As they sat down to dinner, she observed that no one other than Adam had given their opinion of her song.
“That’s because you applauded yourself,” Simon reminded her.
“I was applauding Bresnan,” she assured them. “So tell me, are we eating this meal in celebration, or as compensation for listening to a mess?”
“Did you think it was a mess?” Pinchot asked her.
“No, I was very pleased with it.”
“Then you have an excellent ear.”
Adam studied their expressions. “Perhaps tomorrow you would like to observe as Amanda composes. If you attempt to write your own, it will help her to concentrate. She is shamefully competitive.”
Bastion smiled. “I will no doubt regret it, but I will take the challenge.”
Later, when Amanda went into the kitchen to help retrieve the desserts, Adam spoke to the men. “I know what you are thinking, but your faith in her will be reconfirmed tomorrow. There is nothing like that opera anywhere in the world. The fact I cheat is meaningless. My only purpose is to help keep her focused on her work. She is as uniquely talented as she seems.”
Bastion sighed and stared at Adam. “I would like your composition destroyed. Its presence in this house could ruin her reputation forever.”
Adam picked up his composition and dropped it into the fireplace. He then turned and met Bastion’s eyes. “If I ever again do something that might cause her harm, please tell me, so I may fix it.”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Amanda wasn’t the least bit sleepy when they retired to the bedroom. Happiness filled her body and she needed to share it. “Our bed is the bottom of the ocean and you should wait there.”
“I would rather help you change clothes,” Adam said.
“No, you must stay here, handsome merman,” she insisted.
He laughed and lay back. “I promise to refrain from swimming off after little fish.”
She entered the dressing room and closed the doors in case he was inclined to peek. Mentally, she kept repeating “no peeking in my head” as she dressed in her sexiest lingerie.
“Adam,” she called.
“Yes, beloved?”
“You never did buy me any sex toys,” she complained.
“Well...yes and no,” he admitted.
“Well, since I haven’t received them—” she stepped into the room and gave him her sexiest pose before approaching the bed “—you’re just going to have to take their place.”
She stopped talking, because Adam lay naked on the bed. A small pillow hid his privates, but otherwise he was naked and incredibly beautiful. He looked chiseled, like a Roman statue. His muscular chest had just the slightest line of hair running up from his stomach. His abs rippled with muscles.
“Wow, you are one sexy merman!” She approached him and laughed. “I guess that ‘no peeking in my head’ doesn’t work.”
“You’ve been giving some pretty big hints.”
“What hints?”
“Such as counting down the days until the doctor said it was safe for you to have sex. And the plot to your opera was pretty obvious, because we all know what happens to a person when they fall down into the mermaid’s bed.”
She threw herself onto the bed and stretched out in a dramatic and provocative pose, legs spread open and arms above her head. “Yes, but this is a merman’s bed.”
“All the more dangerous,” he assured her, and tossed the pillow aside. She looked down at his very large but anatomically incorrect penis.
“You asked for a sex toy,” he reminded her. “Don’t worry. If you don’t like the extra features, I can have it swapped for the anatomically correct version.”
“What extra features?”
“You’ll have to wait and see.” He shifted above her. “First, I wish to ravish you with my tongue.”
He proved very good at ravishing, and by the time he introduced her to the extra features of his penis, she was delirious with pleasure and had lost count of her climaxes.
Afterward, she lay in complete exhaustion and absolute bliss. “How can anything feel this good?”
He covered her face with kisses. “It certainly exceeded my hopes. I feared I would fail to please you at all.”
“Since you can read my mind, you know how utterly wrong your fear was.”
“Yes. You’ve never been happier,” he said with great satisfaction.
“I have never been close to this happy.”
“So do you wish me to change to an anatomically correct penis?”
“I want you to keep every one of those features.” She covered his face with light kisses. “You are a merman. You’re allowed to be better.”
Chapter Forty
The next morning, Adam woke her up early and announced he was skipping school today.
“What? No, sir! Who’s going to keep me focused if you leave me alone? I’ll probably play Mille Bornes by myself.”
“That would be a challenge. However, I’m not leaving you alone. Bastion plans to join you for your lesson.”
“But I want you,” she insisted as she straddled his gorgeous body and ran her hands over his hard, muscular chest. “I can’t believe you’ve been hiding this yummy body from me for weeks.”
He smiled and stroked her legs.
“I will be back in time for the unveiling of your music,” he promised.
As she leaned down and nipped his chest, he caressed her face. “And, of course, I will be in your head, so I won’t truly be away from you.”
“Can you feel that when I nip you?”
“I can.”
“And do you feel pleasure?”
“I do now. At first I didn’t know how to register those sensations, but now I feel as you feel when I do the same to you.”
“Ah...then it feels quite arousing.”
“Yes, it does.”
“So when I make love to you, you’ll derive pleasure from it?” she asked.
“Immense pleasure,” he assured her.
That was all the encouragement she needed.
