by Amanda Quick
“Very true,” Gideon said. “The notices will be in the morning papers.” He turned to Harriet. “My fiancée has your best wishes and congratulations, I assume, Lady Youngstreet?”
Lady Youngstreet pursed her lips. “Of course.”
“Certainly,” Applegate muttered. He was trying hard not to stare at Gideon’s scar. “Happy for you both. Naturally.”
The others in the small group murmured appropriate remarks.
“Thank you,” Gideon said. His eyes gleamed laconically. “I rather thought you might say that. Come, my dear. It has been a long while since we last danced.”
He led Harriet out onto the floor just as the musicians struck up a waltz. Harriet tried hard to project the proper air of aloof decorum Effie and Adelaide had been teaching her for the past several days, but gave up the attempt almost immediately. The knowledge that she was back in Gideon’s arms, even if only on a dance floor, was too thrilling.
She had almost forgotten just how huge he was, she thought happily. His big hand cradled her spine, his palm covering most of her lower back. His massive chest and shoulders seemed as solid as a brick wall. Harriet remembered the weight of his body on hers that night in the cavern and she shivered with remembered passion.
“I assume your father has recovered, sir?” she said as Gideon whirled her into the waltz.
“He is doing much better, thank you. The sight of me has the same effect on his constitution as an electricity machine. It is always sufficient to stimulate him back to a more healthy state,” Gideon said dryly.
“Good heavens, my lord. Are you saying he was so happy to see you, he recovered?”
“Not quite. The sight of me reminds him of what will happen when he finally does depart this earth. The thought of me inheriting the earldom is usually sufficient to rally him. He has a dread of the noble Hardcastle title falling into such unworthy hands.”
“Oh, dear.” Harriet looked up at him with sympathy. “Are things really that bad between you and your father, my lord?”
“Yes, my dear, they are. But you need not concern yourself unduly. We will see as little of my parents as possible after our marriage. Now, if you do not mind, I would prefer to discuss something far more interesting than my relationship with my parents.”
“Of course. What would you like to talk about?”
His mouth quirked as he glanced down at her low-cut gown. “Suppose you tell me about the polishing you are receiving. Are you having fun here in Town?”
“To be perfectly truthful, I did not enjoy it at all at first. Then I chanced to meet Lord Fry.”
“Ah, yes.”
“Well, as it turns out, he is very interested in fossils and he invited me to join the Fossils and Antiquities Society. I have enjoyed myself immensely since I began attending the meetings of the Society. Such an interesting group of people. They have been extremely kind to me.”
“Have they, indeed?”
“Oh, yes. They are a very well informed group.” Harriet glanced quickly to either side to make certain no one could overhear. Then she lowered her voice and leaned closer to Gideon. “I am thinking of showing my tooth to one or two members of the Society.”
“I thought you were afraid that another collector might steal it or go hunting for another one just like it once he learns the location of the cave.”
Harriet frowned in consternation. “It is a concern, naturally. But I am beginning to believe that a few of the members of the Society can be trusted. And thus far I have not had any success in identifying my tooth on my own. If none of the members of the Society can identify it either, then I will be more certain than ever that I have found an entirely new species. I shall write a paper on it.”
Gideon’s mouth curved faintly. “My sweet Harriet,” he murmured. “I am delighted to see that you are still unpolished.”
She scowled up at him. “I assure you I am working very hard on that project, too, sir. But I must confess it is not as entertaining or as interesting as fossil collecting.”
“I can understand that.”
Harriet brightened as she caught sight of her sister among the dancers. Felicity, stunning tonight in a gossamer gown of peach pink, grinned cheerfully from across the floor before being swept out of view by a handsome young lord.
“I may be obliged to work at the business of being polished,” Harriet said, “but I am pleased to say that Felicity is already a gem. She is becoming quite the rage, you know. And now that she has a respectable portion from Aunt Adelaide, she need not rush into marriage. I rather suspect she will want a second Season. She is having a wonderful time. Town life suits her.”
