Page 88 of How the Belle Stole Christmas

Oh, God. His mother, dead, and his father, too. “Do ye have any brothers and sisters?” she asked, hoping desperately that the answer was yes.

“None. It was just me and Father, until it was… just me.” He gave a bleak laugh.

“That’s why I was so pleased to see you when you burst through my door, even though you accused me of murder.

” He accompanied the last word with a friendly nudge of his elbow.

“I’d been dreading the prospect of spending another Christmas alone. ”

Another Christmas alone. Catriona’s family might not always treat her very well. But perhaps it was worse not to have anyone to spend Christmas with.

She honestly wasn’t sure.

“Where did ye spend yer Christmases, then?”

“I would hide in my rooms at Oxford. Officially, everyone was supposed to vacate the premises during the holiday break. But seeing as I had nowhere to go, I became adept at sneaking in and out of my college. I would pretend to leave, then slip back in and have the place to myself.” He smiled sadly.

“It’s the reason I taught myself to cook. ”

Catriona tried to imagine waking up alone on Christmas morning in a cold, empty building. It didn’t bear thinking about. “I see now why ye’re so tolerant of my company. Yer standards are low!”

His brow lowered. “That’s not true, and I wish you wouldn’t say such things about yourself. I’ve found your company to be excellent.”

She snorted. “That makes one of ye. My family is forever complaining about me. Apparently, I only discuss dull topics that interest no one.”

Will laughed, and there was some humor in it this time. “It sounds as if you’re describing me. I’m dull by Oxford standards, which is really saying something.”

Catriona scooted closer to him, enjoying his warmth in the cold night air. “What were ye studying at Oxford, then?”

“Ancient history,” he answered, causing Catriona to jolt.

Ancient history? That was what she liked. Nobody was interested in ancient history.

At least, nobody she’d ever met before…

Will was still speaking. “It used to be my fondest daydream that one day, I would be appointed to the Camden Professorship of Ancient History.”

“Maybe ye will be.”

Will shook his head. “I won’t. Not since I inherited my uncle’s title. In theory, the position is awarded based on ability. But in practice, it’s thought of as a living, reserved for a man in need of an income. Which is no longer me.”

Catriona rubbed circles across Will’s back. In addition to being warm, she couldn’t help but notice that he smelled wonderful. She leaned forward and gave what she hoped was a surreptitious sniff. Paper, beeswax, and… She inhaled again. Leather. That was it.

Good God—the man smelled like a library. No wonder she found him so attractive!

Wait… attractive? Was that really the word?

Catriona considered, and much to her alarm, found that it was.

Now that she was touching him, she knew that although he was not in possession of the hulking sort of physique ideal for wielding a broadsword, his body felt very good pressed against hers.

Moreover, there was something about the smell of him that was appealing beyond his Eau de Bibliothèque scent.

It was as if he had a natural musk that for some reason made her think of that book of Duff’s, the one with the pictures of people engaged in lewd acts.

Suddenly, those lewd acts seemed less shocking and more like something she might want to try…

She squirmed on her stool, struggling to act naturally. “So, what will ye do now that ye’re the viscount?”

He shrugged. “It’s not all bad. The viscountcy comes with enough money to allow me to travel.

I’ll be able to walk through the Roman Forum, to stand at the spot where Caesar drew his last breath, rather than just reading about it in a book.

I can explore the great libraries of Europe.

I could even finance an excavation at Pompeii or Herculaneum. ”

“That sounds incredible,” Catriona said, meaning it. Although she loved her island home, she had also dreamed of traveling to many of the same places Will longed to visit. Something occurred to her. “If ye can afford to go to all of those places, what are ye doing here?”

“There’s also fascinating history to be found here on Skye.

The first thing I did when I arrived in London was to join the Society of Antiquaries, in the hope of making some like-minded friends.

That’s where I saw Katherine Sterling’s marvelous paintings of the artifacts you’re keeping in this very castle.

” He gave her a sheepish grin. “They quite captured my imagination. I thought I would start my adventures by coming to see them for myself.”

Catriona’s heartbeat kicked up a notch. Well, this was just perfect! She was already struggling to tamp down her unseemly thoughts about Will. And now, she learned that he had come all the way to Skye because he wanted to see her artifacts!

Och, she was in trouble. Deep, deep trouble.

Beside her, Will chuckled. “I have this idea—a ridiculous idea, most probably. But I keep hoping that I could meet whoever it was who found the artifacts.”

Catriona’s vision went blurry around the edges. Little did Will know that he had already met the individual in question, and that he was, in point of fact, currently sharing a blanket with his quarry.

“I mean,” Will continued, “can you imagine what it would have been like to discover something so magnificent?”

“I can imagine, all right,” she muttered beneath her breath. Although the hoard hadn’t looked quite so magnificent on the day she’d discovered it. It had been caked in mud and the silver had borne a thousand years of tarnish.

Apparently, her mutterings hadn’t been quite as soft as she’d thought, because Will asked, “You’ve daydreamed about it, too, then?”

He didn’t seem to notice the cringing nature of her nod, because he smiled as he gazed out across the moors.

“I know the discoverer wished to remain anonymous, but I couldn’t help myself—I sent a letter to your father, to see if he might be willing to tell me.

And that is when things really took a surprising turn. ”

“Oh?” Catriona’s voice sounded shrill to her own ears.

Will did not seem to notice. “The discoverer wrote me back! Your father must have passed them my letter. They insisted on using a pseudonym, but they wouldn’t explain why. It’s all very mysterious.”

“Such a mystery!” Catriona choked.

Will did not remark upon her stilted response.

“Mmm. I figured at first that the person who found them must be some local farmer or field hand. It makes a certain amount of sense. Farmers spend a great deal of time outside, digging in their fields. And their failure to communicate with the Society regarding their find might not be a matter of reticence, but illiteracy. I almost didn’t bother writing to them at all. And yet…”

“Yet?” Catriona prompted when he didn’t continue right away.

He turned to look at her, a thoughtful expression on his face.

“Do you ever just get a feeling about something? That you’re supposed to do it, however ridiculous it sounds?

I got precisely such a feeling on this occasion, as though I was meant to write to this person.

And when Nabonidus replied—well, that was my first clue. ”

Catriona could scarcely hear him over the pounding of her heart. Because only one person knew her as Nabonidus.

Xenophon. Will was Xenophon.

Will did not seem to have noticed her flummoxed state. “After all,” he continued, “what field hand has heard of Nabonidus?”

Catriona swallowed. That had been her first mistake, choosing a Neo-Babylonian king as her pseudonym. Who had even heard of Nabonidus, other than great quizzes like her and Will?

“Trust me, this is no field hand,” Will continued. “Nabonidus is as educated as you, or I. He’s ignored all my questions about himself. But we’ve struck up quite the correspondence.”

Catriona couldn’t bring herself to answer. She was still in shock, to find herself sitting next to the only person on the face of this earth who truly liked her.

He proceeded to prove it. “I look forward to getting those letters above all other things. I honestly feel like Nabonidus understands me better than anyone. You’ll think this is stupid. But even though I’ve never met him, I consider this Nabonidus to be my best friend.”

“Nabonidus feels the same way,” she whispered. “Although Nabonidus isnae a he.”

He turned to her, surprised, and she watched the progression of emotions across his face. Confusion. Then, what if… Followed by… hope.

The last one was definitely hope.

“Catriona,” he said, his voice suddenly tight. “Could you possibly mean…?”

Of their own accord, her hands slid up his shoulders until her arms were looped around his neck. “’Tis nice to finally meet ye, Xenophon.”

Then, before she could think better of it, she leaned in and kissed him.