Page 22 of Taming Grumpy Dr. Beast
A moment later, I threw open the door to my study. It was my sanctuary, the place I brought the book to settle, and was now too afraid to have it moved because of its delicate state. Instead of changing its location, I had an airtight chamber created and placed the book inside until restoration could begin.
She gasped as she entered and slowly circled, taking it all in. “All these books! What an incredible library.”
I chuckled. “This is just my office, Dr. LeBeau.”
“Can you call me Lily? TheDr. LeBeausounds so formal.”
Discreetly, I glanced at her. The way she dressed screamed buttoned-up prude, but she’d shown me the fire inside of her. There was more to Lily LeBeau than met the eye.
Lily LeBeau. I like the way it rolls off the tongue.
Against my better judgment, I stopped to face her. Not expecting my sudden pause, she barreled into me, her hands braced for a fall and landing squarely on my pecs.
Her cheeks flushed, and she mumbled, “I’m so sorry.”
A stray piece of dark brown hair had fallen from her low bun and lay against her cheek. I reached out and took it between my fingertips, luxuriating in its softness before realizing what I was doing, and tucked it behind her ear. “I find that hard to believe.”
She sucked in a breath, her pupils dilating so only a hint of her hazel irises remained. Interesting that my touch clearly affected her. I enjoyed seeing the reaction—that unlike myself—she was too inexperienced to hide. Most women in my circles would have used this moment to their advantage.
I stepped back, cursing myself. I needed to stop whatever it was I was doing.
“The book is just beyond those doors.” I gestured to a set of intricately detailed wooden double doors off to the left.
She nodded.
Inside that room was where I kept my rare book collection. It was a temperature-controlled environment, and each book had the appropriate placement due to its age, rarity, and condition. My grandfather even designed the lighting to lessen the impact of aging of each piece.
Many of the books had belonged to my grandfather. In his infinite wisdom, he’d left this home to me. If my father had gotten his hands on it, he would’ve sold the books in this collection without a thought of the history involved within each manuscript. Never mind that Grandpa André had painstakingly found, restored, and cherished these volumes.
My pompous asshole of a father only thought about money. I didn’t understand what my mother saw in him. Although she too was very self-absorbed. Not much affected her.
I opened the doors, motioning for Lily to enter before me.
“Wow, is this your private collection?” Her widened eyes told me she appreciated this space as much as I did.
I nodded.
Her gaze darted around the room, taking in the various barrister cases with leaded glass, stands, and eventually landed on the glassed enclosure for my newest acquisition. She stood beside it. “Is that it?”
“Yes.” I moved closer. Before I opened the case, I needed her to prove she knew where to start the restoration.
Lily leaned in, her face inches from the glass. “Good choice to house this separate from the other books in here. That red rot would have infected any book near it.”
I nodded. There was noticeable red rot on the front cover and a significant amount on the back that she couldn’t currently see. I’d previously enclosed the book because the red rot had caused the leather to become red, powdery, and weak, and as Lily predicted, would’ve spread to the rest of my collection.
She lifted her head to look at me. Her hazel eyes radiating sorrow. Seeing her with such sadness etched on her face, caused an unfamiliar twinge in my abdomen. “I don’t think I’ll be able to save the cover. I’ll be sure to notate that in my condition report and treatment proposal.”
I raised my eyebrow and crossed my arms.
She shrugged. “It’s not what most people want to hear. I can contain the red rot, but I’ll have to make you a new cover. The good news is I can save part of the cover that’s there and use archival leather to make a new one.”
“What if that’s unacceptable?”
A loud laugh escaped from those pillowy full lips. “Listen, Dr. Beast, I will not do less than exceptional work because you won’t listen to reason. You knew this was a restoration job,nota preservation one.”
The corners of my mouth curled up into a smirk. She was right. I already knew the cover couldn’t be saved in its entirety. I wanted to see if she would go along with my wishes, because I demanded it, rather than give her a choice.
Her openly defying me had my mind returning to that four-poster bed.
