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best she could do for him now was to replace the emeralds and disclaim all knowledge of what he had been about at Gordon Hall. Could they hang a man merely for breaking into a gentleman’s residence? She didn’t think so.
    But she was too late. Already, approaching rapidly along the very passage she meant to take, came the heavy tread and deep voice that she had learned to dread. Seconds later her brother-in-law filled the doorway.
    Graham was a large man, tall and stocky in a way that promised considerable girth later in life. His once-fair hair had darkened to an indeterminate shade of brown, and his blunt features would not have been out of place on a pugilist. The only things that he and Paul had in common were the same pale blue eyes that Chelsea had inherited. Dreamy and thick-lashed on Paul, they were hard and keen in Graham’s face. Where Paul’s jaw had been round, and perhaps softer than a man’s should be, Graham’s was square and jutted. But the difference in the brothers was not only physical: Graham possessed not a whit of Paul’s sensitivity or kind nature. Graham was about as sensitive and kind as a hound on the hunt.
    “Good God, Anna, what mad start is this?” With Henricks fluttering in obsequious attendance, Graham strode through the door, still tying the knot of his dressing gown as he surveyed both her and the scene. Anna had come to a dead stop just a few feet from the arched doorway and stood clutching the housebreaker’s cloak closely about her person as she looked at Graham without replying. How she had come to despise him—and fear him too! She could barely be in his company for a matter of minutes without feeling her skin crawl.
    “ ’Tis a thief, my lord. Miss Anna’s caught ’im!” Mrs. Mullins’s shrill voice drew Graham’s attention.
    “A thief? Is this true?” Graham caught Anna’s arm in passing and dragged her along with him as he moved to stand staring down at the housebreaker. Anna resigned herself to the fact that, for the moment, escape was impossible. With Davis, Beedle, and the maids still straddling the housebreaker’s back, it was difficult to see much of the man himself. Graham’s hand around her arm, even with the material of the cloak and her nightdress to protect her from his actual touch, was making her feel faintly sick. All she could think of was getting away.…
    “Anna?” When she said not a word, Graham shook her arm, his eyes narrowing on her face. “What happened?”
    After the way he had tried to force himself upon her the previous night, she could not bear to be so near him. She had awakened to find him crawling naked between her sheets, his hand already groping along her thigh.…
    “Anna?” His hand tightened on her arm, and he bent so close that his breath fanned her cheek. Anna averted her face. For the housebreaker’s sake, she could not tell the unvarnished truth. She must prevaricate—but it was hard to lie when she could barely even think!
    “I came upon him … by accident. He meant to carry me off, and I… I tried to shoot him with your papa’s dueling pistol, but I missed, and then I hit him with that candlestick.” She nodded toward the object in question,
    “He tried to carry you off?” Graham’s voice was shrill with incredulity. “Who the devil is he? Do you know him? What did he want here?” His rapid-fire questions were accompanied by another shake of the arm.
    “Why, I came to call on you, brother,” came the reply, in a gravelly voice that was familiar to Anna. She started, even as the servants gasped and Graham’s head swung sharply around. All eyes fixed on the housebreaker, whose eyes were open. Despite his ignominious position and the great bruise purpling his temple, his gaze was both fearless and mocking.
    “You!” Graham sounded as if the work choked him. His face had turned an alarming shade of puce.
    “In the flesh. Were you not expecting me? You should have been.”
    “Summon the magistrate!