“Are you, my lady?”
“I don’t know…”
“Let me see if I can convince you.”
He leaned toward her, touching her face with both hands. His lips brushed hers lightly, sending a delicious tingle through her whole body.
“Would it be acceptable to you if I asked your father for permission to court you…Rose?” He stroked her cheeks gently with his thumbs.
Rose closed her eyes, his smooth fingers tantalizing her skin. “I would be…honored…Evan.”
He brushed his lips against hers again, coaxing them open. His tongue entered her mouth slowly, softly, taking only the smallest taste. Oh yes, Lily was right. Kissing was heavenly. Then she couldn’t think at all, as Evan found her tongue and swirled his own around it. She sighed into him, dropping her small bouquet of flowers as he led her arms around his neck.
Rose had nearly swooned at Evan’s first kiss. It had been unlike anything she had imagined. But though cared for him deeply, she didn’t love him. When she slept at night, Evan didn’t hold her in her dreams. When she woke in the morning, Evan’s face wasn’t stamped in her mind. It was Cameron who haunted her thoughts. Cameron, with his thick black hair, his calloused hands, his soft full lips. He had consumed Rose’s thoughts since she first saw him. Her skin tingled, her heart thumped, her belly fluttered every time his image appeared in her mind. Working with him on the waltz had nearly unnerved her. He had treated her with disdain for the most part, seeming to resent her and who she was. But one time, his guard had come down and they had connected.
Rose and Cameron sat together at the grand piano in the Lybrook conservatory. The waltz for Lily was about half complete, and Cameron had brought the sheet music to Rose so she could begin preparing it for the wedding. As her fingers lightly touched the ivory keys, the hair on the back of her neck rose slightly. Cameron was watching her. She couldn’t see him, but his steely grey gaze burned into her. She was used to stammering and making mistakes in his presence because he unnerved her so, but this time, she swallowed and summoned all the power within her. She turned and looked at him, staring into his silver eyes as she continued to play.
“You play beautifully, my lady,” he said.
“Thank you, Mr. Price. I do appreciate the compliment.” She finished the piece.
“Don’t stop,” Cameron said. “I could listen to you play all day.”
“I’ve played through all that you have completed,” Rose said. “It’s brilliant. I wouldn’t change a thing.”
“Actually, I’m thinking of making a few minor changes. A key change here, perhaps.” He reached over her arm and pointed to the music. “Perhaps to D minor? What do you think?”
Rose began playing again and transposed to D minor where Cameron had indicated. “Yes, I like that. It gives the waltz a more melancholy feel there.”
“The duke wants a joyful tune,” Cameron said, “but I think it will still be gleeful even with the change. You see, love isn’t always wine and roses. The key change represents the anguish of love.”
“The anguish of love?”
“Yes.”
“Whatever do you mean by that?”
Cameron stared straight into Rose’s eyes. “I mean that love—real honest to goodness true love—is as much anguish as it is joy. It hurts to love that much.”
“How on earth can it hurt to love?” Rose asked. “Love is wonderful.”
“Because, my lady, the more you love someone, the more you have to lose. And that creates fear. And if the loss comes, sorrow.”
Tears welled in Rose’s eyes, but she blinked them away and cleared her throat. “How do you know so much about love, Mr. Price? Have you ever been in love?”
“No.” Cameron looked away from her. “But I’ve seen the anguish of love. When my father died, for example. It was unexpected, and my mother still pines for him after seven years.”
“But the duke loves Lily beyond reason,” Rose said. “There’s no anguish there.”
“But there is.” His gaze penetrated hers again. “There is always a little bit of torment in love. When they are separated, they will pine for each other. And even when they aren’t separated, there is always that fear in the back of the mind that someday the person you love will be taken from you. That is what this part of the music represents. It’s only a few measures, and then we go back to the original key.”
Rose nodded, understanding perfectly, and wondering how Cameron could have such a keen knowledge of love. “It’s a brilliant change, Mr. Price. It makes all the difference in the piece.”
“Thank you, my lady. Could you play the entire piece again, including the change?”
“Of course.”
Rose began, the burning sensation of Cameron’s gaze on her again. She made several errors and her neck heated. Relief swam through her when she played the final note.