Chapter Forty-One
Amanda wrote feverishly, determined to outdo her new classmate. She had thought it very amusing when Simon had given them their assignments and warned Bastion not to be morbid in his composition, as he was so apt to be.
She laughed as she recalled Bastion’s responding look of outrage.
“Unless you are writing a comedy, refocus on your work,” Bastion warned her.
“You’re supposed to be writing the comedy,” she observed. “I’m writing a grand love story!”
“Return to your work,” he warned. “I have better things to do with my day than babysit you!”
She sighed and returned to her composition. A few minutes before four, she finished her last changes and looked up. Bastion was watching her with great intentness.
“May I see it?”
“May I see yours?”
“You may not,” he scolded.
She playfully closed her notebook and declared the same of hers. “You must wait for Pinchot to review it.” She then sighed heavily as his snippy words, spoken an hour before, returned to her thoughts. “So what did Adam tell you to make you spend your whole day babysitting me?”
“It was my decision to attend you.”
“Really? What is my beloved up to? I know it’s something grand. He wouldn’t leave me otherwise.”
“I have no idea where he went, but it is preferable to having him here creating plagiarisms, which if discovered could ruin your name.”
Amanda stared at Bastion for a full minute in shock. “You sent him away because of his piece?”
“I did not send him away, I merely requested that he destroy the piece and refrain from stealing other’s works in the future.”
Tears streamed down her face. She better than anyone knew how selfless his love was. “If he leaves me because of this, Bastion, I will never forgive you,” she cried, and ran upstairs to her room.
&nbs
p; I have not left you, love, Adam chided. How could you even think that?
“Then where are you?”
“I am here,” Adam said as he entered the bedroom.
Amanda threw her arms around him and held him tight. “Never allow anyone to convince you that you’re not good for me,” she insisted.
“I promise. And will you promise me the same?”
“On my life!”
“Then will you marry me?” he asked, and offered her a beautiful sapphire ring surrounded by diamonds.
“Marry you? Really? Can we do that?”
“If you wish it.”
“I do, but aren’t there blood tests and such?”
“I don’t believe Britain requires blood tests, but rest assured, whatever they need to marry us, I will provide them. All that matters is whether you wish it.”
Amanda covered his handsome face with kisses as she repeatedly declared, “Yes”!
Before she could remove his clothes, Adam reminded her Bastion was downstairs, along with Pinchot, Simon and Bresnan.
“They will play your song without you if we don’t appear soon.”
She burst toward the door, pulling Adam in her wake. He tugged her to his side and laughed at her silliness. “They will not begin without you.”
When they arrived downstairs, Bastion rose and approached her. “Am I forgiven for chasing Adam away now?”
She kissed him on the cheek. “You are, since you did not chase him away at all. He is now mine forever.” She held out her hand so Bastion could admire her engagement ring.
“You are to be married,” Bastion said, then sternly glared at Adam. “I hope you realize what a treasure you have.”
“There is no one more valuable in the world,” Adam said as he wrapped his arms around her from behind and kissed her temple.
“Well, you and I shall sit down and have a talk about this at a later time, but right now I would like to hear her song.”
“But can I not tell the others first?”
“No, your music comes first, and you must never allow that to change.”
Amanda disagreed, but left her thoughts unspoken. There was nothing more important to her than Adam. As much as she loved music, it was a far distant second.
Bresnan returned from the washroom and took his place at the piano.
She sat down with Adam on the couch and closed her eyes, waiting to hear her music. Today’s piece was the homecoming celebration for Adolfo and Juliana—a grand party of families and friends with many undercurrents. Adolfo’s best friend Chadwick is in love with Julianne and his attempts at seduction are less than subtle when he catches the lady alone. While she does not know what has changed in Adolfo, she knows something is missing between them now, and confides her concern to Chadwick. Seeing his opening, he begins a masterful seduction, which she innocently obliges.
When the piece ended, she felt the seduction too heavy-handed. “Could you play it again, but lighter on the sub-melody in the last section?”
“I agree,” Bastion stated.
Bresnan smiled at her. “Your wish is my command.” He played the piece again, this time exactly to her liking.
When he was done, she took his hands in hers and kissed his fingers. “Thank you.”
His smile faded as he stared at the ring on her finger.
“That is new, no?”
She nodded. “Adam has asked me to marry him.”
The response was less enthusiasm than she had expected. In need of a better response, she excused herself and ran to the kitchen, where Andrew and Sondra responded with great joy and happiness. Unfortunately, Martin burst into tears and ran from the room.
Sondra apologized. “Martin had plans to marry you when he grew up,” she explained.
“Oh.” Tears came to her eyes. She had broken poor Martin’s heart. “May I go upstairs and talk to him?”
“You cannot tell him you know of his plans,” Sondra warned. “He would feel I’ve betrayed him.”
“I won’t,” she promised. “But I want to help him recover.”
