Page 240 of The Life of Anna-Tenth Anniversary Edition: Act 2

Well, at least the guy wasn’t a sleazeball who wanted to hurt Anna. At least it didn’t seem like it. The woman had spoken of Max as if she had the utmost respect for the man. Of course, many respectable men took advantage of younger women. Just look at the Elders.

Seth huffed, trying to decide what to do. Part of him thought he should find a way through that door to make sure Anna was okay, but his gut told him Max was a good guy and there was nothing to worry about.

The question became, then, where would Anna emerge? The building was enormous, and who knew if she would even come back up to this floor? He only knew for certain that she had to leave through the main door, so he headed downstairs to stake out the exit.

About an hour and a half later, Max walked through a side door and made his way to the information desk. Maybe he could learn something from him. Seth meandered toward the information desk.

“Hello.” Max gave him a friendly smile. “How may I help you?”

How best to approach the subject? “I noticed you speaking with a woman upstairs a while ago...” He hesitated. “You seem to know her quite well.”

“Yes.” Max gave him a sideways look and nodded. “You might say that.”

“What can you tell me about her?”

Max’s eyebrow arched and his eyes narrowed. He was protective of her. Good. “Why do you ask?”

Seth grinned. “She’s a beautiful woman.” He gave a little shrug. “I’d like to know more about her.”

The older man studied him for a while. “She’s engaged.”

“I see.” He paused. “Whoever he is must be a very lucky man.”

Max frowned. “I don’t know if he realizes how lucky he is.”

“Why do you say that?”

He sighed. “It’s not my place to spread rumors, but... let’s just say he doesn’t seem to appreciate her the way she should be appreciated.”

“She’s a special girl?”

Max nodded with a fond smile. “Not too many young people spend their days off in the library. But she comes every week, either on Sundays or Mondays. Well, up until a few weeks ago. I thought maybe she’d gone off and gotten married, but she came back.” He smiled. “She’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen, and a spectacular dancer.”

“Dancer?” Seth feigned surprise.

“She’s a new ballerina with the city’s ballet company. Made quite a stir in the arts world during the Spring Season. But the company’s on tour now. Not sure why she’s not with them, unless it was her illness that kept her here.”

“What kinds of books does she look at?”

Max smiled. “All sorts, though she stays away from modern fiction. She always looks at the ballet books. Sometimes she’ll go to the classics. Sometimes she’ll stay in non-fiction. I saw her in the German language section a little bit ago.”

“German language?” That was promising.

“Apparently her fiancé is German.”

“Ah.” Back to Kurt. “And she doesn’t seem happy to be engaged?”

“No, not really. When she told me she was engaged, I pointed her in the direction of the wedding books and she just shrugged and asked about something else. That’s not normal.”

“Well, Germans don’t get very romantic about their weddings.”

“That’s a shame. She’d make a beautiful bride.”

Seth nodded thoughtfully. She’d been radiant the day she’d married Alex.

Max eyed him carefully. “She’s got a very pretty rock on her finger. He must be pretty wealthy. Although she doesn’t seem the type to marry for money. Maybe someone could steal her heart away from him.” He gave Seth a pointed look.

“Maybe.” Seth shook his head. “Please don’t tell her I was asking about her.”

---