“Yes, indeed. I’ll take the blue with the lovely overlay you suggested.” The dowager tapped her cane on the floor and offered a sly grin in Endora’s direction.
“Très bien! My seamstresses will have it completed by tomorrow without delay. You will be the most fashionable, as always, Your Grace.”
“Oh! So, you promise a new gown for the dowager by tomorrow, but I am to wear a cast-off from last year?” Endora spurted.
“The trick is to pay the bills, Lady Deville,” the dowager said with a chuckle. “I must be on my way. Toodle-oo.” She gave Endora a little wave as she turned and left the sitting area, with the modiste in tow.
Endora’s blood boiled at the sound of the old woman’s cane making a jaunty tap-tap-tap on the floor.
“Place this on my account, my dear,”she heard her say to the modiste.
“I will personally bring you the gown first thing in the morning, Your Grace!”
Endora yanked open the curtain and stomped back into the fitting room.
When I become Lady Latham, I will make them all pay.
CHAPTER7
The next day
The Duke of Clarence’s Garden Fete
How different it was to be in this grand mansion in the daylight. Frankie was unprepared for the burst of colors that greeted her when she walked through the balcony doors to gaze down at the walled garden. In the daylight, the orange and burgundy shades of the Japanese maple branches hovered protectively between the ground and sky, filtering sunlight to the pink and white anemones. White and yellow roses provided a backdrop against the red brick wall, illumining the deep purples, russets, and yellows of the chrysanthemums and daylilies beneath them. A border of golden rudbeckia contrasted with russet petals of helenium and deep purple salvia and drew the eye to the manicured grass that bordered the stoned path leading to the now-familiar garden swing.
A spark of delight coursed through her as she recalled the memory of Thomas’ hands on her back when he pushed her on the swing. She closed her eyes and thought she could hear his voice as she breathed in the intoxicating scent of toffee from a nearby katsura tree.
“I’m glad to see you, Frankie,” he breathed into her ear.
Startled, she spun around to face him. “It is you!I thought I’d dreamed of your voice.”
A smile spread over his face. “When I hear your voice in my dreams, it enlivens me,” he said, standing behind her.
He was close enough that his breath touched the skin of her neck and sent ripples of pleasure through her. She breathed in the garden’s smell and let out a cleansing breath. “To learn that you left a note that night gave my heart the release I needed. I had not realized how much anger I had assigned to you. My heart wouldn’t let the memories of the night we met here leave me.”
He removed his glove and placed his warm hand over her gloved one, sending tingles throughout her body. “I want to touch you, mostly to assure me you are real this time, Frankie. When you disappeared without a word, the night became my enemy. My dreams would summon your presence and your sweet voice. Memories of the night we met haunted my dreams, and I couldn’t shake the feeling something had gone terribly wrong. There was no hint of what had happened and nothing I could do to change it. I became a shell of myself.
“When we learned my note never reached you, the pain lessened, but I continue to wonder what happened to the note I wrote.”
“There you two are,” the raspy voice of the dowager said, skirts swishing up from behind them. “Come, the garden is full of interesting people. There is someone I’d like you to meet.”
At her urging, the two of them nodded. Thomas held out his arm for the dowager and she placed her hand on it, allowing him to guide her. Frankie walked to his other side but did not take his arm. When they arrived at the base of the steps, the dowager walked them to the side of the garden where only a few people lingered. “Wait here. I shall return in a moment.”
While they waited, Frankie felt Thomas’ hand squeeze hers. His warmth sent tingling pulses spiraling to her center.
A few minutes later, the dowager returned with a liveried footman. “Allow me to introduce you to Barry.” She turned to the young man standing beside her with broad shoulders, curly blond hair, and distinctive green eyes. “Barry, could you tell Lord Latham and Lady Gallwey what you told me?”
“I recall meeting you,” Thomas said, eyeing the man carefully. “You brought me the note that precipitated my having to leave early.”
“Yes, my lord. I remember doing that. You asked me to wait for you as you composed a note to Miss Wickersham, I believe.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Frankie glanced in Thomas’ direction and saw the relief on his face. Someone had just verified the existence of the notes. Even though she had believed him, she felt strangely relieved as well.
“Yes, yes, boy. But please let them know what happened to the note. That is the most important part,” the dowager said, almost snapping.
Before the boy could speak, she added. “I would have sought Barry out had I not fallen and injured myself. Damned nuisance and uncomfortable mess that was,” she mumbled. The dowager waved at the footman to continue.
