Still in the cellar with the panel tightly shut at his back, Epps shuffled his feet and avoided Orson Echworth’s penetrating gaze.

“What the deuce are you doing here?” Orson demanded.

“There was a time when we kept some extra lumber down here, sir. I had a notion to do a bit of repairing in the barn tomorrow and come down…”

“And did you find that lumber?” Orson interrupted.

“No, I canna think what become of it,” Epps answered.

“Well, never mind it now. It is late and you shouldn’t be here,” Orson snapped.

“Aye, sir,” Epps answered. At the moment, they had the power to send him packing and he couldn’t chance that, not with his viscount in need of him. He ambled out as fast as he could.

Echworth watched him go. A frown drew his brows together and an odd feeling made him look around the dim room. He held his candle holder high but could find nothing of interest.

He didn’t believe for a minute that Epps had been looking for lumber. What then?

What in this cellar had brought him down here at such an hour? It was a lucky chance that he had heard something and had come down to see what the sound was. He was astonished to find Epps just turning to face him.

Indeed, he was going to have to keep an eye on the fellow and as soon as they were fully in charge at Montlaine, he would turn him off!

* * *

The viscount hauled his supplies to his cave, dropping them with a heavy thud, startling his horse into a soft whinny.

“Hush, Midnight,” he ordered in an irritated tone. He found his temper frayed. In answer, the stallion put up his head alertly and backed up a pace. He sensed his master’s mood and awaited the outcome, watching him closely as the viscount took to pacing.

He envisioned Ness in his dining room, in his library, flirting with Orson. For some reason, this was unpardonable. Here he had been, alone, waiting hopefully, expecting her to visit with some news, or at least to while away an hour, and where had she been? Dallying with the enemy!

She owed him nothing, he chided himself.

Yet she had brought him hope. What right had she to do that to him? She was just a spoiled chit, going about doing whatever she thought exciting, without regard to the consequences to herself or to others! It was damned annoying.

She couldn’t go about playing fast and loose with everyone she came across. What she needed was a lesson.

Before he knew what he was doing, he had the bit in his horse’s mouth and the saddle in place. It didn’t take him long to lead his horse up the rocky incline and nimbly mount him. What he and Midnight needed was a run across the moors!

Before he realized it, he was within easy walking distance of Penrod Tower. This was madness! What the devil was wrong with him?

Still, he couldn’t seem to stop himself.

He stared up at the lovely stone structure and wondered how the deuce he was to know which room she was in. Penrod Tower’s plan was well known to him, but even so, he couldn’t know which would be Ness’s room. He skirted around the building, looking for a light in a window that might suggest her location. Nothing.

Luck is a fickle seductress and suddenly fate winked in his direction. No, definitely winked his way was too tame. Fate yanked him in place!

Naughty Lady Ness, candleholder in hand, stepped right out onto her balcony.

Damn, but she was the most beautiful woman he had ever looked upon. She stood, staring out over the landscape. The breeze took the silks of her nightdress and wrapped them tightly around her sensuous figure, and he felt his nerve endings tingle as his breath hitched in his throat.

The mist he had ridden through had scattered with the wind. The night was balmy and warm and her blonde hair hanging to her waist made him want to drag her into his arms and…devil take it, what was wrong with him?

The breeze blew out the candle and he heard her sigh before she turned and went back inside her room.

For no reason, he felt elated and a smile crossed his face. His body was on fire and his mind was lost to hunger as he made up his mind and put turf behind him.

No rose trellis offered itself. No sturdy tree. How then to maneuver this fifteen foot climb? It was then he saw the drainpipe.

He grinned and reached out to test it by attempting a vigorous shake. It didn’t budge.

He hoped it would serve his weight as he gripped it, and used both the pipe and the wall to get to his objective…the terrace. Ness’s terrace!

He had not, however, anticipated the distance between pipe and Ness’s balcony railing.

