Lady Ines Scandalous Hobby-Chapter 80 - Eighty

Evans looked at her, his blue eyes warm. "I’ve been physically weak since childhood," he confided. It was a strange thing to tell a lady he had just met, but he seemed to sense a kindred spirit. "My lungs were not strong. So it was hard for me to go outside and play with the other boys. Since then... reading has become my hobby. My life, really."

Ines felt a wave of sympathy. She knew that life. She knew the four walls of a sickroom. She knew the longing to be part of the world, and the comfort of finding a world inside a book instead.

"So... you were like that too," she whispered.

She took a step closer to him, lowering her voice.

"I also wasn’t in good health when I was young," she admitted. "I have a heart condition. I spent years watching my brother play from the window. So... I started enjoying reading novels. They were my friends."

Evans looked at her with a new intensity. It wasn’t the burning hunger of Carcel’s gaze. It was a look of profound relief. A look that said, I am not alone.

"Is that so?" he asked softly. "Then you know exactly what it is like."

"I do," Ines nodded.

Standing a few feet away, Rowan and Amelia were watching this exchange with the rapt attention of two generals watching a successful battle maneuver. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

Rowan nudged Amelia’s arm. "Look at them," he whispered triumphantly. "They are smiling. They are talking. I told you! It is perfect."

Amelia beamed, snapping her fan open. "Oh, Rowan, you are a genius. My brother hasn’t spoken more than two sentences to a woman in three years. Look at him! He looks... comfortable."

Rowan decided to strike while the iron was hot. He cleared his throat loudly, stepping into the small, private bubble Ines and Evans had created.

"Ines," Rowan said, his voice hearty and encouraging. He interrupted their conversation without a shred of guilt.

Ines and Evans turned, startled.

"Since you both have such a... passion... for literature," Rowan said, gesturing vaguely toward the back of the house. "Ines, why don’t you show the Earl the books in our library? I am sure he would be fascinated by Father’s collection of first editions."

Ines froze.

The library.

Her heart gave a painful thud.

The library. The location of her "lessons." The place where the desk still bore the memory of her back. The place of the inkwell, and the nightgown, and the... everything.

To take another man there? To take Evans, this gentle, innocent man, into the lion’s den?

It felt... strange. It felt wrong. It felt like a betrayal.

But then she looked at Evans. He was looking at her with such hope. His eyes lit up at the mention of a library collection. He didn’t know about the desk. He didn’t know about the midnight meetings, what happened there almost every night. To him, it was just a room full of books.

And to Rowan... to Rowan, it was a safe, chaperoned activity.

Ines looked at her brother. He looked so happy. He looked so relieved to see her talking to a "suitable" man.

She couldn’t say no. Not without causing a scene. Not without ruining the fragile peace of the evening.

She turned to Evans. She pushed the memory of Carcel’s dark eyes and hot hands to the back of her mind. She put on her polite, hostess smile.

"Shall we?" she asked, gesturing toward the hallway.

Evans smiled, a bright, genuine expression that made him look quite handsome in a quiet way.

"I would be really grateful if you could do that, Lady Ines," he said. "I have heard the Hamilton library is legendary."

"It is," Ines said. Her voice was steady. "Please follow me."

She turned and led Evans out of the ballroom, away from the noise, away from the music, and toward the quiet, shadowed hallway that led to the library.

As they walked, she felt a strange sense of duality. She was Lady Ines, showing a nice young Earl her family’s books.

But in her heart, she knew she was walking into a haunted house. Every step toward that door was a reminder of the man who wasn’t there. The man who was "impossible."

She got to the door and pushed it open.

The room was dark, save for the moonlight streaming through the tall windows. The room smelled of lemon oil and paper.

"I will light the lamp," Ines said, walking in.

Evans followed her, stepping into the sanctuary.

Ines struck a match. The flame flared, illuminating the room.

"Allow me," Evans said politely, reaching for the lit lamp on the table near the door.

The light fill the room the room making the the place bright. It revealed the shelves, the chairs... and the empty desk.

It was just a room. Just books.

Evans Montclair stood in the center of the room. He slowly turned in a circle, his head tipped back, his blue eyes wide and reflecting the golden glow of the lamps. He looked like a man who had just walked into a cathedral.

Ines let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding.

"Here we are," she said softly. "Welcome to my world, Earl Montclair."

"Wow," he breathed. It was a simple word, stripped of all aristocratic pretense.

He walked to the nearest shelf, his fingers hovering inches from the spines, afraid to touch.

"I had high expectations," he admitted, his voice hushed with reverence. "Amelia told me it was grand. But this... this exceeded them. Your library, Lady Ines... it is beautiful."

Ines stood by the desk, her hands clasped in front of her golden dress. She felt a spark of genuine pride. This room was her heart.

"Really?" she asked, a small smile touching her lips.

Evans nodded enthusiastically.

"You have... you have the complete collection of The Travels of Marco Polo," He whispered, reaching out to touch a spine with reverence. "I have been looking for this volume for years."

His long, slender fingers also traced the spine of a rare botanical encyclopedia.

"This is amazing." He beamed.