The lady’s husband, a tall, stocky Scotsman, came to her side and wrapped an arm around her middle while bowing his head to Cecilia. “Your Grace.” To his wife, he asked, “I do see that it is getting late. Do you want to stay,mo ghràdh?”
My love in old Gaelic.Cecilia recognized the term from an old text.
“I think I’ll stay for a while, dear,” Lady Jane smiled. “Your Grace, please send me a note when you would like to meet. I think I have the ammunition you need.”
With a few parting words, Cecilia turned to find Cassian—and almost ran right into Lady Rainsville. “Oh—” she leaped away. “I am so sorry.”
The lady laughed and rested a hand on her belly. “No harm done, Your Grace, but I was wondering, if the reports of your prodigious ability on the pianoforte are true—if you would grace us with a performance.”
Shock rooted Cecilia’s feet to the floor. Instantly, her heart began to hammer in her chest, and she felt blood rush to her face. “I—”
“Of course I will,” Cassian said from behind her, making Cecilia jump a little.
When had he joined her?
“Cassian?”
Blithely, he kissed her cheek, then strode to the pianoforte on the dais. There fell a soft hush over the room, and Cecilia hoped beyond hope that Cassian knew what he was doing.
Only when the first note that blared through the air had all the harmony of a cat fighting for life in a pail of water, was Cecilia tied between wanting the floor to open and swallow her whole, and smiling.
CHAPTER 19
Shaking her head, Cecilia felt herself tap her opposite arm three times before she walked forward. With the way the instrument was placed, Cassian was facing them, and she came close enough that she could catch his eyes.
When she met his eyes, she mouthed,what in heavens are you doing?
His brow ticked up as he slammed on a note that made her wince. His smirk was more directed to her than anyone around them, and while Cecilia admired his ability to make a fool of himself, she felt deep down that he was making sure to be so horrible that whatever she did after him would be incredible—and that warmed her.
A soft, tender emotion unfurled in her heart.
She shook her head and stepped on the dais, then gently rested her hand on his shoulder, stopping him.
“I think it’s best if I take over from here, Cassian,” she said calmly. “I appreciate your enthusiasm, but you’ve scarred enough eardrums, dear, mine included.”
A smattering of genuine laughter came from the crowd as Cassian stood, took her hand, and kissed the back of it. Angling her body to put her mouth to her ear, she whispered, “Thank you.”
Seated, she cast through her mind to find a fitting song as she rested her hand gently on the keys. There was no use in denying it. Her fingers fell naturally intoMozart's,The Marriage of Figaro,sonata. It had been one of the first pieces Mr. Portland, her tutor, had taught her.
So immersed was she in the light, beautiful melody and in her own thoughts that she did not swim to the present until she tapped the last key on the pianoforte and the final note reverberated through the room.
It took a mere breath before enthusiastic applause rang out from the room, and someone asked for an encore. Obliging, Cecilia followed with a Beethoven sonata that went on for longer than her first song. That, too, gained more applause at the end.
Flushed with the admiration, Cecilia took Cassian’s arm as she stepped down. Briefly, she caught the Dowager’s smile and nod, which only made the heat in her face blaze.
“That look was veritably conspiratorial,” Cassian murmured in her ear. “Do I need to barricade my door tonight?”
“If you had not before, you needn’t tonight,” Cecilia smiled. She looked around and found that Lady Catherine was not present, but resolved to visit her in the next day or two. “Did you enjoy tonight?”
“It was middling,” Cassian replied as they donned their coats and stepped out into the bracing night air to wait for their carriage. “Well, if you counted the lords not fully meeting me in the eyes or insinuating that I am some back-alley dog willing to launch into a bare-knuckle fight.”
“Are you not?” Cecilia asked as they stepped into the carriage.
“I am,” he shrugged a single shoulder. “But I don’t care enough to give them the impression it matters to me.”
As the carriage went off, she added, “Thank you for taking the attention off me when Lady Rainsville asked me to play,” she puffed out a breath. “I don’t know why I was so taken aback by a simple request.”
“Once again, you burden yourself with the opinions of others,” Cassian replied.
