A Gentleman's Kiss Romance Collection

by Ginny Aiken

  “You have found someone you want to settle down with?”

  “There should be love, no?” He spread his hands in what she was becoming accustomed to his doing often. “Oh, I know about finding women attractive and spending time with them. But, how do you know if you’re in love?”

  Eva thought it was love when someone was always present in your mind. When your heart leapt at the sight of him. But, even children claimed to be in love with young boys. Married people divorced who had claimed to be in love. “I’m … not sure,” Eva said.

  “Neither am I,” Georgio said. “That is one reason I decided on a vacation here. To get away from the disturbance and to clear my mind.”

  “Is it working?” Eva asked.

  He stopped and turned to face her. “I think it’s beginning to. And a big part of that can be credited to you. Thank you.”

  Eva looked up at him and met his thoughtful, questioning gaze. Was Georgio trying to forget someone?

  Could Georgio make her forget what she had felt for Jack—both the love of the past and the resentment of the present? She didn’t protest when Georgio lifted his hand, placed a finger beneath her chin, and bent to gently press his lips against hers.

  The sweetness of the kiss was like a thank-you.

  He straightened and said, “You are so kind to spend time with me. I am grateful. You are teaching me many things.”

  “I? Teach you? What would that be?”

  “About your city, you, those around you, your everyday life, confiding in me about some of your hopes and dreams and disappointments. I was never allowed to express any doubts or fears or apprehensions about myself or life. You do not … um … take relationships lightly. What I mean is, you are a Christian. You do not just … enjoy life and have fun.”

  Eva wasn’t exactly sure what he was asking. “I do enjoy life and have fun, but I don’t consider fun being anything that can harm my body or emotional well-being. You’re right; I don’t take relationships lightly.”

  He was nodding, saying, “Umhmm. You have that morality faith as was expressed at your parents’ restaurant.”

  “I’m a Christian,” she said. “And morality is part of it. Are you?”

  “No. I believe in God, but I think there are many roads that lead to Him. Why do you not believe that?”

  Eva wondered if she were adequate for this debate. “Anything I might say doesn’t really matter. It only matters what God says. And the Bible, which I believe is His book to us, says that Jesus is the only way to God. I’m not saying it. God said it.”

  “Really?” He looked rather surprised.

  Eva felt so inadequate. “Well, I don’t know how else to say it.”

  “You did fine,” he said. “Just fine.”

  Eva watched him as he looked out at the ocean with a rather amused look on his face and that mysterious twist of his lips resembling a smile. He did not look disturbed or intrigued. Apparently he wasn’t and didn’t take her words to heart as he gazed out toward a horizon that had disappeared into the sky.

  Suddenly he stopped. “Shall we return to the beach house? I suspect you and I could make beautiful music together.”

  If she’d been chewing any, she would have swallowed her gum. Since she wasn’t, she swallowed a gulp of air and had to struggle not to cough.

  Did he mean they might make music together … personally?

  She looked over at him, and he gave her a sideways glance. A small light sparked his dark eyes, and he smiled as they walked back toward the beach house.

  He led her into the music room. “Would you like to play the Alono?” he asked.

  She stared at it. She would not be able to play it with ease, not with those old feelings rising up inside her. “No, I really wouldn’t.”

  He played briefly on the Strad. “The tone sounds as good as ever to me,” he said. “Would you like to play this one?”

  She gladly took it.

  From the instant she placed the violin on her shoulder and lay the side of her chin against it, Eva felt what Georgio had said about this being one’s baby. Her own violin was a huge part of who she was and what she did. Hers was a fine violin; however, Georgio’s was the world’s best. She was afraid her hand would tremble and she’d be the world’s first to screech a bow across the strings of a Stradivarius.

  Willing herself to relax, she drew the bow across the G, D, A, and E as a warmup. The tone was so easy, smooth, and clear. They played together some classical fun tunes she knew by memory that the quartet often played.

