She kept smiling, trying to sound cheerful, positive, as if the two did not have anything to worry about.

Sounding almost cheerful, he answered her question with one of his own.

If he sounded cheerful, then obviously they must have done.

She still sounded cheerful, but maybe not quite as sweet.

He sounded so cheerful that she could have thrown something at him.

"By the time you get back," he said, trying to sound cheerful, "you'll have enough data to write a book."

Steve asked the blond man again, still trying to sound cheerful.

"Nothing like that," she said, trying to sound more cheerful.

They sounded more cheerful and relaxed than almost everyone had been for a long time.

She had no idea what that might mean, but it sounded cheerful.