Robert nodded and hung his head. "I should not have gone down the Dark Walk by myself."

"My God." Olympia hugged him fiercely. "Are you all right?"

"Yes, of course." Robert struggled free of Olympia's arms and straightened his shoulders. "I knew that Mr. Chillhurst, I mean, his lordship, would come after me. I just didn't know if he would come tonight. I thought I might have to wait until tomorrow, you see."

"But why did someone try to kidnap you?" Olympia demanded. She looked at Jared. "I do not understand. What did the villain want?"

"I do not know." Jared said. He took her arm again and led the small group out through the gates and onto the streets. "I confess I did not hang about long enough to discover the motives behind the matter."

"Good heavens," Olympia whispered. "There is only one reason why someone might have wanted to kidnap Robert."

"What is that?" Hugh asked eagerly.

"He must have been after the Lightbourne diary," Olympia said with grim certainty.

"Bloody hell," Jared muttered.

"Whoever it was must have intended to hold Robert for ransom," Olympia explained. "He would very likely have demanded the diary in exchange for returning Robert. Such villainy could have been perpetrated by only one individual."

Jared realized belatedly where her inventive brain was leading her. "Now, Olympia…"

"It was the Guardian," Olympia said very gravely. "Don't you see? It must have been him. We have got to stop him before something terrible happens. Perhaps we should hire a Bow Street runner to track him down. Do you think that would work, my lord?"

Jared had had enough. "Damnation, Olympia, will you cease prattling on about that wretched Guardian? There is no such person. If he ever existed, he is long since dead. Furthermore, this is neither the time nor the place to indulge your silly imaginings."

Olympia stiffened in his grasp. All three of the boys looked at Jared in silent reproach. Jared cursed himself under his breath.

He knew that the simmering rage he was experiencing was aimed largely at himself. He had failed in his responsibilities. He should have kept a closer eye on Robert. Instead, he had been contemplating his wedding night.

That knowledge only served to stoke the fires of Jared's foul mood. All he could think about was how close they had all come to disaster tonight and of how Olympia had nearly compounded that disaster with her plans to go in search of him.

And now she was attributing the entire matter to the Guardian.

A man should not have to suffer such nonsense on his wedding night, Jared thought as he hailed a hackney. Even if he had been personally responsible for the entire affair.

"How did you get Robert back, my lord?" Ethan asked with his usual unquenchable curiosity.

"Yes, sir," Hugh echoed as he bounced up into the carriage. "How did you rescue Robert?"

It was Robert who answered. He slid a sober glance at Jared and then quickly looked away. "His lordship gave the villain his watch in exchange for me."

"His watch?" Ethan's eyes grew very round.

A hushed silence fell on the darkened carriage. As the vehicle clattered off down the street everyone gazed at Jared in stunned amazement.

"Oh, dear," Olympia murmured.

"Bloody hell," Ethan whispered.

"I don't believe it," Hugh said. "Your beautiful watch, sir? You paid for Robert with it?"

Robert sat up very straight. "It's true, is it not, my lord? You gave the villain your watch in exchange for me."

Jared looked at each of them in turn and finally settled on Robert. "We will discuss this matter tomorrow morning at nine o'clock, Robert. Until then, no one is to say another word on the subject."

Silence descended again on the carriage.

Satisfied that he had managed the last word for the moment, Jared lounged back against the cushions and gazed broodingly out the window. It was, he reflected, a damnable prelude to a wedding night.

He wondered why it was that nothing went according to plan in his life these days.

Olympia paced her small bedchamber an hour and a half later. She glanced at the clock on the bureau for the fourth time since she had dressed in her nightgown and chintz wrapper. There was still no sound from Jared's bedchamber.

The house had been quiet for nearly an hour. Everyone but Jared was in his or her bed. Even Minotaur had disappeared into the kitchen.

Jared had ensconced himself in the study with a bottle of brandy immediately after ordering everyone else upstairs. He was still down there.

