Page 230 of Dukes for Dessert

“I can assign a half-dozen footmen to the task right now.” He reached for the bell pull. “Will that make you happy?”

No, it would not. Carole’s hand shot out to cover Azureford’s hand before he could signal his staff.

Both snatched their fingers away as if scalded.

She swallowed hard. “What’s the hurry?”

“I’m donating these books to the castle library tomorrow.” He arched a brow. “What’s your interest?”

He was giving all his books to a public circulating library? Tomorrow? Her stomach bottomed in panic. If she didn’t find her sketchbook in time, someone else would. Not only was the telltale Q embossed on the front cover, each illustration had been captioned in Carole’s distinctive handwriting. Her curly script would give her away to any who had ever received an invitation or quick note from her—which was essentially everyone in the entire village.

The only thing worse than His Grace stumbling across her irreverent illustrations would be him donating it to a public place where anyone and everyone in Carole’s village could find the sketches.

She pointed a trembling finger. “May I see those volumes?”

“I assure you, none of them are earrings.” He turned to the closest shelf and withdrew another armful of books. “Carry on with your search. I’ll do mine. I need to set aside my favorites before the castle footmen arrive.”

Carole’s heart pounded and her chest tightened alarmingly, but there was nothing to do but take his advice. Continuing to argue would only cast more doubt on her story, and she could not afford to be tossed out. Even if it meant limiting her search to a partial set of books whilst being silently judged by the Duke of Azureford.

Maybe this was a good thing, she told herself. Azureford would be so distracted by finding the books he cared about that he wouldn’t notice her sketchbook if it bit him on the nose.

Then again, Azureford wouldn’t know which books in his collection were the ones to keep unless he was familiar with all of them. Which meant her strange little volume would stand out at first glance.

He spun toward her just as she whirled toward him.

“Let me help you find your earring,” he commanded at the same time she begged, “Let me help you with your books.”

They stared at each other without moving.

Carole blinked first.

“We need to document the inventory,” she babbled. “Surely you cannot mean to donate so many volumes without a master list to aid the castle librarians.” Did the castle have librarians? “At the very least, an index of titles and descriptions would do. I’ll help. I’m an expert on cataloguing books.”

Carole was not an expert on books. She owned thirty of them, half of which were tomes on mathematics and logic, and the other half of which were filled with drawings of her own creation. She was not even an apprentice at cataloguing books. But she was desperate. And desperate people would clutch at every straw they could find.

“Like a ship’s cargo list in the captain’s log?” he asked dryly.

She nodded. Certainly. A cargo list. At this point, she’d agree to anything if it increased her chances of intercepting the sketchbook before someone else did.

To her surprise, Azureford shrugged.

“All right, Captain.” He handed her a brick-red volume. “See if this works.”

She opened it to the first page. It was blank. So was the second, the third, the fourth. It was a blank journal. He was saying yes. She hugged it to her chest.

His eyes narrowed. “That’s an unusual bracelet.”

Who cared about the bracelet? She glanced down at the slender gold bands encircling her wrist. “It’s several twisted together.”

“Several, as in… five?” His voice dripped with suspicion. “Are those five golden rings?”

“I don’t know.” Why was he making a fuss? She frowned at the twisting bracelet. One two three four— “Yes, five. How did you know?”

“Because it’s obvious!” He crossed his arms over his chest and glared at her. “Why are you conspiring with Madame Edna of Essex?”

“With… who?” she asked faintly.

“The fortuneteller,” he said with obvious exasperation. “The one who met me at the castle and gave some fiddle-faddle about ‘dukes, actually’ and following the five golden rings.”