Free Swan's Grace by Linda Francis Lee

was as much a part of Sophie's day as breathing. If she didn't have her cello in her hands, music ran through her head. She worked out passages no matter what she was doing, without thought, out of habit.
    "She'll practice somewhere else," Miss Pruitt stated. "That is, if you call that noise I've been hearing music." She looked directly at Sophie, who hadn't moved. "I hardly call
The Love Nest
worth a grown person's time."
    The statement surprised Sophie, then made her laugh in turn. Miss Pruitt was a smart one. With a smile, Sophie stood from her chair, then handed Henry her instrument. "Tell that to all the men who pay to see me play, Miss Pruitt."
    The older woman's look grew knowing. "I know what men pay to see you do."
    The room went quiet. Sophie and Miss Pruitt stared at each other. Henry, Margaret, and Deandra stared at them.
    A tense moment passed until Sophie, at last, laughed.
    "Come along, children. When the woman is right, the woman is right. More than one man who has seen me perform doesn't know the difference between Beethoven and Boston baked beans."
    Deandra and Henry exchanged a questioning look before they followed Sophie from the room.
    Despite her laugh, Sophie hadn't been as immune to Altima Pruitt's words as she wanted her entourage to think. Long years as a serious cellist couldn't be suppressed completely, making her think of Bach.
    If she had tried, really tried, could she have done it?
    Could she have played Bach's cello suites and moved a crowd?
    Needing to be alone, Sophie went into the study— rather, Grayson's office—clicking the door shut behind her. Grayson was in court that morning, and he wasn't expected until well after noon.
    She sat in the desk chair, so much like the seat her father had had when she was growing up. But this was a new chair, changed. Like so many things about her life.
    Part of her wanted to board the next ship bound for France and never return. But it hardly mattered. She didn't have the money for passage. She had to sit tight until she received advance-booking money for her June concert in Paris.
    Frustrated, she pushed up from the chair and went to the side window. Earlier that morning she had pulled on a simple sky blue day dress with long, fitted sleeves. But despite the sun she felt the need to wrap her arms around herself and briskly rub her arms.
    "You look cold."
    She whirled around to find Grayson standing in the doorway wearing a dark suit and waistcoat, his white shirt and collar starched, his light wool trousers molding to his strong thighs. Would the impact of his presence ever lessen? Would she ever get used to his hard-chiseled perfection? His height, the darkness of his eyes? The casual ease that was little more than a patina over a barely contained power? Would she ever grow used to the effect he had on her?
    She would have fled through the door had he not blocked the way. Besides, she would not be a coward.
    As casually as she could, she went to his desk and sat in his chair, hooking her ankle beneath one knee and swinging her slimly booted foot in a desperate effort to appear calm while her heart hammered in her chest.  "Nope. Not cold at all.  And weren't you supposed to be gone for hours?"
    Grayson strolled into the room and sat in the chair opposite her, as though she were the lawyer, he the client. He leaned back and crossed his legs with ease, then looked at her.
    "The court session was postponed. Besides, we need to talk."
    The time had come. This was it. He was going to tell her to pack her bags and head for a hotel. Her mind raced with what she could say. Where would they go? How would they survive until May?
    Nervous, she picked up a fountain pen to keep her hand from shaking. "Of course we need to talk. But first, did you see the flowers?" Anything to avoid the inevitable.
    He sat for a moment, then glanced back at the foyer. "It's impossible not to see them. What are they for?"
    The pen stopped midcircle. "For me" she explained, then