"In point of fact, looking back on the incident, it is amazing that we managed the thing as well as we did that first time. I have great hopes that in future such matters will go quite smoothly."

"Enough, Harriet." Gideon put his palm gently but firmly over her mouth. "I cannot take any more of this. You are right about one thing. It will go much more smoothly in future."

Her eyes widened above his hand as he rolled her over onto her back. When he started to undo the fastenings of her pelisse, she put her arms around his neck.

Gideon groaned and removed his hand from her mouth. He kissed her deeply, aware of the longing that was surging through him. It threatened to overwhelm everything before it. Never had he needed a woman the way he needed Harriet.

But tonight, Gideon told himself, he would hold his desire in check until Harriet had learned the strength of her own passion. She had given him the gift of herself and he was determined to repay her in the only way he could.

He managed to get the pelisse and gown off of her while she lay beneath him on the bed. When she was wearing only her chemise and stockings, he tugged her gently to her feet. Then he reached out and turned down the quilt.

Thank God the sheets looked reasonably clean, Gideon thought, greatly relieved. Such was not always the case in inns. He could not endure the notion of taking his sweet Harriet on a lice-infested bed. It was bad enough that he had taken her on the stone floor of a cave the first time. Harriet deserved the best.

Not that Harriet appeared to care, he thought. She was gazing up at him with dreamy eyes, her lips slightly parted. He could just see the cute little overlapping teeth when she smiled. She did not seem to mind that her rosy nipples were visible through the fine lawn of her chemise.

Gideon realized he felt good when he was with Harriet. She had a way of making him feel heroic and noble and proud. Her faith in him was obvious. For the first time he understood that what he had found in Harriet made up for all that he had lost in the eyes of his father and of Society six long years ago.

Harriet believed in him. It was enough.

"You are so lovely," Gideon whispered. He caught her by the waist and lifted her high against his chest. He kissed her breasts, using his tongue to dampen the delicate fabric of the chemise until it was transparent.

Harriet's fingers clutched at him and her head tipped back. She moaned softly as he took one tight little nipple into his mouth and bit gently.

"Oh, Gideon."

"Do you like that, little one?"

"Oh, yes. Yes, I like it very much." Her fingers splayed across his shoulders. She shivered when he took her other nipple between his teeth.

Gideon lowered her slowly down until she was standing once more in front of him, her arms circling his neck.

He grabbed two fistfuls of the chemise and pulled it off over her head. Then he knelt to untie her garters and slip off her stockings. He could feel her quivering at his intimate touch.

He rose and gazed hungrily down at her sweetly curved body. The contours of her full buttocks and graceful spine were bathed in the firelight. Carefully he speared his fingers through the triangle of dark, curling hair at the apex of her thighs. He felt the tremor that went through her.

Gideon slid his thigh between her legs, opening her. He kissed her as his fingers dipped lower, moving through the tight curls until they found the soft flower that shielded her secrets. He stroked slowly, easing apart the petals.

Harriet murmured his name in an urgent little voice and pushed aside his unfastened shirt. She kissed his chest. Her mouth felt like a butterfly against his taut skin. Her fingertips glided over his shoulders, edging his shirt out of the way so that she could drop more of the soft little kisses on his fire-warmed flesh.

She handled him as carefully as she did her rare fossils, he thought, half amused and totally enthralled by the experience. He had never had a woman who touched him as if he were a rare and fragile treasure.

"Harriet, I vow you do not know what you do to me."

"I love to touch you." Her eyes were full of wonder as she raised her head to look up at him. "You are incredible. So strong and powerful and graceful."

"Graceful?" He gave a choked laugh. "That is the first time anyone has ever called me graceful."

"You are, you know. You move like a lion. It is quite lovely to watch."

"Ah, Harriet. You do, indeed, suffer from poor eyesight, but who am I to complain?" His mouth closed over hers once more. When he eased his hand away from her, his fingers were damp with her essence and the scent of her arousal filled his head. His swollen manhood throbbed.

