How the Duke Saved Christmas by Anna Harrington

Author:Anna Harrington [Harrington, Anna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rose Garden Books
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Clara lightly pressed the keys of the pianoforte and slowly brought the piece she’d been playing for herself to an end. As the last notes died quietly away into the soft shadows of the music room, her fingertips tingled with barely controlled excitement.

“Thank you, Mr. Beethoven,” she whispered, a happy smile tugging at the corners of her lips.

Even with the piece finished, she couldn’t bring herself to stop and brushed her fingers silently over the ivory and ebony keys. It was a beautiful instrument—one of the finest she’d ever sat behind—and her playing certainly hadn’t done it justice, not after two years of not practicing and not being able to press both levers to enhance the notes. Yet her heart could have sung with happiness!

Michael had been right that afternoon when he said that the wonderful tea he’d put together for them during their ride would spoil their appetites for dinner. She’d been unable to stomach the idea of a large roast beef dinner with all the trimmings and wanted only a long, hot bath to wash away the scent of horse and sooth her sore muscles—and other parts of her—that were unused to sitting on horseback for so long. She also needed space and quiet to think. So she’d retired upstairs after they’d returned and asked Mrs. Hansen to arrange for a small tray for her in her room.

Michael had been right about the other, too, though. Drat him.

She couldn’t spend the rest of her life hiding in her room, simply watching while the world went by. Today’s ride had proven that. She’d been certain she couldn’t do it, that she wouldn’t be able to control the horse or maintain her seat, that she would fall and hurt herself. The thought of it had terrified her, right up until the little mare carried her so steadfastly down the lane and into the field. Then she lost her fear and let herself be swept away by the exhilaration of being on horseback again.

So she decided that if she’d been able to ride a horse, there was no reason why she also couldn’t enjoy playing the pianoforte…alone in a dark room, that is, with the pianoforte top closed to dampen the sound so no one could hear her mistakes. Dinner was long over by the time she asked Thomas to bring her into the room, with the children up in the nursery, Michael settling into his own rooms for the evening, and Mrs. Bailey once again busily attending to some obscure task in the work rooms. Gratefully, Clara had the music room all to herself with no fear of being seen or heard.

Her rusty playing lacked the smooth finesse it had once possessed. But the act itself…oh, how she loved running her fingers across the keys again! Just as with riding that afternoon, the thought of playing had initially terrified her, with doubts swirling in her head that she could ever play the same as she had before the accident, that she was a fool to even try.

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