He stretched out a long leg, pushed forward and found himself hanging onto the stone balustrade. He dangled for a moment between pipe and rail, and had to draw on all his inner strength to hoist himself up and over and onto the terrace.

* * *

Inside, Ness had plumped up her pillows and climbed into bed. She couldn’t sleep, and sat up. A noise brought her to full attention.

Another very odd noise had her pushing off her covers, unlike any of her friends, who she knew would be diving under the covers. She probably should call for help, but what if it was one of Cook’s cats?

She climbed out of bed and instinct took over. Warily but swiftly, she crossed the room and flattened herself against the wall that flanked her terrace doors…doors which were wide open to allow the fresh night air in.

Beside her on a wall table she found an elegant china vase full with flowers, but just the right size for her hand. It would be prudent, she told herself, to pick it up. She did.

A large figure stepped hurriedly and quietly into her chambers. Not a cat.

He stood for a moment, allowing Ness to get into position. She slid her bare feet towards him and raised the pretty vase with all its flowers high into the air when she realized that if he did not accommodate her by bending, she would greatly miss her mark.

The large cloaked figure stood stock still. Ness was poised and ready when suddenly he surprised her by whirling around.

Her mouth dropped open as she looked from his handsome face, from his dark compelling eyes, down his strong neck to the open neckline of his white shirt. He was big, he was broad, and he was primal and all these factors skimmed through her blood and made her heart beat faster.

She had to get herself under control.

She wanted to throw herself into his arms. What was wrong with her?

She couldn’t move and apparently neither could he, so they both stood very still, staring at one another.

Vanessa gulped. Here was the viscount. In her room.

These things happened only in novels and fairy tales.

Was she dreaming? She reached out and wanted to touch, but stopped herself.

She tried to say something and it came as a gasp and an oath, “Bloody hell, sir! You frightened me.” The flowers in the vase she was holding tightly to herself swayed with the breeze from the open door, and one stuck itself to her nose. She blew at it.

His lips quivered.

Deuce take it all, he was laughing at her. She thought him perfectly stunning, the most desirable man she had ever known, and he thought her funny.

He said, “Did I? I am sorry for it, but bloody hell is not the sort of language for a lady.”

“Is it not? Well, your behavior—sneaking into a lady’s chamber in the dead of night, is not the sort of behavior of a gentleman, so we are quite even on that score.”

“You seemed well prepared, nonetheless,” he said on a chuckle, and his brow went up as he eyed the vase.

Ness laughed and put it down. “Yes, and so let that be a lesson to you before you go sneaking into a maiden’s room.”

“Tell me, would you have actually brought that down on my head, thinking me a stranger of course, had you the opportunity?”

She shrugged. “I think so…yes, though it would have been easier to shoot you as you are so much taller than I, however, I did not have my pistol handy. It is with my tack in the barn.” Suddenly, an expression of apprehension crossed her countenance. “My lord…oh no, what is towards? Are you all right? Has anyone discovered your hiding place? Do you need another place to stay? How can I help?”

She saw the surprise in his eyes.

“Rest easy, Naughty Ness. As far as I know, I am still dead,” he said lightly.

She felt her brows draw together. “Then why have you come here? This is madness. You might have been seen. Where is Midnight?”

He chuckled. “Which question shall I answer first? I was not seen. Midnight is secure, and I came…” He stopped. “Because…the devil is in it that I don’t know why I came.” He shook his head. “Damnation, woman. Why did you lead me to think you would visit me this night if you knew you had plans to dine with the Echworths at Montlaine?”

Her brows went up. She witnessed the glitter turn to flint in his dark eyes. She saw the depth of feeling, the irritation, and something else she couldn’t name. “My lord, I did not say I would come to you. In fact, as I remember, you refused to invite me to return.” She hoped the tease in her tone would assuage his agitation.

“I did not forbid you to come,” he snapped.

