Rose nodded.
“My mother’s dressmaker always came to our house and measured me for clothes,” she explained a little awkwardly, wanting to make clear that she did not know how this process should work. “I have not been to an atelier like yours before and I do not know where to begin.”
Madame Delacroix smiled and nodded, seeming not at all put out by this admission.
“Then I am doubly honored to be commissioned to make your first gown as a married woman and a duchess,” she said. “We shall look at some plates and fabric samples and you may tell me what you like. Then, I shall make some suggestions that would best complement your coloring and figure. Once all is agreed, I will take the measurements.”
Thinking this over, Rose relaxed a little more and smiled back.
“Will it be very expensive to make the dress so quickly?” she asked and heard Dorian chuckle.
When Rose turned to look at him, he was shaking his head at Madame Delacroix, perhaps to indicate that she was not to discuss money on this occasion.
“You need not worry about such things when your husband is making you a gift, I think, Your Grace,” the modiste answered. “It is different, of course, when a lady is handling her own regular clothing allowance but I can see that today, that is not the case. You must not consider the expense at all…”
Of the many fabric samples presented, Rose fell in love with a sheer silk in light blue that both Dorian and Madame Delacroix insisted matched her eyes. Her mother most often dressed her in pink or white, but Rose had always secretly preferred blue. As this was a winter dress, there would be a layer of heavier silk beneath in the same color, as well as warm underwear.
Deciding on the gown’s line and cut was harder, with so many plates to choose from. At first, Rose picked out a selection very similar to the dresses she already owned, but then found that she was scarcely more enthusiastic about them than Dorian or Madame Delacroix. The former barely glanced at these before turning to look through other plates himself. The latter considered them critically.
“These are pretty but unexceptional, Your Grace,” advised themodiste.“If you had a younger sister, perhaps I would dress her so for this ball. You, however, need something that launches you as the Duchess of Ravenhill, something striking but elegant.”
As she spoke, she laid out the plates of three more sophisticated-looking gowns before Rose, who regarded them with curiosity and slight trepidation. They were all lower-cut than she was accustomed to wearing.
“What is your view, Your Grace?” Madame Delacroix asked Dorian, who was flicking rapidly through alternatives by himself.
“I think something like this would suit Rose,” he answered, putting another plate in front of the two ladies.
Rose’s eyes grew wide as she studied the duke’s proposed dress. It was more beautiful than anything she had seen so far but even lower than the previous suggestions from Madame Delacroix. She suspected that Dorian’s artistic eye and appreciation for the female form meant that he saw only its beauty, without any of the wider considerations that gave Rose pause for thought.
The modiste nodded slowly, lifting the plate and considering it, while looking at Rose.
“Yes, I can see that Her Grace’s figure would be well-complimented by this style,” she agreed. “Do you already have any thoughts on jewelry, Your Graces?”
Rose shook her head and looked to Dorian, not having considered this at all. All her jewelry had been gifted by her parents or relatives over the years and most of it was rarely worn, her family considering ostentatious display of jewels to be unfitting for unmarried young women.
“I viewed what was in the bank vaults and the safe at Ravenhill House when I first became duke,” Dorian mused. “There is a quantity of jewelry belonging to the Duchess of Ravenhill, but much is old fashioned and would not become Rose. Still, there may be time to have some stones reset and diamonds would go well with the blue silk.”
“A diamond necklace?” Rose queried vaguely, her mind thinking back to the portrait of Duchess Juliana in the gallery at Ravenhill House.
She seemed to remember that Juliana had worn a necklace that might have been of diamonds, the painted gems resting on the swell of her shapely and highly-exposed bosom. It was a beautiful picture but could timid Rose ever really be as brave and proud as Juliana? Her hand reached out and touched the plate.
“I cannot imagine wearing a dress this lovely,” she admitted honestly, blushing again. “Nor one with such low neckline. Everyone would look at me and I should be frightened of it slipping down. You can almost see, well, everything…”
“My gowns are most secure, even those with the greatestdécolletage,” the dressmaker assured Rose. “Your fears are quite natural, Your Grace, but remember that you are the Duchess of Ravenhill now. It is proper that people should look at you and admire what they see.”
“Is it?” Rose asked doubtfully and beside her Dorian smiled and then kissed her hand.
“I have the most beautiful wife in London. Should I not be allowed to show her off?” he asked Rose. “Will you deny me the pleasure of walking into a ballroom with you on my arm, wearing this gown, and causing every other man present to groan with envy of my good luck?”
His words were lightly spoken, but Rose could hear some fundamental truth in them too. Dorian wanted to see her dressed in such a gown. While she did not care for the attention she might draw from others, the thought of exciting his interest thrilled her.
“I would deny you no pleasure, Dorian,” Rose said and then blushed an even deeper pink in realizing the double meaning of what she had just said and recalling all over again the torrid night she had spent in his room.
“Then it is decided. I shall set up the fitting room,” declared Madame Delacroix, standing and turning in that direction. “Come through when you are ready, Your Grace.”
With the modiste’s back turned, Dorian seized Rose and kissed her passionately once again, pressed back onto the sofa’s arm.
They left Madame Delacroix’s establishment an hour later, with Rose’s dress fully outlined and due for delivery the day before the ball. Rose would return for two fittings before then.
