Читать книгу What the Librarian Did / LA Cinderella: What the Librarian Did / LA Cinderella - Karina Bliss - Страница 9

“ISN’T THIS THE SECOND marriage proposal you’ve turned down?” asked Trixie. “Face it, Rach, you’re a heartbreaker.”

“With that imagination you should be writing fiction, not shelving academia.” Kneeling on the floor, Rachel Robinson snipped through the tape on the carton of books addressed to Auckland University library, then glanced at her assistant.

“I’m a thirty-four-year-old librarian, not Scarlett O’Hara, and Paul is probably breathing a sigh of relief right about now.” At least she hoped he was. He’d been upset last night—and she still was. Both of them had expected her to say yes.

“That’s another thing,” said Trixie with the bluntness of youth. “Rejecting proposals is poor policy for a woman who wants a family. You may look twenty-nine but your ovaries are knocking thirty-five.”

Normally her protégée’s homespun lectures were entertaining, coming as they did from a twenty-year-old Goth-wannabe with dyed black hair and a nose stud. Today they struck a nerve. “Maybe I’m meant to devote my life to my work.”

“Now that’s just crazy talk.”

At the other end of the counter, a student approached the help desk and pressed the buzzer. “Yours,” said Rachel thankfully. The first day of the university year didn’t start until tomorrow, but the smart ones were getting in early.

Trixie bent and gave Rachel a fierce, parting hug. “I hate it when you’re unhappy. Go tell Paul you’ve changed your mind.”

So much for putting on a brave face. Hauling the books out of the carton and stacking them under the counter, Rachel wished it was as simple as that. Lately her left brain didn’t know what her right brain was doing. Tentatively prodding her feelings, she found no regret or remorse, only a guilty seam of rock-solid relief.

Standing, she closed her eyes, breathing in the heady smell of institutional tranquility, and tried to internalize it. Help me, she prayed silently. Why do I run every time I’m close to marriage?

Someone cleared his throat and Rachel opened her eyes. A man waited, impatiently frowning at her.

He was dressed in faded jeans with slashed knees and a too-tight olive-green T-shirt stretched over muscled biceps. Ruggedly tanned, he had sun-streaked russet-brown hair curling past his collar.

It wasn’t that he had a five o’clock shadow at nine-thirty in the morning that screamed “bad boy.” To Rachel’s eyes, that simply made him scruffy. And most certainly his menace wasn’t in his boots, butter-soft leather and, good Lord, purple?

No, it was the arrogant way he stood—feet planted wide, arms folded across his impressive chest. It was the dragon tattoo curling the length of one muscled arm. But mostly it was the sleepy sensuality in the hooded hazel eyes casually scanning Rachel as if she were part of a female buffet. She got the impression he was already very full but might possibly squeeze in dessert—if it was handed to him on a plate.

The woman in her bristled, but the librarian mustered a professional smile. “Can I help you?”

The man didn’t smile back. “I heard there was a library tour for those new to the college.” His voice was deep, his accent American.

Rachel reached for her timetable. “You’re a day early, but if you give me your name I’ll book you in for tomorrow.”

There was a brief hesitation. “Devin Freedman.”

“Devin. Spelled o-n or i-n?”

His mouth relaxed its tight line. “I-n.”

“I can give you an informal look around now if you like.”

For some reason his guard went up again. “I don’t want any special treatment.”

“You must be a student,” she said drily. “If you were a lecturer you wouldn’t say that.”

Narrow-eyed, he assessed her, and Rachel nearly told him to lighten up. Then a thought struck her. “Oh, Lord, you are a new lecturer.”

A smile broke through the guy’s suspicion. It did strange things to Rachel’s stomach. Or it could be she’d been too upset about Paul to eat breakfast.

“No,” he said, “not a lecturer. And I would appreciate a tour. It’s going to be hard enough tomorrow being the oldest student here.”

“Don’t worry, we have quite a few adult students. I assume you’re part-time?”

“Full-time.”

Rachel hid her surprise. Except for the boots, he didn’t look as if he could afford to pay the fees without working.

On the other hand, with that body, he probably made good money working nights in a male revue. She said briskly, “What degree?”

“Bachelor of commerce.”

“Okay, Devin … my name’s Rachel Robinson and you’re in luck. I’m the subject librarian for business and finance. Follow me.” She spent the next fifteen minutes walking him through the library, while he listened intently, saying little. “You’re American,” she commented at one point.

“No.”

Okay, we don’t do small talk. “We have a few library tutorials of interest to you. Let me get you some brochures.” She led him back to the counter and started rummaging through a filing cabinet.

“I’m sure I saw him come in here.” The voice was female, very young and slightly breathless.

Another responded with a giggle, “Do you think he’d sign my bra?”

Startled, Rachel looked up. Devin had vanished and three teenagers milled around the entry, two girls and a boy.

“You promised you’d be cool about this if I brought you,” the youth complained. Then he caught Rachel’s eye and lowered his voice. “Shush, let’s just go in and look.”

“Can I help you?” Rachel asked in her best librarian’s voice.

The boy dropped his gaze. “Uh, no, we’re just looking for someone.”

“Famous,” added one of the girls, smoothing down her skirt and scanning the rows of books.

Rachel stepped into her line of sight. “So you’re not here to use the facilities of the library?”

“No,” the girl replied, “but—”

“Then it’s better if you wait outside for whoever—”

“Devin Freedman.” There was worship in the boy’s tone.

“—you’re waiting for,” Rachel continued. “If you’re sure he’s here?”