As she headed for the stairs, the sliding doors of the library were open. She could see Adam in a very serious conversation with her instructors, and no one seemed happy. She was tempted to go to his rescue, but he spoke in her head. It’s all right, love. I’m able to handle this group. See to Martin.
She found her young friend in his room on the third floor, lying face down on his bed, sobbing pitifully.
She sat down on the edge of his bed and stroked his back. “I will always love you, Martin. That will never change.”
“This changes everything,” he insisted.
“It changes nothing. I love you now just as much as I did before and will tomorrow. A heart can love more than one person. You love your mom and your dad...and me.”
“It’s not the same,” he muttered. “Leave me alone. You’ve ruined everything!”
His words struck her hard. Adam entered Martin’s room and he spoke into her head. Go downstairs. I’ll try to explain this to Martin, man to man.
She stood and placed her hand on his chest. He might not have an actual heart, but he was the kindest man she had ever known.
Chapter Forty-Two
Adam closed and locked Martin’s door before pulling up a chair and sitting down. “Martin, sit up so we can talk.”
“Go away.”
“This is my house. I’m not going anywhere. Now sit up and let’s discuss this.”
Martin sat up and glared at him with red, shiny eyes.
“Which is more important—your whims or Amanda’s life?”
“Amanda’s life, but this isn’t a whim. I love her. I had planned to marry her someday.”
“Could you marry her now?”
“No.”
“That’s correct. She would go to jail if she married you right now. However, she needs to be married at once.”
“Why?”
“Because the man she dated last, Luke Gallagher, has enemies who would like to stop all the good he is doing. Their attention has recently turned to Amanda, and they are trying to determine whether Luke has just moved her to Europe for her safety, or if she has truly broken off with him. She needs to marry in a grand fashion so everyone will see she has forgotten all about Luke. Then his enemies will decide she is more painful to him alive than dead.”
Martin stared at him for a long time. “You swear that’s the truth?”
“On my heart and honor.”
He sighed heavily. “Then I’m glad you can marry her.”
“Thank you. You cannot tell Amanda what I’ve told you. Then she would doubt my love, and I would never want that to happen. She is my whole world. You know what I’m talking about, since you feel the same way about her.”
Martin nodded.
“I don’t mind sharing her with someone who loves her as much as I do. You can help me keep her safe and loved.”
Martin’s expression became one of great determination, looking much like a soldier headed into battle.
Adam held out his hand. “Comrades, then?”
Martin shook Adam’s hand. “Comrades.”
***
When Amanda returned downstairs, her professors declared themselves very pleased with her marriage. However, now they had become accustomed to the idea, it was instantly set aside and they wished to refocus on the music.
Amanda was explaining the plot of the opera scene when she noticed Adam and Martin coming downstairs. Martin ran to her and sat down beside her on the couch. She wrapped her arm around his shoulder and kissed him on the head. He smiled up at her with pure adoration.
Thank you! she said to Adam in her thoughts.
You are most welcome, my beloved, he replied, and disappeared into the kitchen.
With a scolding to remain focused, Pinchot challenged the undertones of the seduction part.
“Well, Chadwick is less than honorable.”
“Then you should bring this out more.”
“But she cannot hear that undertone yet. If she could, she wouldn’t fall to his seduction.”
“If she cannot hear it—if we cannot hear it—then why have it at all?” Pinchot demanded. “If it does not yet have purpose, it should be removed. Otherwise it will be played as Bresnan did the first time.”
“That was my fault,” Bresnan insisted. “I played it louder than instructed because I wanted to hear it.”
“This is easy enough to solve,” Bastion replied. “Bresnan, play the piece without this sub-melody.”
Bresnan sighed. “Let me rewrite it, then. This music is a bit too complicated for me to remove notes and play at the same time. I’m good, but not that good.”
Pinchot looked shocked. “And here I thought there was nothing you couldn’t play.”
“Well, since I’ve met Amanda, I’ve been humbled many times.” He flashed her a smile.
As Bresnan made a second copy of the section without the sub-melody, the professors interrogated Amanda further on the purpose of other sections. Thankfully, she had a reason for each.
She had determined Pinchot hated unnecessary notes and would demand they be removed unless they could be justified. No wonder he’d slammed Don Carlos for the unnecessary yet utterly beautiful arias that evidently singers must risk their lives to sing.
“Anon is still alive, isn’t he?” she suddenly asked.
They all looked at her in concern and confusion.
“Yes. Why do you ask?” Bastion replied.
“Well, it’s embarrassingly late to check, but I just wanted to make certain he wasn’t poisoned as well, when he sang his aria.”
“Jules pulled him on the day of the opening when Jacque insisted you would sing rather than Amy.”
“That probably saved his life.”
Bastion wrapped his arm around her. “You are safe now!” he assured her. “We aren’t going to let anyone harm you again.”
She refrained from observing that Bastion had once told her no one ever died from the pranks they played at the French Opera.
“The best thing you can do is to remain focused on your work,” he added.
Birth of Adam (Artificial Intelligence Book 2) Page 27
