Harriet's words rang in his head. You are always very kind to me.
Kind? Gideon dismissed his valet with a curt nod and started to unfasten his shirt. He caught sight of himself in the glass on the dressing table. His ravaged face stared back mockingly.
He had not been at all kind to Harriet. He had virtually coerced her into marriage, exhibited her to the ton as if she were an exotic pet, and put her in jeopardy at the hands of Bryce Morland.
In return she had given him her love, helped him restore his reputation, and made it possible for him to mend the breach with his parents.
No, he had not been particularly kind to Harriet. All she had ever really wanted from him was his love, and he had told her he could not give it. Six years ago I forgot everything I knew of love.
What an ass he had been.
Gideon yanked off his boots and stepped out of his breeches. He grabbed his black dressing gown, put it on, and walked over to the connecting door. He waited until he heard Harriet dismissing her maid and then he knocked once.
"Come in, Gideon."
He opened the door and found her sitting up in bed. She had one of her little muslin caps perched on her head and a book on her lap. A candle burned on the table beside her. She smiled her warm, vibrant smile at him as he walked into her bedchamber.
"Harriet?" He suddenly did not know what to say.
"Yes, my lord?"
"I told you once that you are the most beautiful woman I have ever met."
"Yes, I know you did. It was very kind of you."
Gideon closed his eyes in brief anguish. "I did not say it out of kindness. I said it because it was true." He opened his eyes. "Every time I look at you I think of how very fortunate I am."
"You do?" Harriet looked at him in surprise. She put the book down on the counterpane.
"Yes." Gideon took a step toward the bed and halted. "You have given me more than you will ever know, Harriet. And all I have done is take your gifts. I know I have very little to offer in return."
"That is not true, my lord." Harriet pushed aside the covers and scrambled out of bed. "You have given me a great deal. You have made a commitment to me which I know you will always honor. You treat me with kindness and respect. You make me feel beautiful, even though I know I am not."
"Harriet—"
"How can you say you have little to offer? I do not know of any man who has more and who gives it as generously." She came toward him in a soft, barefooted rush, small and sleek in her wispy lawn gown, her cap askew on her thick hair. Her eyes were brilliant and her arms were outstretched.
Gideon reached for her and pulled her tightly against him, inhaling the wonderful, warm, womanly scent of her. "You are everything I have ever wanted." His tongue felt thick and awkward in his mouth. "God help me, I did not even know how much I needed your love until you gave it to me."
"My love is yours, Gideon. It will always be yours," she whispered against his chest.
"You are very kind to me," he whispered. "More so than I deserve."
"Gideon—"
He swept her up in his arms and carried her over to the bed. He put her down on the snowy sheets and came down beside her. He took her into his arms like the precious treasure she was, carefully and tenderly and with infinite gratitude.
Harriet opened for him as she always did, just as a flower opens to the sun. Gideon kissed her mouth, drinking deeply of the taste of her as he sought out the sweet curves of her body with his hands.
She was so soft, so welcoming, he thought. And so sensual. Everything about her inflamed his passions. When he felt the edge of her foot sliding down along his calf, he groaned.
"Gideon?"
"I need you," he muttered. He kissed one of her breasts, tugging gently on her nipple until she arched hungrily against him.
The depth of her response to him never ceased to amaze and delight him. And it stoked the fires within him as nothing else ever could.
When Gideon could abide the sweet torment no longer, he parted her legs and settled1 himself into the cradle formed by her thighs. He reached down, testing her gently with his fingers, and found her soft, moist heat. She was ready for him. The knowledge sent a rush of passionate delight through Gideon.
"Harriet. My sweet, loving Harriet." He covered her mouth again, thrusting his tongue between her lips as he guided himself slowly into her body.
He experienced the shattering pleasure he always felt when he entered her, and felt her closing around him, pulling him deeply into her, giving herself to him. And then he was safe inside her, a part of her at last for one timeless moment.
Harriet's legs circled his waist and her nails bit into his shoulders. She clung to him, lifting herself to meet him with a passion that equaled his own. And she told him of her love as she surrendered to her climax, her body shivering in his arms.
Gideon held her tightly against him until he felt the last of the soft tremors. Then he poured himself into her in a long, long release that seemed to have no beginning and no end.
Gideon awakened shortly after dawn to a world that seemed far more clear and serene than it had in a long while. He lay quietly for a moment, savoring the revelation that had settled itself into his heart during the night.
He loved Harriet. He would love her for the rest of his life.
Gideon turned and reached for her, the words welling up inside him.
She was gone.
Chapter Twenty
Harriet held the lamp aloft and surveyed the cavern closely. To her great relief she saw no signs of anyone having been at work with a mallet and chisel. Whatever fossils were trapped in here were still safely locked in the stone.
Jubilantly, she hung the lamp on the peg in the wall and opened her sack of tools. She was in excellent spirits this morning and she knew it was because she and Gideon were getting along famously these days.
Last night she had felt closer to him than ever before. His passion had been infused with an emotion that definitely went beyond kindness. She did not know if he was aware of it, but she had tucked the knowledge close to her heart.
This morning she had awakened convinced Gideon would soon learn to love again.
The certainty had filled her with such happiness and energy that she had rushed off to work as soon as she realized the tide was out.
Mallet and chisel in hand, Harriet walked to the place where she had recovered the large reptile tooth. She would begin here, she decided. If she was very fortunate there might be more jawbone left. It would help to have a larger section of jaw. She set the chisel to the stone and began chipping gently at the rock.
Perhaps it was the steady ring of metal on stone that prevented her from hearing the man's approach in the passageway outside the cavern. Or perhaps she was concentrating so hard she simply did not pay any attention to the muffled sound of boot steps.
Perhaps she was simply far too accustomed to thinking of these caves as her private domain.
Whatever the reason, when Clive Rushton's resonant voice spoke from the entrance of the cavern, Harriet dropped her chisel with a cry of surprise.
"I did not think it would take you long to return to these caves once you were back in Upper Biddleton." Rushton nodded with cold satisfaction. "I sent the note, of course, not Mrs. Stone. She has gone to visit her sister. Very convenient."
"Good God, you startled me, sir." Harriet whirled around as the chisel fell to the stone floor.
"I knew you would come rushing back here at once if you thought your precious fossils were at risk. There is nothing quite like the avid enthusiasm of a true collector. I, myself, experienced it at one time."