“I will try to remember not to disturb you when your brain is sending music,” she promised.
After Belinda was dispatched to the servants’ quarters, they started their exploration of his estate. In companionable silence, they traversed the gardens to a clipped lawn and, eventually, to the same waterway that wended its way through the Twitchards’ property farther north.
He had a gentlemanly hold of her arm, and she felt perfectly safe.
“Now that we are friends,” she asked, “will you play for me?”
He hesitated, which made her a little sad.Didn’t he trust her not to judge him?And even if she were the harshest possible critic, the arbiter of all that was good in the realm of music, still he must know she would not find any fault with his playing.Had his stage fright not improved even a little?
“Have you been eating plenty of fruit?” she asked.
“Lady Brilliance, I hope this doesn’t sound pudding-headed, but why were you making gifts of oranges, cherries, and such?”
“Isn’t fruit a well-known treatment for stage fright?”
“If it is,” he said, “I have never heard of it.”
She sighed “Perhaps you needed toknowabout the treatment in order for it to work. I am dreadfully sorry.”
He shook his head. “Do not be sorry. I do not now, nor have I ever suffered from stage fright.”
Astonished, she stopped in her tracks. “Don’t you?”
“No. I promise you.”
“Not even a little bit?” she asked.
“No,” he repeated before tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear, making her shiver.
“Well, then I am absolutely flummoxed. Why won’t you play?”
With his sage-colored eyes gazing into hers, he vowed, “I will play foryou.”
“A piece of music I have never heard before,” she pressed as they began walking again. “For it must be somethingyouhave written.”
“You are a demanding minx. And the answer is yes. Come, let me show you a particularly lovely spot.”
As if England itself were conspiring to make everything perfect, the weather was warm, the sky cloudless, and an abundance of birds were swooping to catch insects. They paused at a bend in the stream.
“Can you truly see the Roman ruins from that back bedroom?”
“No, but from the attic you can make out the nearby trees, I imagine.”
“Then you lied.” Brilliance hoped he didn’t make a habit of bending the truth to get his way.
“I did. I wanted to ask Alethia if she would allow me to have a few minutes alone with you, and I needed her to help me make it happen.”
“It worked. Lady Georgiana and Miss Newton could talk of nothing butyourbedroom on the ride home. In fact, they lorded it over me.”
“How are they faring?” he asked.
“You needn’t sound so innocent. I have no doubt you arranged for them to be whisked away to someone else’s home.”
His handsome face broke out into a grin. “I did. Are you angry?”
“You know I am not, or you wouldn’t be smiling like a fiend.”
He looked as though he were trying to regain a measure of concern. “I hope you won’t be lonely while staying at my cousin’s.”
