Chapter 18 - Errand For Master Dylan

The next day, Anna spent the whole morning avoiding Dylan around the mansion, using her lunch break as an excuse to leave the Kilner mansion. After eagerly drinking the champagne he offered her last night, she opened her eyes to discover she was leaning on his shoulder after having fallen asleep. He had been sleeping there beside her.

She wasn’t sure how much time had passed. The wall they were leaning on had a square window overhead with the moon peeking through from its perch up amongst the night sky. She quickly tried to extricate herself from Dylan, but then she got a good look at his soundly slumbering face. Unable to bring herself to disturb him, she stopped moving and stayed.

He had loosened his dress shirt by undoing its top two buttons and his head was resting turned slightly to the side. His position painted a picturesque image, akin to an elegant illustration inked carefully with a thin-nibbed pen upon an ivory parchment. His long lashes lay above his cheekbones, and although he seemed to be sleeping fairly deeply, it still felt as if his eyes could open at any moment and level Anna with a stern glare. Her gaze shifted, roving from his eyes to his high and well-defined nose, before drifting down its magnificent ridge, traveling across a path defined naturally by his unrelenting beauty. His rough yet soft lips, just barely grazing the moonlit shadow of his nose, looked mesmerizing.

Anna could feel herself start to hyperventilate simply from staring at him.

Her body remembered him, and she could feel the areas that had once been touched react to his proximity. Her teats hardened into little peaks, and a dizzying heat began to pool down low between her legs. Muscles tensing, she had wanted desperately to just push him down and climb atop him.

‘Looks like I must still be a little drunk,’ Anna mused, shaking away the memory of last night as she bit her lower lip. 

“Here they are,” the elderly, bespectacled bookstore clerk told her, handing her two books.

“Thank you.”

He gave her a white envelope containing her change. “Is this another errand for Master David?”

Anna laughed and nodded her head. David would often request her to buy newly released books he was interested in. He would put the money in a white envelope and tell her, “Again, I’ll leave it to you.” 

He was a nice man, but be that as it may, she always made sure to keep some distance from him in the past while she waited for Master Dylan to return from his long absence. She wouldn’t be able to forgive herself if he became the object of terrible rumors because of her influence.

**** * *

Arriving back at the mansion, Anna’s first stop was at the library on the fourth floor. She needed to put back the book she had borrowed with David’s permission as well as shelve the new books she had obtained from the bookstore.

Before heading inside, however, she knocked on the door. If it was Dylan’s voice answering the knock, the plan was that she would just run away instead, but no reply came from within.

“Is there really no one there?” Anna murmured, doubtful. She carefully eased open the door and peeked inside, surveying the surroundings. Fortunately, she couldn’t detect anyone’s presence.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Anna entered. Foregoing the bookshelves near the entrance, she traveled to the deepest section of the library. She was humming happily to herself, looking for a spot where the book should be placed, when, suddenly, her keen senses alerted her to the sound of the library door clicking open.

Startled, she held the books she brought tightly to her chest as if doing so could somehow save her life. 

Clack, clack. 

The person who had entered walked leisurely, their steps resounding through the quiet room. Then, the steps halted, and Anna watched as a pair of hands pulled a book out from its perch in one smooth motion. She knew exactly who those big hands belonged to.

‘Why him out of all the people…!’ Anna thought frustratedly, banging her head lightly on a bookshelf. She blamed herself for entering in the first place. However, noticing that the sound of her head colliding with the bookshelf was louder than she thought, she flinched. ‘Did he hear that?’

She couldn’t bring herself to move at all, her head stuck in a leaning position against the shelf, mid-head bang. Thankfully, Dylan didn’t seem to show any particular sign of noticing her. After a couple moments, Anna slowly raised her head and began to carefully study his movements.

His long, thin fingers ran across the book titles without much intention, unperturbed. So, he really didn’t hear anything. Overcome with relief, her legs started quivering. In order to rub some strength back into them, she bent over.

As soon as she did so, the books she held improperly in her arms slid to the floor, starting with the one that had been closest to her chest and on top of the stack. She didn’t even get a chance to catch them before they tumbled loudly to the ground.

“Who’s there?” Dylan asked. 

Anna could hear him drop the book he had been holding onto a table. She hurriedly picked the books up off the floor, a troubled expression fixed anxiously upon her face.

Then, he found her hiding spot. “So it was you,” he said, squinting, as a look Anna couldn’t decipher crossed his features. “Why are you in here?”

“I had to deposit some books. After putting these away, I promise I’ll leave immediately.”

Dylan considered the three books Anna held tightly in her arms. He began to step nearer as he spoke. “I don’t believe I’ve seen those before.” 

“These two have been recently purchased,” she tentatively explained.

He looked displeased by her response. “Who told you to buy them?” he questioned, although he already knew the answer. It was more like he was asking, ‘Why did David ask you to buy those books?’ He told himself it didn’t matter even if she told him the truth, but his mind was suffused with unease. “I assume it was my older brother.”

Anna nodded. “Yes,” she said. “Master David issued me this errand before he left.”

Dylan’s mouth stiffened, pressed into a terse, thin line.