Quick, Amanda by Ravished Read Free Book Online Page A

toward her.
    "Good morning, Miss Pomeroy." His voice was as deep as the roar of the sea. "I had a feeling you
    would not be deterred by the fog."
    "Good morning, my lord." Harriet steadied her nerves as she watched him stride forward across the
    damp, packed sand. It seemed to her overwrought imagination that he was emerging from the mist like a
    demon beast moving through the smoke of hell. He was even larger than she remembered.
    He was wearing black boots, black gloves, and a black, heavily caped greatcoat with a high collar that
    framed his scarred face. His black hair was bare and it glistened with morning mist.
    "As you can see, I have obeyed your command yet again." Gideon smiled with faint irony as he came to
    a halt and stood looking down at her. "1 must watch this tendency to jump to do your bidding, Miss
    Pomeroy. I would not want it to become a habit."
    Harriet drew herself up and managed a polite smile. "Have no fear, my lord. I am certain you are not
    likely to get in the habit of obeying others unless you happen to feel like doing so for your own purposes."
    He dismissed that with a slight shrug of one large shoulder. "Who knows what a man will do when he is
    dealing with an interesting female?" His cold smile twisted his ruined face into a dangerous mask. "I await
    your next order, Miss Pomeroy."
    Harriet swallowed and busied herself adjusting the weight of her cumbersome bag. "I have brought along
    two lamps, my lord," she said quickly. "We shall need them inside the passageway."
    "Allow me." Gideon took the bag from her fingers. It dangled from his huge hand, seemingly weightless.
    "I shall deal with the equipment. Lead on, Miss Pomeroy. I am curious to see your cavern full of stolen
    goods."
    "Yes. Of course. Right this way."' She turned and hurried forward through the mist.
    "You do not seem quite so certain of yourself this morning, Miss Pomeroy." Gideon sounded amused as
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    he stalked silently along behind her. "I suspect someone, probably the good Mrs. Stone, has given you a
    few lurid details about my past history here in Upper Biddleton?"
    "Nonsense. I am not interested in your past, sir." Harriet made a desperate effort to keep her voice very
    cool and extremely firm. She did not dare look back over her shoulder as she hastened across the sand.
    "It is no concern of mine."
    "In that case, I must warn you that you should never have summoned me in the first place," he murmured
    with silky menace. "I fear I cannot be separated from my past. Where I go, it goes. The fact that I am in
    line for an earldom is extremely useful in getting people to overlook my past on occasion, but there is no
    denying I cannot shake it entirely. Especially here in Upper Biddleton."
    Harriet glanced quickly over her shoulder, frowning intently at the veiled emotion she sensed in his voice.
    "Does it bother you, my lord?"
    "My past? Not particularly. I long ago learned to live with the fact that I am perceived as a fiend from
    the nether regions. To be perfectly frank, my reputation has its uses."
    "Good heavens. What uses?" Harriet demanded.
    His expression hardened. "It serves to keep me from being pestered by marriage-minded mamas, for
    one thing. They are extremely cautious about throwing their daughters in my path. They are terrified that I
    will shamelessly ravish their fledglings, have my wicked way with them, and then cast the poor things
    aside as soiled goods."
    "Oh." Harriet swallowed.
    "Which they would most certainly be," Gideon continued evenly. "Soiled, that is. It would be quite
    impossible to put a young girl back on the Marriage Mart after it got around that she had ruined herself
    with me."
    "I see." Harriet coughed a bit to clear her throat and hurried forward a little faster. She could feel Gideon
    behind her, although she could not hear his footsteps on the packed sand. The very silence of his
    movement was unnerving because she