Gideon picked Harriet up and put her down on the bed. She lay there watching him as he finished undressing. He turned away for a moment to toss his breeches and shirt over the chair. When he turned back, he saw that she was staring in fascination at his heavily aroused body.

"Touch me." He lowered himself down beside her on the bed. "I want to feel your hands on me, my sweet. You have such soft, gentle hands."

She did as he asked, her fingers moving tentatively on him at first and then with increasing confidence. She explored the contours of his chest and then her palm slid down to his thigh. There she paused.

"Do you want to touch me there?" He was barely able to get the words out in a coherent fashion. Desire was raging through him, choking him, filling him, burning him.

"I would like to touch you the way you touch me." Her eyes were luminous. "You are so beautiful, Gideon."

"Beautiful." He groaned. "Hardly that, my sweet."

"Your male beauty is the beauty of power and strength," Harriet whispered.

"I know nothing of this male beauty you speak of," he muttered. "But I would very much like for you to touch the part of me that will soon be inside you."

He felt her fingers glide softly along the length of his fiercely aroused shaft. They danced lightly, delicately over him, learning the shape and feel of him. It was very nearly too much. Gideon closed his eyes and summoned all he possessed of self-control. "Enough, little one." He caught her hand and regretfully eased it aside. "This night is for you."

He pushed her down onto her back and wedged his leg between her soft, sleek thighs. Then he reached down to stroke her carefully, searching out the small, sensitive bud of feminine desire.

When he found it she gasped. Her body arched against him.

"Gideon, please. Oh, yes. Please."

He raised his head to watch her face as he continued to stroke her with his finger. She was so beautiful in her passion, he thought. The sight of her writhing in his arms filled him with awe.

He took his time, holding himself in check, while he slowly and surely stoked the fires within her. She was so responsive. He could not believe his good fortune. She wanted him.

She thought him beautiful.

Gideon kissed her throat and then her breasts. Harriet clung to him, trying to bring him closer. She did not understand when he trailed a string of hot kisses over her stomach. She twisted her fingers in his hair and tried to pull him up along the length of her.

But Gideon was intent on his goal. He resisted the sweet temptation to plunge himself into her then and there. Instead he pushed her legs more widely apart and replaced his wet finger with his mouth.

Harriet screamed softly. Her whole body tightened and arched violently.

"Gideon. What have you done to me?" she wailed.

And then she started to shiver. Gideon knew her climax was upon her. He waited no longer. He thrust slowly and deeply into her just as the tiny convulsions shook her. Her soft, damp sheath resisted the invasion of his body for an instant and then closed tightly around him, enveloping him.

Entering her at that moment was one of the most glorious things Gideon had ever experienced. She was just as tight, just as hot, just as soft tonight as she had been that first time in the cavern, but he had the satisfaction of knowing she had already been swept up into her own release. If he was causing her any discomfort this time, she did not appear to be aware of it.

"Harriet. Oh, God, Harriet. Yes." He barely managed to swallow a muffled shout of triumph. Her fingers clenched fiercely in his hair and her knees lifted so that she could open herself even farther for him.

Gideon was lost in her fire once more and the feeling was beyond anything he could have described. She was his. He was a part of her. Nothing else on earth mattered. Not even his lost honor.

The fire on the hearth had burned down to orange embers when Gideon finally roused himself from a light, drifting sleep. He felt Harriet's foot slide down along his leg and he realized what had awakened him.

"I thought you would be asleep by now," he grumbled, gathering her close against him.

"I have been thinking about what happened this evening," Harriet murmured.

He grinned, feeling lighthearted for the first time in years. "Ah, Miss Pomeroy. Who would have guessed you have such a lascivious mind? What wicked thoughts were you having? Describe them to me in detail."

She poked him in the ribs. "I am talking about what happened when you stopped Lady Youngstreet's coach."

Gideon's smile faded. "What about it?"

"Gideon, I want you to promise me that you will not challenge Applegate to a duel."

"Do not concern yourself with the matter, Harriet." He kissed a warm, soft breast.