Swan's Grace by Linda Francis Lee Read Free Book Online

like an extension of herself," she explained.
    She set the cello aside, placing the bow on a small, mahogany end table, a long, faint line of white rosin marking the surface like chalk. "You should have been aware of nothing more than the sound and the emotions that the sound makes you feel. Do you understand?"
    Before he could answer, she looked back at him. "And furthermore, do you understand that you should have knocked?" she asked, raising a delicate brow in challenge.
    He swallowed back a chuckle, amazed to feel his mood lighten. She was beautiful even if she was a little baggage.
    He leaned up against the doorjamb and crossed his arms on his chest. "One, I did knock, and two, that was hardly necessary as this is, after all, my house."
    Sophie picked up a cup of tea that Margaret had poured. "So you keep saying. Before long I expect you to throw something and stomp your feet like a three-year-old child."
    The others laughed. Grayson only looked at her, choosing not to take her bait as she curled her legs up into the chair, glancing at him over the rim of her cup, looking like a provocative little nymph.
    "I went to see your father last night," he offered instead.
    "What for?" she quipped. "To tattle?"
    He cocked a brow.
    Sophie eyed him with a mischievous quirk of her lips, seeming to warm to her subject. "Though, in truth, you never were the tattling type. So maybe that hasn't changed, but you do seem different. Hmmm, you look the same." She considered him for a moment. "It's your hair, I think. It's longer than I can imagine you wearing it." Her gaze suddenly danced. "Have you become a derelict, Grayson Hawthorne?"
    Grayson's jaw went hard, his good intentions not to become agitated flying out the window when the little man laughed out loud. "A derelict?" he demanded with a scowl.
    "Well, it is nearly noon and you aren't at work." She picked up a sugar cube from a dish and popped it into her mouth. "It must be," she said over the sweet, "that you've lost your business and your house, so you've moved in here to save money. Father must actually be out of town for the week and he is simply letting you stay here, and you are too proud to admit that you have become so indebted."
    "Ooh," Henry mused. "Fodder for a great story."
    "An article," Margaret supplied.
    Deandra studied her cuticles. " 'Good Lawyer Goes Bad.' I think that would read well in the evening paper."
    "Our Dea is a genius at getting attention," Henry explained.
    "Yes," Grayson replied dryly. "I learned that last night."
    Sophie tilted her head, her eyes sparkling with amusement. "You should hire her. With Dea at your side, no doubt you'd have a slew of publicity and more clients than you could imagine. You'd be surprised at all the people who come out of the woodwork after you've appeared in the papers." She sliced Deandra a look. "Though I can't promise the caliber of clients she can deliver."
    "Business is business," the tall woman replied with a shrug.
    Setting her tea aside, Sophie jumped up with a laugh. "Very true. Now tell us, is that why you are here, Grayson, dear? Has your life run amok and you have no place else to go?"
    He stood away from the doorjamb, his eyes narrowing, whatever traces of ease and humor he had gained disappearing with the swiftness of a judge's gavel hammering home. "I am here to get
my
files out of
my
office in
my
house at
my
leisure."
    She glanced at the others. "If I were a gambling woman I would bet that just about now his jaw is starting to tic."
    "Not
starting
to tic, Sophie."
    If he thought his tone of voice would intimidate her, he was sadly mistaken. She started out of the room in a breezy swish of long skirts, but just when she would have passed him, she stopped and leaned close.
    "You really make this too easy," she whispered. "Baiting you is like taking candy from a baby."
    She smiled provocatively and stepped away. But just when she would have slipped by, he flattened his palm against the wall, blocking her