“You did not invite me to return, so I think it is the same thing.” She waved it off. “At any rate, it does not signify. And if you must know, I was obliged to attend your awful cousins’ dinner party because of my brother and Randy, who both insisted it would look like a snub if I did not.” She watched the flitting expressions on his face and leaned in closer as she touched his chest, exposed by his shirt that had come totally undone. “My lord, imagine my irritation when it rained most of the day and I was unable to complete my mission to find the Widdons chit. I had nothing to report to you.” She hurriedly withdrew her hand and put up her chin. Why was she explaining herself to him? She owed him nothing.

He didn’t allow her sudden withdrawal as he reached out and took a firm clasp of her hand. “I don’t know what to make of you. You lead me to believe…”

“I don’t lead anyone to believe anything. I told you I mean to help you and your sister and that is what I mean to do. However, I did not invite you to barge in here and…”

“I beg your pardon,” he said, and Ness saw a certain aloofness take over his eyes. He bowed and started off. “I was mistaken, my lady. I shall leave you to get your rest.”

Ness chided herself. She said something that he had taken badly. She rushed to block his path. “Tell me, my lord, if I had come to you tonight without anything new to advise you, what, just what would you have thought? What would you have done?” She was trying to make a point. Instead, it misfired.

* * *

He was mystified by her. She was a contradiction of every woman he had ever met. She was regal and rough and tumble all mixed into one enchanting creature. She was beautiful to the point of making his experienced and hardened heart feel flutters of youthful infatuation. Her blue eyes filled him with need. Her body, those exquisite protruding nipples beneath the sheer nightdress had been driving him mad, calling to him to lick, touch, and suckle.

Her lips were full, cherry-red, and when she would bite her bottom lip, it was all he could do not to take her up in his arms and help her nibble there. Her question drove him to unleash himself.

“What would I have done? This, my lady,” he said in a voice that was a growl as intense as his purpose. His hand slid around her waist and pulled her in hard. The passion he felt for her was potent, but what ignited him further was the heat he felt coming from her. She wanted him, he was sure of it. His free hand found her long blonde hair and he twisted it between his fingers as she melded into him.

When his lips met hers, he felt a need so deeply emotional, he was taken away. His tongue met and found hers and their kiss turned into another. His hand slid from her waist and found her full breast, and he almost buckled with the erotic tremors that soared through him.

She came up breathless as his mouth traveled down her neck, back up to her ear, and he whispered, “Ness, sweet beauty, shall we have this night? Shall I please you as no other ever has?”

He felt her stiffen in his arms. What? What had he said wrong? He heard something catch in her throat and she made a sound as though her words were being filtered through desire. He pressed himself to her and felt her belly against his manhood. He was hard and throbbing with lust.

She pushed at his chest and when he looked at her face, he found outrage in her eyes and something else—hurt. Hurt? How had he hurt her? He was not the sort of man that ever wanted to hurt a woman. What had he said?

“No, we shall not have this night. You may go now,” she said, her chin up high.

He frowned. “What is it, Ness?”

“Get out, now,” she answered.

His temper got the better of him. “Is it only safe to do your teasing when you are in a drawing room? Is that it? Does this bedroom, does my cave make you aware of what you really are—a thrill seeker?”

He felt her cringe and jump away from him.

Why had he said that? He was a scoundrel of the worst kind. What was wrong with him?

“Your behavior makes me all too aware of what you think I am,” Ness said. “Yes, I succumbed for a moment to your…manipulation, but I did think you knew me better than to think I was a tease. Now,” she stared at him coldly and he felt an ice shard piece his heart, “if you don’t mind, I want you to leave me alone.”

He was dashed well upset with himself. He had been a cad, of that he was certain. Her kiss had taken him to another realm, and it had been a beautiful mind-explosive experience. Her breast in his hand, her taut nipple, her body pressed to his had made him lose all good sense and decency. He had been sure that she wanted him. Just what had he said to turn her up cold? And then he had made matters worse by calling her a tease. He was worse than a cad…far worse. He had no immediate answer, so in silence he left the way he had come.