Through Gypsy Eyes by Killarney Sheffield Read Free Book Online Page B

her back on him.
    His normal stiff clip softened. “I did not mean to offend you by listening.”
    “You did no such thing.”
    “Then why are you angry?”
    She settled her fingers back on the keys. “I am not angry.”
    He chuckled. “Annoyed then.”
    Shrugging, she played a few light chords. “What makes you think so?”
    “Your face is a mirror to your thoughts, Miss Daysland. Your emotions are as transparent as glass.”
    With a grimace she thumped the chords harder than necessary. So he could read her thoughts from her expression? It seemed she must take more care to keep her expression neutral. How to accomplish this without being able to see to judge for herself was the issue. “You are intruding on my practice. It is beginning to be an exasperating habit, in my opinion.”
    He grunted. “Does my interruption bother you, or is it my presence in your home that is the root of your frustration?”
    “Both.”
    “I see.” He sighed as if it grieved him to be the cause of her bitter mood. “Well, rest assured as soon as I figure out where all the livestock and supplies have disappeared and see you happily wed, I will be out of your hair.”
    “Ha,” she spat. “As I told you before, there is none who would want a blind wife.”
    “Oh, but there is. I have even arranged a small dinner party with a few potential suitors to prove it to you.”
    She slammed down the key guard and spun to face him. “You did what?”
    “I arranged a dinner party tonight.”
    The smugness of his statement pricked her ire even further. “How dare you! This is my house. I did not authorize any such party.”
    The former stiffness returned to his response. “Do you forget I am now in charge here?”
    Anger rushed through her veins and she sprang to her feet. “I confided in you. How dare you put me on public display like … like some sort of pathetic circus sideshow?”
    “Sideshow?” The astonishment in his tone made her cringe. “I was merely trying to show you how desirable you are. Why do you see yourself as pathetic?”
    Struggling to keep her tears of humiliation under control, she crossed her arms. “I do not see myself that way, my peers do. To them I am less than a woman. I have nothing to offer any man and to try to make me believe anyone sees me any different is cruel.”
    “Do you really believe no one could see past your affliction?” He grasped her hand, prying it from its grip on her arm. “You are so wrong to think that way.”
    Tears long held at bay streaked down her face, and when she would have wiped them away his fingers sought her cheek and did so for her. “It matters not what I believe. I have heard the whispered comments, the mocking voices, and pitying remarks. Others decided that I am not of value which is why I have made my own world here.”
    His voice was soft and soothing. “Your peers are the ones who are wrong. You are so much more than blind.” His fingers lifted from her cheek leaving it cool in their wake. “I will make it my duty to show them what I perceive.”
    She pulled from his grip, uncomfortable with his uncharacteristic gentleness. “What is it you think you see?”
    “A beautiful woman who amazes me daily not with the things she cannot do, but rather the astounding things she can. My sis — ” He paused to clear his throat. “Most women struck with your affliction would sit alone in a dark room and will death to take them. Instead you have gone out and made the world conform to you, to dance at your fingertips and bow to your command through love and perseverance. Despite your lack of sight you are the most gifted piano player I have ever had the pleasure of hearing.”
    Her lower lip quivered and she tucked it between her teeth a moment to still it. “You lie. You think simply to flatter me into compliance with your noddy dinner party.”
    “I assure you, I do not seek to do anything of the sort and I
never
lie.”
    She lifted her chin in stubborn conviction.