  Georgio placed Johann Sebastian Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins in D Minor on the stand. She played, looking at the music, while Georgio played from memory on the Alono. Yes, they made beautiful music together.

  Afterward, Georgio played solo while she became the captivated audience.

  When he finished, he bowed to her applause. He returned the Alono to its case and handed it to her.

  “The Strad is my baby,” he said. “But I wouldn’t mind having a second child. I would need to play more on the Alono to make sure it is all I believe it to be.”

  Eva understood. “And I wouldn’t mind playing more on the Strad.”

  “Deal,” he said. “I don’t want to take you from your daily activities, and I have appointments tomorrow. All right if I call you?”

  “Sure. If I’m not in, leave word with Grandpa or on the answering machine.”

  He smiled as he walked her to her car. “We did indeed make beautiful music together, no?”

  She returned his smile. “Yes.”

  After returning home, Eva took the Alono to her room and opened the case. She looked at it a long time. Then she reached out to touch it. She hadn’t wanted to play it.

  She had loved Jack with all the love a young girl could have. Now, she could understand his going away to music school, then Paris to learn bow making. She couldn’t blame him for taking the violin since Grandpa had wanted him to have it.

  Why couldn’t she put the past behind her? Why, as she looked at the Alono, couldn’t she see the face of Georgio Baldovino instead of the smiling, handsome face of that blond, green-eyed man that she’d be better off to forget?

  Needing to get things settled in her mind once and for all, Eva went into the kitchen, where Grandpa was having a snack, like he always did before going to bed.

  She sat across from him at the table and told him about her evening at the beach and how much Georgio admired the Alono.

  Grandpa nodded and smiled. “I knew the moment he heard it, he was impressed with the tone.”

  “He really wants it,” Eva said.

  “If Jack were going to sell it, that would have been done while he was trying to find out where he fit in with the music field. I don’t believe he will ever sell it now.”

  Eva decided to ask what she wanted to know for four years. “Grandpa. Why did you give the Alono to Jack?”

  He looked over at her for a long time. She thought he wasn’t going to answer. Finally, he took a deep breath, then exhaled. “I know you didn’t understand that, Eva. And I felt bad about it. But I have to do what I think is right. You remember what I told you, when I said I was going to give it to Jack?”

  Eva nodded. “You said I should make my own.”

  He nodded. “You didn’t take that the way I meant it. You wanted to be a violin maker. Then your goal should not be to have the Alono, but to make a comparable one.”

  “I … tried for a while,” she said.

  “Yes, I know. But a violin that plays beautiful music must be made with love, not resentment. That’s why I couldn’t make Alonos every day of the week. I reached my goal. I had nothing more to prove. Afterward, I just wanted to make wonderful instruments for musicians to play, not those only for the rich and famous. You understand?”

  “Yes, and I could understand if you wanted to keep it or have it put in some museum or music center or rented it out to classical violinists. But … give it to Jack?”

  Grandpa nodde
d. “I did that for two reasons.”

  She waited.

  That incredible look, full of love, crossed his face … the look of love and of teacher, older, wiser, and she felt she was in for a lecture.

  “Because he needed it, child. The same principle as when Jesus was asked why He ate with sinners. He said that the well don’t need a physician but the sick do. Jack was at a turning point in his life. A young man with dreams, uncertainties, opportunities, beginning to get off the straight and narrow. You had me and your family. Jack had a piece of wood.”

  Finally, he said, “If you had that Alono, you wouldn’t need to make your own. But if you wanted to be a great violin maker, you don’t need my Alono. You make the best violin you can, using the mathematical equations with all the ingredients. Then you listen for the tone and with your heart. When it stirs your emotions, you have made a great violin.”

  She waited. He didn’t speak further.

  “Grandpa, you said you gave it to Jack for two reasons. What’s the other one?”

  “That,” he said, in a kind but firm tone, “is not for me to say. Both the Alono and the explanation now belong to Jack.”

