Soon, he would have to do the same.
Chapter 11
Rebecca stood in the center of the artfully crumbling folly. Her stomach twisted. Grieving, she stared out through the six fluted columns at the hedge maze she’d designed.
The rest of the guests were either in Banfield’s study for the reading of the bequests, or off in one of the front parlors, partaking of the late earl’s port. Rebecca was alone in the middle of her labyrinth for perhaps one of the final times.
Soon, she would have to leave Crowmere Castle for good.
She tried to tamp down a sudden wave of panic. There was only one way out. She had to find a country gentleman to wed, and quickly. If she allowed the new earl to select a husband for her, she could end up with a dullard or a brute. Either way, she’d spend the rest of her life trapped in some dismal clump of townhouses beneath London’s thick, coal-stained sky.
Clenching her fingers with determination, she hurried down the stone steps of the folly and back through the labyrinth toward the castle. By the time she returned, the will reading would have concluded, and most of the guests would be readying for their departure.
It was past time for her to do the same.
Rebecca exited the maze near the outbuilding housing the wine cellar and slipped inside the castle via the rear door. She would don her best gown, such as it was, and take a moment or two to curl her hair, and then she’d drag the first available maid into Delmouth in search of a husband she could actually live with.
As she strode down the back corridor toward the closest staircase, the low, plaintive strains of a haunting melody pricked the back of her neck.
Someone was in the music room. Someonetalented. She stilled at the aching beauty of each chord.
Drawn to the pianoforte’s evocative, mournful melody, she turned her back to the stairs and crept to the open door of the music room instead.
Alone inside, hunched over the ivory keys with no more audience than the dancing shadows, sat Daniel. Lost in his own world. Deep inside the music.
Her breath caught.
I could play a little, he’d said, when he had presumed no one had ever taught her to dance. She’d been understandably furious. But she should’ve said yes, just to hear him play. If only she’dknown…
She could not tear her rapt gaze from his face as his fingers flew up and down, trilling one moment and crashing into low, sorrowful chords the next.
Her heart thundered as she watched him wring a clash of joy and melancholy from the old pianoforte. Rebecca could barely eke out a one-fingered scale, much less art this moving. Daniel’s skill was astonishing.
As was the time it must have taken to learn to play so effortlessly. Mastering an instrument was a solitary task that required hours and years of practice, even for prodigies. She stilled in realization. No matter what exploits she had read in the society papers, the scandal columns clearly hadn’t told the whole story.
When Daniel wasn’t gadding about being handsome and popular, he was slaving over research and presiding over convocations to craft laws for Parliament. And when he wasn’t doingthat…
He was making music. At a level she’d previously believed could only witnessed in expensive theaters with renowned orchestras. He was incredible. The gossips and caricaturists had no idea, or they would have crowed about it long before now. No one knew of his secret talent.
Except Rebecca.
She stepped into the room only after the final haunting strains had faded from the still air.
“Beautiful,” she said softly. “I didn’t know you played.”
He winced and flew up from the bench with alacrity. “I didn’t know you were standing there.”
“I just came back from the maze.” She gestured toward her pelisse and bonnet. “Why are you down here? Has Mr. Hunt finished reading the bequests?”
He let out a breath. “Yes. Less than an hour ago.”
Soon Daniel would be gone. Her stomach knotted. The thought of never seeing him again was almost more than she could bear. “Is your valet preparing your luggage?”
He stepped forward, as if to take her hands.
She kept them tucked safely behind her back. Now that his visit had come to an end, she had no wish to prolong her suffering by reaching for something she could never keep.
“Rebecca…” He ran his fingers through his hair and gazed at her as if he wasn’t quite certain how to broach a difficult topic. He let his hands fall to his side. “I received a thousand pound settlement.”
