Knowledge, she reiterated to herself. That was all Rory Monahan wanted from life. Knowledge, knowledge and more knowledge. And as much as Miriam admired knowledge in a person…
She sighed fitfully. She’d like to show Rory Monahan knowledge. Boy howdy, would she. And as she thought more about it, she began to think that maybe, just maybe, there might not be any harm in putting her own newly acquired knowledge to good use.
Not all of it, necessarily, she hastily qualified when she remembered the gist of some of those articles. Not even a lot of it, really. But some of it, perhaps. A little. Surely there had been one or two things in that Inner Temptress article, for example, that might prove useful. Provided, of course, she could use them without completely humiliating herself.
Because if Miriam did manage to use one or two of Metro’s suggestions to capture even a tiny bit of Professor Monahan’s attention, then she might just be able to garner a bit more of his attention all by herself. And if she did that, then she might very well win a nice prize for her efforts. She might very well win Professor Rory Monahan.
As prizes went, that was a pretty good one, as far as Miriam was concerned.
Now, where to begin? she wondered. Hadn’t there been another article of interest in that Inner Temptress issue? Something about going from invisible to irresistible in seven seductive steps? Not that Miriam would use all seven steps—heavens, no. She didn’t want to overwhelm the good professor, did she? Not yet, anyway. But surely one or two of those steps might be helpful, she thought. She hoped.
Reaching for the issue in question, she settled back against the pillows again to read.
Three
Rory was quite vexed. He was utterly certain he had left volume fifteen of Stegman’s Guide to the Peloponnesian War sitting right here on his table in the reference section the night before, when he’d left the library at closing time. Yes, indeed, he was positive he had done so. Because he recalled very clearly stacking volumes twelve through eighteen in numerical order, and not one of them had been missing. Now, however, fifteen was gone.
It was quite the mystery, to be sure. No one—absolutely no one—at the Marigold Free Public Library had ever had the audacity to remove a reference book from his table. Everyone knew his research was far too important to him for anyone to ever interfere with it. Yet at some point between closing last night—he glanced down at his watch to discover that it was nearly 3:00 p.m.—and roughly 2:52 p.m. today, someone had used stealth and heaven only knew what other means to confiscate his book.
All right, all right, so it wasn’t his book, per se, Rory admitted reluctantly. Technically it belonged to the library. The transgression was no less severe as a result.
Let’s see now, he thought further. Who could possibly be the culprit? Gladys Dorfman, the custodian? It was entirely possible. Not only was she here alone at the library during the dark hours of the night, able to commit, unobserved, whatever mayhem she might want to commit, but she’d also been a student in one of Rory’s morning classes last spring and had shown an inordinate amount of interest in the Peloponnese.
It could be significant.
Mr. Amberson? Rory pondered further. Possible, but unlikely. Although Mr. Amberson had keys to the library and lived alone—a condition that would make an alibi difficult to either prove or disprove—the elder librarian’s preferred area of history lay decidedly further west and a good two millennia ahead, most notably in the New World at the time of its colonization.
Besides, Rory vaguely recalled, Mr. Amberson hadn’t been working the night before, and he doubted the man would make a special effort to come to the library for that particular volume, unless it was an emergency, which, Rory had to admit, was also entirely possible. He himself had experienced such crises of research from time to time, and they were by no means pleasant. They could conceivably drive a man to commit an act which, under normal circumstances, he would never consider committing.
Still, Rory doubted Mr. Amberson would have had reason to be in the library last night. No, it had been Miss Thornbury who had worked the previous evening, Miss Thornbury who had closed the li—
Miss Thornbury, Rory thought with a snap of his fingers. Of course. She must be the culprit. Not only had he caught her red-handed with volume fifteen of the Stegman’s yesterday afternoon in her office, but she was a relative newcomer to Marigold, having lived here only… Well, Rory wasn’t sure how long she had lived here, but it wasn’t very long.
At least, he was fairly certain it hadn’t been very long. Although he remembered—surprisingly well, actually—the day she had started working at the library, he couldn’t quite pinpoint when, exactly, that day had occurred. It had been snowing, though. He did recall that much. Because she had just come in from outside when he first made her acquaintance, and her nose had been touched adorably with red, and her eyes had glistened against the cold, and her mouth had been so full and so red and so luscious, not that that had necessarily been caused by the elements, but Rory had noticed it, and…and…and…
Where was he?
Oh, yes. The missing volume of Stegman’s. At any rate, there was a very good chance that Miss Thornbury didn’t even know about the unofficial don’t-touch-Professor-Monahan’s-table rule that everyone else in town held sacred.
Of course, that didn’t excuse her violation, Rory told himself. Ignorance was never an excuse. And he was confident that Miss Thornbury herself would agree with him on that score. He was going to have to make clear to her that his research was of utmost importance in and to the community at large. He owed it to her. And once he explained the situation, he was certain she would never commit such an egregious error in judgment again. He was also certain that she would thank him for setting her straight.
Sufficiently convinced now of the nobility of his errand, Rory went in search of Miss Thornbury, and, consequently, volume fifteen of the Stegman’s. But he didn’t have to search far. Because he located her almost immediately, standing on a ladder, two stacks away from his table in the reference section, where she was in the process of shelving—
Good heavens, it was volume fifteen of the Stegman’s! Rory realized triumphantly. He’d caught her red-handed again! He prepared himself for battle, hiked up his dark gray trousers, pushed back the rolled cuffs of his white dress shirt, straightened the skewed knot in his plaid—but it was a tasteful plaid, truly—necktie, and raked both hands through his shaggy black hair. Then, after settling his glasses intently on the bridge of his nose, he bravely entered the fray. Or, at the very least, he bravely entered the stacks. And he didn’t stop entering until he stood at the foot of the ladder upon which Miss Thornbury had perched herself.
As he halted before her, though, Rory, well…halted. Because he vaguely realized that she was standing on a rung at such a height as to put her thigh directly at his eye level. And, less vaguely, he realized that there was a side slit in her straight, black skirt. It was conservative enough to be acceptable for a librarian’s wardrobe, but open just now—thanks to her position on the ladder—in such a way as to make a professor of history take notice. And somehow, this particular professor of history found the sight of Miss Thornbury’s leg to be strangely…arousing?
Oh, surely not.
Rory shook off the sensation and forced his gaze higher, toward her face. But his gaze got held up at her torso, because on top of her slim skirt with the intriguing, though conservative, side slit, Miss Thornbury was wearing a rather snug, rather red, knit top. A snug, red top that had no sleeves, he noted further, offering him just the merest glimpse of a bare shoulder, a glimpse that he’d never had before, a glimpse that