Excerpt: Song of Seduction by Carrie Lofty

Posted June 7, 2010 by Holly in Promotions | 1 Comment

Check out an excerpt from Carrie Lofty‘s upcoming release, Song of Seduction, available tomorrow, June 7, 2010 from Carina Press.

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Set-up: In this scene Mathilda Heidel is arguing with her music tutor and soon-to-be-lover, Arie de Voss, about why she hides her musical talent…and why she believes her first marriage was a sham.

“Yet the choice to become a musician, a composer–that was yours. You feel no obligation toward civility or propriety. You simply cater to your muse and the rest of the world be damned.” Mathilda’s shouted words scattered across the studio. “The Kapellmeister told you about my parents. I married Jürgen to let them rest in peace, so that I could live without being judged by their mistakes.”

“They fell in love.” From Arie’s mouth, with his delectable accent, the possibility seemed effortless.

“No, they were impetuous and selfish.” She fought to deny the ease with which she might succumb to his eyes. Despite his accusations–accusations she had only ever heard within the confines of her mind–Arie remained watchful and attentive. She suspected he would take her into his arms without question or recrimination. If she relented.

But she could not.

“For as long as I can remember,” she said, “the specter of my parents’ marriage and their demise clung to me. I was that girl. The talk died down with time, especially when I insisted on proving how calm and reliable I am–or was. I would not be like them.”

She paused. A rush of recollections, coupled with the heady scent of Arie standing close enough to touch, threatened to engulf her. “When I discovered my skill for the violin,” she said, “I was twelve years old. I refused to touch the thing for years. I wouldn’t become a spectacle.”

“But you played again. After attending my concert.”

“Yes, for about a year,” she said. “Frau Seitz encouraged me. But after her death, I pushed everything away. I had no champion, no one to fend off the criticism and society’s long memories.”

“And thus you made your reputation as a fine, upstanding woman by marriage with a fine, upstanding doctor.” He took her by the shoulders.

“Let go of me.”

“And you will run again?” Arie smiled coldly, as if reading her as easily as the sheaves of his compositions. “No, not this time. You cannot leave again. We are drawn together.”

“To your music. Not you.”

“Am I a channel? A vessel for God?”

“You might as well be. You’re nothing like your compositions!”

“No?”

“You’re heartless, intentionally misunderstanding everything I say.”

“Heartless? I say I love you, but you ran from here.” His fingers tightened into the flesh of her arms.

“You’re hurting me!”

He brought his face lower, his questions and nearness becoming a rapid assault against good judgment. “You want rather that I give in to you? Expect nothing of you? Maybe that was your husband, but not me.”

As Arie slashed and ripped the cloak of her defenses, panic climbed into her throat. “You would speak so callously of the dead?”

“I did not know the man. I owe him nothing.” He shoved her shoulders, stepping away with a look of disgust. “You knew him. You were the one who married him. You–his wife–“

“I know!”

Her screech cleaved the room. She shrank to the floor, her heart punching her ribs. She pushed hard palms against her eyes, gouging her scalp with clenched fingers. Truth and shame and spite pressed back, forcing her words. But she would not look at Arie.

“I was a fraud! I didn’t know you, but I thought of you constantly. Fantasies. Fictions. And when I dreamed…when I dreamed, I heard your music.”