  Chapter 6

  On Monday, Eva and Tristan went to Vizcaya to finalize plans for their playing instead of chancing their response being lost in the mail. That done, they set up a practice session for the next morning.

  When she returned home, Grandpa said Georgio had come and paid his bill. He also said the sound of the Strad was perfect and thanked him profusely. He asked Grandpa to give her the message that he was expecting a call from California and would not be able to practice on the Alono that evening, but he hoped they could get together soon. He wanted to test the sound of the Alono further.

  Eva wondered if Georgio would call for her to bring the Alono to his beach house again on Tuesday.

  Ironic, she thought, that it was the Alono that played a part in her facing facts that Jack hadn’t cared for her in a special way. Now the Alono was one of the reasons she and Georgio spent time together and had enjoyed a wonderful evening the night before.

  That night, before falling asleep, she prayed that she might stop thinking of Jack and how she used to feel about him and resenting him for not returning her affection.

  As she thought of Jack and Georgio, she admitted to herself that one could not force oneself to think of another in a romantic way. She drifted off to sleep with the memory of the music that she and Georgio had elicited from the Strad and the Alono the night before.

  On Tuesday morning, Eva went downstairs shortly before nine o’clock. Tristan was talking with Grandpa, who was replacing a broken string on a child’s violin.

  Tristan greeted Eva, and the two of them headed for the music room, where Rissa’s voice became audible. Eva stopped short at the doorway for an instant when her gaze met Jack’s. For an instant when their eyes met, she seemed transported back to four years ago when that green gaze had melted her heart.

  Immediately she shook that thought away and hoped the others would simply take her moment’s hesitation as surprise at seeing Jack there, holding the cello.

  “Tyrone can’t come this morning,” Tristan said. “I asked Jack, since we need to get things finalized about what we’ll play at Vizcaya.”

  Jack hadn’t been concerned four years ago, so she preferred he not be involved now. She quickly reprimanded herself for that attitude.

  “Before we get into that,” Rissa said. “Eva, Jack and I were just talking about his orchestra. I’m planning to participate when I can. How about you?”

  Eva didn’t want to do anything to infer that she still had feelings for Jack. She preferred to keep her distance. Opening up her violin case, she said, “All I have on my mind right now is Vizcaya.”

  “One good thing,” Tristan said. “If any one of us can’t make it, Jack could fill in.”

  Not wanting Jack to think she still cared about him, Eva said flippantly, “Oh, that’s good to hear. Who knows where I might be? Perhaps touring the world with none other than the great Georgio Baldovino.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Tristan said. “Rissa’s been telling wild tales about things like that. When you dream, you dream big.”

  “Really. I told him we practice mornings whenever we can. He said he would like to come some morning when he’s free.”

  “Sure,” Tristan said and laughed.

  “It’s true,” Rissa said. “She’s been to his beach house and everything.”

  “Everything?” Tristan said ominously.

  “Not … everything!” Eva said. “You guys are embarrassing me.” She had a sudden urge to make sure Jack knew she didn’t care if he had that Alono. “But … who could resist a man with a Stradivarius?”

  The others were grinning like crazy while she did a little shimmy with her shoulder and lifted her chin in a mock “better-than-you” playfulness.

  They didn’t laugh. Jack lifted his eyebrows and looked beyond her with a bland gaze. Tristan looked as if he’d choke on a laugh. Rissa drew her eyebrows together and was making funny motions with her eyes.

  Eva was trying to figure out what was wrong with them when she heard a familiar voice say, “My lucky day or what? I just happen to know a man who has a Stradivarius.”

  Eva gritted her teeth, squeezed her eyes shut, and grimaced.

  Georgio laughed and the others joined in.

  Eva turned to face him. “I … was just being … silly.”

  “Good,” he said immediately. “I could use a little silliness in my life. I’m beginning to realize I’ve been much too stodgy for too long.”

