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She paused after she added the last line. That cost her more composure than the rest of the note. She sent it before she could cross it out. At four the following afternoon, Alexander arrived to find her standing upon a low set of library steps. He stopped in the doorway. “Should I be alarmed?”

“Only if you have come to inspect my housekeeping.”

Books covered the long table and occupied two chairs. A stack of pamphlets leaned against the desk leg. Charlotte held a volume in one hand and steadied herself against the shelves with the other.

Alexander approached the steps. “I am more concerned for your neck.”

“It has survived considerably greater heights.”

“I am pleased to hear it,” he said. “May I take that?”

She passed him the book, then descended. He offered his hand for the last step, and she accepted it. For a moment after her feet reached the carpet, neither let go. Charlotte looked up at him. His hair was slightly windblown, and concern had left his face, replaced by something warmer.

“Good afternoon,” Charlotte said, smiling as she let go of his hand. She had looked forward to seeing him, and his presence eased her last uncertainty.

“Good afternoon,” Alexander replied, his gaze lingering on her before moving to the books scattered across the table and chairs.

“I have made rather a muddle of everything,” she admitted, brushing a little dust from her skirt.

“I see that,” he said, surveying a stack that leaned against the desk.

Charlotte raised a brow. “You need not agree quite so readily.”

He smiled and turned back to her. “I understood I was permitted to form my own opinions.”

“You were. How unfortunate.” She tried to sound stern, but his answering laugh made her smile.

Meeting with him in the library had been the sensible choice. There would be something to do, something to discuss, and enough to keep them from lingering over their last conversation. It was her way of attempting to put a little distance between them. Her heart was already growing too attached to him.

Alexander’s presence made even the scattered books look different. She saw the room as he might. The comfortable chair beside the window, the worn patch on the desk where she rested her wrist, and the collection of things she had chosen because they pleased her.

Alexander turned the book in his hands, examining the faded lettering upon its spine. “Where does this belong?”

Charlotte glanced at the crowded shelves and sighed. “That is the question I have spent the afternoon attempting to answer.”

“Are you arranging them by subject?” he asked.

She sighed. “I began that way.”

“And then?” He looked back at her, his mouth beginning to curve into a smile.

“I discovered that several authors did not confine themselves to merely one.”

“How inconsiderate,” he said gravely.

Charlotte laughed and took the volume from him, pleased that they had fallen into teasing one another so easily. “Travel accounts upon those shelves,” she said, pointing. “Novels beside the window. Everything else may await inspiration.”

Alexander set aside the book he held, then removed his coat and draped it over the back of an empty chair. She kept her gaze on him, lingering on his shoulders and the snug fit of his waistcoat. She remembered resting her hands there while he kissed her. Warmth rose in her cheeks.

He caught her looking. “Do you object?” he asked, his fingers resting upon the discarded coat.

“No,” she replied, meeting his eyes. She saw no reason to pretend otherwise.

His smile widened. “You should give me a task. I would hate for us to become distracted.”

She swallowed hard. There were a few things she wouldn’t mind becoming distracted by with him. But she would not give in to that temptation. At least not yet… Charlotte indicated the stack upon the table, though she was beginning to doubt how much they would accomplish. “You may begin there.”

They worked easily together. He read titles aloud, occasionally offered an outrageous suggestion about where something belonged. As if he enjoyed it as much as she did… Charlotte had expected to appreciate his help. She hadn't expected to enjoy sharing the task so much.