Free After the Music by Diana Palmer Page B

room and sat down on the sofa with a cigarette in his hand, motioning Al into a chair. "Please," he added gently.
    Distracted, it took her a minute to pick up where she'd left -off. Thorn's penetrating gaze made her nervous. But, as usual, the music swept her away, just as it did when she sang. She finished the piece with a flourish, closed the lid and stood up.
    "You play brilliantly," Thorn said, and the words seemed to be forced. "Where did you learn?"
    "I was taught by a friend," she said, neglecting to add whom or where. "She wasn't a professional, but she read music quite well. She taught me to sight read."
    "She did a brilliant job," he said. "You could play professionally."
    "No, thanks," she said with a nervous laugh. "It's too wearing. At least when I sing, I don't have to worry about where my hands are going. On the piano I'd do nothing but make mistakes in front of an audience." She sat down on the arm of Al's chair. "Do you play?" she asked him.
    "No. Thorn does."
    Surprised, she looked at the older man.
    "Shocked?" he taunted, taking a draw from the cigarette. "I enjoy music. Not, however, that noise that passes for it in your world."
    It was a challenge. He didn't like her ability; it irked him that she didn't fit the mold he was trying to force her into. Now he was going to cut back; his eyes told her so.
    "Noise is a matter of taste," she told him. "I like rhythm." He lifted an eyebrow and an amused smile turned up his hard, chiseled lips.
    She stood up. Well, she might as well live down to the image he had of her. "Say, what do people do for amusement out here?" she asked Al.
    "We watch movies," Al told her with a chuckle. "Thorn, want to join us?"
    Thorn shook his head. "I've got some paperwork to get through."
    Al led Sabina out of the room and down the hall to another, smaller room. "We've got all the latest movies. Which would you like to see?" he asked, showing her the collection stowed beneath the VCR's giant screen.
    "I'd really like to sit on the porch and listen to the crickets, if you want to know," she confessed. "But that would bother your brother. He likes me to run true to form."
    He ruffled her hair. "Don't let him get to you. Thorn's crafty."
    "So am I," she said. "Why does he dislike me so?"
    "I think perhaps you remind him of our mother," he said slowly. "She's very much like you, in temperament. Though not in appearance. And there's something else...He really doesn't know how to handle his own emotions, so he pretends not to feel them. You get under his skin. I've never seen him like this."
    "Maybe I ought to leave," she suggested hopefully.
    "Not yet," he said with a twinkle in his eyes. "Things are just getting interesting."
    "You won't leave me alone with him?" she blurted out. He frowned. "Afraid of him?"
    "Yes," she confessed.
    "That's a first."
    "I suppose it is," she said on a sigh. "He really gets to me, Al."
    "Has he threatened you," he asked suddenly.
    Not wanting to alarm him, she laughed off his question. "In a way. But I'm not worried."
    "I think I am," At said quietly. "There's a very real hunger in his eyes when he looks at you. I've never seen exactly that expression in them before. He's crafty. Don't let him too close."
    "Never mind about me," she reassured him. "I like a challenge. He is a sporting enemy, you know"'
    "You're incorrigible."
    "Not to mention stupid," she teased. "Enough of that. You said you were going to manage some time with Jess. How?" she asked with a wry smile. "He's very sharp. If you invite her here-"
    "Yes, I know," he said, checking his watch. "But if he thinks that you and I are watching a movie together, he'll be busy elsewhere, won't he?" he asked with a grin.
    "Genius," she said, laughing. "But won't he hear the car?"
    "No. Because I won't be driving it. Jessica's going to meet me about a quarter of a mile down the road. When the movie ends," he added, putting in the videocassette, "just go straight upstairs. I don't imagine Thorn will come out