Page 17 of Her Tempting Traitor
Could he flirt back?
Should he?
He swallowed. “Cassian,” he rasped, then tried again. “Call me Cassian, and my handkerchief is fine.”
“Perhaps so, but your lip is not.”
When the gorgeous woman’s free hand rose, her fingertips barely brushing against his swollen lower lip, he jerked back in surprise.
Gabby suddenly blinked and seemed to realize what she was doing, yanking both her hands back and stumbling away. “I—um…” She swung her attention to the house. “I hope you will let me know if I can look at your injuries. I can help.”
His brows rose. Injuries? “My lip and…?”
“Your leg.” Midnight blue eyes turned serious as they flicked to him. “I can help. I am very good with my hands.”
Cassian couldn’t help it; the image she evoked—her kneeling over him again, except this time with that glorious red hair flowing across her naked shoulders as herskilled handsreached for him—wrenched a growl of need from his chest.
Her sudden sharp intake of breath told him that she’d heard it, and realized the unintended way her offer had sounded.
Flustered, she backed away further, her cheeks pink, her eyes wide…but she didn’t drop his gaze.
Not until she turned and all but ran for the French doors to escape him.
CHAPTER 4
Almost a week after her absolutely outrageous proposition to a man who was undoubtedly a murderer and a traitor to the Crown, Gabby caught her breath as she stepped into the library of Inverlochy Castle, tipping her head back to stare up at the two levels—there was a balcony! A balcony!—of books.
“Ohmy,” she breathed in awe, taking a hesitant step inside.
It was like something out of dream.
Two curving staircases rose on either side of a large hearth, sweeping up to the second level, while gas lamps lit most of the space brightly. There were a few corners under the balcony where the light didn’t reach and Gabby supposed the newfangled electric lights—supplied by Sir Richard’s hydroelectric contraption on the River Lochy—were limited to the drawing rooms and the grand hall.
But most of the room was well-lit, ringed by shelves stretching floor-to-ceiling, accessed by ladders, and each one of those shelves…
Sighing happily, Gabby slowly spun in a circle, amazed by the sheer number of books.
Let’s see, the butler had said the books on animals were to the right of the door…
Gathering up her skirts, she hurried to that corner of the library, and gasped again.
“Books on animals” didn’t begin to describe what she saw. Sir Richard hadhundredsof volumes on the care and keeping of animals, many of which she recognized as identical to those in her own library at Exingham.
“Amazing,” she murmured, her fingers running lovingly along the spines. “He even has—oh my goodness,yes!” She pulled out Messerschmitt’sAnimal Sex: Gender in the Animal Kingdom, Not Bestiality, then Hammerkind’sDiseases of Ungulates, A-L, Volume Oneright after it. And there was another rare book, and another…
Before long Gabby had a stack of books in her arms and began to look around for a place to deposit them. Luckily, Sir Richard understood that one of the prime responsibilities for a library was cozy seating, so she plopped her stack on a small table beside a leather armchair stationed directly beneath one of the lamps and returned eagerly to the bookshelves.
Once all the books she could reasonably attempt to read in one afternoon were stacked neatly, she placed her hands in her lower back and stretched, nodding in satisfaction. The last few days, since she’d arrived here at Inverlochy Castle, had been damned galling. It feltgoodto do something right.
Unfortunately, no matter how charming he was, Sir Richard refused to allow anyone but his newly arrivedtrained veterinariannear his precious Elizabeth. After all, the elephant had cost him a fortune, and he’d paid extra with the understanding there would be a baby elephant on the way soon.Twoelephants were sufficient an investment to keep the animal safe from untrained professionals.
At least, that’s what Hunter explained apologetically when he’d met with Gabby each evening. She’d spend her entire day biting her nails, triple-checking her notes, and taking tea with the adorably flighty Lady Zilphia, and only felt truly useful when she could pounce on her brother and make him tell her everything—everything—he’d noticed in the elephant stables.
Thank goodness Sir Richard wasn’t often present during Hunter’s “examinations,” so he couldn’t tell how hopelessly out-matched her brother was. Each evening, Gabby gave her twin multiple suggestions of things to try—herbal remedies, limiting her movement, and warm compresses—to try to revive the peaky pachyderm.
Each evening, he’d returned with news of its failure.
Elizabeth was still weak, sluggish, and uninterested in eating.
