Free Ravensong by ML Hamilton Page A

she wished she
didn’t have to cross the bridge. Even as late as it was, there
would still be traffic.
    She punched the button on
the elevator and waited impatiently, rocking back and forth on her
heels. The tinkling of a piano in the distance distracted her from
her sore neck muscles. A few random notes, then silence, followed
by a few more. She didn’t think there was anyone left here this
late, except the janitors, and the only one she knew who played the
piano was Robert, the keyboardist.
    Lord, the elevator was
taking a long time. Again the piano distracted her; however, this
time it wasn’t a few notes which reached her but a hauntingly
beautiful melody. She frowned in confusion. Who would still be
here? She’d seen Robert leave earlier, saying he was going home to
his model wife, but could he have come back again?
    The melody was stirring, so
poignant she could hardly resist the pull of it. Whoever was
playing was damn good at the piano. She tried to place the melody,
but she’d never heard it before. Turning on her heel, she started
toward the sound, but the elevator bell rang and the doors opened.
She stopped and looked into the empty chamber,
undecided.
    The piano fell silent.
Shrugging her shoulders, she turned to the elevator, but once again
the melody picked up, seemingly where it left off. Elena glanced
down the hall, then cursed as the elevator doors closed. Well, she
wasn’t going to wait for it to climb to the top floor and descend
again.
    Moving down the hall on tired legs,
she halted before the auditorium, her hand on the handle. The piano
was still singing in beautiful rhythm to the fingers which played
it. Resolved, she gently pressed the handle down and inched the
door open, not wanting to distract the virtuoso.
    She caught sight of
Joshua’s back and shoulders, his black mane of hair. He was sitting
at the piano, lost in the rhythm of the music, his fingers gliding
over the keys. Elena couldn’t help herself as she stepped through
the door, closing it carefully. The sound of the melody washed over
her, filling her with loneliness.
    She couldn’t take her eyes
off his long-fingered hands, moving with such skill and accuracy
over the keys as if caressing them, and she remembered the touch of
those hands on her own body. It seemed as if he was touching the
keys with the same expertise.
    Then suddenly he stopped
and picked up a pencil lying on top of the piano. Leaning forward
he wrote on the sheet music spread before him.
    Feeling suddenly like an unwanted
intruder, she waited until he picked up the strain again and
turned, moving as silently as she could toward the door. The piano
fell silent and Elena halted, grimacing.
    “ What do you think?” came
his deep, smooth voice.
    She looked over her
shoulder and saw that he hadn’t turned. He couldn’t possibly know
who she was. Maybe if she just hurried, he would never know. For
some reason that seemed too sneaky even for her.
    “ About what?” she
asked.
    He turned on the bench in surprise and
eyed her. His gaze raked up and down her body and she shivered,
suppressing a desire to make sure she was properly
clothed.
    “ I thought...” His brow
furrowed a moment, then he smiled. For a moment she almost believed
he was happy to see her, not angry for her invasion. “I thought you
were one of the janitors. They come in here when I’m working late
to hear me play.”
    Elena turned around
completely now, feeling foolish still. “I didn’t mean to intrude,”
she said.
    “ I don’t mind.” Then he
cocked his head, a mischievous light in his eyes. “But I always
make my audience give me a review.”
    She moved toward the piano.
“I didn’t know you played,” she said, motioning at it.
    “ Do you?” he asked, running
his fingers over the keys.
    Elena shook her head. “I’m
very musically untalented,” she admitted and returned the smile he
flashed at her.
    “ This was the first thing I
learned. My mother thought it so important that I