  “Well, you’ve come to the right place to loosen up,” Tristan said.

  Georgio walked over to Jack. “You’re part of this group now?”

  “Only as a friend,” Jack said. “And a fill-in when needed. The cellist couldn’t come this morning. “I’m number one jack-of-all-trades. I play many instruments but none too well. I’d better warm up before we get into the practice.”

  “Maybe you can give us some ideas,” Tristan said to Georgio.

  “I’m sure you know what you’re doing. Let me hear what you have in mind.”

  He listened as they played.

  “Very good,” Georgio said when they finished. “You have played this before, right?”

  “Oh, yes, many times,” Eva said.

  “Locally?”

  “Yes,” Eva said, “but we want this to be absolutely perfect for Vizcaya.”

  Georgio nodded. “I suggest you vary the program somewhat. Likely, the music lovers of the area have already heard you. They would like the old favorites and to be introduced to something new.”

  “Or something old,” Jack said.

  They all looked at him. He shrugged a shoulder. “It’s not my call, but you’re playing during the Renaissance Festival. Shouldn’t you go with that theme?”

  “I wasn’t aware of the festival,” Georgio said. He looked at Jack. “I think you’re exactly right about keeping with the theme. Consider the Baroque composers.”

  Jack and Georgio entered into an animated conversation about early music as they mentioned Corelli and Bach.

  Jack made an offer. “I hadn’t ordered any early music for my shop, but I’m sure we can find some around.”

  Georgio lifted a shoulder and an eyebrow. “Anything can be faxed, can it not?”

  Jack laughed. “Perfect answer.”

  Rissa was skeptical. “Will we have time to learn the new music?”

  “We don’t have to memorize it. Even the best—” Jack stopped speaking suddenly and glanced at Georgio. “Well, maybe not the best.” He laughed lightly. “But even symphony orchestras have their music in front of them.”

  The rest of the practice session was a fun excursion of their playing classical music. Georgio played the Alono. At Jack’s suggestion, they turned to contemporary Christian music.

  Eva couldn’t help smiling. If Georgio Baldovino wasn’t too good to use sheet music, then
certainly the quartet could use it at Vizcaya.

  For the rest of the week, Eva settled into the routine of practice in the mornings, working in the shop in the afternoons, and spending evenings at Georgio’s beach house. They’d have dinner, walk on the beach briefly, then play music.

  Georgio had the Baroque music that had been faxed to him. With his instruction, Eva found the Renaissance music much easier than if she’d had to tackle the violin part alone.

  “You’ll do fine,” Georgio complimented after a particularly good session on Friday evening.

  “Thanks,” Eva said. “But it won’t sound nearly as good on my violin as on the Strad.”

  He held out the Alono. “Play this one.”

  Eva’s breath caught in her throat for a moment. She felt her face grow warm under the scrutiny of Georgio’s questioning gaze.

  “I’d … rather not. I’ve gotten over my resentment of Grandpa’s giving it to Jack, but I wouldn’t feel right asking to play it. I don’t want Jack to think I care about it.”

  “I see.” Georgio took on that mysterious playful look she’d noticed several times. She hoped he didn’t detect the uneasiness she felt when he talked about Jack or when she was around Jack.

  “You’re not playing in Jack’s church orchestra?”

  “I … have my other practices and recently I took up playing the Strad.”

  He laughed. “Ah,” he said. “Priorities.” He smiled so sweetly at her. “You were able to do a fine rendition of Bach and the early composers with little practice. I daresay you could whip out a hymn or two with no problem.”

  Eva felt torn. She could justify not being in the orchestra by what she just said. Those were excuses though, not reasons. She would love to play in the church orchestra and was rather envious that she hadn’t started it herself. But as long as being around Jack made her so … uncomfortable, she couldn’t possibly be a part of it.

  Georgio put the Alono in its case and zipped it up. “Have you asked Jack to sell the Alono to you?”