“He is a curiosity,” Samantha admitted. “He is quiet and hardly ever smiles. Serious. That is all.”
She quickly glanced at Antonia and hoped that she kept her secret. No doubt her aura had revealed the lie just as the music in her tone would have.
Antonia said nothing, but Petra chuckled in amusement.
“Thou dost protest too much.” Maia grinned.
“How was your visit to the Sacred Grove?” Antonia asked.
“It was pleasant,” Samantha admitted. “It is very lovely there.”
“Did he at least kiss you?” Maia asked.
“Of course not. Why would he?” Though for a moment she had hoped that he would.
“Hopeless!” Maia declared. “Simply hopeless.”
“I am not.” Samantha argued as she stood. “I am going to do something useful while you…do whatever you are doing.”
“Planning for the festival but if you would not have been thinking about Cassian, you would have known that,” Maia called after her as Samantha quit the small parlor and made her way to the music room.
Each instrument called to her, but it was the piano that she wanted to play. But first, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath before letting it out slowly. She must be calm but most of all mindful.
Chapter 3
Cassian marched out of the billiards room to be away from Chedworth, Ares, Ajax and their juvenile teasing.
One would think they were lads at Eton for the way they carried on in trying to get him to admit that he had wanted to take Lady Samantha to the Sacred Grove. No matter how many times he reminded them that it had been Eugenia who told him to do so, and that it would have been rude to reject her command, they insisted that he had gone because he had wanted to be alone with Lady Samantha.
He denied their accusations because he would never let on that he had been infatuated with her for weeks. Still, they had persisted, much to his irritation, behaving like younger siblings.
As he took the stairs to the first level of the manor, he paused and listened. Music was coming from down the corridor. A sweet melody that lightened his mood and filled his being with peace.
Something that he had not felt in…he could not remember.
It was then he recalled what Lady Samantha had told him earlier. If she were the one playing, then he was assured that she was filled with peace. Unless she was being mindful and not letting her emotions affect the notes.
When he reached the music room, he paused at the entrance and simply leaned against the door jamb to watch and listen. Her eyes were closed, dark lashes against alabaster skin, and she swayed as her hands trailed from one end of the keyboard to the other, then playing in the middle. Lady Samantha was lost in her music and if that were the case, she was at peace.
The tranquil beauty of Lady Samantha was stunning, and he was continually surprised at his reaction to her. He had seen her daily these past weeks, yet there were still moments, such as this, that took him aback at the perfection that was Lady Samantha, unmatched by anyone else.
Mahogany curls caressed her shoulders and her coral lips were parted as if the music moved her to ecstasy.
Could music have that effect on people?
Perhaps if she wished it to.
He remained exactly where he was as she continued to play, lost in a world where he had not been invited and one that she embraced alone. He wanted to be with her, to experience the bliss that flowed from her fingertips each time she touched an ivory key and threw a blanket of calm and peace over everyone who was lucky enough to hear.
Except, he wasn’t only experiencing the calm, but anxiousness and an excitement slowly burned within his belly of wanting and need…to have her.
Passion and desire.
Lady Samantha had admitted that if she was not mindful, what she experienced would be felt by others when she played, which begged the question: was what he currently experienced coming from within his own being or from her music?
Oh, how he wished that he knew because he wanted to bask in this desire and peace that flooded his body along with a yearning so strong and never experienced before, that he was not certain what to do.
His first instinct was to cross the room, take Lady Samantha in his arms and kiss her deeply. Except then she would stop playing and he wasn’t quite ready for the music to end. Yet, it pulled at him and spoke to his soul on a level deep within. Reaching the darkest places that he had ignored for so long. Where he stored his dreams and wishes that were not possible to achieve. Except, she made him believe that they were.
