The Earl's Holiday Wager by Theresa Romain

Author:Theresa Romain [Romain, Theresa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Theresa Romain
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

Containing the Tale of a Paddling

“Where should this book go?” Jane asked for the six hundred thirty-seventh time.

All right, not that many. But Louisa’s morning in the library had been full of questions and chaos, since Alex had bid his young cousin to work off her speculation debt of time by, as he put it, “obeying Miss Oliver’s every command in the library, if you can manage such a sensible act.”

Louisa wasn’t sure if he’d meant this as a kindness to her or Jane, or if he simply wanted both women out of his sight for a while.

Fine. Louisa didn’t mind keeping the troublesome man out of her sight for a while, either. She couldn’t trust herself to behave wisely around him; she had learned that the previous night.

But she could trust him. He’d done nothing worse than follow her lead. He’d stopped when she stopped him.

Wait. Why had she stopped him?

She shivered. Never mind. She and Jane had plenty of books to occupy their time, and Louisa ought to keep her thoughts occupied, too.

“Jane, are you still taking notes on the morocco-bound books?” Louisa called over her shoulder as she heaved a beautifully bound folio from an upper shelf. “You’ll have to flip those open and check the pages. The binder didn’t mark a single spine. Very unhelpful of him.”

“I do like creating chaos,” Jane commented. “Is there any point to what we’re doing beyond that?”

Louisa stepped back, folio clutched in her arms, and turned to her friend. “Yes.”

She laid the folio on the chaise longue—cover it with books, don’t think of what you did here last night—and knelt before it, stroking the finely tooled and gilded leather with her fingertips.

“Your cousin requested that I learn what I could about the library,” she said. “Even make a beginning at a catalogue.”

“I knew you were brilliant,” Jane commented. “You’re doing exactly as he said, but in such a way as to infuriate him.”

“Why should he be infuriated by our obedience?” Louisa asked blandly. Jane grinned and dropped another book with a thump.

Assisted by a capable housemaid named Ellie, Jane and Louisa had been slamming books around for several hours now: noting the titles, stacking them in tottery towers, and distributing an ungodly amount of dust. It was the first time Louisa had truly looked around the library since finding the encoded family history. The books, and Jane’s chatter, were welcome distractions.

“Besides,” Louisa added, “it’s not as though anyone uses this lovely room. The only times I’ve ever encountered another guest is when someone entered looking for Lord Xavier.”

“You’ve been spending a lot of time with him, haven’t you?” Jane asked. “Ugh, this is geometry. Or calculus. Something dreadful.” Thump. “Ellie, hand me another book.”

As Jane and the housemaid handed off volumes, Louisa flipped the folio open, her eyes dimly noting the fineness of the marbled endpapers. “I suppose I have spent a lot of time with him, yes,” she answered.

Jane’s chatter was now failing as a distraction. This was not good.

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