Billionaire Romance Boxed Set 2(180)

I sighed and tried not to frown, tried to think of it from Asher’s point of view. “I suppose. It is nice to treat friends sometimes. Me and my friends do that. We don’t go anywhere fancy, though. To the movies or whatever, that kind of thing.”

“Yeah,” Jeremy said. “It’s almost the same, I think. Kind of.”

Once we arrived back at the Landseer estate, Jeremy tossed me a key. “There you go, lady. Your very own key. Don’t lose it, it cost two bucks.”

“Whoa!” I said, pretending to be impressed. “Big spender.”

“Yeah, I know.” He grinned. “I’m going to bring this food to Asher. I’m sure I’ll see you tomorrow. Have a good night.”

“You too.”

I waved and Jeremy waved back, then he started walking down the gravel pathway to the main house. I stood in the chill evening air for a moment, holding my take-home cheesecake container, thinking. I had a lot to think about lately. I was probably doing too much, I decided. Too much, except I felt compelled to do it all, too. Something, a feeling, maybe women’s intuition. Or maybe just naive stupidity. Either one probably fit.

Trudging towards the guest house, I shuffled my feet and kicked at the gravel walkway. My casual heels scuffled against the hardened path when I kicked at it with the toes of my shoes, and my progress towards the house was slow but it gave me a little more time to think. If Beatrice saw me, she might think I was some child or something. Look at Jessika. What is she doing? She’s ruining perfectly good shoes and acting immature to boot.

Oh well. I didn’t really care what she thought. She couldn’t be much older than me, and yet she acted like she was. Except, of course, when I heard her in the bookstore. Then she sounded happier, almost chipper. Granted, she was with Solomon and plotting against Asher, so it wasn’t exactly the right kind of happiness, but I knew she could be a different person. Why wasn’t she, though?

I opened the door to Asher’s guest house with the key Jeremy gave me and stepped inside. Kicking off my shoes and leaving them to the side, I locked the door and left the key on the kitchen counter. Now what? Life was so hectic and today had been more hectic still. I desperately needed to relax.

The library sounded perfect, so I went downstairs. Flipping the light switch on, I breathed in deep and admired the shelves around me. It really was a perfect kind of place, I thought. Not the best ever, nothing like a classic library, but it was quaint and quiet and hidden away. The perfect spot for relaxing. It was a good place to think and prepare.

Right now I just wanted to read, though. I did like the book I’d browsed through the other day, so I decided to look for the first. Kushiel’s Dart, I guess? I assumed Asher had it, and it was probably somewhere by where the second book had been, but I didn’t notice it when I first checked. I walked over to the shelf, one of the ones in the middle, and scanned through the bindings looking for familiar script.

Maybe it was on one of the bookshelves to the left or right? The one on the right was the shelf that swung open, the one that Asher came through the other night. Quite a surprise, that; I hadn’t expected anything like it. I perused the shelves, looking for the book, and…

My God. Everything fit. I didn’t know how I hadn’t thought of this before.

The bookshelf swung open somehow with a mechanism built into the floor. I’d seen the casing and watched Asher push it into place that night after he’d slipped through. And obviously the hidden doorway behind the bookshelf led to a passageway that went to the main house. Presumably only Asher knew about this, or maybe a select few others. It seemed like the kind of thing he might keep secret, though how should I know?

That didn’t matter so much, but what did matter was the privacy of it. The passageway was a perfect route into the main house. I could use it to sneak in without rousing suspicion or making myself known. And, once inside, I could go to Beatrice’s room and look for any clues or evidence about her and Solomon’s plans. On her computer, or paperwork in her desk, or whatever. I didn’t know what exactly I needed to find, but if I could do this thing and get inside her room I thought I might find something.

Maybe if I was lucky there was a hidden door in Beatrice’s room, too. I imagined some fancy wardrobe like the children in The Chronicles of Narnia used, with a loose backing that opened up into Asher’s secret pathways. Probably not quite as magical as C.S. Lewis’s version, but curious nonetheless.

Also, there it was. I snatched up Kushiel’s Dart and carried it over to the blanket-covered couch. Plopping onto the cushions and covering myself with blankets, I opened the book and started to read.