Free Sweet Temptation by Leigh Greenwood Page A

cover to the keyboard. The gleaming ebony and ivory keys drew her fingers irresistibly, and she strummed a chord.
    “Would ye like me tae open the instrument for ye?” Sara had not heard the footman enter, and she nearly jumped out of her skin.
    “Yes, if you would, please. Does anyone play it?” she asked.
    “Nay, excepting Miss Tate once in a great while. No one regular since the mistress has taken tae her bed.” The man raised the top, and brought an embroidery-covered seat from where it stood against the wall. The inside of the top was most wondrously painted with a delightful hunting scene, at total variance with the heavy formality of the room.
    “I dinna think there be any music for it,” he said.
    “I don’t need any,” Sara replied. She sat down at the instrument almost reverently, and then she began to play, slowly at first, and then with increasing confidence and speed, until her fingers were racing over the glossy keys in a blur. The majestic tones filled the huge salon, rushing to the far end of the room and back again. Sara had never played such a magnificent instrument, and she soon became lost in the glorious power of its two keyboards.
    This was a world where she was in control, where she knew what would happen next. Gradually she forgot the terrors of the day and gave herself up to her music. For the moment at least, it was all that mattered.
    Sara didn’t know how long she had been playing when, during a pause, a voice from somewhere behind her drew her roughly out of her abstraction.
    “I see you have been well instructed. If you perform as well in other endeavors, Gavin will indeed be a lucky man.” Sara smiled nervously at the Earl.
    “I couldn’t resist,” she explained, rising from the harpsichord. “It is such a lovely instrument.”
    “Play it as often as you like.”
    “But it belongs to the Countess.”
    “She is no longer able to use it herself. It might as well be yours.”
    “I could never accept anything so grand.”
    “Then it’s a good thing I didn’t offer it to you,” observed the Earl dryly. He moved toward a chair, and waited until Sara had taken her seat before he took his.
    “Will Gavin join us?” she asked nervously. The Earl’s expression did not change, but Sara would have been ready to swear he flinched.
    “Gavin has departed for what I fear can best be described as bachelor revels. It is a barbarous custom, but one which has lasted from my day.”
    “He will return?” She was barely able to form the words.
    “Yes, no doubt in considerably worse condition than when he left, but strive to accustom yourself to it. He will regularly come to your bed the worse for drink.” Sara struggled to keep her countenance. She had not had the courage, even in her own mind, to face the fact that this was her wedding night. The Earl rose.
    “I regret that it is not possible for you to visit the Countess again this evening. She finds these interviews extremely fatiguing. I suggest you return to your chamber and prepare yourself to receive your husband.”
    Sara looked stricken.
    “I shall have a footman escort you.” Sara mumbled her thanks and sat numbed, like a lamb being led to the slaughter, until the servant came to take her to her room.

Chapter 7
     
    Betty made Sara ready for bed, but the relaxed feeling that had always existed between them was absent tonight. This was an experience they could not share, and for the moment it stood between them like a high, stone wall. Sara felt tongue-tied, and she allowed Betty to undress her and brush out her hair in silence. Only when Betty had turned back the bed and was passing the warming pan between the sheets did Sara break the silence.
    “Have you ever been with a man?” she asked, turning abruptly to Betty.
    “Merciful heavens, Miss, I mean your ladyship,” Betty corrected herself, “how can you ask a respectable girl a thing like that?” She was so startled by the question, she nearly turned the coals in