A footman entered the room, pausing the conversation. “A caller, my lord.”
“Excuse me,” Grabe said, striding across the room to her. “I shall return shortly. Feel free to explore the library at your leisure.” He kissed her hand and left.
Prudence pulled her shoulders up, squinting her eyes closed. Why could she not be a normal woman and find him irresistible?She sighed and dropped her shoulders. Because she didn’t want to be a woman of many. She didn’t want to be one more in a line waiting for a vacancy in his bed. Because she didn’t give a fig for aristocracy and money. One she didn’t understand, and the other she had plenty of herself.
Then why not want the man he was underneath the trappings? Because he was... dull. Predictable. Practiced. Because at the end of dinners with other investors, she and Gregory would pull men like him apart, discussing and debating them until their suitabilities as investing partners were obvious and clear.
She stood and wandered to where Grabe had stood. She read the faded spines, finding titles to be utterly uninspiring.English Agriculture 1749-1800.Economic Ramifications of the Corn Laws in Scotland and Ireland.
Was Grabe lying to her? Did he really have anything that would make a decent resource? How utterly disappointing if he were. She stepped to the next bookcase. Perhaps there was a cultural difference in how books were titled?
She heard shouting in the corridor. Apparently the visitor was not a pleasant one. Hopefully it wasn’t some disgruntled husband. Or debt collector. Either way, she wanted nothing to do with that.
Turning her attention back onto the bookcases, there was a ladder to help her peer to the top shelf. She climbed up, scanning the titles. Leaning all the way over to read the very last title, she kicked her foot out to keep her balance. No tougher than walking across the beams of a barn loft.
The door burst open.
Prudence clutched the ladder, startled. Her foot slipped off the rung. Her feet paddled the air as she slid down the ladder in inches, finally gaining her purchase on the next rung.
“So you are here!” a man shouted.
Dear Lord, why was anyone screaming at her? She peeked over her shoulder to find a fiery-eyed Leo Moon. The initial terror she felt at being yelled at abated. She took a calming breath and climbed down the ladder.
“Hello, Mr. Moon.” She gave her largest, most hospitable smile. As if she were the hostess here. Which she most definitely was not. She almost called him Leo. Which, in front of Grabe, would have been a mistake. As his shouting at her was a mistake. Surely, he could see this wasn’t helping?
“I told you she was here,” Grabe said, rounding the door frame.
“Who doesn’t like a good library?” Prudence asked.
“You don’t understand what this means,” Leo spat at her. “What he’s up to.”
Prudence raised her eyebrows, opening her eyes as wide as any painting of an innocent. She was irritated enough that she wanted to poke at him. “That I might borrow a book from Lord Grabe?”
“Young women do not visit unmarried men! Not without talk, not without speculation, and especially with a sod like Eyeball.”
“Eyeball?” Prudence asked.
Grabe burst out laughing. “They used to call me that at school. On account of my different colored eyes.”
Prudence smiled. “They are very charming. Your eyeballs.”
“Don’t compliment him, Prudence.” Leo gave a scathing glance over his shoulder at his rival.
“Whyever not? It’s nice to compliment someone. I like compliments. Do you not like compliments, Lord Grabe?”
“I do indeed,” he rumbled.
“Mr. Moon, are you the particular sort of person that cannot abide a compliment?”
He ignored her. “If you do this, you will ruin your reputation, and the reputation of the entire Ladies’ Alpine Society.”
Her spine stiffened. Was that a threat? There were all sorts of missteps she would forgive, all kinds of rudeness she would ignore, but threatening her friends, with whom she’d been through so much, she could not abide. “You dare threaten me?”
“I’m not threatening, merely showing you consequences that you might not realize.”
Did he not see what he was doing by making a scene in front of a member of theton? A man who could easily walk to the nearest men’s club and ruin not just her reputation, but her friends’, and their chance to accomplish a feat no other woman had ever done?
“Lord Grabe, would you please—” The tongue-lashing she was about to dish out should not be observed. This was intolerable. Her hands trembled as fury snaked through her.
