“All right.I understand.But I can assure you, despite my spinster age, I can still hold a quill.”
“You’re no spinster.”
“At nine-and-twenty, I’m certainly no fair maiden.”
“I disagree.”
“Well,” she pulled out a piece of paper, “tonight isn’t about me anyway.Shallwebegin?”
He chuckled as she held out her quill to him.
“Yes.That will do.”He sank into an armchair near the fire.“Read aloud what you write, please.”
“Of course, Your Grace.”
He chuckled at her irreverence and then listened to her steady tone express the contents of her missive.Despite the matter-of-fact evenness of her voice that was anything but sultry, he found himself lost in her pragmatic nature and unaware of the words.So when she finished and asked, “Is that to your liking?”
He wanted to answer, yes.He could truthfully answer, yes.But a nagging recollection of a promise of honesty tugged at his thoughts.
“To be perfectly transparent, I didn’t catch a word of that.”
“Oh botheration.”Abruptly she stood, sprinkled some pounce over the ink, and then put the letter in front of him.Quickly he scanned it and nodded.
“Well done.”
“Thank you.It’s almost as though I’ve been trained all my life on how to write a good letter.”
He smiled at her back while she replaced the missive on her desk and then watched as she joined him near the fire.
Having forgotten about the pillow—much to his delight—she sat on the edge of her armchair staring at the flickering flames.
They sat in a companionable silence for several crackles of wood.Until he couldn’t contain his own curiosity any longer.
“Have you prepared the first question you’d like to ask me?”
Attentively, he watched her head—directed to the floor—bounce up and down in affirmation.
“Would you like to ask me?”
Again.Another bounce.Further carpet staring.
“Are you ready to ask me?”
Stillness.
It had been too long ago for him to recall how he felt as an innocent.There had been a time for that…though it was short.Perhaps only a dozen plus years.He had been around fourteen when the first woman had approached him.Before his first experience with a woman, he had been curious—sure—but not impatient.He could have waited longer.But sometimes people made judgments about a person’s character and then that person just lived up to those judgments.It had only made sense.With the reputation his father had.And with his mother’s reaction to her husband…
Of course Soren would follow in their footsteps.And he hadn’t looked back.Until now.
“You don’t have to ask if you don’t want to—”
“I want to.”Her eyes darted up to his, and he caught a glimpse of trepidation in her eyes.It flickered, mirroring the fire before them.
He watched her fingers grip the edge of her seat, turning white.“It’s natural to be curious, my little librarian.It’s a good thing to have questions.And what happens between a man and a woman is natural, too.”
“You would think that.”
“Because I’m a rake?”His spine stiffened at her insult, regardless of the truth behind his label.
