That night, Harriett ensured her clothes were placed where she could lay her hands on them in the dark. When it was time to go, she managed to fasten her gown, but gave up on her stays again, hoping her spencer would hide her unfettered breasts. She refused to examine too closely, what leaving the house half-dressed may lead to.

Growing more confident, Harriett slipped from the house and crossed the gardens. The moon shone out of a clear sky. She could see her way, but unfortunately, she was exposed to anyone’s interested gaze. Running down the stone steps into the garden, she approached the rose arbor to find it empty. She sat on the wooden seat, her mind swirling with a mix of fear and anticipation, as the heady scent of roses wafted around her.

Gerard stepped out of the shadows and joined her on the seat. He smiled. “How pretty you look by moonlight.”

Did he really think her pretty? Just being here with him enveloped her in a silken cocoon of euphoria and blinded her to everything else. Especially her commonsense. Was she only pretty in the moonlight but not in the light of day?

“You’re quiet. Are you tired?”

“No.” She’d never felt so alive.

“Best we go.” He took her hand and pulled her to her feet. “We’ll take a stroll and see if anything stirs. That Kyle’s been prowling about at night, and I want to see what he’s up to.”

Harriet enjoyed his rough-skinned fingers curling around hers far too much. He was so different to the London beaus she’d met at balls. To watch him in the saddle, dressed in a leather jerkin, and form-fitting breeches, would surely make any lady swoon. She could sense his barely controlled power, how strong and masculine he was. It was nonsense to feel that he laid claim to her with that grip. The sight of him half-stripped was indelibly etched in her memory, the play of muscles on his sun-tanned torso, his eyes a vivid blue in his tanned face. His pearly white smile. It was ridiculous how he peeled away all her defenses, a little more each time they met. She was determined that they be lovers, if only for one night, but she hadn’t quite figured out how to bring it about. She knew him to be an honorable man, but men were easily overcome with lust were they not? She would have to choose her moment and pounce, or else she’d lose him to Leonora without ever possessing him.

They walked quietly over the path listening to the crickets and the call of night birds. The clear sky was purple velvet dotted with gems, the air a heady mixture of fragrant scents. It was perfect.

“This should be very romantic,” Gerard said, sounding as if he’d clamped down on his jaw.

As that had been precisely what Harriett was thinking, she bit her lip.

“We are taking a terrible risk, Harry. If we’re found out, your father will rightly insist I marry you. Would that be so terrible?”

“I’m sure we’d think of a way out of it,” she said. But you would not be able to marry my sister. She chastised herself afraid she was turning into a jealous shrew. Would having Gerard in the family be better than never seeing him from one year to the next? She doubted it.

“Hush.” Gerard hauled her into the shadows.

A figure approached from the far end of the driveway, the sound of his footsteps loud on the gravel.

Who is it?” Harriett whispered.

“Looks to be Uncle’s overseer, Joseph Kyle. I suspected as much. Wonder what he’s about?”

They crept from the shadows and followed him from a distance. The tall man disappeared into the stable courtyard. Harriett almost tripped on the rough cobbles, but Gerard’s arm came around her waist to steady her. Her breath quickened. She should be used to him handling her by now, but his touch brought fresh sensations every time, made even more potent by her own plans for his seduction.

“He’s heading into the stables.”

They waited. Minutes passed before Kyle reappeared. This time he carried a lantern.

They crouched down behind the stable wall. “He’ll see us if we follow,” Harriett whispered. She shivered with anticipation and the hair rose on her arms.

“We’ll make sure he doesn’t. Let’s see where he goes.”

Kyle continued through the stable yard and headed in the direction of the home farm. They followed him down the lane edged by a thick bank of fir trees. He climbed a stile into a meadow.

“Damned odd place for a man to go at night,” Gerard said. “Unless he’s off to the village, but it’s a very long walk.”

“Maybe he’s meeting someone.”

“Looks like that’s exactly what he is doing.”

A figure in a long cape crossed the small bridge over the river and ran lightly up to Kyle. A woman.

“What are they doing?” Harriett whispered.

“I don’t know; we’ll have to move a little closer.”

Gerard grabbed Harriett’s hand again, and they left the shadows to dart across the lane. They paused at the edge of the meadow in amongst a copse of beech trees. “They’re coming this way.” Gerard pulled Harriett behind a trunk.

Kyle helped his companion over the stile. A giggle carried in the night air. As they came closer, the girl on Kyle’s arm threw off her hood and spoke softly to him. In the light of the lantern, Harriett saw her fair hair.

“Yea’re a hussy.” With a gruff laugh, Kyle drew her down onto the grass. They lay together and murmuring and kissing sounds followed.

“The deuce,” Gerard cursed. “It’s Mary, from the farm over yonder.”

“Can we slip away?”

“Better not risk it. Don’t watch.”

Harriett did not intend to miss it, but Gerard sheltered her with his body. The lovers’ passionate cries rose in the air. Gerard’s hand closed firmer on her arm, his breath warm on her neck. “God, I’m sorry, Harry,” he whispered against her hair.

