A Lady by Midnight (Spindle Cove #3)

A Lady by Midnight (Spindle Cove #3)
Tessa Dare



Chapter One

Summer 1814

Corporal Thorne could make a woman quiver, from all the way across the room.

An inconvenient talent, so far as Kate Taylor was concerned.

The man didn’t even have to try, she noted with a rueful twinge. All he had to do was stride into the Bull and Blossom, claim a bar stool, glower into a pewter tankard and keep his broad, hulking back to the room. And without a word . . . without so much as a glance . . . he had poor Miss Elliott’s fingers trembling as she laid them to the pianoforte keys.

“Oh, I can’t,” the girl whispered. “I can’t sing now. Not with him here.”

Yet another music lesson ruined.

Kate never had this problem until a year ago. Before then, Spindle Cove had been chiefly inhabited by ladies, and the Bull and Blossom was a quaint tea shop serving iced cakes and jam tarts. But ever since a local militia had been organized, the establishment had become both the ladies’ tea shop and the gentlemen’s tavern.

She wasn’t opposed to sharing—but there could be no “sharing” with Corporal Thorne. His stern, brooding presence took up the whole room.

“Let’s try again,” she urged her pupil, striving to ignore the intimidating silhouette looming in her peripheral vision. “We almost had it that time.”

Miss Elliott blushed and knotted her fingers in her lap. “I’ll never get it right.”

“You will. It’s only a matter of practice, and you won’t be alone. We’ll keep working at the duet, and we’ll be ready for a trial performance at this Saturday’s salon.”

At the mere word “performance,” the girl’s cheeks went crimson.

Annabel Elliott was a pretty young lady, delicate and fair—but the poor thing flushed so easily. Whenever she was flustered or nervous, her pale cheeks blazed as though they’d been slapped raw. And she was flustered or nervous far too much of the time.

Some young ladies came to Spindle Cove to recover from shyness, or scandal, or a debilitating bout with fever. Miss Elliott had been sent in hopes of a different cure: a remedy for stage fright.

Kate had been tutoring her long enough to know that Miss Elliott’s difficulty had nothing to do with a lack of talent or preparation. She only needed confidence.

“Perhaps some new sheet music would help,” Kate suggested. “I find a folio of crisp, new-smelling music to be even better for my spirits than a new bonnet.” An idea struck. “I’ll go into Hastings this week and see what I can find.”

In truth, she had been planning to visit Hastings for a completely different purpose. She had a call to pay there—one she’d been putting off. Purchasing new music made an excellent excuse.

“I don’t know why I’m so stupid,” the blushing girl lamented. “I’ve had years of excellent instruction. And I love to play. Truly, I do. But when others are listening, I always freeze. I’m hopeless.”

“You are not hopeless. No situation is ever hopeless.”

“My parents . . .”

“Your parents don’t believe you’re hopeless, either, or they wouldn’t have sent you here,” Kate said.

“They want me to have a successful season. But you don’t know the pressure they’ve put on me. Miss Taylor, you can’t possibly understand what it’s like.”

“No,” Kate admitted. “I suppose I can’t.”

Miss Elliott looked up, stricken. “I’m sorry. So sorry. I didn’t mean it that way. How thoughtless of me.”

Kate waved off the apologies. “Don’t be silly. It’s the truth. I’m an orphan. You’re absolutely right—I can’t possibly know what it’s like to have parents with such high expectations and soaring hopes.”

Though I’d give anything to experience it, just for one day.

She continued, “But I do know what a difference it makes to know you’re among friends. This is Spindle Cove. We’re all a bit unusual here. Just remember, everyone in the village is on your side.”

“Everyone?”

Miss Elliott’s wary gaze slid to the enormous, solitary man seated at the bar.

“He’s so big,” she whispered. “And so frightful. Every time I start to play, I can see him wince.”

“You mustn’t take it personally. He’s a military man, and you know they’re all addled by bomb blasts.” Kate gave Miss Elliott an encouraging pat on the arm. “Never mind him. Just hold your head high, keep a smile on your face, and continue playing.”

“I’ll try, but he’s . . . he’s rather difficult to ignore.”

Yes. He was. Didn’t Kate know it.

Even though Corporal Thorne excelled at ignoring her, she couldn’t deny his effect on her own composure. Her skin prickled whenever he was near, and on the rare occasion that he looked her way, his glare had a way of slicing deep. But for the sake of Miss Elliott’s confidence, Kate set her personal reactions aside.

“Chin high,” she quietly reminded Miss Elliott, and herself. “Keep smiling.”

Kate began playing the lower half of the duet. But when the time came for Miss Elliott’s entrance, the younger lady faltered after just a few bars.