It was the fact that every room I could see, from the foyer to the stairwell, to the kitchen, and even a bathroom down the hall, was lined with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. And every one of those shelves was jam-packed to the gills.
Ronan Black didn’t live in a house. He lived in a freaking library.
“Jesus,” I breathed. “You didn’t even ask me to close my eyes first.”
“What?”
I turned to the door, where Ronan was still standing, watching me with an amused expression. “You know, when Belle gets the library… actually, never mind.” I turned back to the house as Ronan flipped on the lights that illuminated even more shelves all the way down a narrow hall. “How many books do you have here?”
“You know, I’ve never counted. Probably at least three or four thousand. But I’d guess more.”
“Have you read them all?” I had a feeling I knew the answer, but I wanted him to say it, anyway.
“Of course. You think I’m so pretentious that I’d line my house with used books just to make myself feel smarter?”
I chuckled, but already I found myself wandering closer, if just to see what exactly he had read.
Gogol. Pushkin. Tolstoy.
“Have a thing for the Russians, do you?”
“They’re just to deter intruders. No one likes a nihilist.” He grabbed my hand. “Come on, Ari. I want to show you around.”
To my surprise, it didn’t take long. The main floor consisted of little more than a living room, a small kitchen that actually looked used, and an office that looked out onto the street through tinted windows. Up a set of creaking pine stairs, he showed me one bedroom that was modest, if nicely furnished with slightly battered antiques that fit the slightly worn aesthetic of the home.
Every one of the rooms was equally full of books.
“You’ll like this one the best,” Ronan said as he brought me into a second bedroom.
“Why, because it’s yours?” I joked.
“Because it’s ours,” he corrected me. “And also because it’s where all our favorite stuff is, of course.” He pulled a book off a shelf. “I’ve been rereading Cicero’s speeches. Seemedappropriate, given the role I’m about to take on at the company. Got to learn to be a leader somehow.”
I took the book and flipped it open to find that it wasn’t a translation, as I’d expected. It was the original Latin, the margins lined with small, neat script that had to be Ronan’s writing. “You can read this?”
It was unusual, to say the least. I had studied Latin for several years through undergrad and college, and even now, I wouldn’t consider myself fluent. I could read several forms of Greek with ease, but Latin was never my strong suit.
“Latin, yeah. French and Italian, too. My ancient Greek is so so, but I’m working on it.” He took the book back, placing it carefully on the shelf. “I told you I was a Classics geek like you, Ari.”
“I know, but I didn’t expect…” I looked around the room again. “I didn’t expect this. You’re probably more well-read than I am, and I’m ABD. Hell, you’re probably more well-read than most professors.”
For the first time, Ronan looked bashful as he shrugged away the compliment. “It’s just reading. I don’t do anything about it. I can’t. I never could.”
For the first time, it occurred to me that Ronan’s life wasn’t all easy parties, fast women, free jets, and money everywhere. There was clearly a lot of pressure to be a member of his family. A road had been set out for him from the time he was born, but I was starting to wonder if it was less a path and more of a gilded cage.
I reached out to take his hand again and squeezed. “Thank you for showing me this.”
Again, that bashful shrug appeared. He couldn’t quite meet my eyes. “You’re my wife. I want you here. Plus, you deserve to know who you actually married.”
My wife.
“I married a secret scholar. I like it.”
“Don’t tell anyone. It’ll ruin my reputation.”
I laughed. I couldn’t help it. He laughed too, and it made my entire body warm.
It also made me very conscious of the fact that I was standing in front of a plush, available bed next to a very attractive man whom I had been dreaming about kissing for two solid weeks. And that my mind had been filled, via that contract, with every possible thing we could do together.
