Page 19 of White Rabbit
Men came in looking for treats, but were quickly shooed away by Cook, too. the first few days, without fail, they’d try to flirt with me, and she’d rattle off something in Ukrainian. They’d turn white and disappear moments later.
Shortly, after lunch, she’d shoo me away, too.
Left to my own devices, I wandered through the first floor of the main house and the east wing, having been warned away from the west wing of the house by Zlata who let me know that the private offices for Valariy’s business were located there. Whatever the billionaire did, I wouldn’t bother him.
He sure wasn’t bothering with me.
Okay, that wasn’t really fair. He was busy and he came to see me every morning before he left me with a kiss to the forehead. And he came to see me every night when he finished working. Usually about eight-thirty. Each night, we sat by the windows in my room, each having tea.
For three weeks.
The doctor had said two and a have.
Valariy had declared he wanted me, had told the doctor we were married—which I hadn’t yet figured out. What had changed? Something had. I shouldn’t have told him about Rad and the Rusty Spike. It was after that he’d withdrawn.
So I existed as a ghost in his gigantic house. At least, there was an amazing library. As I entered it, I nodded to the head maid who dusted one side of the room. She also acted as a librarian part time, ensuring books were returned to the correct places. Strangely, it had never occurred to me that someone would need to do that.
“Why do you have such a massive library?” I’d asked him the day I’d discovered it last week.
He’d shrugged. “It came with the house.”
“You didn’t grow up here?”
He studied his teacup. “No…that house was…damaged when my father and stepmother were killed. I had it razed and turned into a park.”
“Oh…I’m sorry.”
“It was a decade ago,” he said, nonchalantly. “You like to read then?”
“Very much. With… Well, before, I couldn’t ready much. I had exactly two books and I read them over and over.”
His eyes darkened. “Now, you will have as many books as you want. What were the books you had?”
“Alice in Wonderland. Silly, right?”
“No.” Still, he was studying me as if he were trying to figure me out. The intense look agitated the butterflies in my belly that always took off whenever he was nearby. A cascade of tingles prickled down my spine, beckoning me to get even closer to him.
I didn’t move nearer, instead staying still and curling my fingers in my lap.
“You know, I kind of think of you like the White Rabbit,” I admitted then bit my lip. Shoot, why did I say that? Sometimes he got me talking and truths popped out.
“You do? Why’s that?”
I shrugged one shoulder. “When I was in the coma, I heard your voice and I kept trying to follow it. You know, like Alice followed the White Rabbit?” And he seemed just as elusive, too. Outside my reach. “And I kind of feel like I’ve fallen down the rabbit hole here.”
His lips curled in a feral grin that—
“Mr. Kloboucnik, just had a new shipment of books delivered,” the maid said, dragging me from my memory of that night when Valariy and I had discussed books. That wicked smile in place, his eyes dark, he leaned in and I’d been sure he would kiss me. I’d been ready. So ready.
Then his phone had gone off and he swore when he looked at it, surging to his feet. He pressed a kiss to my forehead and took off. I hadn’t seen him since, though I still woke to a cup of coffee in the morning.
“He did?”
“They’re on the table near the desk. I haven’t sorted through them or decided where to shelve them yet. I thought you’d like to look first since I think he had you in mind—these are the first new books to be added to the collection, I believe.”
For me? Excited to see what he’d gotten, I made a beeline for the table she mentioned. Romances—fantasy, sci-fi and…mafia. Strange choices. And near the bottom of one of the piles:Alice in Wonderland.
Warmth settled low in my belly, stirring up feelings I only felt near him. Ones I didn’t seem destined to explore.
