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“This is no longer just rude or brazen for a member of staff. This is cruel too,” she said, reaching out to try and take the book from his hands.
“Cruel?” he looked horrified by the word. “I am not trying to be cruel; I just want you out of the chair.”
“I was enjoying a little peace by myself in this beautiful library with a good book, and you have destroyed that,” she said pleadingly. Her attraction to the man was making no sense to her now. How could she be attracted to him when he was going out of his way to be so difficult?
“Sit in this chair instead, and I will leave you be,” he pleaded and dropped the book into the seat of another chair.
Silence descended between them. He stood a little distance away with his arms folded, watching her intently. Meanwhile she was calculating if she could get the book back without leaving the seat. She took the arms of her chair and itched it to the side, shuffling with it toward the other one. To her amazement, the stranger before her laughed loudly, tipping his head back. It made his sharp features soften into something quite mesmerizing.
“I should have seen that coming,” he said, shaking his head as though in despair of himself.
“Fortunately for me, you did not,” she said with victory as she picked up the book off the other chair and pulled it back into her lap again.
“Forgive me for this, but if you do not get out of the chair, I will be forced to do something rash,” he said, stalking toward her. Looking up at him in this position, she supposed she should feel some kind of fear, but she did not. She was too busy staring at his handsome face instead and wondering what the something ‘rash’ could be.
“What would that be?” she asked. “Lay a hand one me, and I will complain to the Duke.”
“I would never harm a woman,” he said with feeling. “Never suspect me of that.”
“Then what do you intend to do?” she asked, sitting as tall as she could in the chair.
“I intend to distract you,” he said, placing his hands on the arms of the chair and leaning toward her again. “Distraction could be the perfect way to make you stand from that chair.”
“You think you could distract me?” she smiled mischievously as she lifted the open book between them, separating his gaze from hers. “Good luck with that,” she said, hiding her temptation to laugh as she settled her eyes on the words on the page instead of him.
“Damn the consequences,” he muttered from the other side of the book.
“What does that–” Before she could finish her question, the book was snatched out of her hand. “Wait, I was reading.”
Her complaint fell on deaf ears though. The book was tossed onto the other chair nearby, and then the stranger turned back toward her.
“What are you–” Her question was cut off as he lowered his face to hers and pressed his lips to hers in a kiss.
