Page 37 of The Secret Suitor

Wesley caught up to her quickly. “Your suitors are becoming more bold.”

“Mr. Stroud is not my…” She could not finish that thought. He had indeed been quite attentive the last few days, growing increasingly more forward in how often he approached her. If he felt he had an opportunity to change her mind and was using the anonymous letters to aid his prospects…but no, Millie did not want it to be him.

“He is, I think.” Wesley walked up the stairs at her side, turning toward the corridor where their chambers were located. “The man does not have eyes for anyone else.”

Millie ignored this.

“Actually, I am glad I found you alone, Millie.”

Her feet drew to a stop, heart racing. “Oh?”

“Yes. When I was in the library earlier, I found⁠—”

“You were in the library? Was that where you raced off to from the dining room?”

“No. I…” He glanced away, the light from the flickering candle in the wall sconce dancing over his face. “I needed to think.”

“A library is a good place to do that.”

“Perhaps generally, but I knew Kendrick had designs on taking you there.”

“And you could not think if the room was occupied?” she challenged.

“Not if Kendrick was trying to impress you within the same area.”

Millie’s throat grew dry. “Why would it matter if he was trying to impress me?”

Wesley looked into her eyes and said nothing. The air grew thick, and it became difficult to swallow. Her dormant attraction to him roared like a hungry lion, wishing to be fed.

“I did not go to the library until later, and it was with the fear that I had left you and Nell too long unaccompanied. You cannot imagine my concern when I found the library silent.”

She truthfully could not imagine it, because she could not understand why that would be a worrisome finding. “Would that not mean we had vacated it already?”

“Or worse. If Kendrick had thought to take advantage of the time alone with you…”

Millie scoffed. “Because no one is silent in a library for no other reason than they are kissing?”

“What else would you have been doing if you were not speaking at all?”

Her mouth dropped open. “Reading, Wesley.”

It was too dim to know for certain, but his cheeks appeared to tinge pink. “It was no matter, because the room was empty, and I found this in the writing desk.” He pulled something from his pocket and held it up, the polished wooden handle pinched between his fingers with a flat metal piece at the end.

“Is that a wax seal?”

“Indeed.” He handed it to her and waited.

Millie held it closer to the light, putting some much needed space between her and Wesley. The floral design inverted in the flat metal piece was familiar. “The anonymous suitor.”

“I thought it looked similar.”

“Wait…let me compare it to one of his letters.” Millie hurried down the corridor without waiting for a reply. She reached her bedchamber and pushed the door open. A fire had been lit in the hearth and warmth billowed from it, heating the room adequately. But Wesley waited at the doorway.

Millie hurried toward the writing desk where she kept her letters, but something on the mantel caught her eye, and she stopped abruptly.

“What is it?” Wesley asked.

“Another letter.”