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Was she the same woman he had known all those years ago? Or was she someone entirely different now?

Sebastian set his jaw. He had vowed to keep his heart guarded this time. He had vowed not to be lured in again. But then she spoke, and the irritation faded just a little.

“I have neglected my reading these past years,” she murmured, almost as if to herself. “It is time to fill my library again.”

Sebastian arched a brow. “Was it ever empty?”

She tilted her head, giving him a sidelong glance. “Not empty, no. But neglected. A library is a living thing, is it not? It must be tended, refreshed, filled with new voices. Otherwise, it becomes little more than a mausoleum for old words.”

Sebastian chuckled. “You always did enjoy dramatic declarations.”

“And you always did enjoy needling me about them,” she shot back, but there was no bite to her words. Only warmth.

He leaned back slightly, tapping a gloved finger against his knee. “What sort of books do you intend to buy?”

Harriet sighed, her breath misting lightly against the cool carriage window. “I do not know yet. Something to challenge the mind, perhaps.”

“No scandalous novels?” Sebastian teased.

She grinned. “I have read my share, of course. But it would not do for Miss Bélise Coupier to find such stories beside my bed, would it?”

Sebastian blinked, momentarily thrown. “Miss who?”

Lady Wood, who had been quietly reading, glanced up in faint amusement. Harriet’s eyes glimmered with mischief.

“My new lady’s maid.”

Sebastian frowned, the name stirring a distant memory, but before he could question her, Harriet waved a hand.

“Never mind that. Back to books. What do you recommend, my lord?”

He studied her for a moment, then decided to let it go. For now.

“Well,” he said at last, settling deeper into his seat. “If you truly wish to challenge your mind, I suppose I should steer you toward histories.”

Harriet made a mocking grimace. “Must I?”

Sebastian chuckled. “If only for balance. What was it you told me once? ‘All knowledge is worth having’?”

Harriet sighed dramatically. “Did I? How insufferable I must have been!”

“I shall not argue that.”

She gasped in mock outrage and leaned over to swat his arm. Sebastian laughed, and for a moment, it was as though no time had passed at all, as though they were still young, still carefree, still standing in Avonmead’s library making lists of all the places they would go, all the books they would read. The thought made his chest ache.

But then the carriage slowed, and the spell was broken.

“We have arrived,” Lady Wood murmured, tucking away her book.

Sebastian reached for the door and stepped out first, turning to offer his arm to Harriet. Her gloved fingers slipped around his elbow, soft and warm, and for the briefest moment, he felt something old and familiar wake in his chest. Then she was stepping down, and he let go a little too quickly.

Inside Hatchards, the air smelled of leather, paper, and burning oil. Harriet brightened immediately, her gaze sweeping the towering bookshelves like a conqueror surveying her new domain.

Sebastian peered down at her, unsettled by how familiar this felt.

“Shall we make a list first or dive in blindly?”

Harriet tilted her head. “Where is the adventure in making lists?”