Gideon looked down at her. “Do you regret that you are being rushed into marriage, Harriet?”
Harriet fixed her gaze on his snowy white cravat. “I comprehend, sir, that you feel obligated to go through with this marriage and that we do not have the luxury of allowing sufficient time to be absolutely certain of our feelings for each other.”
“Are you telling me you do not have any feelings of affection for me?”
Harriet abruptly stopped staring at his cravat and raised her eyes in shock. She could feel the heat warming her face. “Oh, no, Gideon. I did not mean to imply that I had no feelings of affection for you.”
“I am deeply relieved to hear you say so.” Gideon’s expression softened. “Come, the dance is ending. I will return you to your friends. I believe they are all quite concerned about you. I can see them staring at us.”
“Pay them no heed, sir. They are merely feeling somewhat protective because of all the rumors that are floating about. They mean no harm.”
“We shall see,” Gideon murmured as he led her through the crowd to where the other members of the Fossil and Antiquities Society were gathered. “Ah. I see a newcomer has joined your little group.”
Harriet glanced ahead, but she could not even see Lord Applegate or Lady Youngstreet. “Your height gives you a distinct advantage in crowds such as this, my lord.”
“So it does.”
The last of the crowd parted at that moment and Harriet saw the heavy set, florid-faced man who had joined her friends. There was, she realized, a very forceful, very striking element about him that was not particularly pleasant. He was large, although not as large as Gideon, but that was not what bothered her.
His intense dark eyes, which were riveted on Harriet, had a sharp, piercing quality that was unsettling. There was a bitter, angry curve to his fleshy lips. His gray hair was thinning on the top of his head but extended down his heavy cheeks in thick, curling whiskers. He reminded Harriet of one of the Evangelicals, those tireless reformers of the Church who railed constantly against everything from dancing to face powder.
The newcomer did not wait for an introduction. His sharp gaze raked Harriet from head to toe and then he turned to Gideon.
“Well, sir, I see you have found another innocent lamb to lead to the slaughter.”
There was a collective gasp from the small group of fossil collectors. Gideon alone appeared unperturbed.
“Allow me to introduce you to my fiancee,” Gideon murmured, as if nothing out of the ordinary had been said. “Miss Pomeroy, may I present—”
The stranger interrupted him with a harsh exclamation. “How dare you, sir? Have you no shame? How dare you play your games with yet another rector’s daughter? Will you get this one with child, too, before you cast her aside? Will you cause the deaths of yet another innocent woman and her babe?”
There was a collective gasp of dismay from the small group. Gideon’s eyes hardened dangerously.
Harriet held up a hand. “That is quite enough,” she said sharply. “I do not know who you are, sir, but I assure you I grow extremely weary of these accusations concerning his lordship’s previous engagement. I should think that everyone would realize that there is only one reason why St. Justin would have called off his plans for marrying Deirdre Rushton.”
The stranger swung his hot gaze back to her. “
Is that so, Miss Pomeroy?” he whispered harshly. “And just what would that reason be, pray tell?”
“Why, that the poor girl was pregnant with some other man’s babe, of course,” Harriet said briskly. She was getting thoroughly annoyed with the malicious gossip. “Good grief, I would have thought anyone could have seen that right from the start. It is the logical explanation.”
Silence gripped the onlookers. The intense stranger gave Harriet a wrathful glare that was clearly designed to dispatch her to perdition.
“If you truly believe that, Miss Pomeroy,” he whispered thickly, “then I pity you. You are, indeed, a fool.”
The man turned and stormed off through the throng. Everyone else with the exception of Gideon was gazing at Harriet in open-mouthed fascination.
Gideon’s expression reflected an almost savage satisfaction. “Thank you, my dear,” he said very softly.
Harriet frowned after the stranger’s retreating figure. “Who was that gentleman?”
“The Reverend Clive Rushton,” Gideon said. “Deirdre’s father.”
