Rogue in Red Velvet Read Free Page B

the smaller books, she still had to collect the inventories, a task that had just become much easier. “Pardon me, sir but would you mind helping me with the other books up there?”
    He gazed at her as if she really mattered to him, instead of forming a convenient distraction. His eyes radiated sincerity.
    Did he look at all women that way? Was that part of his fabled charm?
    “Alex,” he reminded her. He glanced up and his eyes widened. “You were planning to get them down by yourself?”
    “Well, yes. I know Lady Downholland’s staff is rather busy just now. I had planned to take them down carefully and balance them on the steps of this ladder. I brought it from the large library, so I could be sure it was safe.”
    “You brought it here on your own?” He seemed incredulous, his voice rising.
    “It doesn’t weigh a great deal and it’s not far, if you take the short way.” She planted her hands on her hips. His attitude irritated her. As if a woman didn’t carry a can of hot water to his bedroom every morning. “I’m not entirely helpless. Women aren’t, you know.”
    He grinned, the dimple at the corner of his mouth deepening. “I understand.” He executed a small bow. “And I beg your pardon, ma’am.” Alex shifted his attention to the books on the table. “Receipt books instead of inventories. History interests you?”
    “Somewhat.” She shot him a brief glance, not wishing to prolong the moment and receive another of his penetrating gazes. “I shouldn’t say that, should I? My aunt has it that men don’t like women with too many opinions.”
    He laughed. “I’ve just managed to escape a group of women who think that.”
    Before he laughed again, she put her foot on the bottom rung of the ladder. “If I could pass you the books I want, would that work? I don’t think it would do the other way about.”
    “No indeed. If I dropped them they might squash you.”
    Now it was her turn to laugh. “I’m not that fragile.”
    She levered out the first book with a great deal of care and even more dust. Without looking down, she called out, “I fear I’ll make an enemy of your valet. I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize these had been here quite so long.”
    He coughed. “It’s of no matter. I’m here and waiting.”
    With the book balanced on the top of the ladder, she glanced down. He’d stood where he couldn’t see up her skirts. That alone warmed her to him, since another man might have taken advantage, although she had foregone her hoop today in favor of a quilted petticoat, so the task wouldn’t have been so easy. Neither would climbing ladders. “Thank you sir.”
    Comprehension lit his eyes. “Think nothing of it. I don’t steal.”
    It came as a shock to realize he’d known what she meant. Peeking would have been just that. She hadn’t given him any sign that she wanted him to, or shown any sign of not caring. So yes, it would have been stealing something from her. Her feelings for him shifted a tiny bit and she added respect for liking. Desire she must set aside. Not for her.
    She concentrated on getting the book down the ladder. He took it from her when she’d gone down three rungs and he lifted it without seeming effort. It had taken a lot of work to get the book down even those three rungs. Without him, the task would have exhausted her.
    There were four tomes in all. Each had collected its load of dust and she could do very little when she tipped the book and another tranche of the heavy, feathery stuff slid off the top.
    A bout of coughing erupted from below. He had suffered worse than she. An old cobweb dangled from his wig at the back and grime streaked his face. Now he looked human, normal. “There,” he said. “Now we’re equal.”
    Hardly, but she’d let that pass. “The others aren’t as bad. That one was the worst.”
    He lifted his strong, capable hands and she let go of the second tome. Without a tremor, he hefted the sizable, heavy volume and laid it