Harlequin Historical: February 2023 Box Set 1 of 2 by Bronwyn Scott

Author:Bronwyn Scott
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2022-04-15T00:00:00+00:00

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The following evening, having highly anticipated the event all day, Miles escorted his small party into the music room of the Philharmonic Society in Hanover Square. Susanna immediately spied Lady Laura and her chaperon, Lady Swanston, who waved them over. ‘I asked Lady Laura to obtain seats for all of us together,’ Susanna confided as they made their way through the crowded chamber.

After meeting and greeting their friends, they arranged themselves in their seats, his sister next to Lady Laura and the two chaperons together, with Miles protectively claiming the outside chair next to his sister’s friend. He swallowed hard as he took his seat while the shiver of sensation he always felt at drawing near to Lady Laura ran through him. It was a pleasure just to sit beside her, sensing her warmth, breathing in the sweetness of her rose perfume.

Listening to the works of his favourite composer was the final jewel to crown a splendid evening.

The murmurs from the audience faded as the musicians tuned up, the first violinist turned to signal the orchestra to begin and the glorious melody of the Dance Symphony swelled over him.

He angled his head to look at Lady Laura. She sat with her lips slightly parted, gaze locked on the performers, nodding her head in time to the music, on her face an expression of delight. Even one not enamoured of music would have had to enjoy it more, just observing how enraptured she looked.

At the end of the first movement, as the audience applauded, she turned to him with a smile.

‘I’m so glad Susanna coaxed you to attend the concert tonight. The Seventh Symphony is splendid, isn’t it?’

‘Glorious. Beethoven has sublime mastery, hasn’t he? The music seemed to sweep you along—you were flexing your fingers, as if to accompany it. Do you play?’

‘Of course,’ she said with a twinkle. ‘Every well-brought-up young lady plays. My performance is adequate, but nothing as accomplished as the performers here tonight. Do you play?’

‘I enjoy listening to the pianoforte, but I don’t play myself.’

‘It isn’t necessary to perform in order to appreciate the music’s beauty.’

‘I do enjoy this a good deal more than opera.’ He chuckled. ‘Or those ridiculous melodramas Susanna is so fond of. But then, she’s a romantic, her emotions always touched by great tragedy.’

‘And you are not a romantic, of course.’

‘As you may remember, I believe the association between men and women works much better without the drama of high emotion. Since exultation is inevitably followed sooner or later by disappointment.’

‘What a cynical view! I cannot imagine where you come by it. Susanna says your parents share a very warm relationship.’

‘They do. A warmth—not an excess of passion. Besides, haven’t you several times expressed a disinclination for relationships fraught with an excess of passion? Believing the pain too great if that love were lost?’

She sighed. ‘I never claimed to be consistent. I am pulled in two directions. Would I want what my parents shared when Mama was alive? That joy and devotion? Of course! But when I see Papa now, lonely and bereft.

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