“Are you asking me to admit to the fact that I am a rake, Alice?”
“You need not admit to what I already know,” she counted. “But, there is no longer any need to tell me. Judging by the way you’re deflecting, that is my answer.”
William chuckled and the sound brought a full grin to her face. The wariness she’d felt when she’d happened upon her father and William was already dissipating in light of his easy company. “I shan’t argue with you on that one,” William said to her. “I have a feeling that if I attempt to, you will somehow manage to twist my words around.”
“Come now, William, that doesn’t paint me in a very good light.”
“I didn’t think you would care.”
“I do not,” she confirmed with a nod. “You’re correct.”
William laughed again, but he didn’t say anything as she turned toward the library doors. It was true that after handing the letter off to a footman to be sent to Lord Brownley, Alice had intended to return to the library and bury her nose in one of her favorite publications. She’d hoped it would help to rid her of the anxious feeling she’d been victim of since last night…and the man she could not get out of her head.
Now that William was here, now that it was clear she had no intentions of sending him away, Alice didn’t think that would very possible right now. He followed her right into the library and it took all her strength not to look back at him as she made her way to the bookshelf where the publications of her favorite scientists were kept.
“I was curious about this before,” he said, coming up to her. Alice felt a tremor run through her body, even as she looked up at him. He was standing far closer than he ever should be, especially considering the fact that they were alone. The proper thing to do would be to tell him to leave, or to at least put some distance between them.
Alice simply returned her eyes to the books before her, running her fingers along the spines as she tried her hardest to focus on her search. “What is that?”
“How did a lady such as yourself become so interested in topics of science?” William leaned his back against the bookshelf, crossing his arms as he looked at her. Alice’s heart began to race and she tried her best to keep it from showing.
“A lady such as myself?” she asked.
“It is one thing to be interested in reading,” he explained. “But it is another thing entirely to be as well-read as you appear to be.”
“I do not see why that is so surprising.” She found a monograph she had not read in a while, but before she could do anything with it, William plucked it out of her hand.
“The work of Edward Gibbon as well?” he mused aloud, sounding rather surprised. “You are quite the enigma, Alice, do you know that?” He flipped it open so carelessly that she was tempted to snatch it back, had she not feared she might rip the delicate pages.
“You know of Mr. Gibbons yourself?” she asked. When he stopped flipping, she took the book away from him, not as annoyed by his actions as she believed she should have been.
“I’ve read a few of his works, yes,” William said. His gleaming eyes made her wonder if he was telling her the truth. “That happens to be one of my favorites.”
“Is that so?” Alice raised a challenging brow. “What did you think of it then?”
“The details of Mr. Gibbon’s analysis, I believe, effectively brings out the underlying principles Virgil had been leaning toward in the first place. I am not surprised that you find it interesting now that I think about it. It does have a rather romantic twist to the observation.”
Alice was far too shocked to comment on his last statement. She blinked at him, her lips falling open as she took in his cocky grin. “You truly read it?” she asked him, rather breathless.
William sighed, shaking his head. He raised his head to the ceiling and said, “Why, oh, why does this lady have no faith in me?” he asked, as if he were talking to God.
“Can you blame me?” Alice countered, still not completely over her surprise. “Every word that comes out of your mouth is either to jest or to flirt. You cannot be taken aback if I do not trust most of what you say.”
“Well, now you know that I am not one to lie often. Especially considering I do not have much of a reason to.”
He winked at her and Alice’s heart did a somersault in her chest. To save herself from whatever was happening, she took a much needed step back, clutching the book tightly in one hand. “Then that means when we happened upon each other in the library the last time…”
“I was not looking at that book in order to impress you,” he confirmed with a nod. His eyes were filled with humor, as if he was quite pleased by the fact that she was being caught in this embarrassing situation. “I was reading it because I enjoy such topics myself. Another thing we so coincidentally have in common. Ah, fate truly adores us, does it not?”
Alice snorted delicately in both disbelief and genuine humor. Shaking her head, she made her way to the armchair she liked to sit in when reading, knowing full well William would come to join her.
More and more, he was turning out to be nothing like the man she’d first thought. He was still quite the flirt, and he had not denied that. But he was a flirtatious man who enjoyed the works of philosophers and chemists, who was so well-versed on his poetry that he could quote them on a whim, who had a past that had set the course for his future and defined him as a man capable, but was simply afraid of falling in love.
Emma is right. He certainly has more and more layers and I have a feeling there are more I am yet to uncover.
“What are you thinking, Alice?” William asked. He didn’t sit in the armchair near to her. Instead, he chose to stand across from her, leaning against the mantle of the fireplace with that same crossed-arm posture that made butterflies flutter in her chest.
“That I may have been wrong about you,” she admitted. She didn’t open the book, far more interested in the conversation she was having with William. “You are not exactly the man I thought you would be, although you have a few points where you have a proven me correct. Of which I’m certain you are aware of.”