That sowed enough doubt for them to start arguing among themselves as they left.

When they’d gone, she looked for Devin and found him leaning against a bookshelf in aisle three. He straightened at her approach, his expression wary. “As I was saying,” she continued, “we have a few one-hour tutorials of interest to you. A library and resources overview, an introduction to our online library catalog …” She stopped because he wasn’t listening, then added softly, “And I can show you the staff exit when you’re ready to leave.”

His attention snapped back to her. “Thanks.”

“I’m sorry, I still have no idea who you are,” she admitted.

“That makes two of us.” He saw her bafflement and shrugged wide shoulders. “I was a guitarist in a band that did well.”

And now you’re going back to school? But he probably had enough of people prying into his private life. “That’s why I don’t know your name then. I don’t keep up with contemporary pop.”

He winced. “Rock.”

“Excuse me?”

“We were rock.”

Something in his pained tone made her smile. “Was that like comparing Gilbert and Sullivan to Puccini?”

An answering glint lit his eyes. “Sorry, I’m not an opera buff. It’s always struck me as a bunch of overemoting prima donnas going mad or dying.”

“Whereas rock and roll …?”

Devin laughed. “You’re right,” he conceded, “no difference.” He thrust out a hand. “Anyway, thanks for your help.” She took the warm tapered fingers, careful to avoid the dragon’s tongue flicking at the tip of one knuckle. “I’ll hang around a bit longer till the coast clears,” he added. “Read the brochures.”

“If it’s any consolation, they run a tight ship here,” she said. “I doubt you’ll get harassed past the first day.”

“That’s one of the reasons I chose this campus. I wanted fossilized conservatives dressed in …” His gaze slid over her gray pin-striped trousers and pale blue satin blouse with short puffed sleeves. “Thanks again.”

Rachel felt a spike of irritation before her sense of humor kicked in. What did she care what a guy wearing purple boots thought about her vintage fetish? Still, she gave the boots a pointed look before she said kindly, “You’re very welcome.”

The edges of his irises were bright green, with copper-brown starbursts around the pupils. When he smiled with his eyes the effect was unnerving. “Ma’am,” he drawled, flicked an imaginary hat brim, then strolled toward a reading nook.

Smart aleck. People rarely challenged Rachel and never teased her; the world of academia was a civilized one. She sighed.

“Hell bod,” said Trixie, coming up beside her. Then she started. “Hey, isn’t that—”

“Devin Freedman,” said Rachel knowledgeably, and went back to unpacking books and brooding on why someone who was desperate for kids couldn’t cross the first threshold.

As though she’d conjured him, Paul reeled through the library’s double doors. Rachel gasped. The side part that normally flipped his gray-streaked black hair rakishly over one eye zigzagged across his skull as crookedly as he now staggered across the navy carpet.

His corduroy jacket—the same soft brown as his eyes—had pizza stains on it and the blue chambray shirt that normally buttoned neatly under his chin flapped open halfway down a pale hairy chest. And the designer jeans …

Rachel rushed over and jerked up his fly. “You’re drunk!”

“Are you surprised?” His voice rang loudly.

“Shush….”

She tried to drag him into the staff office, but he clutched at the countertop, swaying slightly. “You led me on!”

Heads began poking out from the aisles of books as readers took an interest. “Paul, please,” she begged. Regardless of whether she deserved this humiliation, he was jeopardizing his job by showing up inebriated. She had to get him out of here. Rachel grabbed his arm again, called over her shoulder, “Trix, help me.”

He flung them both off with a dramatic gesture, ruined by a loud belch. “When I’ve had my say.”

Until last night she and Paul hadn’t seen each other in six months because he’d been on sabbatical, studying some obscure Germanic dialect in Munich. Their reunion had come to an abrupt end on the way back to his apartment from the airport, when he’d proposed to her.

And Rachel had said no.

Their eighteen-month relationship had come to an even more abrupt end on his front doorstep as she’d desperately tried to explain a decision she couldn’t justify except by describing her feelings. Unfortunately, terms like “panic” and “claustrophobia” didn’t help him take the news any better.

Paul swallowed. “You broke my heart.”

“It’s not like you were crazy in love with me,” she reminded him gently. In fact, they’d never been as fond of each other as when they’d been apart and their unremarkable sex life had been supplanted by romantic telephone calls and e-mails.

He refocused on her with bleary-eyed outrage. “I proposed to you, didn’t I?”

“Well, yes,” Rachel admitted. “Kind of.”

“Guess we should think about getting married,” had been his exact words. But their relationship had always been fueled by pragmatism, not passion. Paul wanted an independent, low-maintenance wife to support his brilliant career. And she wanted to start a family with a nice guy. Because Trixie was right, Rachel was running out of time. And her dating pool had always been the size of a goldfish pond. She was too self-sufficient for most guys … and too smart to pretend to be someone she wasn’t.

Paul seemed to realize she wasn’t reacting as she should. His face crumpled and he started to sob with a drunk’s easy tears. “You really don’t care, do you?”

Rachel blanched. Had his affections run deeper than she’d thought? “Of course I care.” But much as she hated hurting him, she couldn’t marry him. Even if only her right brain knew why. Seeing their audience growing, she tugged desperately on his arm. “Please, Paul, let me take you into the office, make you some coffee. You’re doing yourself no good here.”

“No!” He wiped his face with his sleeve and nearly fell over. “I don’t want to.”

“Oh, for God’s sake.” Devin Freedman appeared from out of nowhere and tipped Paul over one of his shoulders. “Where do you want him?” he asked Rachel.