“I don’t make it a habit to be unreasonable.”
“How interesting, because you certainly seem to make that a habit with me” was all he said before he sent her a wink and headed up the ladder.
Thirteen
As Adelaide watched Gideon whisk Harvey from the top shelf, she was suddenly struck with the notion that he might have just made a legitimate observation.
Shedidseem to have the tendency to contradict him often, which was curious because she usually found it easier to agree with everyone instead of stating her true thoughts on any number of topics—or perhaps she agreed because, difficult as this was to admit, she’d always hoped that by being affable, society wouldn’t behave as harshly toward her.
Curiously enough, though, when she was with Gideon, she didn’t try to appease him or always agree with him, which suggested she was comfortable simply being herself around him, probably because she knew their friendship was destined to remain along the same lines of the relationship she shared with her cousin, Charles.
“He seems to have attached himself to me.”
Pulling herself from her thoughts, Adelaide watched as Gideon stepped from the ladder, Harvey clinging to the front of his jacket, his little claws dug into the fabric.
Her lips began to curve. “I believe you’ve made yourself a new friend.”
“He’s meowing up the wrong human if he thinks I’m going to befriend him. I still haven’t forgiven the large amount of hair he deprived me of when he attacked me.”
“He’s not attacking you now,” Adelaide pointed out as Harvey began nuzzling Gideon’s jacket with his head, right before he released a meow and turned bright green eyes on him.
Gideon resettled Harvey into the crook of his arm, gave him a scratch behind his ears, then narrowed his eyes on Adelaide. “Don’t get any ideas. Simply because I’m willing to hold him for a few moments doesn’t mean I’m going to take Harvey home with me.”
“But he seems to adore you, and my other cats still aren’t warming up to him.”
“Which is unfortunate, but I doubt your cats would try to eat him, something Moe, my dog, might certainly do.”
“Why do you have a dog that might have a hankering for kittens?”
“I’m not sure Moe’s got a hankering, but he’s a beast of a dog with a spirited disposition, and it certainly wouldn’t be in Harvey’s best interest to tempt Moe’s willpower.” He gave Harvey another scratch. “And before you ask how I acquired a beast of a dog, I found him being mistreated down by the Battery. He’d stolen a bone from a butcher, who was trying to get the bone back by chasing Moe with a cleaver. I wasn’t in accord with the means being taken to retrieve a bone from an obviously starving dog, so I deprived the man of his cleaver, paid him for the bone Moe wasn’t keen to drop, and brought Moe home with me.”
Her heart, unsurprisingly, skipped a beat. “How were you able to deprive the man of his cleaver?”
“It wasn’t difficult,” Gideon said with a shrug. “If you hit a nerve exactly right on an arm, it goes numb.”
“You’ll have to show me how to do that sometime.”
“I doubt you’ll ever have a reason to learn hand-to-hand combat.”
“It might have come in handy yesterday,” Adelaide argued.
“Perhaps, but since I’ve decided you’re going to need someone following you until I figure out exactly who made you a target, there’s no need for you to worry you’re going to need such skills.”
“I don’t need a guard, not when I no longer have possession of any of the books I purchased yesterday.”
Mrs. Bainswright suddenly cleared her throat. “I’m afraid, my dear, that might not be the case.”
“What do you mean?” Adelaide asked.
Mrs. Bainswright nodded to Harvey’s basket. “I tucked one of your books in there because poor Harvey kept straining his tiny neck yesterday to see what was going on in the store. That couldn’t have been comfortable for the little darling, and one of the books you purchased fit perfectly in the bottom. After putting his little blanket over it and then resettling Harvey on top of it, he was more comfortable.” She bit her lip. “I’m afraid I forgot to mention that, and since you still have possession of your basket, it stands to reason you still have one of the books.”
Adelaide hurried to the basket and flipped aside Harvey’s blanket. “It’s still here.” Tearing off the wrapping, she revealed the ratty old diary written by Juliette Watson. She lifted her head and caught Gideon’s eye. “This certainly explains why someone broke into the shop last night. They must have been after this diary.”
Before Gideon could respond, Mr. Bainswright joined her, sliding his spectacles into place. “Don’t know why someone would be after that book. It’s only the musings of a young lady from a bygone era.”
Adelaide turned the book over, frowning when she spotted a redXmarked on the spine. Given that the mark wasn’t faded,it was clear someone had recently added it to the cover. “What do you think this means?” she asked, showing theXto Gideon.
“Might be there to distinguish it from other books,” Gideon said. “If I were to hazard a guess, I’d say there’s probably something hidden in the pages.”