Chapter Ten
“I HAVE NEVER SEEN the like.” Adelaide, still dressed in her wrapper, picked up her cup of hot chocolate. “I vow, the tale will be all over Town this morning. Everyone will be discussing the setdown Harriet gave Rushton.”
Effie closed her eyes in resignation and groaned. “They will be gossiping about that scene even as they read the announcement of her engagement in the morning papers. Dear heaven, I cannot even imagine what they will all think. For an innocent young woman to be talking about such things right in the middle of a ballroom. It is beyond anything.”
“I am not precisely innocent, Aunt Effie.” Harriet, who was sitting in the corner of Adelaide’s morning room, looked up from a recent copy of the Transactions of the Royal Society of Geology.
“Well, we are doing our best to pass you off as such,” Adelaide pointed out.
Harriet made a face. “I do not know what all the fuss is about. I merely brought up what seems a perfectly obvious fact that appears to have been overlooked by everyone.”
“You and your logical approach,” Adelaide said grimly. “I assure you, the fact that Deirdre Rushton was pregnant when she died was not overlooked by anyone. I have heard more than enough about it since word got out that you were engaged to St. Justin.”
“I meant the fact that the babe was someone else’s. It most definitely was not Gideon’s.” Harriet went back to her Transactions.
“How can you be so bloody certain of that?” Adelaide demanded.
“Because I am quite certain that Gideon’s sense of honor is equal to that of any other gentleman’s of the ton. In fact, I will wager that it is probably considerably more developed than most. He would have done the right thing if the babe had been his own.”
“I simply do not know how you can be so sure of him,” Effie said with a sigh. “We can only hope you are correct in your assumptions about his honor.”
“I am.” Harriet picked up a piece of toast and munched enthusiastically as she continued to scan the pages of the Transactions. “By the bye, he will be calling at five this afternoon. We are to go driving in the park.”
“He could at least allow the gossip generated by your scene with Rushton last night to die down before taking you into the park. The whole world goes driving in the park at five. Everyone will see you,” Effie muttered.
“That is the whole point, if you ask me.” Felicity grinned knowingly at her sister as she walked into the morning room. “I do believe St. Justin is intent on putting Harriet on display wherever and whenever possible. Rather like an exotic pet he has brought back from some distant land.”
“A pet.” Effie looked scandalized.
“Dear heaven,” Adelaide breathed. “What a notion.”
Harriet looked up from her journal, sensing that her sister was not joking. “What do you mean by that, Felicity?”
“Is it not obvious?” Felicity helped herself to toast and eggs from the sideboard. She looked bright and vivacious in her yellow gown. “You are the only creature alive that we know of who actually believes in the possibility of St. Justin’s honor. You are also the only one who thinks he might be innocent of ravishing and abandoning poor Deirdre Rushton.”
“He is innocent of ravishing and abandoning her,” Harriet retorted automatically. Then she grew thoughtful, remembering Gideon’s expression last night when she had argued with Rushton. “You may be right about this matter of putting me on display, however.”
“One can hardly blame him, I suppose. The temptation to show off your touching faith in the Beast of Blackthorne Hall must be quite irresistible.” Felicity smiled.
“I have told you not to refer to him by that dreadful name,” Harriet said, but she spoke absently. Her mind was busily turning over what Felicity had just said. There was the sad ring of truth in it. Harriet knew she ought to have seen it for herself.
Gideon was naturally going to gain what satisfaction he could from this marriage which he had never wanted in the first place. Who could blame him?
He certainly showed no signs of falling in love with her, Harriet told herself. In actual fact, he had said nothing at all of love to her. Nor had he asked for any love from her. He had sounded merely curious last night when he had asked if she had some affection for him.
Harriet knew her belief in his honor was probably far more important to Gideon than any protestation of love. It was no doubt all that was important to him. He had lived too long in the shadow of dishonor.
Harriet watched as Felicity sat down at the table and began to eat with a hearty appetite. Night after night of virtually continuous dancing had given her sister a strong interest in breakfast lately.
