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The moment seemed to last forever, and yet it was over much too soon

Then he’dbow, bid her adieu, and strolled aith Messier’s Catalogue of Star Clusters and Nebulae, leaving Alexandra holding an insipid book of stories for “obedient girls”

End of scene

Or at least, it should have been the end

Alex resolved to scrub the encounter fro theiven his naly ridiculous titles First he was merely the Bookshop Rake, but as the weeks wore on, he e Sir Read Lord Literature The Duke of Hatchard’s

Stop, Alex told her again and again That was ages ago, and I haven’t thought of hi

Except that it wasn’t quite nothing Some idiotic corner of her memory embellished the encounter with rainbows and sparkles until it rese to ever admit aloud, even to Penny, E it to herself

From that day forward, whenever she visited Hatchard’s—or the Temple of Muses, or even the Minerva Library—she looked for hiain, and he would confess, over afternoon tea that lingered into dinner, that he’d been haunting the bookshops, too—hoping to meet with her Because, naturally, in those two minutes of painful one-sided conversation, he’d divined that an incoherent, clue kitchen cupboard was everything he’d always yearned to find

You’re exactly what I’ve been searching for

Now that I’ve found you, I’ll never let you go

Alexandra, I need you

Common sense, feh

Alex worked for her living, setting clocks in the homes of wealthy custooals, and she worked to achieve theht

She would not—absolutely not—be carried aith romantic fantasies

Sadly, her inored this memorandum In her daydreams, the afternoon tea led to walks in the park, deep conversations, kisses under the stars, and even—Alexandra’s dignity wilted just thinking of it—a wedding

Truly A wedding

Do you take this man, Anonymous Bookshop Rake with Horrid Taste in Children’s Literature, to be your wedded husband?

Absurd

After ave up At least the fantasies—foolish as they ht be—were hers to keep secret No one else need ever know In all likelihood, she would never ain