This was wrong. He needed to tell her the truth. And hewould…but Barbara was smiling so trustingly up at him, and he remembered the way she had gushed to him about the fun they’d been enjoying these last weeks, how she didn’t want it to end. Setting a trap—even if it was a trap that was never sprung, because the evildoers hadn’t actually been the ones to start the rumors of misfortune—it would bring her joy, aye?
Aye.
Perhaps he was being cowardly.
But he knew, when she learned the truth, she would be hurt. Would likely cut him from her life. Was it selfish to want one more night with her?
Aye, likely. But he would do it anyway, to make her happy.
Besides, Kenneth didn’t think he was strong enough to deny her anything, not when she stepped up to him again, sliding her hands around his waist and pulling him flush against her.
“Well?” Her grin was so mischievous when she winked. “Do you think you can find a way to sneak into my library, rather than my bed, tonight? Will you lie in wait with me for the end of our adventure?”
“Aye, love,” he sighed, giving up the battle and lowering his lips to hers. “Anything for ye.”
Chapter Nine
Barbara’s blood hummed in excitement.
It was almost midnight and the rest of the household was asleep. She’d been impressed that she’d managed to sit through the evening meal without the rest of her family sensing the change in her.
Last night had shifted her view of the world in the most magnificent of ways.
She’d known that experiencing pleasure would be…well,pleasurable. It was in the name, after all. But Kenneth’s expert skills, and the affection she held for him, had made it truly remarkable—and to know that tonight he was including her in what could be the finale of his case?
It just proved that he was as fond of her as she was of him!
The nap she’d taken this afternoon had been a pleasant way to ensure she wasn’t too tired tonight, although Motherhadasked if she was feeling ill. Apparently Barbara’s enthusiastic denial had been enough to waylay suspicion, and she’d been able to sneak away.
This was it! Tonight she and Kenneth, working together, would solve this case!
Without bothering to light the lamp, Barbara slipped into her simplest day gown, one she could tie herself. While she wanted Kenneth to think her beautiful, she told herself they would be in darkness tonight.
Besides, he’d seen her in a lot less.
Unfortunately her twisted foot made it impossible to tiptoe barefoot through the halls, but she took her softest steps in her boots. At the door to the library, she paused, her senses searching for signs that Kenneth had beaten her there.
No, she was alone.
Years of habitation of this space helped her navigate in the darkness. Early that day, she and Kenneth had worked together to remove her most valuable antiquities—including Khedebneithirbinet’s canopic jars—and shift around the remaining antiquities to fill the space.
Still, she felt her way gingerly across the room until she reached the small writing desk. Ah, her letter to Mr. Sinter was still here—she’d never sent it after the excitement of the realization she would be targeted. Tomorrow she wouldn’t need his help, for they would have the guilty thieves in custody!
With measured steps, she crossed to the large desk in the middle of the room. Yesterday this desktop held the canopic jars she’d proudly displayed. Now it was the home of her most useful tomes and the bric-a-brac of a normal working surface; paper weights, letter openers, a funerary ornament from ancient Greece.
Normal, everyday items in the Fokette household.
“Barbara.”
The breathy whisper had her whirling around, gasping as she clutched her chest. “Kenneth? God in Heaven, Ihopeit is you.”
Sure enough, she could see his ghostly shape moving through the doorway toward her. “If it hadnae been me, ye would have some explaining to do to whomever itwas.”
“True.”
Grinning, she met him in the middle of the room, and was surprised when he didn’t immediately return her embrace. Well, perhaps he was distracted by the coming confrontation. She certainly was.
“Did you have any issues entering the house?” Not for the first time, she was grateful that her library was set away from her family’s other chambers.
