Takes liberties quietly and then gets back to business (8)
I believe the answer is:
presumes
'takes liberties' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'quietly and then gets back to business' is the wordplay.
'quietly' becomes 'p' (p for piano and quiet).
'and then' means one lot of letters go next to another (I've seen this in other clues).
'gets back to business' becomes 'resumes' (to resume is to get back to doing something).
'p'+'resumes'='PRESUMES'
(Other definitions for presumes that I've seen before include "Takes to be the case" , "takes liberties" , "... supposes" .)