Page 47 of The Best of Friends
Her cheeks were still damp, and her lashes shimmered with tears, but her smile felt real and sincere. “I really shouldn’t be keeping you from the pianoforte.” With her free hand, she took hold of his hand once more. The simple touch allowed him to breathe more freely for the first time since inadvertently implying that her judgment was lacking. She pulled him to the pianoforte. “You have a composition to work on.”
He laughed. “At the moment, I would very much like to keep talking with you.”
She shook her head firmly. “I will not be the reason you do not work toward your goal.”
“And you insist I do so right this moment?”
She nodded. “Artemis taught the Huntresses to be very effective at convincing people to do things. We swore to her that we would use the powers she bestowed upon us only for the pursuit of good and not anything evil.”
Toss laughed. How good she was for him; how delightful her company was.
He sat on the small round stool in front of the pianoforte and played what he had composed thus far of the piece she had unknowingly inspired. It was very simple and very elementary in its conception, but it was the foundation on which the entire piece would eventually rest.
When he was done playing it, he turned to look at Daria, finding himself eager for her thoughts.
She stood beside him, his handkerchief pressed over her heart, watching him—not the pianoforte, not the keys, not looking off into the distance pondering things—she was watchinghim.
“That was beautiful.” It was a simple evaluation but was offered with such sincerity. It was quite possibly the most wonderful praise his music had ever received. She had been his support before he’d even known how much he needed it. She had believed in him.
“Thank you,” he said. “I hope I can play it for you when it is finished.”
“I would like that.”
Toss gave the keys a little trill, a habit he had picked up when he was very young.
“Do you remember at the house party when you played the pianoforte while we all danced?” she asked.
He nodded, plunking out a simplified version of the melody he had just played.
“I remember thinking at the time it was a shame that the one who so generously provided the music never got to participate in the dancing. And I thought how nice it would be if someone could play the pianoforte and dance at the same time.” She laughed a little. “I realized quickly how silly that thought was. I’m grateful I didn’t say it out loud then.”
“Might I say, for the record,” Toss said, “that you need never be afraid of saying anything to me, no matter how silly you might think it is. I like talking with you. And it would be rather devastating to discover you were afraid to say things to me because you thought I would laugh at you or belittle you or think less of you.”
“You’re not like other people,” she said quietly. “Not everyone is so generous.”
He rose, standing so near to her he could smell the soft, sweet flowery scent of her perfume. “And not everyone is as determined as I am now to discover if one can, in fact, play the pianoforte while dancing.”
He set one arm around her waist. His heart responded immediately, beating furiously against his ribs. She set a hand on his arm, smiling so sweetly that everything in his world felt right again, as if that smile alone smoothed over every rough bit, every struggle, every worry.
Remembering what he was meant to be attempting, he plunked at the keys of the pianoforte with his free hand. His attempt at producing anything resembling music failed miserably.
“This might take practice,” she said.
“Promise?”
Her lips parted in a tiny, silent “Oh.” Her blush returned, this time in what was clearly a moment of pleasure. He couldn’t manage to pull his gaze away from her increasingly tempting lips.
Dare he try? Dare he hope she was thinking what he was?
And then, with a sense of timing that might have seemed humorous under other circumstances, Charlie arrived, and the magic of the moment was shattered.
Chapter Eighteen
“How many points do yousuppose these two should receive for this rendezvous, Artie?” Charlie asked Artemis as the two of them, along with Mr. Layton, stepped into the music room.
Though she knew he was teasing, Daria blushed at his use of the wordrendezvous.
“Be nice, Charlie,” Toss said. There was both laughter and warning in the declaration.
