Chapter Five
Millie
“This might just be the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen.
” Millie’s eyes couldn’t focus on just one place for all the books that lined the walls, floor to ceiling, of the tiny cottage in the woods.
Books of all kinds, all genres, all authors lined the shelves.
Equally filled with books she had read and books she had never heard of.
Yet. She wanted to know them. Intimately.
What a feeling to read a book for the first time.
Step into a new world. Be swept away. Often, she wished she could bottle that feeling and open it up when she was in a slump.
And this space… It held so much promise.
She could see herself stealing away and spending much of her time here.
Well…if it had belonged to her.
Which it never would.
“My sentiments exactly,” Marlowe murmured as she felt his gaze on her. And she had the unique sensation that he wasn’t referring to the books, like she had been. But what were his other options? Surely, he wasn’t alluding to her.
“Really, Marlowe, this might just be the most smashing thing I’ve ever seen.”
“I thought you might like it.”
His emphasis on you had her curious and a tingling feeling vibrated at the bottom of her spine. “You mean someone like me?
“No, I mean you. Just you, Millie.”
The intensity in his voice had her toes curling in her slippers and it felt like squirrels were tying knots in her stomach.
It was as if he were genuinely complimenting her.
But for what purpose? Did he just seduce any and every woman?
His words couldn’t ring of any deeper meaning than that, could they?
“I know why someone as eccentric as me would have a secret library in the woods, but why do you?”
“I might just have a little eccentricity in me as well.”
“So you’re hiding it?”
She watched him shrug one shoulder, and for some reason, that nonchalance bothered her.
Like, really provoked something within her.
All her life, she’d striven to be true to herself.
To follow her heart, be authentic. Whether people accepted her or not, she never tried to be something she wasn’t.
If it meant that everyone labeled her a bluestocking, so be it.
If it meant resigning herself to spinsterhood, so be it.
So long as she could live out the truth in her heart, she could accept any fate.
So it probably came out a bit harsher than it should have when she asked, “How do you live with yourself? Showing everyone a fake version of the duke?” Even though she could hear the hypocrisy in the question, given that they were faking their relationship.
“You hide too.”
“I do not,” she lied, ignoring the looming fakeness she had placed them in. “I don’t care who knows about my eccentricities.”
“You hide in other ways.” His voice had an edge to it and his eyes were sharp, piercing into her as he closed in on her. The space was small, but him looming over her made it feel that much tinier. They were hardly a foot apart as he challenged her.
“How?”
“The first time I met you, you spoke to me from behind a book. Hiding your face. Not to mention you were physically hiding from the entire ball.”
Ahhh….about that… “Yes. Well…”
“Yes. Well. We both hide.”
“You behind your charm.”
Giving her a knowing look, he responded, “And you behind your books.”
A soft finger tilted her chin up, causing her to look him in the eye. “That proves it, then, doesn’t it?” His voice dropped in volume to a low, raspy whisper.
“I suppose so…”
“Perhaps we have more in common than we originally thought,” he said thoughtfully, as if he had been musing about it. As if he had considered the idea prior to this conversation. As if he had been giving her some thought. Real thought.
A distant rumble broke her out of the ropes of revelry that had temporarily tied her thoughts and her tongue.
“Shall we head back before it rains? Before people really start talking too much?” Feeling nervous, she rambled on, “We want them to talk a little to convince them of the lie, but we can’t have them talking too much. We can’t get stuck…like this.”
“No.” His voice rasped. “We certainly wouldn’t want that.”
She yanked her eyes away and her line of sight fell to a bed. For the first time, she noticed its existence. But how had she not seen it before was a wonder since it took up an entire corner of the room. A ginormous bed hidden away in the forest. Amongst books. Heaven.
And then it hit her. Of course. Her heart sank. He had brought many women here. It was a way to woo them.
“Yes. I suppose we should leave,” he answered reluctantly. Ever the rake. It made sense. He was looking to seduce her. Disappointment marked every step that she took toward the door, which was entirely confusing. She shouldn’t want to be seduced by the handsome duke…should she?
Then again, why not? If no one would marry her anyway, what did it matter if she was ruined?
Open door, she stood under the frame, books behind her, darkening clouds in front of her.
It was now or never. She could turn around and use that bed, just as he had planned.
Or she could walk out the door and go back to the manor.
Back to normal life. Back to the familiar.
The lonely. She shivered, blamed it on the impending rain, and walked outside.
Better the devil she knew.