"Why are you so determined to gain revenge against St. Justin?" Harriet asked. "What has he ever done to you?"

"What has he done?" Fury flashed across Bryce's handsome face. "Like so many others of his kind, he had everything. He always did. And I had nothing. Nothing. My family and his were neighbors for years. When I was growing up I had to watch him and his older brother getting the best of everything. Horses, carriages, clothes, schools."

"Mr. Morland, listen to me."

"Do you know what it was like? No, of course you do not. Important people came to visit at Blackthorne Hall. Everyone courted the favor of the Earl of Hardcastle. I had to be grateful for simply getting an invitation to a Hardcastle ball. I was lucky to be asked to join the local hunt. My parents were mere country gentry. They groveled to the Earl of Hardcastle. But I have never groveled to him or his sons. I have been their equal."

"How can you say that St. Justin had everything?" Harriet demanded.

"He is heir to an earldom and a vast fortune while I was obliged to marry a tradesman's daughter in order to have the kind of money I needed. It was not fair."

"You called yourself his friend."

Morland shrugged elegantly. "Friends in his circle are extremely useful to a man in my position. Friends like St. Justin can get one into the best clubs, the best drawing rooms, the best beds. I make it a practice to acquire friends like St. Justin. But St. Justin is no longer particularly useful and he has offended me."

Harriet stared at him. "You tell yourself that you are superior to him, do you not? You tell yourself that while he has wealth and a title, you are far more clever, more handsome, more attractive to women than he is."

"It is true."

"But you hate him because you know deep in your soul that he is a far better man than you will ever be. And it is not his wealth or his title that makes him superior. It is something deeper, something you will never possess. Is that it, Mr. Morland?"

"If you say so, my dear."

"What will hurting me prove?"

Bryce's eyes glittered. "It will prove once again that I can take St. Justin's women away from him. After I have you, I will have the satisfaction of knowing that I have had both of the women St. Justin thought were his. It is little enough, but I enjoy the sport."

"You are a fool, Mr. Morland. You must know what St. Justin will do when he discovers that you have tried to attack me."

"Oh, I do not think you will tell him about our little tryst, madam." Bryce gave her a knowing look. "Women do not usually confess to having been with another man, even when they are taken by force. They are afraid they will be blamed for it, I think. And any woman married to the Beast of Blackthorne Hall would never admit to having been unfaithful to him. She would be too afraid to do so. The Beast will surely turn on her."

Harriet's fingers found the end of the last cabinet. "I would not be afraid to tell St. Justin. He would believe me and he would most certainly avenge me."

"He is far more likely to murder you," Bryce said as he closed the distance between them. "And you are wise enough to know that. He would not be able to tolerate knowing that his new bride, the woman he has displayed so proudly to the ton, has been unfaithful already."

"You know nothing about him." Without warning, Harriet whipped around the corner of the row of cabinets.

Bryce lunged at her, eyes alight with an unholy fire.

Harriet fled down the second aisle of cabinets. Bryce was right behind her. He would catch her in another two strides.

She saw the chair she had used when she had examined the forged fossil. It was standing where she had left it in the middle of the aisle. She jumped up on the seat and scrambled up onto the top of the cabinets just as Bryce grabbed at her skirts.

He missed.

Harriet raced along the top of the cabinets, scattering skulls and femurs and vertebrae into the aisle below. Bryce pounded along in the aisle, obviously intending to catch her at the far end when she tried to reach the door.

"You may as well come down now, you little bitch. There is only one way this can end." There was a terrible sexual excitement in Bryce's voice now.

Harriet ignored him. Her goal was the large stone sitting on top of the last cabinet in the aisle, the one that contained the fossil impression of a large, spiny fish. She prayed the stone would not be too heavy for her to lift.

Bryce never guessed her intention. It probably did not occur to him that a woman would resort to such a means of defending herself or that a woman would be strong enough to do so even if she tried.

But Harriet had been digging fossils out of solid rock for years. She had spent hours wielding a mallet and chisel. She knew she was no weakling.

