Seven Secrets of Seduction by Anne Mallory Page B

package of books from a store. Who knew what sort of crazed household they ran.
    â€œI—That would be nice, thank you.” She remembered the way but knew better than to say so. Her mother had drilled protocol into her, hoping that she might follow in her footsteps one day. The ladies who ran the academy had been disappointed when she had not.
    â€œThis way.” He bowed, but it was obvious from his tight manner that he did not approve of her. She opened her mouth to say, “I’m only here to organize the library,” but that would sound silly beyond measure.
    Two maids they passed in the hall stopped what they were doing to watch her—one surreptitiously and the other quite openly. The glances were repeated throughout the house.
    If there were ever a day when she felt quite as on display and out of belonging as today, she wasn’t sure she had lived it yet. She hadn’t realized what a relief it was sometimes to blend into the woodwork.
    They reached the library, finally, and she nearlygave in to the urge to run inside and firmly close the door behind her.
    â€œA lunch tray will be brought for you.”
    â€œOh, no, I can walk to the—”
    Jeffries held up his hand. “No need to trouble yourself, Miss Chase. We will be happy to bring a tray to you. Is there anything else you require?”
    She shook her head, nothing springing to mind. She couldn’t think when she was this on edge.
    â€œThen good day, Miss Chase.” He bowed, another tight movement. “Please ring should you require anything.”
    The movement and the way he said it stated that he very likely expected her to do so. Repeatedly.
    It spoke to the types of guests they had entertained in the past. What that said for her she didn’t know.
    Clipped footfalls faded into the silence of the hallway. Servants were so skilled at moderating their movements to being as quiet as possible in the common areas and halls. Not disturbing their masters. Only the back rooms and kitchens would have a jubilant air. Something that proclaimed them as individual spirits.
    Sometimes she wished she could return to the country but not be remembered as the daughter of a strict, well-respected academic, expected to be proper at all times. To go somewhere where all she had to do was enjoy the pleasant diversions of village life. Live in her books and find solace in the forests.
    But some forests weren’t made of trees. She looked around the large, airy room choked by the stacks of towering books. The room would look beyond marvelous when reassembled. She walked through the plugged space, around the stacks, touching a binding here, picking up a copy there. She couldn’t believe that theentire shelf space was bare. Whatever had occurred in the viscount’s mind to cause him to remove every copy, then shuffle them all together?
    Such random thinking, the Quality possessed. Do what is on the forefront of the mind and leave someone else to clean it up. She supposed that was what came of having manors full of money. Things like time and effort didn’t even enter into the equation.
    She cursed the crazy temptation that had lodged within her, enticing her here once more.
    She stroked a copy of the Aeneid . The treat of discovering all of the treasures within was enticing by itself, though the actual task of organizing them might as well have been given to Psyche by Aphrodite herself.
    But the other reason for coming…a purely flesh-and-blood reason…she shook her head and deliberately focused on the Herculean task before her. She lifted the book, sighed, and dropped into a chair located in the middle of the hurricane.
    It would take a week just to partially sort through them and discern which categories to use and where, depending on the breadth of the subjects. Of course, she could easily organize the books into alphabetical categories as they did in the store. Though some of the grand houses preferred a