Page 49 of Monster Among the Roses (Fairy Tale Quartet 1)

“Well…” she breathed, clearly pleased. “I’ll be.” The quiet shuffling told us she’d probably scooped the flowers into her arms. “Oh, God. They smell so good.”

Isobel and I shared an excited, gritted-teeth grin. I tried to sneak a peek into the room to see the cook’s expression, but Isobel caught the sleeve of my shirt and jerked me back out of sight.

I grinned at her just as the back door opened and Mrs. Pan suddenly raged, “Lewis, you stupid old fool, what have you done?”

Okay, that didn’t sound pleased or appreciative at all. I shared a confused glance with my cohort, only to find she looked as stunned and worried as I felt.

“What?” Lewis asked, his voice full of the same confusion. “What’d I do?”

“You stole roses from Miss Nash’s garden? Are you insane? If she found out about this, she’d have her father fire you for sure. I can’t believe you were such an idiot.”

My mouth fell open and so did Isobel’s. We hadn’t foreseen this kind of problem. But the shit was about to hit the fan, and it was all our fault. Our experiment was supposed to nudge Lewis and Mrs. Pan together, not push them apart.

“What do we do?” I mouthed, frantic worry flooding my veins.

“I didn’t steal any flowers,” Lewis claimed, the tone in his voice saying he was scowling and ready to put the cook in her place.

Setting her hand against her heart, Isobel rushed past me and flew into the kitchen. I started after her, ready to confess all to Lewis and Mrs. Pan, but what she said stalled me in my shoes. “Mr. Lewis, I’ve decided I don’t want cash for the flowers you purchased from me. I’ll just have my father deduct the amount from your paycheck. All right?”

“I…uh…” A blank-faced Lewis stuttered and gaped a moment before he glanced at the roses in Mrs. Pan’s arms and then back to Isobel.

The cook flushed a deep, embarrassed red before gushing, “Oh Lord, Lewis. I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize you’d actually bought them for me. That’s so considerate. I love them.” She hugged them to her face so she could take a deep whiff of them. Then she smiled at the groundskeeper appreciatively. “And you even took all the thorns off. Thank you.”

Lewis’s Adam’s apple bobbed before he gave a slow nod and just as sluggishly answered, “You’re…well, you’re mighty welcome, Mrs. Pan. It was my pleasure.” Then he sent a grateful, flush-faced nod to Isobel. “Thank you, Miss Nash.”

Isobel gave a short, businesslike nod and whirled on her heel before briskly stalking from the kitchen.

She strode right past me, but it didn’t take me long to pick my jaw up off the floor and hurry to catch up with her. We were nearly to the library before I managed to say, “That…that was brilliant.”

I wanted to kiss her. I wanted to drag her into my arms and hug her before kissing the breath straight from her lungs. She’d made the entire situation completely real by remaining her haughty, high-brow self, and Mrs. Pan hadn’t had a clue at all that it’d been a setup. Then Lewis had fallen into place perfectly, knowing when to save his hide and impress his gal. I wanted to pull Isobel into my arms and laugh and dance with her.

Instead, I offered her a huge grin and a high five. “You rock. You so totally rock.”

Her lips finally tipped into a smile and her blue eyes glowed with triumph before she slapped her palm against mine.

And that was the moment I’m pretty sure I fell flat in love with her.

chapter

SIXTEEN

A day after our matchmaking endeavors, Isobel and I officially claimed the library shelving project complete. I had wanted to call everyone into the room immediately and show it off, even though most of the staff had stopped by periodically to follow our progress, anyway. But Isobel wanted everything cleaned and all the books shelved before our “grand opening.”

So while I removed the drop cloths and ladders and tools, Isobel dusted and began to vacuum. When it came time to shelve the books, our great debate about how to organize them started.

“This is where I had the mysteries before,” Isobel started, narrowing her eyes as if daring me to disagree.

I just grinned, ready to play. “But this is a darker corner. Don’t you think mysteries should be in the darkest, most mysterious part of the room? And romances belong by the light, since they’re, you know, light and full of love with happy endings and stuff.”

She blinked at me as if I’d lost my mind. “You have the strangest logic I’ve ever heard.”

With a wink, I chuckled. “But you like my idea, don’t you?”

Scowling a moment longer, she chased it with a huff before she bit her lip and gazed around the room. “Okay, fine. The romances should go by the windows. But the mysteries need to be on the bookshelf covering the hidden door, and the horror novels can go in the darker corner.”

My mouth fell open before I pointed and said, “Even better. Perfect.”

So we got to work, carrying piles of books from the center of the room where some had been stored for the building project to their respective areas. After five minutes, I noticed a pair of eyes peeking around the opening of the library watching us.

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