But she knew it was.
Her breath hitched as she peeled back the fabric.
A copy ofA Vindication of the Rights of Woman: With Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects.
The book that started her and Henry’s friendship.
“Oh god.” Her voice fractured.“No.”
Gabe shifted in that protective way as if prepared to shield her from the world. “Felicity?”
Her grip tightened. “He wouldn’t have sent this unless—” Her voice broke, and she bowed her head. “He’s dead. There’s no other reason he’d part with it.”
He wanted her to have it. Wanted to make sure her dream stayedalive.
“I got into a bidding war with Henry over this book.” She turned it over in her hands, vision blurring in and out with the tears clinging to her lashes. “He won, of course. But he invited me to his house to see his private library, and I completely geeked out. He was so amused by my enthusiasm, and we never stopped talking about books.”
Gabe touched the back of her hand. “I’m sorry, Felicity.”
She shook her head hard. “It’s life. It’s shocking. But it’s my own fault—he sent this months ago. I would have known sooner if I’d just opened the box.”
She rocked a little, sitting with the discovery and clutching the book to her chest. “It feels like a case out of an old mystery movie.”
His gaze locked with hers. “The cousin in the study with—”
“The dagger,” she finished with a grimace.
“I’m sure it’s nothing so nefarious, Felicity. Just a note to a friend and a book you cherish as much as he did.”
Her throat tightened again. When she reached for another book, her fingers trembled.
“It’s a…journal. Henry’s journal.”
Gabe’s long fingers closed around hers.
They froze, breaths mingling in the quiet of the library, but the space between them was charged with an electric current.
“I’m okay.” Her voice barely a whisper.
“I know.” But he didn’t move away.
Neither did she.
Heat curled low in her stomach. The slow burn between them wasn’t something she could ignore anymore. It was gathering speed, gathering heat.
The fuse between them was no longer unlit.
It was unmistakably burning.
.
Chapter Seven
Gabe found Carson in the security office, hunched over the bank of monitors, gripping a coffee mug that had seen better days.
Gabe knocked hesitantly on the doorjamb. Carson looked up and waved him in.
He dropped into the chair across the desk and studied the man. He was military neat, as always, but the lines around his eyes spoke of too little sleep.
