Elusive Passion Read Online Free PDF Page A

taken a mistress since he and Bella had parted company, and many took that as an indication that he was looking for a wife. Consequently, all of London was looking for one for him as well.
    He removed his hat and raked his hands through his thick, shaggy hair, careful to avoid the lump on his temple.
    It was vanity and not indifference that made Miles wear his hair longer than what was truly fashionable. He realized that it only stood to reason that a large man have large ears, but he was determined to keep his hidden.
    He leaned back in the cushioned chair that was too short for his large frame and stretched his long legs out in front of him. With any luck he’d fall asleep within a few minutes, as he was in desperate need of some rest.
    Much to Miles’s astonishment, the noise level inside the theater dropped almost to a complete hush as the time to begin arrived. Even the bucks and bruisers down front, who usually used an evening at the theater to make complete asses of themselves, fell quiet.
    Carny punched him in the shoulder. “See what I mean?” He cackled softly. “She’s mesmerized the entire city!”
    Miles jokingly rubbed the spot where Carny had hit him. “She” wasn’t even on stage yet. “Your exuberance is overwhelming.”
    But despite his cynicism, Miles found himself sitting upright and lifting the opera glasses to his eyes to get a better look at the mysterious musician who seemed to have charmed all of London and had earned herself the title of “Elusive” from the lust-struck gentleman she had rejected.
    She stepped onto the stage to thundering applause. Through the glasses, Miles could see that she was tall for a woman, but still a great deal shorter than his six feet, three inches. His gaze traveled up the bodice of her dark blue satin gown, and he was somewhat surprised to find that the scalloped neckline revealed very little of the swell of her impressive bosom. Under the lights, her skin appeared the color of alabaster, a stark contrast to the gown and inky black hair. Her face seemed bare of the cosmetics he had known many female entertainers to use when on stage. While he couldn’t make out the color of her eyes, they were large, and the rest of her features fine. Her lips curved into an appreciative smile at the warm reception, and Miles was struck by her simple loveliness.
    He turned to Carny. “She’s lovely, I grant you,” he commented in a loud whisper, “but I still don’t understand what all the fuss is—”
    “Shhh!” Carny hissed, waving his hand frantically in Miles’s face.
    Miles raised his eyebrows at his friend’s rudeness. He turned back to the stage with his opera glasses, feeling like a scolded child.
    And then she began to play.
    Never before had Miles experienced such music. Until then he had thought Beethoven to be the most gifted musician he had ever heard, but that was before he heard…What was her name? Vanya, Verushka? Damn, after Carny’s rude dismissal he knew better than to ask him until after the concert.
    The entire hall seemed enthralled as her nimble fingers caressed the keys of the piano. The melody was almost mournful in its tone, but somehow she managed to make it sound sweet and full of hope.
    It was over all too soon and Miles surprised himself by jumping up from the edge of his chair where he had been perched for the last hour and seizing Carny by the coat.
    “We’re going backstage,” he announced, steering him toward the backstage entrance. He propelled his slow-moving friend down the crowded, humming corridor.
    “What did you think?” Carny asked excitedly, seeming not to notice that he was being used as a kind of battering ram through the jostling bodies filling the narrow arcade. “Did I not tell you she was magnificent?”
    “I think you grossly understated her abilities, my friend.” Miles scowled at a smaller man who tried to push in front of them, giving him a not-so-friendly shove.
    Carny shrugged, too caught up in the