"Wow," Sophie breathed as she gazed around the room. "This is…"
Daniel stood behind her, his chin coming down to rest on her shoulder for a moment before he straightened. "I know. I couldn't wait to show this to you when I found out you were so bookish."
"You say that like it's a bad thing," Sophie whispered, still gazing around.
"On the contrary. Smart girls are sexy."
Sophie turned, smiling up at his twinkling eyes. "This is amazing!"
After their decidedly unorthodox tryst in the car, Daniel had managed to steer them to Hereford, a larger town just over the English border, filled with shops and markets, impressive churches and this – a chained book library, one of the last remaining in Britain, found in the Hereford Cathedral.
"These are just so… old," Sophie said reverently, her voice whispered so as not to disturb the guard standing in the room with them. The huge bound books were all shelved neatly on the desks with their spines facing away from the user, an enormous chain bolted to each spine, and then connected to the desk itself so that users could just pull it off the shelf, setting it on the flat surface below to read.
"Because books were so valuable in the 'olden days', the monks literally chained them to the desks so that they wouldn't be stolen," Daniel explained as they moved around the room. "Anyone could have access to them, but only here, in this room. This library has actually been in existence since the twelfth century, and I think a couple of these titles date from the eighth century, which boggles the mind a bit."
"I can't even fathom how old that is," Sophie said, itching to reach out and touch one of the books, to caress the pages inside, to literally reach out and touch history. "How many books are here?"
"Almost fifteen hundred, I think," Daniel said, looking to the guard questioningly who nodded in agreement. "Impressive, no? It's the largest surviving chained library in the world."
"How do you know all this stuff?" Sophie asked quietly. "Are you a chained library nerd? Now who's bookish, hrm?"
Daniel laughed. "This was a popular field trip spot for children in this area, my school included. I didn't appreciate it then, but I did manage to pay attention occasionally – who knew it would come in handy when I try to dazzle a comparative lit major later in life."
Sophie grinned, her cheeks colouring slightly. "You're trying to dazzle me?"
"Hoping you'll love me for my mind, and not just my body," Daniel said straight faced, making Sophie giggle anew. "You hussy," he whispered, pinching her backside out of sight of the guard. "So, you like the library? My dazzling worked? My mind impresses as well?"
"It's amazing… just amazing…" Sophie said, turning to meet his eyes. "Thank you for this."
"My pleasure," Daniel said, his heart warmed by the look of wonder and gratitude in Sophie's eyes.
"Between this library and the Mappa Mundi outside, I feel like…" Sophie breathed deeply, her eyes closed. "Like I'm living history or something. I can't describe it…"
"I'm glad you enjoyed it," Daniel said with a smile. "Lunch?"
Sophie opened her eyes and giggled at his serious tone. "Lunch it is," she said, taking his hand and exiting the room with one last look over her shoulder at the books just waiting to be read again.
**
"Stop it," Sophie whispered, her cheeks flushing pink as she took a small sip of water from her glass.
"Stop what?" Daniel asked innocently, taking a bite of his lamb.
"Stop… that," Sophie said, gesturing to his face as she fiddled with her own fork, Daniel giving her a confused, yet bemused expression.
"Sophie, I don't…"
"Stop... smoldering at me," Sophie whispered, and Daniel barked in laughter, drawing the eye of several fellow diners.
"I'm smoldering at you?"
"Yes, and it's very distracting," Sophie said, trying not to smile. "Instead of enjoying this very tasty, and very expensive lunch, which you are paying for by the way, I'm instead thinking about…"
"Thinking about…" Daniel prompted with a wicked grin, nudging her foot under the table with his own.
"Thinking about you… smoldering. Naked smoldering," Sophie admitted, still giggling.
"Naked smoldering?" Daniel bit his bottom lip in an effort to remain straight faced. "You're picturing me naked and smoldering?"
"No."
"You ARE."
"I'm not!"
"Are you done with lunch?" Daniel asked, glancing at her plate. "Because I'm up for some smoldering if you are. If I drive ninety, I can have us home in almost warp speed time."
Sophie laughed out loud as Daniel gestured for the waiter to bring the check.
So much for a day out of the house – they were heading right back home to the bedroom.
And that was perfectly fine with her.
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