“Do you realize you went in the opposite direction of theroad?”
I sat upright, outraged. “No. I was unconscious when you brought me into the house so I didn’t know which side was the front.” I shrugged. “I went in the direction that feltright.”
“It’s actually turned kind of sideways. You should’ve gone right out of the garage and you went left.” Griffin climbed out of the seat. “Come on, you’ve got to bestarving.”
“What time is it?” I asked as I stepped stiffly out of the back seat. “How long did Isleep?”
“It’s almost noon. We’ve been searching for you since about nine. Ellion is having fits, thinking you’re lost out in the storm.” Griffin started toward the door I’dignored.
“I almost was.” I glanced around the barn. “Let me put this stuff back where I found it.” No way was I putting that heater back in the damnloft.
“Leave it,” Griffin commanded. “We can deal with itlater.”
Griffin opened a hidden panel beside the door and uncovered an intercom system. He hit the ‘all call’ button and said, “She’s safe. Heading back to the mainhouse.”
“Of all the bullshit,” I muttered under my breath. I could’ve paged them last night. Of course, I also could’ve been smart and not ran out into a freaking blizzard like I was a damnyeti.
I stepped behind him into the hallway and was transported to the days of reading Nancy Drew under the covers with a flashlight when I was supposed to be asleep. It was a secret freakingpassageway!
The floor dropped steeply off, taking us underground. The entire structure was made of concrete or maybe stone. The recessed lighting was dim so I couldn’t tell for sure. There was no heat in the hallway, and my excess warmth and slight sweat from the SUV quickly made me cold. “How far isit?”
“About a quarter mile,” Griffin replied, then was quiet the rest of theway.
We finally reached a large wooden door at the top of a small hill. The last climb up was brutal on my ribs. I’d had all the excitement I could take. Griffin opened the door, and we were in a tiny room, smaller than most closets. He took up most of the space, so I couldn’t really see what he did, but the wall in front of him, opposite the door we’d come through, slid away. I followed him through, watching my feet so I didn’t trip overanything.
I looked up and lost my breath. We were standing in an honest-to-God library. A real library, smack in the middle of his house. It was the biggest room I’d seen, almost as big as the barn, and bigger than both the garage and the livingroom.
Bookshelves lined the wall, chock full of books. More double-sided bookshelves stood independently around the room. Glass cases on pedestals held rare tomes with special lights built in to showcase the pages without damagingthem.
I turned in circles, trying to see every direction at once. Book after beautiful book stared at me from the myriad of shelves. “Griffin. Is thisyours?”
He smiled at me, amused. “You likeit?”
I didn’t answer right away. I was too busy watching his face change from grizzled and scarred to handsome and pleasant. “It’s amazing.” I skipped to the closest shelves to browse the titles. “Can I readthem?”
“Well, I doubt you’ll have time to readallof them before you go.” He gestured around the room to emphasize how large his librarywas.
“I sure can try,” I said with a littlesass.
I pretended to read book titles but really I was marveling over the sound of Griffin’s chuckle. He was like a different person than the man I’d argued with the night before. “Maybe he’s letting some of the walls crumble,” I thought. “This must be the man Amanda and Andeeknew.”
“Pick out a few, I don’t mind,” he said. “You’re going to be here at least a few more days; you might as well not be bored. Come on out when you’re done.” He walked to the door, stained deep brown and glossy to match the bookshelves. “You can come in here any time,” he said, without turning back, then walked out and closed the door with aclick.
I gaped at the door for a moment, thrilled with the turn of events. I let out a high-pitched squeal and skipped around the room, browsing the titles for something that would catch my interest for a few hours. What Griffin didn’t know was that I was a voracious reader. I could burn through a thick book in half a day. My hunger for the fictional worlds between the pages wasunquenchable.
The library was organized by book type, then alphabetically. Fiction, non-fiction, comics, cookbooks, religion. He had a million categories. My heart belonged to fiction,though.
I planted myself in front of the shelves out in the middle of the room. All of the fiction books were on them. I found volume after volume that I’d read, some of my favorite books. I decided to find something I hadn’t read yet and picked up the latest book in a long series about a witty female bounty hunter. I hadn’t even seen that book out on shelves yet. Did he have some sort of pull with the publishers that even I, the sister-in-law of the CEO of one of the biggest publishers in the world, didn’thave?
Apparently he did. ARC Copy, Not for Resale was printed inside the front cover in bright red ink. He had an advanced reader copy of one of the hottest series of my lifetime. I snatched the book up and ran out of theroom.
It took me a moment to orient myself. I was in Griffin’s personal part of the house. His wing. Wow. He’d given me free access to his private domain. I turned and skipped toward the living room, pausing only to study an oil painting of a decomposing rose before continuing on my way. The colors were dark and angry. Whoever painted it wastortured.
The guys sat on the couch watching a DVD of asitcom.
“Griffin!” I exclaimed. “How do you have this book? And who painted that rose in the hall?” I leaned over the back of the couch and shoved it in his face, beyondexcited.
He jerked his head back and gave me an irritated look. “Calm down.” Taking the book from me, he looked it over. “This author is—was—a friend of my...a friend of the family.” I thought he might’ve been about to say she was a friend of his wife’s. “And I painted the rose.” That explained the dark, painful coloring. “I haven’t spoken to her in years, but I guess we’re still on some list for her advanced copies. They come in the mail every year orso.”
