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the truth to save your life!”
    There was a brief silence.
    “Miss Lister,” Miles said, “you have my measure exactly. So in the spirit of saying—or doing—whatever I have to, in order to get what I want, I am telling you unless you agree to marry me I will tell everyone about your career as a thief.”
    Alice’s gaze locked with his. His expression was completely serious. There was a cool, intent look in his eyes, as though he were measuring the odds on a wager. Alice felt her heart start to race. In the early days of their acquaintance she had observed that Miles’s detachment, his air of withdrawal, was part of his attraction. He seemed so cool and aloof. To be able to reach him, to kindle something in him that was more than physical passion, would be the dream of some woman with less common sense than she had now.
    “You are seeking to blackmail me into marriage,” she said, trying to match his calmness while her blood thundered in her veins and a part of her mind protested that he simply could not mean to do it, while another part was damned sure that he did.
    Miles shrugged easily. “ Blackmail is such an ugly word, Miss Lister. I desire to marry you. In fact, it is essential to me that I do marry you. So let us call it a bargain.”
    “Why prettify something that is fundamentally unpleasant?” Alice asked steadily. She pressed her hands together. “You propose. I refuse.” Her voice lit withanger. “You are despicable, Lord Vickery.” She examined her feelings and added with some surprise, “In fact, you are even more ruthless and less likable than I had thought you were.”
    Miles’s dark brows lifted in mocking amusement. He seemed unmoved by her disapproval, which, Alice thought, was surely further proof of his detestability. “Do you want me to tell everyone that you are a thief?” he asked gently.
    “Of course I do not want that,” Alice said. She held his gaze and tried to hold her nerve. “I know you would not really do it.”
    Miles laughed. “My dear, you underestimate me. If that is what it takes to gain your hand in marriage—”
    “But it will not gain you that.” Alice turned away from him and took a few agitated steps across the room then turned to meet his gaze with unflinching directness. “No one would believe you, my lord. You must be able to see the weaknesses of your position. I could conjure up half a dozen people to say that I was blamelessly at home in bed last night and that you must have made a mistake.”
    She saw the flash of calculation in his eyes as he realized that she was not going to surrender easily. The conflict between them tightened a notch, sending the blood buzzing through her veins.
    “You would add perjury to your offenses?” Miles asked softly.
    “Yes,” Alice said. “If I had to.”
    “Even though I have the gown as proof of your theft?”
    Alice made a grab for the wedding dress but Miles was too quick for her, holding it up out of her reach.
    “I will tell the authorities that I caught you red-handed with this,” Miles said. “You know that the penalty for theft on this scale is death? Even if the courts showed you leniency you would be transported or imprisoned. Are you really prepared to take the risk of being found guilty, Miss Lister? How do you think your mother would feel about that?”
    For a moment the black shadows threatened to close in on Alice’s mind and she was afraid she would faint.
    Death. Transportation. Imprisonment.
    She grabbed the edge of the table to steady herself.
    “And then there is Miss Cole,” Miles continued. “What would happen to her if you were sent to jail? Her lover betrayed her, her family has cast her out and she is pregnant and destitute.” His gaze, cool and mocking, rested on Alice’s face. “She would be utterly without protection.”
    Alice pressed a hand to her forehead. “You are despicable!”
    Miles laughed. “So you have already told me. It is not in dispute.”
    Alice tried to