“Do you remember what happened the night of the lunar eclipse and Haloa?”
Samantha looked away. “Some.”
Maybe if he began with a more interesting part of the evening, it would be better than just telling her why he had not kissed her. “Is it true that you saw a fairy?”
“Yes. A mischievous one at that.” The corner of her mouth tipped slightly. “I sensed it in her music. In the music of all the fairies.”
“You said she poured grog into your wine?”
He needed to make certain that was something she saw, not imagined. However, he suspected that it was true because nobody was that inebriated from so little wine.
“Yes.” This response was said with more irritation. “I had already drank it before I was warned. But I am still amazed that such a tiny amount could have such an effect. I’d never been that well…deep into my cups. How do fairies even manage if they drink the same amount as I did when they are so much smaller?”
“Fairy magic, I suppose,” he answered.
“Yes, well, I wish I would have possessed it that night because I had never experienced such a headache and upset stomach the way I had the next morning.”
Cassian couldn’t help but chuckle. It was amazing that men still drank to excess after suffering one hangover, yet it never stopped them from getting deep in their cups over and over. He was just as guilty of such foolishness.
“Is that why you will never drink wine again?”
“I will never drink anything that could cause inebriation. One night of humiliation and a day of suffering is more than enough.”
“Humiliation?”
Samantha shook her head. “When people drink too much, they do foolish things, and we shall leave it at that.”
Except he could not. “I was wondering if you remembered everything about that night.”
“I assume that I do,” Samantha answered as she got up from the settee and moved to the other side of the room. “I remember enough and I apologize for disturbing you.”
“You did not disturb me,” he insisted.
“I did! And there is no reason to discuss it further.”
“Except, I do not think you realize that I had wanted to kiss you.”
Frown lines appeared on her forehead when she narrowed her plump lips and narrowed her eyes. Was she angry or did she not trust him? If she could hear his music, then she would know he spoke from the heart, and how he had fallen in love with her, but she could not, which was also likely for the best.
She notched her chin and crossed her arms over her chest. “If that is so, then why did you not?”
“There are two reasons,” he answered.
“The first?”
“To kiss you would be taking advantage of your intoxicated state. I feared that you would regret having asked me, or worse, not remember.”
“You said as much that night, but it does not reduce my embarrassment by any means.”
“There is no reason to be embarrassed,” Cassian assured her.
“Is that so?” Samantha tilted her head and studied him. “Does that mean that if I had been completely sober that you would have kissed me?”
Why did she have to ask him that question of all questions?
Then again, when he told her the truth, maybe the piano would take him and free her.
“No.”
