Page 9

A lmost a week after her absolutely outrageous proposition to a man who was undoubtedly a murderer and a traitor to the Crown, Gabby caught her breath as she stepped into the library of Inverlochy Castle, tipping her head back to stare up at the two levels—there was a balcony! A balcony!—of books.

“Oh my ,” she breathed in awe, taking a hesitant step inside.

It was like something out of dream.

Two curving staircases rose on either side of a large hearth, sweeping up to the second level, while gas lamps lit most of the space brightly.

There were a few corners under the balcony where the light didn’t reach and Gabby supposed the newfangled electric lights—supplied by Sir Richard’s hydroelectric contraption on the River Lochy—were limited to the drawing rooms and the grand hall.

But most of the room was well-lit, ringed by shelves stretching floor-to-ceiling, accessed by ladders, and each one of those shelves …

Sighing happily, Gabby slowly spun in a circle, amazed by the sheer number of books.

Let’s see, the butler had said the books on animals were to the right of the door…

Gathering up her skirts, she hurried to that corner of the library, and gasped again.

“Books on animals” didn’t begin to describe what she saw. Sir Richard had hundreds of volumes on the care and keeping of animals, many of which she recognized as identical to those in her own library at Exingham.

“Amazing,” she murmured, her fingers running lovingly along the spines.

“He even has—oh my goodness, yes !” She pulled out Messerschmitt’s Animal Sex: Gender in the Animal Kingdom, Not Bestiality , then Hammerkind’s Diseases of Ungulates, A-L, Volume One right after it.

And there was another rare book, and another…

Before long Gabby had a stack of books in her arms and began to look around for a place to deposit them.

Luckily, Sir Richard understood that one of the prime responsibilities for a library was cozy seating, so she plopped her stack on a small table beside a leather armchair stationed directly beneath one of the lamps and returned eagerly to the bookshelves.

Once all the books she could reasonably attempt to read in one afternoon were stacked neatly, she placed her hands in her lower back and stretched, nodding in satisfaction. The last few days, since she’d arrived here at Inverlochy Castle, had been damned galling. It felt good to do something right.

Unfortunately, no matter how charming he was, Sir Richard refused to allow anyone but his newly arrived trained veterinarian near his precious Elizabeth.

After all, the elephant had cost him a fortune, and he’d paid extra with the understanding there would be a baby elephant on the way soon.

Two elephants were sufficient an investment to keep the animal safe from untrained professionals.

At least, that’s what Hunter explained apologetically when he’d met with Gabby each evening.

She’d spend her entire day biting her nails, triple-checking her notes, and taking tea with the adorably flighty Lady Zilphia, and only felt truly useful when she could pounce on her brother and make him tell her everything— everything —he’d noticed in the elephant stables.

Thank goodness Sir Richard wasn’t often present during Hunter’s “examinations,” so he couldn’t tell how hopelessly out-matched her brother was.

Each evening, Gabby gave her twin multiple suggestions of things to try—herbal remedies, limiting her movement, and warm compresses—to try to revive the peaky pachyderm.

Each evening, he’d returned with news of its failure.

Elizabeth was still weak, sluggish, and uninterested in eating.

If something wasn’t done quickly , Gabby was afraid they’d lose her.

Last night she’d said the same thing to Hunter, then mentioned the need to do a vaginal exam on the elephant. Her brother had reared back, panic in his eyes, and blurted, “I will leave yer arse in Inverlochy and hide, Gabby, if ye make me stick my hand up an animal’s rear end.”

Men . Like little babies they were, sometimes. She’d snorted, “As if I would trust you to do any sort of vaginal exam. If you do not even know the difference between an arse and a vagina?—”

“Och, I ken the difference ,” he’d scowled. “I was being polite for my sister’s delicate sensibilities.”

“Considering it was your sister’s delicate sensibilities who suggested it in the first place…”

Her twin’s expression had turned pleading then. “Gabs, I’ve never even been around an animal this big before. I spend most of the hours I’m with it talking about my horse and practicing card tricks, for fook’s sake. Help me .”

She’d had to promise she’d find a way to examine poor Elizabeth, since he was apparently at a loss. Their lie—about Hunter being the veterinarian—had been necessary…but had made things far more difficult.

At least you are able to help in other ways.

That was true. Having been unable to find excuses to investigate Cassian Grey, Gabby was devoting herself to Sir Richard’s menagerie.

