“I agree.” His smile widened. “I have found nothing better.”
Seeing the gleam in his eyes, and hearing the smoothness of his deep voice, caused her heartbeat to quicken, making her feel breathless. Nothing like this had ever happened in her twenty-two years. Her face grew even warmer, too. Hopefully, nobody noticed how Lord Hanover had affected her, because she needed to figure out a way to keep it from happening again. Feeling this way wasnotacceptable.
“Miss Featherstone,” Lord Kentwood spoke up. “I would also like to hear you play.” He wiped the linen napkin across his mouth before setting it on his empty plate and pushing away from the table. “Would you mind performing for us now?”
On cue, everyone followed the lord’s lead and stood. Cassandra didn’t have any qualms about playing at a moment’s notice, but she felt bad for not eating more than she had. In her family’s impoverished circumstances, she hated to waste food.
Sighing in defeat, she stood and walked behind the group toward the music room. Lord Hanover seemed not to be in a hurry, and because he walked so slowly, everyone passed him until she had caught up to him. He really was a tall man, and although she detested some of his haughtiness, she couldn’t discount his handsome appearance, or his lovely hazel eyes. Not only that, but he had a nice smile—when he wasn’t forcing it, of course.
“Lord Hanover,” she said, which captured his attention. “I would very much like to hear you play, as well.”
Nodding, he grinned. “I’m sure I’m not anywhere as good as you, but I shall play if that will make you happy.”
Her heartbeat skipped.He wants to make me happy?Confusion filled her as she tore her gaze away from him and moved toward the pianoforte. Why was he all of a sudden being nice to her? The way he had been acting since they first arrived made her aware of what he must think of their lowly situation. So, why had he changed his mind?
Yet her mind warned her to be wary. Her family had been hurt before by so-callednoblemen, and she was certain it would happen again. She must not trust either of their visitors.
Cassandra sat at the pianoforte. The selection she decided upon was one she had memorized years ago. She rested her fingers on the keys as her memory opened. While she played, she could see the expressions from across the musical instrument of those who were nearby. Lord Hanover stood directly in her view, and it was hard not to stare at him while playing the ballad she had fallen in love with years ago after first hearing her mother play the piece. The dreaminess in Lord Hanover’s eyes, and the softness of his smile, let her know he was pleased with what he heard.
Her heart softened, even though she shouldn’t allow it to. Yet seeing him this way made her wish for a better life—a life wherea man would fall in love with her because of the woman she was and overlook her pitiful family’s situation.
As soon as she was finished, everyone applauded, but she could hear Lord Hanover clap louder than the others. She stood and curtsied before motioning with her hand for him to come play the pianoforte. The others encouraged him, and it didn’t take him long to give in and take his seat on the stool. The moment his fingers flew across the keys, her heart flipped with excitement. He played magnificently, and she was spellbound. What she wouldn’t give to have more lessons so that she could learn to make her fingers move that fast.
When he finished, she sighed from happiness and disappointment. She didn’t want it to end, but she joined in the clapping with everyone else. She was certain she clapped the loudest from his amazing performance.
It didn’t take long before they split into groups and chatted for the next little while. She stood next to Lord Hanover, listening to his childhood stories about when his mother had him play the pianoforte in front of her friends and at social gatherings. He admitted to being embarrassed from all the attention, and wishing he could only play for his own love of music. It surprised Cassandra that she shared these emotions with him, but she certainly wouldn’t admit it.
Another thing that stunned her was seeing how humorous he was. She found herself laughing too many times, but thankfully, her sister and brothers found him just as entertaining, so she didn’t stand out.
But the most startling thing of all was that his deep voice made her heart pitter-patter faster than normal. Slowly, throughout the evening, her infatuation for him grew. Even though Cassandra kept telling herself there was no way a man like Lord Hanover would consider her as a wife, she still wanted to believe that he found her interesting. She wouldn’t mind if hefound her pretty, as well, but that might be pushing her hopes a little too far.
When he looked at her, his eyes twinkled. They hadn’t done that when they first met. So perhaps he was feeling the attraction between them. Then again, it was probably all her imagination. After all, he had met—and probably courted—many beautiful women that were more talented than Cassandra, whereas she had only had a schoolgirl crush on a few boys in her life, nothing like she was feeling now.
Jacob took over the conversation, and for the life of her, Cassandra couldn’t keep her mind on what her brother was saying. Instead, she studied Lord Hanover’s handsome face. He was definitely one finely built man, one she never thought she would meet. And now that he stood so close, it was nearly impossible not to want to touch his arms just to see if they were as muscular as they appeared. Her palms itched to caress his rugged chin to see if the skin was coarse or smooth. And heaven help her, but she wanted to thread her fingers through his lovely, wavy sandy-blond hair just to see if he liked women doing that to him.
Lord Hanover seemed to be listening to her brother, but suddenly, his gaze shifted and met hers. A teasing smile stretched across his face, as if he knew what she had been thinking. She prayed the look of admiration wasn’t etched on her face the way it was on her siblings’ expressions.
Heat consumed her cheeks, then slowly spread down her neck and throughout her body.Where is my fan?Yet the hotter her face became, the more she realized a mere fan would not cool her enough. An ice-cold pond, or even a bank of snow, might be the only thing that would calm her down.
She touched her brother’s arm, stopping him in mid-sentence. “Jacob, excuse me, but I need to step outside. It is very stuffy in this room, and—”
“What a splendid idea,” Lord Hanover said. “Why don’t we all take a stroll outside and get some fresh air?”
“I, uh…” Jacob stuttered as his attention moved between Lord Hanover and her. “I suppose we could do that, my lord.”
Cassandra didn’t wait to ask for anyone else’s approval before she led the way toward the front door. Holding her breath, she waited for the moment the cooler air would touch her cheeks and remove the heat from her body.
Just before she could reach for the doorknob, Lord Hanover reached in front of her, grasping the knob and opening the door. She gave him a polite smile and hurried outside. After taking five steps away from the house, she closed her eyes and breathed deeply. Just as she suspected, the cooler air helped. Of course, their walk wouldn’t be very long, because she suspected she would become chilled soon, since she hadn’t thought to first grab her shawl.
“What a beautiful night.” Lord Hanover’s voice was so close.
She hitched a breath and swung her head to look over her shoulder. The handsome man walked too close but stared up at the night sky.
“I notice the rainstorm didn’t last very long,” he continued.
“Yes, thankfully.” She peeked up, noticing the twinkling stars against the sky’s dark canvas. If not for the handsome man beside her, she would have been satisfied with the sky. When she returned her focus to him, she realized her sister and brother were not out with them. “Where are the others?”
Lord Hanover looked back at the manor. “I think I heard your sister mention fetching her shawl, and your brother said something about finding a lantern to light our way.”
