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Chapter Eight
Arthur had returned to his study, but couldn’t help wondering what they were up to. He shouldn’t have allowed the woman to play for Nora. She certainly shouldn’t even be in his house in the first place. He had meant to get rid of her, not show her in.
Arthur swirled the spirits in his glass. He needed to calm his nerves.
There was a knock on the door. He looked up to see Nora entering the room. She was beaming at him. Arthur immediately knew that she was going to make a great or absurd request of him. “You should have heard her, Papa. Her voice is sweeter than a robin’s!”
“I will take your word for it then,” he said.
Mrs. Cooper came through the door after Nora. “Lady Nora is right, Your Grace. The woman is an exceptional musician. Not only is she proficient at the instrument, she also has a voice of an angel.”
Despite everything, curiosity piqued in him. He looked behind them, but Carmen wasn’t there, not that he was eager to see her.
Nora looked at Mrs. Cooper who nodded surreptitiously. He knew immediately that they were up to something.
“Papa, I have something to ask of you,” Nora finally said.
“What is it?” he asked, frowning, knowing already that he wouldn’t be pleased with the words that came out of her mouth next.
“We heard the lady play, and she sings like an angel,” Nora said. She balled her hands in front of her chest and smiled, as if remembering the musical performance. “It was so splendid, Papa! I must simply learn music from her.”
At first, Arthur didn’t think he had even heard her right. “You want to—what?”
His voice came off stronger than he had meant and Nora visibly cringed. “I like Mrs. Cooper, but she…” Nora trailed off, looking at the governess with an apologetic grimace.
“I’m not exactly gifted in music, Your Grace,” Mrs. Cooper said. “I believe that the young Miss Carmen will be a better teacher to Lady Nora.”
“No,” Arthur said with a shake of his head. In hell or heaven, there was no way that he was going to allow his daughter to learn music from…from that woman. He wanted her nowhere near the house.
“Why not?” Nora cried.
Arthur sighed. He was getting tired of her tantrums. “I’m your father, and I know what will be good for you and what won’t be.”
“I love music, why do you refuse to see that?” Nora said. And then she burst into tears. Arthur felt a pang in his heart and his stomach squeezed. He hated to see her like that. He walked up to her and pulled her into his arms. He was at least comforted when she laid her head on his, but she continued to sob. She looked up at him with tear-streaked eyes. “Don’t you love me, Papa?”
Dear God in Heaven, he did. She was the best thing in his life, and he couldn’t afford to lose her, ever. Even though she wasn’t his by blood, she was in every manner that counted.
“I do, sweetheart,” he said. He started walking around the room with her. Even though she was seven, she barely weighed anything in his arms. He remembered the first time he had seen her. She was a mere babe, cooing softly, wrapped in layers of blankets and it was love at first sight. They had similar dark features and anyone who saw them commented on how much she had taken after him. “I love you to the moon and back.”
She stopped crying and looked up at him with her big, violet eyes. “Then why do you dislike music?”
He looked away from her. Nora was a stubborn child, and she would never stop asking him questions. But he also knew that she was too young to know the truth.
I’m trying to protect you from the truth, he thought to himself. Would she hate him when she knew that he was partly responsible for her mother’s death? Even in grief, she turned to him, but she would only hate him when the truth was revealed. He couldn’t afford to lose her.
“You want her as your music teacher?” he asked. At least by giving her what she wanted, he didn’t have to lie to her again.
Nora nodded vigorously.
He sighed deeply. This wasn’t how he had imagined this morning would fare. But he couldn’t really blame Nora. She was only a child. The woman had bewitched her with her kind eyes and easy smile. Another thought occurred to him, the one that almost made his blood run cold. Was she trying to manipulate his daughter to get back at him for what he had done?
“It’s an excellent choice, Your Grace,” Mrs. Cooper said, clapping her hands in delight. Arthur glanced at the woman and couldn’t remember for the life of him why he had hired her in the first place.
He put Nora down and wiped the tears from her eyes. “Never let anybody, not even me, make you cry. Your tears are too precious.”
Nora nodded. “Thank you, Papa.”
He stood up. “Where is she? The woman?”
