Heiress in Red Silk, Hunter, Madeline [good beach reads TXT] 📗

arrived early morning. At two o’clock, Rosamund waited for Kevin in her library.

She had not seen him since they returned. That was not such a long time, yet this outing made her nervous and excited. Paris had receded into the past already. She wondered if they would see each other differently here at home. As less interesting. Less desirable.

She distracted herself by staring at her empty bookshelves. She needed to do something about them. They shouted that she was new to this home, and this life.

Kevin entered the library right after the hour. She heard his boot step and turned around on the divan so she could see him. His warm smile made her core twinge, like an echo of stronger sensations she had experienced with him.

She hopped up. He strode over, pulled her into his arms, and kissed her. “It seemed forever,” he said. “Only now it is like no time at all has passed.”

She couldn’t keep from smiling and laughing. He kissed her again, deeply, and she began to fly.

“We have to go.” He set her away from himself.

She went out with him and got into the carriage. She noticed it was a hired one.

“Have you found all well at your shop?” he asked.

She regaled him with the progress and the commissions coming in. “Matters seem well in hand in Richmond too. I think I may be able to keep both of them. And you? What has happened with you?”

“Nothing much, other than planning the next steps. I spent some time with Nicholas. I arranged the documents we need to send funds to France. Oh, and I told my father about us.”

He said it all casually, as if he barely paid attention to his own words. He might have been saying he ate his dinner, read a book, and by the bye, took a walk.

“What did he think of that news?”

He looked out the window, his lids lowered against the sunlight that sculpted his fine face into their aristocratic planes. “He did not like the idea, but we expected that.”

“Was there a row?”

“Not at all. Although he insisted Nicholas and the aunts come to weigh in. A minor irritation, that. And he told me this morning that he never wants to see me again. Hence the hired carriage you are in.” He smiled at her. “All of which I anticipated, and none of which signifies.”

“He closed his home to you? That’s terrible.”

“Had I been sure it would happen, I might have found an inappropriate match years ago.”

“Where will you go?”

“I’ll stay at Whiteford House for several days, then find chambers. Don’t look so distraught. I don’t mind, so you shouldn’t.”

He acted as if his family’s rejection of him would not bother him, but he wasn’t indifferent to all of them.

“Did the duke also—”

“The aunts wanted him to, but he refused. He was not happy to be dragged into the fray. I don’t think Chase cares either. The rest can go to hell.”

“I told Minerva, and she did not seem shocked.”

“She wasn’t disapproving at all?”

“Not about you having a liaison with me, or about your perhaps marrying me. She was very surprised, but not disapproving.”

“Was she shocked that you would consider marrying me?”

She bit her lower lip, but a giggle found its way out. “Maybe a little?”

He laughed. “More than a little is my guess. She doesn’t like me much.” He bent and looked out the window. “We are just starting down the Strand.” He pulled the curtains, then reached for her. “That means I have enough time to kiss you properly before we reach the bank.”

* * *

Kevin dealt with his own draft first, then allowed the clerk to handle Rosamund’s. With blotting paper at the ready, she dipped the pen and signed her name. She then requested some additional funds for her use.

“Those drafts will go in the mail to Forestier’s bank. It should only take a few days,” he explained while they emerged from the building. “We should receive confirmation by return post.”

“Then it is done, and I have some banknotes in my reticule and none too soon. The journey to Paris used what was left from my first withdrawal.” She took his arm and they strolled down the street. “I have a dinner being cooked for us. You can explain our next steps then.”

“We have a few hours to spare. What would you like to do?”

“I want to buy some books. The library still looks very sad.”

“Books it will be. Do you know which shop you want to visit?”

“I have never been in one. They always looked forbidding. Any shop you choose should be good enough.”

The shops could be forbidding. He knew one that was not, however. He told the carriage man to take them to Finsbury Square.

“This is one of the largest. It is called Temple of the Muses.” He explained about the muses while guiding Rosamund inside. “It can’t be too forbidding if it dubs itself the cheapest bookstore in the world. No credit, but we should have enough on us to purchase a good number of books.”

She entered, gazing around. “It is very large. Look, there is a dome.”

“Even this level is huge, and there are four stories in all. When it first opened, a mail coach and four drove inside around the center here.”

“I don’t know where to start with walls of books to choose from. I want some proper ones, though. The kind Lily should read.” She made a crooked, little smile. “Me too, if I’m to improve myself.”

“They buy up whole libraries. Let’s see if any have come in that are good.” He brought her to the circular counter and asked to speak with Mr. Lackington, the owner, about the recent acquisitions.

They were sent to an office the next level up. There, a white-haired Mr. George Lackington received them. Upon hearing Rosamund’s interest in shelves of books, he ushered them to a large nook. “We still acquire and sell libraries. I think what you want will be here. These