Emerald's heart, already beating an adrenalin-charged tattoo as she eased herself down the drainpipe, had gone into overtime at the sudden appearance of her father. But the moment her gaze had collided with the dark-eyed stranger standing with him she had known instinctively that she had an ally. He hadn't batted an eyelid at the sight she must have made, not given her away by so much as a twitch of an eyebrow. Instead he had quite coolly considered his options.

He could have informed her father that he appeared to have an incompetent cat burglar clinging to his drainpipe.

Or he could have ignored the situation, pretend he hadn't seen her and hope she didn't fall into the roses.

Only a man without a scrap of imagination would have considered either of them. What the dark-eyed stranger did was offer her the opportunity to escape by creating a diversion.