Kyle’s groans and his lover’s moans reached a crescendo, and Harriett’s body responded with warmth and a heightened awareness of the man beside her. Her knees grew weak and she sagged against him. She was glad his arm held her up. “Your hair smells nice,” he said. “Lavender.”

“I like your soap. Sandalwood isn’t it?” she whispered.

“It is yes,” he said, sounding as if he thought her remarkably clever.

Harriett swiveled in his arms. They stood face to face, a whisker away from one another.

“You’re familiar with men’s soap?”

Mama bought it once for my father,” she said her voice unsteady. “He didn’t care for it.”

“Oh? Not everyone’s taste I suppose.”

His voice sounded strained. The gap between their bodies could be breached if she took one step. This was the perfect time! If the lover’s behavior so affected her, then Gerard must feel even more overwhelmed by it.

Mary’s throbbing moan shattered the air. She sensed Gerard’s body tense, like a violin strung too tightly. Kiss him now! But she hesitated. Would he be shocked by her brazenness? Trouble was, she didn’t want to do the seducing, not the first time. She wished for Gerard to make the first move. If left to him, though, there probably wouldn’t be a first time, and certainly not a second.

Gerard put a hand under her chin and tipped up her face. They were at kissing distance, so close she could feel his warm breath on her cheek. “That’s the girl, don’t look,” he said, his voice hoarse. No matter how she willed it, he made no attempt to kiss her.

She managed a quick peek before leaning her head against his chest. Within the circle of his strong arms, she could feel his heart pounding as fast as hers. “What’s happening?”

He cleared his throat. “I’d rather not say.”

Finally, the couple rose from the grass and adjusted their clothes. They wandered away over the meadow, arm in arm.

Gerard looked down at her, his face in shadow. “I am ashamed to have exposed you to such a thing, Harry.”

“I saw nothing.” She yearned for Gerard to draw her close again, and kiss her with passion and intent. To lie down in the meadow and do with her, what the lovers had done that caused them to cry out in such delight.

“You didn’t look?”

“It was too dark.” She had actually glimpsed Kyle’s naked bottom moving rhythmically between his lover’s white thighs, like the swing of a pendulum, but she would rather die than admit it.

Gerard’s tight, disbelieving laugh made her aware he was as disturbed by what they’d witnessed as she. She put up a hand tentatively on his arm. “You mustn’t feel bad about offering me an adventure. I’m rather enjoying it.”

He stepped away from her. “I didn’t plan to increase your education in the ways of the world, not now, and not in quite that way. Most girls would be moaning and weeping by now. You’re made of sterner stuff, Harry.”

It wasn’t what she wanted to hear, but a compliment of sorts. Harriett realized suddenly that her real reluctance came from the knowledge that this wasn’t the right time for a seduction. She did not want their union to be a sordid tryst in the dark following the one they’d just witnessed. Although, how she could devise it to be other than a midnight assignation, she was unsure of at this point. “We must get back to the house before I’m missed.”

“Yes,” Gerard sounded relieved. Come on.”

They made their way back without speaking, and paused at the steps near the rose arbor.

Gerard turned her to face him his hand on her arm. “Are you all right?”

“Yes, of course I am.”

In the moonlight, his face looked pensive. “Thank you for tonight. It hasn’t been a total waste. Kyle’s nightly foraging has nothing to do with spying, and he’s one I can strike off my list.”

“What will you do now?”

“I haven’t decided, young Harry. First, I intend to see you safe within the bosom of your family. My good judgment must have deserted me, making you a party to this. It won’t happen again.” He tucked a curl behind her ear. “You can get some sleep. I’m sure you must be tired. I know I am.”

His words haunting her, Harriett left him and ran back to the house. Once in her room, she stripped off her clothes and climbed into bed, to toss and turn until daybreak.

♥♥♥

Gerard returned to the stables cursing himself as the worst fool. That was the end of it. He would not see Harry alone again until this business was cleared up. He hoped he’d been forceful enough, she could be so damned appealing when she set her mind on something. A husband would have his work cut out to rein her in. He’d enjoyed having her along with him, but admitted it had been an indulgence. This time he meant it. There’d be no more, even if she applied her womanly charms on him. The investigation was drawing to a close. The constable had cleared Barker, the young lad in the kitchens, and most of the staff, still with no clear suspect emerging.

A heavy-set man crossed the cobbles. Moonlight shone down on his face. Madoc! Placing his hand on the pistol tucked in his breeches beneath his jacket, Gerard left his horse and strode over to intercept him.

“What are you up to, Madoc?”

Madoc swung around.

“Oh, it’s you, milord. We have a problem. A fox has been getting at the chickens in the home farm. He’s just killed several and run off with another, the farmer and I have been trying to get the sneaky critter for several nights now.”

Gerard swung himself up into the saddle. “Good luck with it.”

“Thanks, milord. Madoc touched a hand to his cap.

Gerard rode toward home. One more off the list. Was he wrong? Might the murderer have got into the house somehow, struck and left immediately? With no jimmied windows, no doors left unlocked, no vines to scale to the second floor. How? He cursed, startling his horse. Might he have known about the tunnel?