“Oh, Your Grace, you startled me!”
At least she hadn’t called himYour Graceship, he reasoned, venturing deeper into the music room for unfathomable reasons.
“Forgive me,” he said, trying not to take note of the way the sunlight glinted off the snow beyond the window and dancedover the burnished gold of her hair. “I heard music, and I couldn’t help but to investigate the source.”
“Aunt Pearl is weary from our travels as well as yesterday’s…well.” Miss Fox sent him a wry smile. “As you can imagine, it wasn’t our plan for the carriage to become mired in the snowbank, nor for her to have to ride through the snow carrying Dandy. She decided to nap this afternoon with Dandy, and I chose to go exploring. When I discovered the piano, I couldn’t resist.”
She was rambling, he realized, bemused. Could it be that Miss Adelia Fox, the most brazen and unapologetic woman he had ever met, was embarrassed to have been found commandeering his music room and singing as if she had an audience the size of a cathedral instead of only herself?
Lion stopped just short of the piano bench, near enough to catch the faintest hint of her scent and yet far enough away that he couldn’t be tempted to do anything more than observe.
“You are talented at playing and singing, Miss Fox,” he said. “Although I may find fault with your choice of song, the melody was delightful.”
“You find fault with my choice of song?” she sounded affronted. “What is wrong with ‘Deck the Halls,’ sir? I think it perfectly agreeable at this time of year.”
“This time of year?”
“Christmas, of course.” She spoke to him slowly, enunciating as if he were an infant struggling to understand.
At last,hewas the one who was vexingher. Lion was quite enjoying himself.
He shrugged. “I must say, aside from the obligatory visit to the pew, I’ve never paid much notice to it.”
Miss Fox gasped as if he had announced he had recently committed a murder and had been keeping the bloodied knife used to perpetrate the crime hidden beneath his bed.
“Never paid much notice?” she repeated. “Poor Letty and Lila. Little wonder they were desperate to join me in New York City for a Fox family Christmas. Mama hosts a wonderful ball. I would have dearly loved for them to attend. Only the cream of high society is invited, naturally. You needn’t have feared that Letty and Lila would have found themselves unacceptable American beaus. Mama is wretchedly haughty when it comes to these sorts of things.”
“The ball wasn’t the reason I denied them the visit,” he said and then could have kicked himself for the way Miss Fox’s lovely face instantly fell.
“Ah, yes. How could I forget?” She gave him her customary sunny smile, but it appeared forced. “The reason you wouldn’t allow them to come to New York City for Christmas was me.”
He held her stare, annoyed with himself for the pang of guilt that went through him at her pronouncement. Why should he feel badly for protecting his sisters? It wasn’t as if his concerns were without merit. The hoyden had confessed to kissing half a dozen Swiss lads before Madame Mallette had charged into the tavern and saved Violetta and Lila from certain ruin.
Lion frowned. At least, he hoped they had been saved from ruin. He had never thought to question either of them too deeply on the matter. Questioning one’s maiden sisters about kissing made a man deuced uncomfortable. It wasn’t proper.
“I’m afraid it was your conduct,” he said gently. “I could never, in good conscience, send my sisters away to another continent under the aegis of the hellion who was responsible for their rejection from the Académie Clairemont.”
She crossed her arms and huffed indignantly. “Did you come to the music room with the sole intention of insulting me, Your Graceship? If so, you might have just as easily remained hidden away in whatever little ducal dungeon you’ve been occupying since you stormed away at breakfast.”
The sheer daring of this woman.
“I don’t have dungeons, ducal or otherwise. And I most certainly wasn’t hiding.”
Actually, that last bit was a lie. Hehadbeen hiding. Hiding from her, specifically. But he would sooner choke on the table scraps she’d been carrying away to her mongrel than admit it. Because it was far too damning. The implications…he couldn’t even allow himself to turn them over in his mind.
Miss Fox gave him an arch look and then turned back to the piano, settling her fingers over the keys. Without a word, she began to play another song.
“It came upon the midnight clear, that glorious song of old…”
Her voice soared. It moved over him like a caress. Held his rapt attention. He remained, listening. Drinking in the sight and the sound. And he hadn’t an inkling why.
Half a dozen village lads, he reminded himself bitterly.
But it didn’t matter. Because when Adelia Louise Fox sang, it was with a voice to rival the angels. He wanted to bask in it. To capture it somehow so that he could listen to it again and again. Lion knew that he ought to quit the room. That he should return to his study and cease lingering about, listening to her musical efforts.
And yet, he lingered.
When the song was over, she moved on to “The First Noel” without missing a note, singing it with equal beauty. Despite himself, he was entranced. She was bold and maddening and quite shockingly improper, her lack of manners nothing short of astounding.
