The Ornithologist's Field Guide to Love (Love's Academic, #1)

by India Holton

It must be guilt, she decided, in defiance of an intellect that had always placed her so far at the top of her classes they had to keep inventing new ceilings for her.

“In my day, ladies took dainty steps when in public.” Beth kindly refrained from mentioning that, at thirty-one, Hippolyta was not only still enjoying her day,

The caladrius was the ornithological holy grail. (Indeed, some said the bird had been at the Last Supper, eating crumbs Jesus tossed to it.)

And while he may be an Englishman and a professor at Cambridge, he was educated at Yale. Yale! The place isn’t even two hundred years old! It barely qualifies as a community learning center.”

“But what about the girl?” Messrs. Fettick and Flogg exchanged a confused glance. “Girl?” Badeau flicked a finger toward the museum. “Beth Pickering. She was standing there at the door.” “I thought she was just a museum employee,” Mr. Flogg said.

“Your head is emptier than a cuckoo’s nest!”

she turned to Devon with a quizzical frown. He just met her gaze silently, his mouth curving up at one edge. Ask me and I’ll tell you. Say my name and I’ll give you all you want.

“I wasn’t lurking,” Beth retorted. “I was pausing with a sensible discretion.”

“Good heavens!” she declared, clutching her hat to keep it on her head. “This is altogether vigorous of you!”

“Take us to Canterbury and I’ll—” “Kill me quick rather than slow?” the boy supplied. Devon startled. “What? No! I’ll pay you.” “Cor, that’s even better!

“Thank God!” Mrs. Podder declared with complete disregard for the fact that God was more likely responsible for the storm than the building.

but that was beside the point! Indeed, the point was so far away it appeared as no more than a smudge in the distance, whereas her outrage loomed overwhelmingly large.

Even in childhood, it had been his stance that two was a crowd, three a catastrophe.

This was not fun anymore, Beth thought. This was falling in love.

I’m all for allowing women to advance in society, but must they do it on wheels?”

“We can’t damage the train tracks again to stop them,” Mr. Flogg mused. “Apparently that was ‘over the top’ and ‘a threat to public safety.’ ” He rolled his eyes.

“Yes,” he said, and drank wine, smiling, as Beth’s intellect scattered to the winds. “I—um—I beg your p-pardon?” she stammered. “Whatever that dreamy expression on your face is about, yes.” “But you don’t know what I was thinking.” He set the wineglass down and leaned forward across the table. “I’ll always say yes to you, Miss Pickering.”

Good sense, upon being summoned, whispered pathetically that it was unwell and could not attend.

He listened to her, always made her feel welcome, and now here he was caring that she might be hurt. Not letting herself love that would be allowing all her bullies, the people who’d told her she was not worth care, to rule her heart. And it would be allowing them to devalue Devon too, which she couldn’t tolerate.

Her attraction to this man was so deep, it was practically geological.

“I can walk under my own power, you know,” she said with wry humor. “You’re keeping me steady,” he answered, flashing a grin to hide the fact that he meant it seriously, and far more soulfully than a licentious rake ought.

Shifting closer to Beth, he laid a hand on her back—not at all in a proprietary fashion, you understand, simply to have somewhere to put it.

The gun dropped with a thunk to the table. Immediately, Devon snatched it, flipped it in his hand, and aimed it right back at Oberhufter. “Apologize to the lady for annoying her,” he said.

Oberhufter muttered, retrieving a handkerchief from his breast pocket and using it to wipe his forehead. “Women certainly are liberated these days.”

When the going gets tough, find a shortcut.

Not that she didn’t intend to save herself, but a girl does like to have someone waiting in the wings, wanting to rescue her.

God, he loved her. Loved her so much he kept bringing God into it, and indeed was even at this moment contemplating a grand church wedding if such was required to have Beth Pickering in his life forever.