint. You no doubt fear losing some of your precious independence."

"I do not intend to lose any of my independence," she muttered.

"You will adjust to marriage in time."

"Now, see here, Gideon, what is all this talk of adjusting?"

"Never mind," he said gently. "We will deal with that later. In the meantime, you must allow me to inform your aunt that we are engaged."

"But Gideon—"

"You say you will know if you are carrying my babe within the next few days. If it transpires that you are, I will procure a special license and we will be married immediately. If you are not, we shall do things more formally and set the date for a more appropriate length of time."

Harriet raised her head, eyes bright with sudden understanding. "You wish to wait if possible, do you not?"

"If possible. It will help quell some of the gossip if we let it be known that there is no need to rush. Now, that is settled, and I think we had best be on our way. People will be looking for us soon." He released her and went to pick up the lamp.

Harriet said nothing as she followed him out of the cavern. Gideon was aware of her trailing close behind, tight-lipped and unhappy, but she made no further protest.

He knew she was feeling trapped and miserable, but he did not know how to improve her spirits. All he knew for certain was that she would be far more miserable if he did not enforce the decision to marry.

It was all very well for Harriet to claim that she did not need the protection of a formal offer of marriage because of what had occurred during the night, but Gideon knew the truth. Her life would be a living hell, even here in Upper Biddleton, if he did not do the proper thing.He would not have her ruined because of him.

Gideon realized she was not pleased with the prospect of marriage to him, but he also knew she had no choice.

Right now Harriet was too dazed to think clearly. Gideon wondered when it would occur to her that she had something even more terrible to worry about than the prospect of being forced into marriage.

It surely would not be long before some meddling soul took the trouble to warn her that the real danger was that she might not be married at all.

Sooner or later someone was bound to remind Harriet that Gideon's reputation was such that no young woman could expect him to do the right thing. The Beast of Blackthorne Hall was not known as an honorable man when it came to innocent young women.

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