Robert pulled open one of the drawers on his side of the desk. He and Elizabeth had come to an unspoken understanding about sharing the library. They each had their own side of the desk and no one peeked. It was rather comfortable. She was just as neat as he was so he didn’t mind sharing the space.
He stared at the ledger in front of him without really seeing it. His body felt ripped in half. He desperately wanted to go back upstairs and crawl back in bed with Elizabeth. Four weeks and he was addicted to her. He couldn’t fall asleep in his own bed. He’d tried several times, and each time, he’d failed miserably. As if to prove his point, he would fall asleep almost immediately when his hand rested upon her hip.
This was bad. This was very bad. He needed her too much. His body yearned for her in every way possible. He enjoyed her quick wit and sharp tongue. She could be funny and he knew that she was kind. This was beyond horrible. He hated the woman. She was his enemy.
His enemy.
He was such an ass. This situation was intolerable. He couldn’t take it anymore. Every day he had to fight back the urge to tear apart the suitors that came calling on her. He had to sit back and watch James attempt to woo her. It killed him. Sometimes he would disappear all day and night only to come back to her like a sailor to a siren and curl up with her. He needed her more than his next breath, and he hated her for it. He hated this power she had over him. He was going to leave and soon for his own sanity.
The library door suddenly slammed shut. “Are you crazy?”
He looked up to see Elizabeth holding his pocketknife. His gaze quickly shifted to the closed door as he stood up to go open it. Being found with her in a closed room could end with a trip to the church and he wasn’t having that, not with a woman who hated him.
“Are you? What’s wrong with you shutting that door?” He made it to the front of the desk when she stormed up to him, holding up his knife.
“Guess where I found this?”
He shrugged. “I haven’t a clue,” Robert said as he reached for it, but before he could take it, she dropped it in her gown pocket.
“For the past three weeks, I’ve been haunted by a ghost,” Elizabeth announced.
Hmm, she couldn’t be talking about him because he’d been crawling into her bed for the past four weeks. Of course, she might not realize that he’d been doing it for that long. It was probably best not to correct her on the time frame, Robert decided.
“Oh?” he asked in a bored tone.
“Mmhmm, seems I have a ghost crawling in bed with me. Odd, isn’t it?”
“I would say so. You would think the ghost would have better options.”
She slapped him somewhat hard on his shoulder. “Ow!”
“Good! Now, explain to me why you’ve been coming into my room at night!”
A knock at the door was their only warning that they were about to be caught. “Hide!” Robert hissed.
She threw him a furious look before she scrambled to do just that since being found alone with him in a closed room was not an option. Throwing him one last glare, Elizabeth quickly moved around the desk and ducked beneath it before he could stop her.
“Not there!” he hissed.
Elizabeth ignored him and crawled under the desk. With a curse, Robert sat down in the chair and moved his legs beneath the desk. This desk really was large, he mused. He was a tall man and his legs were stretched out comfortably beneath the desk and he could barely feel her. He knew that she was there, of course. He could practically feel the rage pouring off her. She was effectively trapped now, Robert thought with a small grin, liking his advantage probably more than he should.
“Come in,” Robert said, pretending to be working.
James walked in. “I thought I’d find you here.”
“What can I do for you? Come to learn how to run an estate?” Robert joked, chuckling at his brother’s horrified expression.
It always amused him that his brother, who was the heir, lived the life of a second son. He didn’t take anything seriously, had absolutely no interest in learning how to run the estate that he would one day inherit and he spent all of his time with women, cards, and living with absolutely no purpose. James was living the life that Robert should be pursuing, but it just wasn’t in him. He liked running his own estate, working up a sweat and creating things with his hands. He’d never fit in with society or in his family. He didn’t act like the son of an Earl and probably never would. He liked being his own man. He just wished that it wasn’t so damn lonely sometimes.
James paled. “Good lord, no! I’ll hire someone for that.” The way James said that like he would need an estate manager soon caught Robert’s attention.
“What’s going on?” Robert asked cautiously.
James sat in the chair in front of the desk, throwing an ankle across his knee. “I’m getting married.”
“Oh?” Dread filled him instantly. “Who?”
“Who do you think?”
