madam; and she was too relieved at being let off so lightly to want to pursue the subject, excusing herself to go to bed, explaining that she had to travel back to town tomorrow.
‘Of course you have.’ Her aunt looked guilty now at having delayed her even further. ‘And I really am sorry you went to all this trouble just to be disappointed.’
She shrugged. ‘Mr Grant said he would pay my expenses——’
‘That’s the least he could do in the circumstances.’ Her aunt still looked disgusted at the way Sophie had been treated.
‘Yes,’ Sophie grimaced. ‘Well. Bed, I think,’ she said again firmly.
Aunt Millie nodded, her expression indulgent. ‘You have a lie-in in the morning, if you want to. There’s no hurry for you to leave,’ she added with indignation at the cavalier treatment Sophie had received.
Aunt Millie being so gently kind–especially when Sophie wasn’t one hundred per cent certain she deserved it!—was almost as nerve-racking as one of her reprimands could be, Sophie decided, beating a hasty retreat.
But once she reached her bedroom she found she was no longer tired enough to go to bed, her mind racing with alternative plans she could make for the next week. Genteel poverty sounded rather elegant, almost noble, but it didn’t pay the bills, or put food in her stomach. Oh, she would find another job, was sure of it, had never failed yet. But until she did…
Maybe if she read for a while she would start to feel sleepy again; the amount of times she had fallen asleep over one of her books in the past, she wouldn’t be in the least surprised if it worked now! But the books she had brought with her weren’t for light reading, and the more she tried not to think about it, the more the extensive library she had spotted earlier today in the main house seemed to lure her. In fact, one of the first things she had intended doing once she was taken on as Jennifer’s companion had been to ask Maximilian Grant if she could have a good look round in there; if–holy of holies!—she might actually be allowed to read some of the leather-bound books if she was very careful with them. Her fingers itched just to touch them.
Maybe Maximilian Grant wouldn’t mind if she were to just take a little look in there now…? After all, she wouldn’t get another opportunity.
The house, when she ventured out of her bedroom, was in darkness, both her aunt and Maximilian Grant seeming to have gone to bed now. The elegant beauty of the high-ceilinged hallway took on frightening proportions in the shadows of the night, making Sophie wonder if she was really that desperate to have a look in the library after all!
But once she had opened the library door, and literally just smelt all those books, she knew she had to go in and take a look. One of the switches beside the door activated the tall lamp that stood beside the green leather armchair that was placed to one side of the fireplace, the latter filled with a vase of dried flowers this time of year. The central heating was more than adequate for a cool May night.
All the classics were there, all beautifully bound, and, as she had known it would, it gave her pleasure just to touch them.
She didn’t believe it, almost the first book she pulled out; Jane Eyre! After the thoughts she had had earlier this evening, she knew this was the book she would have to read to get to sleep tonight. Her fingers closed lovingly about the green leather as she pulled the book down from the shelf.
But the book fell to the carpeted floor with a thud as she was grabbed from behind, crying out as her arm was twisted up behind her back and she was spun round in movements so deftly executed that she barely had time to breathe after that first shocked shriek.
And when she found herself pressed up against the hard steel of Maximilian Grant’s chest, with wide, frightened eyes staring up into his furiously angry ones, she wasn’t sure she was ever going to be able to breathe again!
‘You!’ he accused her disgustedly, although he made no effort to release her.
When Sophie was becoming more and more desperate by the second that he should do so; she wasn’t sure how much longer she was going to be able to remain even standing without breathing!
Close to him like this–very close to him, their bodies moulded together from shoulder to thighs!—she was made aware of every pore of his skin, every harsh line and feature–and at the moment he looked very harsh indeed!—and of the coldness of his eyes, and it was enough to freeze the very blood in her veins. There was certainly no amusement in those eyes now, not even at her expense. In fact, he looked positively hostile!
At the same time as Sophie registered all of this, she also knew that she had never been so aware of a man in her life before. Bone-meltingly, pulse-racingly, cheek-burningly aware of Maximilian Grant with every part of her, her senses singing, from the top of her head to the tips of her tingling toes.
And if she didn’t start to breathe again soon she was going to faint dead away at his feet!
Maximilian solved the problem for her by thrusting her away from him, his eyes narrowed to steely slits now as he still held her in his gaze at least. Sophie rubbed at the painful part of her wrist where he had held her so tightly, at the same time taking huge gulps of air into her starved lungs, still too shocked to actually say anything after being taken so much by surprise by the fierceness of his attack.
It must be almost half an hour now since she had left his study, and, while she at least had taken off the uncomfortably high-heeled shoes since going to her bedroom, Maximilian looked exactly as he had when she had left him, still fully clothed and not——
‘What are you doing in here?’ he demanded harshly, his body tautly challenging.
He looked almost threatening, seeming to bar her way to the door that still stood slightly open, reminding Sophie that she had been the one to leave it that way initially, which was why she hadn’t heard Maximilian’s entrance a few minutes ago.
She eyed him warily. ‘Looking for a book to read…?’ She gave a hopeful shrug, wondering why she should have such a strong feeling that he wouldn’t believe her; this was the library, after all. What did he think she was doing in here?
The icy-blue gaze didn’t waver. ‘At this time of the morning?’
He didn’t believe her! ‘I couldn’t sleep after our talk,’ she shrugged. ‘I mean–I knew I wouldn’t be able to, even if I went to bed,’ she added hastily as he looked pointedly at the blouse and skirt she still wore, making it obvious that she hadn’t even gone to bed to try to sleep yet. ‘Too much on my mind,’ she grimaced.
He folded his arms in front of his chest. ‘A guilty conscience can make you feel like that.’
‘Guilty——? Now look here,’ she spluttered indignantly. ‘I don’t have anything to feel guilty about.’ She glared at him at the implication that she had. Good God, if he was still going on about her wandering down the darkened road earlier, that had been his fault. And she was going to tell him so too if he didn’t stop throwing it up in her face!
Dark blond brows rose over coolly assessing blue eyes. ‘Implying that I do?’ The query was made silkily soft.
Her gaze dropped from his. ‘Well, I certainly have nothing to feel guilty about!’ she insisted stubbornly. God, she hadn’t been intending to steal a book from his precious library, if that were what he was worried about; could she do nothing right where this man was concerned? ‘I