This was her wedding night, but Olympia was no longer looking forward to it with longing and anticipation. Indeed, she was not at all certain she was even going to have a wedding night. The pall of Jared's grim mood hung over the entire house.

Olympia felt it but she did not entirely understand it. She had told herself that Jared had been overset by the extraordinary events of the evening. It was a reasonable enough explanation for his short temper. After all, he had been obliged to go very much out of his way to rescue Robert, who should have known better than to go haring off on his own.

She was also aware that there must have been a few very nasty moments for Jared in the course of dealing with the villains who had kidnapped Robert. And it was perfectly dreadful that he had been obliged to give up his treasured watch in exchange for Robert.

All in all, Olympia thought, she could see how the happenings of the evening could ruffle even Jared's normally unflappable composure.

Nevertheless, she thought, there was no call for him to behave in such an unpleasant fashion on their wedding night.

She reached the far end of the tiny bedchamber, turned around, and paced back toward the opposite wall. A growing sense of unease was beginning to unfurl deep inside.

She prayed that Jared was not nursing a newly discovered sense of regret downstairs in the study.

What if tonight's happenings had caused him to have serious doubts about the wisdom of marrying her, Olympia thought suddenly.

What if he had concluded that she and her nephews were too much bother after all?

What if Jared was downstairs drinking brandy to forget that he was stuck with the lot upstairs?

Olympia paused in front of the glass on her dressing table and scowled at her image. It was not entirely her fault that she and Jared had been obliged to marry, she thought. Jared had set the entire disaster in motion when he had insinuated himself into her household as the children's tutor.

He had deceived her right from the start. And while she could certainly sympathize with his reasons for doing so, the fact nevertheless removed some of her own guilt in the matter.

Furthermore, she had employed Jared at the start of this business and he had never actually resigned.

Olympia's chin lifted. Jared had no right treating his innocent employer to such surly behavior on her wedding night.

Inspired with righteous resolve, Olympia straightened her cap on her hair, retied her wrapper, and went to the door. She opened it and stepped out into the silent hall.

From the top of the stairs she could make out the glow of candlelight under the study door. She squared her shoulders, stalked down the stairs, and crossed the small downstairs hall.

She raised her hand to knock on the door, changed her mind, and turned the knob, instead. Head high, she sailed into the study and closed the door behind her.

She halted abruptly when she saw Jared. The sight of him unsettled her far more than she had expected.

Jared sprawled in her chair with the relaxed grace of a carnivorous beast. His boots were arrogantly propped on her desk, as if he owned the study and everything in it.

He had long since discarded his coat. The single candle that burned in the room revealed that Jared's shirt was undone halfway down his chest. He had a half-finished glass of brandy in one hand.

The black velvet patch over his left eye only served to make the hooded gleam in his good eye all the more intimidating.

"Good evening, Olympia. I assumed you would be sound asleep by now."

Olympia fortified herself against the decidedly unpleasant tone of his voice. "I came downstairs to speak to you, Mr. Chillhurst."

Jared's brow rose. "Mr. Chillhurst?"

"Your lordship," she corrected herself impatiently. "I wish to discuss a certain matter with you."

"Do you, indeed? I would not advise it, madam. Not tonight." He saluted her with the brandy glass. "I am not in the best of moods, you see."

"I understand," Olympia gave him a small, tremulous smile. "You have been through a great deal this evening. A man of your refined sensibilities is bound to be affected by such an unfortunate experience. No doubt you need time to recover."

"No doubt." Jared's mouth twisted. Harsh amusement gleamed in his gaze as he took a swallow of the brandy. "We men who are cursed with refined sensibilities and passionate natures have somewhat emotional reactions to kidnappings and such."

"There is no need to mock me or your own nature, Chillhurst," Olympia said quietly. "We are what we are and we must make the best of it." She took a deep breath and gathered her courage. "And I feel the same applies to our marriage, my lord."

Jared regarded her with a look of disgust. "Does it, indeed?"

Olympia took a step forward and clutched her wrapper very tightly together just below her throat. "The thing is, sir, we are stuck with each other, if you see what I mean."