"Hey, a producer can dream. Look, the doors are opening in a few minutes, so I'm gonna make sure everything's ready to go. You want to get up there on stage right away?"
Laurie hesitated, glancing toward the door like Briana might appear instantaneously, but then nodded. "Yeah, okay."
Mike followed his glance and lifted his eyebrows. "Waiting for somebody tonight?"
"Yeah, I've got a date. I hope."
Piccolo's eyebrows rose higher. "A date who might standyouup? The much-sought-after Laurie Torben?"
Laurie made a face. "She knows I'm much-sought-after, unfortunately, and it don't impress her much."
Mike grinned and clapped Laurie on the shoulder. "Good luck, then. Maybe don't start withEdge of Gloryup there, though, huh? It's not subtle."
"That it is not," Laurie agreed with a chuckle. He climbed up on stage to say hi to Ripley, took a look at the early set list, and went backstage to pick up a couple of instruments. People were drifting in and the band was tuning up as he came back out, so he sat where he could see the door, and hoped Briana would arrive before the stage lights turned on and blinded him to anything beyond the first couple rows of dancers.
He was out of luck, though: the lights came up and Ripley, leading the musicians, took them into the first songs. Laurie didn't see Briana when she came in, though he kept looking for her in the dancers as he played.
And then there she was, moving through the crowd to be near the stage. Her hair was up in a twist that must have been super well pinned in place, because a few tendrils came down as she danced, but mostly it stayed up. She hadn't overdressed, but at the same time, he'd never seen her so dressed up: she wore a simple dress with thin shoulder straps and a square neckline, and though he couldn't tell what color it was, its dark fabric followed the shape of her body down to mid-thigh, where it met her bare legs.
Then she turned, scooting through the crowd and revealing the back of the dress, which had another thin, single strap across the breadth of her shoulders, holding the straps in place.Otherwise, the dress was backless all the way down to the dimple of her back, or lower when the fabric swayed just right.
Laurie, staring at the small of Briana's back, actually missed a note as he was playing. The audience didn't seem to notice, but Ripley certainly did, and shot him a look combining concern and irritation. Laurie winced an apology, started paying more attention to the music, and resolved to get off stage as soon as possible.
Chapter 21
Laurie Torben played the saxophone.
Briana had no idea why that surprised her so much. She'd known the Torben brothers did minstrel duties at their tavern, and were often seen playing instruments around the Faire in general. She'd even known Laurie played wind instruments: he played the tin whistle and a Renaissance flute—simpler than modern ones—at Faire, and maybe another one or two she didn't know about. But it had never occurred to her that he might play something else outside of the Faire's confines.
Definitelynot the saxophone.
She actually stayed up in the seats for a while after she arrived, watching him play. Watching the whole band play, technically, but Briana couldn't fool herself: she was full-on watching Laurie Torben like nobody else mattered. He was still wearing the kilt he'd bought earlier in the day, but at some point had picked up more suitable footwear, including knee-high socks, and instead of the t-shirt he'd been wearing, he now had on a blousy white shirt with full sleeves rolled up to expose his forearms.
He had very, very good forearms.
He'd also taken time to braid his hair again, slim plaits against the sides of his head that came together at the back, and a looser scruffy braid at the top, just barely held in place by clever bits of it being woven with the tighter braids on the sides. The rest fell free, moving easily as he played. If he had pointed ears, Briana thought again, he would honestly look like an elf prince of some kind. He was so damnpretty.
Her goat gave a long-suffering sigh.At least if youmusthave a permanent mate, he's an attractive one.
Right?Briana asked, amused.Sorry for falling for him after all.
We are amountain goat,her goat informed her strenuously.We do notfallfor anyone!
Briana laughed aloud at that, and finally went out to the dance floor. It took a while to move close to the stage, but she wasn't in a hurry, especially as she found that being there, dancing with the crowd, made her feel lighter than she had since the landslide. Everyone needed this, and it was worth coming to even if the feewasn'tbeing donated to charity.
She did catch Laurie's eye once, between songs. He mouthed'Wow'at her, and she smiled, unexpectedly pleased. He also gestured to indicate he'd be off stage in a few minutes, and she nodded, then pointed toward the bar. He gave her a thumbs-up, and she worked her way back through the crowd and went to the bar, ordering herself a ginger ale and hesitating over what she should get Laurie.
Fortunately he appeared before she'd made a decision, said, "I'll have what she's having," to the bartender, and smiled down at Briana, repeating, "Wow," out loud. "You look incredible."
"You're not so bad yourself," she murmured, then smiled. "Actually, no, that's underselling it. You look great. And are you sure? I'm just having a ginger ale."
"Yeah, that's fine. I don't actually drink that much alcohol. You'd think I would, but working around it all the time…" He made a face.
"Oh, yeah, that kind of makes sense." She paid for both ginger ales over Laurie's protests, and they escaped to a booth being vacated by people heading back to the dance floor. "I didn't know you played the saxophone."
"I thought it would make me look cool. It does not," Laurie informed her, and Briana laughed.
"You look pretty cool," she promised him, and he shook his head.