She grabbed hold of the chunk of stone and hurled it down at Bryce's blond head just as he reached up to grasp her ankle.

At the last instant Bryce realized what was happening. "Damn you, no." Bryce's yell was choked off as he tried to leap back out of the way.

But he was too late. He barely managed to avoid the full impact of the heavy stone. As it was, it caught him a glancing blow on his head and bounced heavily on his shoulder before falling to the floor with a crash.

Bryce stumbled and went down. He lay very still, his eyes closed. Blood leaked from under a lock of blond hair that curled over his forehead.

A terrible silence filled the shadowed room full of bones.

Harriet stood on top of the cabinets, gasping for breath. Her heart was pounding and her hands were trembling. She stared down at Bryce, unable to think clearly for a moment.

Then she forced herself to scramble down from the top of the cabinets. She was afraid to go over to Bryce. She did not know if he was dead and she did not want to find out.

But she needed the key to get out of the chamber.

Harriet took several deep breaths and approached Bryce's still form very cautiously. When he did not stir or open his eyes she dropped to her knees beside him and reached into his pocket for the key.

Her fingers closed around the heavy iron object. She withdrew it quickly. It felt cold in her hand. Bryce still did not move. She could not tell if he was even breathing.

Harriet waited no longer. She ran to the door, inserted the key into the lock, and opened it.

She was free.

She dashed up the stairs to the ground floor and found everything shrouded in shadows. The heavy drapes on the front windows had been drawn against the late afternoon sun.

The door of Mr. Humboldt's private study opened. A stooped, heavily whiskered figure loomed in the doorway rather like a large spider. The figure scowled ferociously at her. "Here, now, you ain't the cook with my supper. What the devil are you doing here? All the visitors are supposed to be gone by now."

"I was just on my way."

"What's that? Speak up, girl." He cupped his ear.

"I said I was just on my way," Harriet said loudly.

He waved her off impatiently. "Go on, get out of here. I've got important work to do. Much too late for any damn visitors. If it wasn't for the fact that I need the money to buy more fossils, I would never let anyone at all into this house. Bunch of amateurs and curiosity seekers. Fools, the lot of 'em."

Humboldt turned around and stomped back into his study. He slammed the door behind him.

Harriet realized she was trembling. She brushed what dust she could off her skirts. When she opened the front door of the museum and stepped out into the street she saw Beth waiting for her near the carriage. The girl was laughing at something the coachman had just said. The lad who had taken the admission fees was with them. All three of them turned to look at her.

"Ready to leave, ma'am?" The coachman asked politely.

"Yes, I am." Harriet marched to the carriage. "Let us be off. I am late enough getting home as it is."

Beth's eyes widened at the sight of her dusty yellow gown and pelisse. "Dear me, ma'am, yer lovely dress is ruined. All those dirty old bones and such. I should have brought along an apron for you to use."

"Never mind, Beth." Harriet seated herself in the carriage. "Kindly hurry. I am anxious to get home."

"Yes, ma'am."

The lad who had taken the tickets stared at her. "What happened to the other gentleman? The one who said he wanted to study fossils in private?"

Harriet smiled coolly. "I have no notion. I did not see anyone else about when I left."

The lad scratched his head. "He must have come out when I wasn't lookin'."

"I daresay." Harriet gave the signal to the coachman to be off. "I am certain it is none of our concern."

Twenty minutes later, Harriet was handed down from the carriage in front of Gideon's townhouse. She still could not decide how much to tell her husband.

On the one hand she wanted to throw herself into his arms and tell him everything. She needed to talk to someone about the dreadful events in Mr. Humboldt's Museum.

On the other hand, she was terribly afraid of what Gideon might decide to do. He would not let such an affront to his wife pass without vengeance.

Gideon was lounging in the doorway of the library when Harriet walked into the hall. He smiled at the sight of her dusty clothes.

"From the dirt on your gown, it would appear you had a most enjoyable time at Mr. Humboldt's Museum, madam."

"It was a very interesting experience, my lord. I cannot wait to tell you all about it." Harriet's fingers shook as she stripped off her gloves.