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you
    will be following while in my charge. Is that understood?"
    "Bloody hell," Robert whispered. "He's a raving madman, he is."
    Ethan and Hugh continued to stare at Chillhurst with stricken expressions.
    "I said, is that understood?" Chillhurst repeated in a dangerously soft tone.
    Ethan's and Hugh's eyes went to the knife that was strapped to Chillhurst's thigh.
    "Yes, sir," Ethan said quickly.
    Hugh swallowed. "Yes, sir."
    Robert gave Chillhurst a sullen look but he did not argue. "Yes, sir."
    "You are dismissed," Chillhurst said.
    All three boys turned and bolted for the door. The dogs followed in a concerted rush. There was a
    temporary crush in the doorway but it was soon cleared.
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    In a moment the library was quiet once more.
    Olympia stared at the empty doorway, awed. "That was absolutely incredible, Mr. Chillhurst. You may
    consider yourself hired."
    "Thank you, Miss Wingfield. I shall endeavor to earn my keep."

Chapter 2
    « ^ »
    "I must be completely honest with you, Mr. Chillhurst." Olympia folded her hands on top of her desk
    and peered at Jared. "I have hired three tutors in the past six months. None of them stayed longer than a
    fortnight."
    "I assure you I shall stay as long as is necessary, Miss Wingfield." Jared sat back in his chair, propped
    his elbows on the upholstered arms, and regarded Olympia over his steepled fingers.
    Bloody hell, he thought. He could not take his gaze off her. She had fascinated him from the moment he
    had walked into her library.
    No, he realized, his fascination had begun the other night in that grimy French port tavern when Artemis
    Wingfield had described his unusual niece. Jared had spent the entire trip across the channel speculating
    about the woman who had managed to locate the Lightbourne diary. Various members of his own family
    had spent years attempting to discover it and had failed. What sort of female had beaten them all to it, he
    wondered.
    Even allowing for his curiosity, however, he still did not understand the strange shock of awareness that
    had gone through him when he had seen Draycott seize Olympia. The sensation that had washed through
    Jared in that moment had been deep and disturbing, almost savage in its intensity.
    It was as if he had walked into the room and discovered his woman being mauled by another man. He
    had wanted to strangle Draycott. At the same time he had been outraged at Olympia's obvious lack of
    common sense. He had longed to shake her and then drag her down onto the carpet and make love to
    her.
    Jared was dazed by the strength of his feelings. He recalled his emotions the day he had found his
    fiancée, Demetria Seaton, in the arms of her lover. His reaction on that occasion had not been nearly as
    violent as what he had experienced today.
    It made no sense. There was no logic to it.
    But even knowing that, it had taken Jared mere seconds to make his reckless decision. In a heartbeat he
    had tossed aside his coolly conceived, eminently logical plans. All thoughts of purchasing the diary and its
    secrets and then returning to his business affairs vanished in an instant.
    With a breathtaking, completely uncharacteristic disregard for common sense he had consigned the
    Lightbourne diary to hell. A mundane business arrangement was the very last thing he wanted to enter
    into with Olympia. Indeed, he could not bear the thought.
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    He wanted her. Wanted her.
    Once that blazing realization had struck him all that had seemed important was that he discover a way to
    stay here in the vicinity of his enchanting siren. He needed to explore this fierce, powerful, passionate
    attraction if it was the last thing he did on earth.
    Nothing else mattered quite as much, not his sensible plan to secure the diary and thereby put an end to
    his family's pursuit of it, not his far-flung business affairs,