Gabriel's Inferno (Gabriel's Inferno #1)(55)

“Princeton. Yes, of course. I forgot. That’s a very fine briefcase you have.” He smiled at her knowingly, gesturing to the bag that was propped up against the wall.

Julia blushed, trying very hard to keep her secret knowledge secret.

“But there appears to be something alive in there. I can see a pair of ears poking out of one of the zippers.”

She whirled around. Gabriel was right; two little brown ears could be seen sticking out of the briefcase, almost as if she had tried to smuggle a pet into the library. Julia blushed even more deeply.

“May I?” He gestured to the briefcase, but made no move as he waited for her permission.

Hesitantly, she pulled the stuffed toy out of the briefcase and handed it to him, biting her lip in embarrassment.

Clearly Miss Mitchell has a bunny fetish.

Gabriel held the toy rabbit between his thumb and forefinger, gazing at it curiously as if he didn’t know what it was. Or as if, in a fit of temper, it might decide to emulate the behavior of the famous rabbit in Monty Python and the Holy Grail  and go right for his throat. Gabriel placed a hand to his neck as a precaution and resisted the sudden and overwhelming urge to say Ni.

The toy was brown, of course, and soft, made of velvet or something.

It had long ears and short limbs and very pleasant-looking whiskers. It stood straight up, looking rather stiff. It looked familiar to him, strangely enough. Something Grace would have owned and loved. Something from a childhood he never had.

Around its neck someone had tied a very sloppy bow out of pink ribbon. Gabriel measured the bow with his eyes and came to the conclusion that someone who was either slightly handicapped (no disrespect intended), or perhaps who had very large hands and lacked the fine motor skills of someone who was gifted with manual dexterity (such as himself), had tied the bow, such as it was. And there was a card.

Not wishing to embarrass her further, he smiled and let his eyes dart momentarily to the card, just so he could catch a glimpse of it: R,

Someone to keep you company while I’m away.

See you when I get back.

Yours,

Paul.

The Angelf*cker strikes again, Gabriel growled to himself.

He handed the bunny back to Julia. “It’s very — ah — nice.”

“Thank you.”

“But who is R?”

Julia turned away as she placed Paul’s latest gift back into her briefcase, taking great care not to catch the bunny’s ears in the teeth of the zipper.

“It’s one of my nicknames.”

“But why that letter? Why not something that begins with B?”

Julia frowned at him. Like what? Bitch? Badass? Bovine? Bunny?

“Beautiful,”  said Gabriel. Then he blushed, for the word had slipped out by mistake. “So you’ve been asleep here for hours, with Rabbit Songs  and a pet rabbit to keep you company? I didn’t realize you were a bunny lover.”

Julia seemed embarrassed. He couldn’t help himself; the characterization was obvious, if a little flirtatious.

“I like your choice in music.”

“Thank you.” She quickly turned off her ancient laptop and placed it carefully in her briefcase with the cd.

“The library is closing shortly. What would you have done if I hadn’t arrived?”

She looked around, slightly confused. “I don’t know.”

“If no one noticed that the carrel light was on when they checked this floor, you could have been locked in the library all night. Without any food.” His smile slid off his face at the mere idea. “What are you going to do to ensure that doesn’t happen in the future?”

She looked around quickly. “Set the alarm on Paul’s clock?”

He nodded as if that answer satisfied him. But it didn’t. “Are you hungry?”

“I should be going, Professor. I’m sorry I’ve intruded on your personal space.”

If only you knew how true your words were, Julianne.

“Miss Mitchell, stop.” He took a step closer as she picked up her new briefcase with one hand and cleared the desk of debris with the other. “Have you had your dinner?”

“No.”

Gabriel’s eyebrows knitted together like thunderous clouds.

“When did you have lunch?”

“At noon.”

He scowled. “That was almost eleven hours ago. What did you have?”

“A hot dog from the cart in front of the library.”

Gabriel cursed. “You can’t live on that kind of rubbish. And I wouldn’t eat street meat ever. You promised you’d tell me if you were going hungry — and now you’re fainting on me.”

He glanced at his white-gold Rolex Day-Date. “It’s too late to take you for steak — Harbour Sixty is closed. Why don’t you join me for dinner somewhere else? I was caught up working on my lecture, and I haven’t eaten either.”

Julia stared at him. “Are you sure?”

His expression hardened. “Miss Mitchell, I am not the kind of person who makes idle invitations. If I invite you to dinner, then I’m sure. Now are you coming or not?”

“I’m not dressed for dinner, thank you very much.” Her voice was satin over steel, and she arched an eyebrow at him. She had gotten over her initial shock at being surprised in his carrel and was now fully awake and fully annoyed at his tone.