“I think he needs to be taken out for a walk,” Rosalie said, putting him back down. “I can take him, though.”
“You’re just trying to get out of cleaning the library with me!” Violet protested.
Rosalie flashed her a mischievous grin. “Perhaps. Come on, Samson. That’s a good boy!”
She snapped her fingers, and the dog followed her back across the library and out the door.
Once she was alone, Violet let out a long sigh. Ofcourse,Rosalie was going to try and get out of organizing the library. She was a dreamer, not a doer. Violet, on the other hand, liked to get things done.
After some consideration, she set to sorting the books, cleaning them and arranging them by topic and author’s name. She had just gotten through an entire shelf of books when the door opened again.
“Back already, are you?” she asked, without turning.
“Was I here earlier and I don’t recall it?” her husband asked.
She turned quickly at the sound of his voice. He was standing at the door, cloaked in shadow, but he took a step forward into the light and smiled at her.
“I don’t think I have memory loss, but if I do, I’d rather forget last week than this one.”
“James!” Her heart thudded loudly in her chest. “I’ve barely seen you all week!”
And it was true. It was almost as if he had been purposefully avoiding her. He hadn’t even joined her for dinner the last two nights.
“I know.” He grimaced. “I’ve been very busy following up on everything. I’ve set up loans and some grants for the townspeople to start new, legal businesses. I’ve also hired more guards to ensure that Farrell and all his people are gone. I had several meetings with the people at Scotland Yard to discuss his arrest. Together, I think we have collected enough evidence of his wrongdoings that we can have him prosecuted for his crimes. They also wanted to know more about the kidnapping and to see if I wanted to press charges.”
“Do you?” Violet asked.
“Well, I told them it would be up to you. You were the wronged party, after all.”
Violet bit her lip as she considered this. She’d noticed recently that she had stopped caring when she bit her lip. Even if it was something her father did, it didn’t mean she was like him.
“I think I’d rather not interact with Farrell anymore,” she said slowly. “If there is enough evidence of his crimes to put him away without involving me and the kidnapping, I would prefer that.”
“It’s your choice.” James smiled. “We have enough evidence, and I don’t want to add to your worries. After all, your father is still on the loose—by the way, I finally hired a new constabulary for the duchy.”
Violet was quiet for a moment. She didn’t want to think about her father. Not right now, not when her life was finally starting to feel good.
“What are you doing in here?” James asked, moving further into the library.
“Sorting through your books,” she said. “Rosalie wants to be able to find things more easily, and the place really needs a thorough dusting.”
“So you’re doing it? All by yourself?” Her husband shook his head. “At least it’s less dangerous than hanging portraits, but you know I don’t approve of you doing all these home improvements by yourself when you have servants to do it.”
“It is fun.” Violet shrugged. “I get to see your collection of books and spy on you through them.”
James laughed. “What do you mean?”
“Well, these books give me insight into who you are. For instance, this one”—she pulled out a book on fly fishing—“is so dusty, and the pages are so yellow, that it clearly hasn’t been read in years. So I know you are not a flyfisher. But this one…” She took out a manual on boxing. “This one looks practically brand new, despite the publication date being a decade ago! So now I know where you learned to box.”
“We were also taught at Eton,” James said, taking the book from her and flipping through it. “Although the rules there were morestrictthan at Farrell’s pit.”
“Well, naturally.”
James put the book down and looked at her. His eyes were blazing, and she suddenly felt as if all the air had been sucked from the room.
“So… what else have you discovered about me through my books?” he asked.
“Hmm. You clearly have a penchant for embroidery.” She held up an embroidery book that was bookmarked on at least half the pages and laughed.
