“That’s fine. Phoebe and I shall still be at it for hours. You may join us after.”
“Yes, of course.” She could almost feel Grayson grinning at her attempts to get out of the needlepoint session. “You see, my lady, I was about to go into your extensive library and look for a book. I finished all those I brought during my long carriage ride.”
“A book?” Her ladyship frowned, then she guessed, “Not one for needlepoint, Eleanor?”
“No, my lady.”
“I’ll meet you in the library,” Grayson suggested. “I’m not one for needlepoint either.”
Luckily, that made Lady Angsley smile. “Very well. I will see you two at afternoon tea, unless you take lunch, in which case, I’ll see you sooner.”
And she sailed off in a billow of burgundy satin.
Grayson cocked his head. “You looked as though you might gnaw your own hands off rather than use them for needle work.”
“Was my dislike so evident?”
“I don’t think she was offended. I’ll see you in the library later.”
Eleanor agreed. It seemed he was going to stick close as his mother and Beryl had hoped. Surely, he didn’t think they could read a book together though.
*
Gray found himselfawaiting Eleanor with eagerness. He was besotted. That much was plain. She was simply the best female company he had ever encountered, and he could see himself spending the rest of his days enjoying life with her.
He tried to read the book titles but couldn’t focus until, after about ten minutes, she reappeared. She had not only changed into a clean, fawn-colored gown, she had tidied her hair. Gone was the loose bun from which most of her hair had escaped. Now, she wore it in a single thick plait.
“I had to take it down and comb some leaves and twigs out of it,” she explained when she saw him looking at her braid. “And putting it back up seemed such a nuisance.”
“You look lovely either way,” he told her.
In truth, though, this style was more that of a young girl, and he was back to wondering about the difference in their ages.
Immediately, she went to the shelves and began perusing the leather spines.
“Don’t you adore a library? It is the next best thing to being outdoors. And while I usually prefer the smells of grass and flowers to anything indoors, I admit, I love the aroma of books.”
“The aroma of books?”What an unusual thing to say.
“Yes, open one and get a good whiff of it. Here, try it.” She pulled one off the shelf, noted its title, opened it, and stuck it in his face so the page touched the end of his nose.
“Yes, I suppose.” This particular book smelled like a mix between used hay from the stables and a musty basement, but he would agree to practically anything she said.
He watched her, fascinated, as she pressed it to her own nose and rather loudly breathed in its aroma. Then Eleanor sneezed daintily.
“You’re eight years younger than I am, I believe,” he said.
“I’m not certain since I don’t know your age. But if that’s true, then it is soon to be only seven.” She crouched down to look at books on the lowest shelf. He bent, too, so he could keep talking to her easily.
“Why? Is your birthday coming up?”
“Yes, next week. I was supposed to be celebrating it, as much as anyone does at my age, with my sister this year. No matter. If I’m still here, we can talk the Angsleys’ cook into making a cake as easily as the Cambreys’ cook.”
“True.” Still, it was probably a disappointment to her not to be with Maggie, Cam, and little Rosie. She could go home to be with her mother, older sister, and her husband, but she was undoubtedly holding out hope she could soon go to Turvey House.
He could try to make her birthday a special day in any case.
Next, she read off the names of a few books he’d heard of,Gulliver’s Travels,Tom Jones,Clarissa, some of Dickens’ works, and a Shakespeare collection in one volume. The Angsleys had a good library although he had only gone in once or twice, looking for a book on horse-breeding or some equally practical matter.
