Page 56 of The Best of Friends
“Is it the one I play first?” He always began his sessions with the same tune, one good for warming his fingers.
“No,” she said almost silently.
“Is it the one I play the most?”
She smiled a little, the expression bringing a sparkle to her eyes.
“Ah.” He leaned in just a bit closer. “I know which one you mean.”
An earnest nod indicated her understanding. “It makes my heart dance.”
“I think your heart should get to dance, Lady Hestia.” Toss rose once more and crossed to the pianoforte.
As he sat, his gaze fell on Daria once more. This tune was hers, after all. She had inspired it, and he always thought of her when he played it. Having her there in this love-filled home without Laurence to cause misery made playinghersong all the more fitting.
It also meant his heart was likely in his eyes. He would be wise to focus on fulfilling Lady Hestia’s request.
He played what he had composed of “Daria’s Melody,” improvising a bit in the places he hadn’t yet completed. The resident family listened with every indication of delight. Lady Hestia stood at her father’s feet, her hand in his, swaying a bit with the tune. Lord Falstone rested against his grandmother’s legs, listening. It was a far more pleasant experience than the night he’d played at the dinner party.
Toss might have simply relaxed into the moment if not for the look of intrigue in Mater’s expression. She’d pieced something together, and that made him more than a little nervous.
Chapter Twenty-two
Toss received the oddest requestthe next morning: Mater sent a note asking him to join her for a ride in Hyde Park that afternoon, one undertaken in the Lampton landau. She had four sons in London as well as Lord Cavratt, who was known to be as close to a Jonquil brother as one could get without being born into that family. And the duke clearly had a familial bond with her. She might have asked any one of them to ride with her. But she had asked Toss.
Shewould be fetchinghim, another oddity, from Laurence’s home. Toss dressed with care and great curiosity. He also felt a hint of trepidation. Throughout the afternoon at Falstone House the day before, she had watched him with that look people wore when they had pieced together a very intriguing mystery. There was every chance Mater had unearthed his most closely guarded secret.
No sooner was he seated in the Lampton landau on the bench facing her, then Mater launched directly into conversation.
“We have until we reach our next destination to sort you out, Toss.”
“Sort me out?”
“Well, sort out the mess you are making of your life, at least,” Mater said.
“Which mess would that be?”
She leaned a little closer. “How long have you been in love with Daria?”
Such blunt talk from anyone else would likely have felt like gossip. But, coming from Mater, the observation was unmistakably reassuring and maternal.
“I felt the very first, vague stirrings during the house party last autumn. But as I’ve come to know her better this Season, those ‘vague stirrings’ have become undeniable affection.”
Mater nodded. “So why do you treat her so much like one of your friends?”
“Sheismy friend,” he insisted.
“Is that all she is?”
“She has described us as ‘the best of friends,’” he said. “I do not intend to make a nuisance of myself by disregarding her definition of our relationship. Too many gentlemen do that, insisting they are being charmingly persistent when what they are really being is a pest.”
“You are not wrong about that, Toss, and I would never suggest you act dismissive or disrespectful of a lady’s wishes.”
Toss eyed her more closely. “Why, then, do you not seem to agree with my position in this instance?”
Mater’s gaze narrowed a bit on him. “Because I watched Daria the evening all of you were at Lampton House and Charlie was dancing as if biting bugs had crawled down his shirt. She displayed every sign of a lady deeply infatuated with a gentleman.”
“With Colm Greenberry,” Toss muttered.
