Struggling with the picklock, Lady Annabel Dale found committing a crime wasn't nearly as easy as she'd thought it would be when she'd come up with this brilliant idea.

First of all, though the house was silent and seemingly deserted on Christmas Eve with everyone off making merry, she'd still made an appalling squeak when she'd raised the window, which had shaken her nerve. Clambering over the sill in long skirts had not been nearly as easy as she expected either, and her heart had pounded wildly as she slid inside what appeared to be the library. Secondly, though she thought she'd been very clever to have one of her father's assistants instruct her on how to use the device for tumbling the mechanism of a locked door, she had apparently not been as apt a pupil as she thought.

"Damnation," she muttered inelegantly, jingling the handle in frustration.

"Here," a familiar deep voice spoke from behind her, "let me help. In fact, I have a key. I'm afraid I keep some rather valuable things in my study so you'll have to forgive my precautions."

She froze, poignantly guilty as she crouched in the darkness of the hallway. Suddenly, it seemed as if she ceased to breathe, her world tumbling to utter disorder.

When she didn't move, she felt a hand gently disengage her fingers from the ineffectual instrument, pull it free, and then take her arm to ease her to her feet. Looking up, she saw a tall silhouette looming over her, the grip on her arm both gentle and yet unyielding. That same cultured drawl murmured, "I have been expecting you. Darling, Annie, you are so predictable. Beautiful, alluring, and utterly predictable."

She had not set on eyes on him in over a year, yet even in the pitched shadows his masculine scent was disconcertingly familiar, washing over her with unwanted memory, and the faint gleam of his smile made her pulse suddenly throb under his long fingers.

Finally she found her voice, saying thinly, "Hello, Robert."

His face shaded because he was so much taller, Sir Robert Dalton didn't relinquish his light clasp as he stared down at her with inscrutable eyes. "I suppose, since this is a holiday, you assumed I would be out."

"It seemed the safest time to see the amulet." She didn't see any point in denying anything since she was caught so red-handed. "If I remember correctly, your father insists on your presence at Claid House on special occasions."

"He does. However, since I had high hopes of apprehending a lovely burglar intent on stealing a precious artifact, I declined. I am sure you understand, since you are one of the few people in this world that knows its true value."

"I wasn't going to steal it, that would be ridiculous for you would suspect my father or myself right away. I just wanted to finally look at and hold what I spent two years searching for." It was a little difficult to have dignity under the circumstances, but Annabel tried anyway, lifting her chin and attempting to tug her arm away.

"We are colleagues and I am not an unreasonable man. Knocking on my door and asking is always a logical option." His voice was infuriatingly mild but his grip tightened slightly.

"And humbly ask you a favor? I don't think so," she said tartly.

"Ah, I see. You are still angry with me, is that it?"

Robert was a brilliant scientist, one of the world's foremost archeologists, but he was still male, which at this moment meant incredibly dense. Coolly, she suggested, "Perhaps you could have me hauled off to Newgate Prison for breaking into your house. That should cause a stir in all the proper circles. I'll be ruined of course, which should please you, and you shall humiliate my father, which should also please you. I'd say you've taken the day, Sir Robert. Congratulations."

"Neither one of those things would please me and you well know it."

Now that her eyes had adjusted to the murky light, she could see his face a little more clearly, though she knew it by heart without the meager illumination. His features were sculpted and classically handsome; dark brows over silver eyes, a straight if arrogant nose, and a mouth that could summon a smile to send a woman to her knees. Coupled with his tall, athletic build, he was a very attractive man.

An infuriating, high-handed man, but undeniably good looking.

"Now then, perhaps we should go upstairs and discuss how to handle this," Robert drawled with a flash of that lazy smile. "There is a nice fire in my bedroom."

At the same time outrage invaded every pore of her body, a treacherous tiny curl of excitement shot through her stomach. Her tone dripped acid. "Your bedroom? How quaint. There I suppose I shall pay my penance for this unfortunate crossing of our paths."

"That would be nice, if my memory serves me, Lady Annabel. After all, you came here on your dark errand, I did not kidnap you; though the idea has tempted me in the two weeks I've been back in London."

She hated it when he used that smug tone, but trying to tug her arm free again didn't work in the least. She hissed, "I should never have let you seduce me."

"My lady, please do not act for one moment as if you were not eager to be seduced. In fact, if my memory serves, you seemed to enjoy the entire thing with a surprising amount of enthusiasm for one so innocent."

Never had she been so happy for the darkness, for he couldn't see her furious blush, since there was a certain truth to his words. "You, sir," she said in scathing condemnation, "are no gentleman."

He countered mercilessly, "When on an expedition in the jungle, under a soft waterfall with the woman you desire with every fiber of your being bathing naked in front of you, the silly strictures of society seem fairly useless. You felt the same way, for you responded like a woman to my touch, not a prim lady. You, my dear, are a gloriously passionate woman, and that passion has haunted me for all these long past months. Now then, shall we go upstairs and refresh my memory of what it is like to have you soft and willing beneath me?" Then, unfortunately, his voice softened to a melting tone she so very well remembered. "Darling Annie, this is a night for giving and celebrating life. Come now, we have been apart for too long. I want you."

The horrible thing was ... it was tempting. She, too, remembered what it was like to have Robert hold her, to feel wild in his arms, to have him moving insistently inside her...

"Thanks to that foolish moment," the words tumbled out in painful honesty, "my father sent me home and has forbidden me to ever participate in another expedition. I am regulated to writing academic papers and transcribing his journals while stuck here living with my aunt."

"I know. Thanks to that foolish wonderful moment, he no longer considers me an honorable man and I lost a friend." Robert stared down at her. "Even though I offered marriage, he refused to consider it because of our shared profession. And perhaps he is right. You are simply too beautiful to drag all over the world, it is too difficult to protect you. And if I marry you and leave you here, you will become bitter, as you already are, over my long absences when you cannot accompany me. It ruined his marriage and he does not want that for you, no matter our feelings for each other."

She could not help it, her eyes filled with tears. The solemn ticking of the clock in the long dark hallway sounded very loud. Annabel whispered, "You see, we are at an impasse, sir."

He slowly shook his head. "I believe I have come up with a viable solution. How much do you trust me, sweet Annie? You have an intrepid spirit, it is one of the things I love about you. Come with me now, make love with me and gift me with your trust and your body." His smile widened wickedly and his hand slid down her arm to clasp her fingers instead. He lifted her hand to his mouth and kissed it lightly, his breath warm on her knuckles. "In the spirit of the season, I pledge to be extremely generous."

If she had been able to resist his persuasive sensual charm, she would never have laid down under that soft Brazilian waterfall and spread her legs for him in the first place, losing a lot more than her virginity. Closing her eyes briefly, Annabel swallowed and said in surrender, "I am a little chilled. I suppose a fire would be nice."

Chuckling, Robert swept her up into his arms. "I just might have some mistletoe up there as well."