The parrots already knew her, the capybaras deigned to allow her to pet them, and she’d earned the handlers’ respect.

Yesterday she’d treated an abscess on one of the zebra’s legs, and spent time with young Augustus in the process.

And today, she’d discovered this remarkable library.

There had to be something to treat the elephant in here…

Remarkably, this library contained all of her favorite texts when it came to diagnosis and treatment of mammals. There was just one missing …

Tapping her index finger against her lower lip, Gabby tipped her head back.

Barnhardt’s Among the Elephants . If Sir Richard had it, it would be on one of the upper shelves, which would mean she’d get to use the ladder.

Her grin slowly grew. Excellent .

It was impossible to deny that since she’d stepped into the room, she’d wanted the chance to climb one of those sliding ladders.

Who wouldn’t? Couldn’t she just imagine how fun it would be to push off and go sliding down the shelves?

Every other library she’d been in contained grumpy male librarians who got to do all the fun things like that.

Well, she was going to do it. She was going to climb up there and push off and yell whee as she slid down the shelves.

Like a lady.

Determined, she hiked her skirts and began to climb, careful not to step on her hem and rip the cotton.

Although she was having a great deal of fun, Gabby pretended professionalism.

“McLaughlin, Landers, Gerhart…Oh good, we are going in the right direction. The B authors should be… ah ,” she hummed.

“Burnett, Bundervalt, Buchess, Buch ert , oh damn, what a shame.”

Holding tightly to the ladder, she leaned backward and peered to her left. Yes, the Bs stretched for some distance.

Oh well, nothing for it. She’d have to slide her way along the shelf and pretend to be a professional .

Still, when she reached out and nudged the ladder, not expecting it to be quite so well-oiled, she sucked in a gasp and just about managed to swallow down her Wheee !

of excitement. The BOs went past her startled nose, then the BIs, then the BEs…

until the ladder came to a stop sudden enough only her tight hold on the wood kept her on it.

Exhaling, Gabby craned her neck. The ladder had come to the end of its rail, and the BA authors stretched to her left. But— success ! She could see Barnhardt’s Among the Elephants ! She peeked down and frowned.

Certainly, she could climb back down, find the next ladder, drag it over and climb back up again. Or she could just…stretch…

Her arm wasn’t long enough. “ Blast ,” she muttered, shifting her weight on the ladder. Maybe if she moved her center of balance leftward a bit…just an inch…

Gabby carefully placed her boot on the ladder rail, inched to the left, and stretched again. Excellent! Her fingers closed around the book’s spine and she pulled it out. Breathing a sigh of relief, she pulled it to her chest, then shifted her weight again to climb down?—

Ah. Her boot was stuck.

Or rather, the heel of her boot was stuck in the ladder rail. For the third time, and rather more loudly than the others, she cursed, “ Damn ,” as she yanked on the blasted thing.

“Do ye need some help?”

The words, coming from behind her, caused Gabby to screech and throw herself forward, clutching at the ladder. The book dropped from her arm, but when she didn’t hear it hit the floor, she cautiously turned to peek beneath her arm.

Of course.

Cassian Grey was standing beneath her, holding Barnhardt’s definitive work. What was he doing here? His dark hair was sweaty, sticking up in all directions as if he’d run his hand through it repeatedly, and his sleeves were rolled up.

And he was missing his jacket and waistcoat.

Gabby told herself she was checking on the status of the book, not staring at his muscular forearms and strong fingers. Those tempting forearms and strong fingers just happened to be next to the book, so of course she’d have to look at them too…

His brow rose. “Hello.” His expression was neutral, but he was just as handsome as the day they’d arrived, the day she’d tripped and fallen into his arms.

Why hadn’t Bull mentioned how handsome Cassian Grey was? Thick dark hair, well-trimmed beard, wide lips…true, she could be cataloging the features of any number of men here in the Highlands. But they combined in a way to make him…utterly devastating to look at.

Completely inappropriate, that she should be noticing such a thing.

Her throat had gone dry. She was alone in the library with a traitor. An incredibly tempting traitor.

He is why you are in Inverlochy, remember.

No, she was at Inverlochy Castle because of the sick elephant. That was their ticket in; Hunter was supposed to be the one investigating Cassian, he was far more experienced at this sort of thing.