Um, no. The moment things had started flying, he’d yelled at everyone to get out. His mother had already been running. She was fast on her feet whenever a situation turned ugly. His sister had been slower, and he’d been struck by another book—in the center of his back—while bodily hauling her out.
Giselle nodded. “Good news, I don’t think you need stitches. Though it might prevent a scar.”
“I’ll risk it,” he said. “Thank you for checking though.”
She smiled. “Of course.”
And then her eyes hardened.
“And now, let’s go check out your library.”
“No!” he exclaimed as he shot to his feet. But damn, a bolt of pain had him swaying. Giselle caught his arm, steadying him.But that did nothing to prevent Gwenivere and Susanne from walking out the parlor, straight for the library.
The door was shut. Of course it was. He’d slammed it closed when they’d fled. And there wasn’t a servant in the house who would touch it now, much less open it. Not a problem for Gwenivere who firmly yanked the door open.
Then she stopped dead and stared, her mouth going slack in shock. Susanne peeked around her shoulder, gasped, and backed away. Then it was Giselle’s turn to look inside before turning to give him an arch look.
“Tell me again how you don’t have a ghost.”
Chapter Five
Giselle surveyed thedestroyed library. Every single book was on the floor. And not just the books. The floor was covered with papers that had probably been on the desk, two candelabra, and a couple pillows that had been on the settee. The pillows looked comical, placed as they were atop an enormous pile of books. It was as if the ghost had been sitting on the pile—a mystical creature on his throne—with the pillows as support.
The thought eased her fear and brought out a smile as she watched Jonathan look through the library door.
“Good God,” he murmured.
“What? What happened? Let me see!” his mother exclaimed.
“Stay back, Mama,” Jonathan began but the woman had already made it around the corner.
She gasped then stood there trembling until Susanne gently cupped her elbow. “Let’s go back into the parlor, Mama,” she said.
Fortunately, the countess went easily, but Jonathan remained, his body increasingly rigid as he stared into the library. Giselle waited as he came to terms with the evidence. She knew it was best to give the man space to wrestle it out. Just because she and her siblings had been raised with knowledge of ghosts, didn’t mean that anyone else was so armed.
Unfortunately, her sister wasn’t the patient sort. She turned and crossed her arms, her brows arched as she glared at him.
“Are you going to say, ‘stuff and nonsense’? Or that there’s a logical explanation for all this? Perhaps you had a spring storm right here in the library and nowhere else? Come on, my lord,” she drawled. “What is your rational explanation for this?”
“Stop it, Gwennie,” Giselle snapped. “That isn’t the way.”
“Isn’t it?” her twin challenged. “How many times has he called us mad? How many times did he laugh about the troubled twins? Crazy,” she said, imitating his deep voice. “They believe in ghosts.” Gwen took a step forward. “Well, what do you say now?”
Jonathan’s jaw flexed and he turned his hard eyes on Gwenivere. “To you, I say, Get out. This is a private affair and taunting me only makes things worse.” Then before Gwenivere could respond, he turned to Giselle, gently touching her hands. “To you, I say, can you help us? I was wrong. My father was wrong.” He gestured into the library. “I don’t know what’s going on.”
Naturally Gwenivere blustered, but Giselle shot her twin a hard look to silence her before turning back to Jonathan.
“I did warn you that your ghost would be more powerful after this afternoon.”
Jonathan’s eyes widened as he nodded, but it was Gwen who had the most strident reaction.
“You let it touch you?” she asked Giselle. “What were you thinking?”
Giselle glared at her sister. Why couldn’t the woman be quiet? “I couldn’t hear what it was saying. Just wails.”
“But now it’s strong enough to—”
“Prove to his lordship that we aren’t crazy.” Giselle jerked her chin toward the devastation inside the library. Without that extra power from her, the ghost would not have been able to do that. And Jonathan would never have believed. Unfortunately, the man took the wrong meaning from her statement.
