‘I see.’ As she copied him, he realised he had made a huge mistake. They weren’t touching. There was enough space between them, and with Emily in the room, this was entirely proper, but he could feel the heat from her body, could smell her skin, which put him in mind of sugar. It was like the blood in his veins was vibrating, calling out to him to do something, something rash. He swallowed, knowing he would not follow through on his body’s unwanted desire and that he had just committed himself to a torturous half hour.
‘This symbol—’ he said, pointing to the paper, willing himself not to think about how close she was, how all it would take was the slight shift of his body and they would be touching ‘—tells you to play c. Can you see how it is repeated here and here?’
She nodded.
‘And, um, that means you have to play this key whenever you see it. The keys are alphabetical.’
‘So this would be…’ she moved her fingers up the notes, mouthing the alphabet as she went ‘…j.’
‘No, the notes go from a and stop at g. They restart again at a.’ This lesson had been a hideous mistake. He could barely even get his words out, let alone explain the complexity of playing a song.
They went through the first line of music, him pointing to every note and then every key. His mind was muddled by her closeness, his words seemingly coming through thick muddy water; he had no idea if he was making any sense.
‘Try putting it all together,’ he said when they had gone through the first line several times.
Using one finger, she slowly picked out the notes, her tongue poking out as she concentrated fiercely, the sound nothing like the tune she was meant to be performing. She straightened when she reached the end of the line, turning to him, her smile splitting her face, so beautiful he forgot to breathe.
‘I did it.’
‘Yes, you did.’ And it didn’t matter that it was the worst rendition he had ever heard; what mattered was her sheer joy. It was radiating from her and for a fleeting moment, it was as though it reached inside him and plucked at his heart.
She turned back to the sheet of music. ‘Shall we move on to the next line?’
He should say no. This wasn’t doing his resolve any good; all he could think about was the tip of her tongue touching her lips. If he pulled back now, he could do something else with his day, something to distract himself from thoughts of her. But he was agoddamn idiot and he didn’t appear to be going anywhere. ‘This line is for the left hand.’
‘What do you mean?’ The little furrow between her brows was adorable. He wrenched his gaze away from her and stared at the sheet of paper resting on the stand.
‘Surely you have seen a pianist before.’ She nodded. ‘The left and right hands are playing notes at the same time.’
‘I see. So this is a c?’
‘Not for the left hand, no.’
Her eyes narrowed. ‘Are you teasing me?’
‘No. The notes written for the left and right hand are different.’
Straightening, she turned to face him. ‘Why would they not be the same?’
‘I am afraid I did not make the rules. While you play the right hand like this—’ he demonstrated ‘—your left hand does this.’ He found the notes, finding playing the tune as easy as walking, easier really, because there was no effort at all.
She crossed her arms beneath her chest and he managed to keep looking at her face, even as his body urged him, with everything it had, to glance down. Thankfully, being a gentleman won.
‘You were being kind to me a few minutes ago,’ she said. ‘My playing sounded nothing like yours.’
‘It was great for a first try.’
‘I fear you are bamming me.’
‘I would never do such a thing.’
‘Hmm.’ Her lips twitched and he couldn’t help the smile from crossing his face. ‘Come on, let us try this second line. Then you can put the two lines together.’
She dropped her hands, resting them on the keys. Looking very doubtful, she said, ‘Very well, I will show you how it is done.’
He thought he heard Emily chuckle softly, but when he turned to look, his sister-in-law appeared to have fallen asleep.
Chapter Eleven
