Theo barked in laughter. “No!”
“Would Gertrude?”
He gave her an approving nod. “Most definitely.”
“I will wear them when they arrive tomorrow.”
He mashed his lips together. “Perhaps best to show Gertrude in private.”
“I see,” she said and lifted the top of the box.
But the box was full of butter yellow chiffon. And on top, nestled in the folds of the fabric lay a square flat jewelry box.
“Theo,” she whispered, tears coming to her eyes. “What did you buy, my darling?”
He merely waited for her to lift the lid of the case.
Inside sat aparureof gold and diamonds composed of hundreds of tiny gems in a necklace, with matching earbobs and bracelet cuff.
They took her breath. And for a long minute, she could not speak. But at once, she bent to his lips. “How I love you.”
“I know. You show me every minute of each day.”
“And what I have for you is so small by comparison.”
He pulled her close, his face taut with devotion. “Not so, my wife. What you have for me is everything to me.”
She swept tears from her cheeks. “They are quite remarkable. I shall be the talk of London when I wear them.”
“You are already, Penn. ‘The Marchioness of Tain,’ they say, ‘opens a new building for her expanding orphanage.’ ‘The lovely Marchioness went to their foundry last week.’ ‘Did you know she talks with Tain’s workers and has his tenants up to the house?’ They know you, my darling, as a woman to be heralded. They know you as a woman who leads others by example.” He lifted her chin. “They know you as the love of my life. All my life.”
“Thank you.”
“You are very welcome. But come now,” he urged her, and put the jewelry case to the nearby table, “there is more beneath the stones.”
She spread the chiffon. There before her was ivory muslin fabric, sheer, trimmed with a dab of lace at what appeared to be…a waistline.
She checked her husband’s face, noting an odd anticipation. “What is this?”
She lifted the garment from the box.Dear me.And laughed at the width and outrageously sheer fabric. “I can see my hand through this, Theo!”
“Of course you can.”
“Am I that short?” She frowned at the length of the two legs.
“I took measurements of your gowns before I ordered them,” he said with certainty.
She shook out the garment, regarded it with narrowed eyes and had to chuckle. “Who helped you choose this present, Theo?”
“Who do you think?”
“Prinny’s tailor?”
Theo nodded. “A fine man.”
“And the lady who suggested these to you?”
“Ah, well. She thought it useful. Especially now since the birth of Reggie, you would fit into the lines of this.”