Adelaide glanced at Effie over the rim of her cup. “Well, we have no choice but to put a brave front on the entire affair. As long as St. Justin himself is proclaiming the engagement, we are all safe. With any luck we shall contrive to get through the remainder of the Season before anything unexpected occurs.”
Harriet made a face as she closed her journal. “I assure you nothing unexpected is going to occur, Aunt Adelaide. St. Justin will not allow it.” She glanced at the clock. “If you will excuse me, I must dress. I am to attend a meeting of the Fossils and Antiquities Society this afternoon.”
Effie gave her a sharp glance. “I noticed that you have become very good friends with a few of the members of the Society, my dear. I rather like young Lord Appiegate. Very well connected to the Marquess of Asherton, you know. Recently come into a considerable inheritance along with his title.”
Harriet smiled wryly. “I am already engaged, Aunt Effie, if you will recall. To an earl, no less.”
“How can one forget?” Effie said with a sigh.
“There was a time,” Harriet reminded her, “when you would cheerfully have killed for the chance to marry either Felicity or me off to an earl.”
“It is just that I am not entirely certain I am going to get you married off to this particular earl,” Effie responded dolefully.
* * *
The moment Harriet walked into Lady Youngstreet’s drawing room, she was aware of the speculation and concern in the expressions of the other members of the Fossils and Antiquities Society. Nothing was said about the previous night’s drama at the ball, however, for which she was extremely grateful.
It was a large crowd, as usual, reflecting the growing interest in fossils and geology. When everyone was seated, the members plunged immediately into a discussion of some fossil forgeries which had recently been exposed at a quarry site in the north.
“I am not at all surprised to hear about it,” Lady Youngstreet announced. “It has happened before and will undoubtedly happen again. It is a familiar pattern. The quarry workmen soon learn there is a keen market for any sort of unusual fossils they happen to turn up in the course of their work. When they can no longer dig up enough to suit the demand, they turn to manufacturing them for collectors.”
“I have heard they set up a virtual workshop at the quarry site.” Lord Fry shook his head. “They used bits and pieces of commonly found fossil fishes and other old bones to construct entirely new and different skeletons. The bidding went very high on several of the more original creations. At least two museums purchased forgeries without realizing it.”
“I fear our field will continue to give rise to any number of deceptions, frauds, and forgeries,” Harriet said as she sipped her tea. “The fascination with what lies buried in the rocks is so strong it will always attract unscrupulous types.”
“Unfortunate, but true,” Applegate agreed with a world-weary sigh. His warm gaze lingered on Harriet’s modestly covered bosom. “You are so very perceptive, Miss Pomeroy.”
Harriet smiled. “Thank you, my lord.”
Lord Fry cleared his throat pointedly. “I, for one, would most certainly have questioned the forged leaves and fishes that were being sold to all and sundry by the workmen.”
“And I would not have been deceived for a moment by the creatures that were half fish and half quadruped,” a middle-aged bluestocking declared.
“Nor would I,” Lady Youngstreet vowed.
A loud murmur of assent went through the crowded drawing room. The meeting fell into temporary disorder as the various members of the Society broke up into small groups. Everyone gave an opinion on the forgeries and made it clear how he or she would not have been taken in for a moment.
Lord Applegate maneuvered his way closer to Harriet. He gazed down at her with shy admiration. “You are looking very lovely today, Miss Pomeroy,” he murmured. “That color of blue suits you.”
“You are very kind to say so, Mr. Applegate.” Harriet discreetly tugged the skirts of her turquoise-blue gown out from under his thigh.
Applegate blushed furiously as he realized he had sat on a fold of muslin. “I beg your pardon.”
“Do not concern yourself.” Harriet smiled at him reassuringly. “My gown is quite unharmed. Have you read your copy of the latest Transactions, sir? I received mine this morning and I vow there is a most fascinating article on fossil tooth identification.”