A part of her feared that when he spoke again, he would say that he hadn’t found anything; that it was hopeless. But a part of herdidfeel hope. He had thought her eyes were lovely, and Lavinia would never have believed such a thing about herself. What if he was able to find some other attribute worthy of admiration? What if it turned out she wasn’t as plain as she had always believed herself to be? Did she dare to hope for it?
“This is easy,” the duke said at length. “Easier than I thought it would be.”
“Easy?” she repeated, sure she must have misunderstood. He couldn’t possibly mean that it would be easy to make her look beautiful, could he?
“First of all,” he said, looking toward the modiste, “I don’t think we need to confine ourselves to the color green, do we? I’d welcome your opinion, but I think she’ll look lovely in any rich color, as well as any shade of blue.”
“Quite so,” the modiste agreed.
“We’re looking for some gowns that we can take with us today, not to have anything made for her,” the duke said. “Have you anything like that? And I’d like something that will show off her neck. I think that’s her best feature.”
Lavinia’s hands came up to touch her neck. It was something she had never noticed about herself, and now the duke had called attention to it. She found herself wishing she had a looking glass to examine herself in and another lady to compare herself to. What was it about her neck that was remarkable to him?
Perhaps he understood the question she was asking herself, for he continued, though he hadn’t been asked. “You have a very long neck, Lady Lavinia,” he said. “Long and slender. It makes you look elegant and graceful. I would say there are many ladies who would love such a feature.
Now, the gown you’re currently wearing is doing you no favors at all. The neck coming up so high, above your collarbone, above your shoulders—it makes your long neck look shorter by half.”
And to Lavinia’s shock, he crossed the room to her side and placed a hand along the side of her neck as if to measure it with his fingers.
His touch seemed to light a fire beneath her skin. She looked up at him, hardly able to find words. What was happening here?
It was beginning to feel as if the duke must have a more complex reason than those he had already revealed for wishing to help her—but Lavinia had no idea what that reason could be. It was odd enough that he had taken any interest in her at all. It couldn’t possibly be true that his interest was motivated by anything personal. No, she had to accept his help at face value. He simply wanted to make sure that the debt he felt he owed her was settled. That was all it could be.
The duke seemed to realize what he was doing. He cleared his throat and stepped away, letting his hand fall to his side. “Shall we say three new gowns?” he asked the modiste. “Do you think you have three that would fit her and match our specifications?”
“Oh, yes, it should be easy enough,” the modiste said. “She looks easy to fit. No unusual physical features that would make things more difficult.”
“I’ll go and pick out some gloves for you while you do this,” the duke said to Lavinia. “Be sure to choose gowns you like.”
“I get to choose?”
“Of course. You’re the one who will be wearing them. Did you think I was going to insist on making the choice myself?”
“Well, I don’t know,” Lavinia admitted. “You’re the one who will be paying. I wouldn’t have thought it inappropriate of you if you had insisted on such a thing.”
“Well, I don’t,” he said. “I want you to select gowns you feel good in. Remember what we discussed—the most important thing, if you want to draw a gentleman’s eye, is that you haveconfidence. And you won’t have that unless you feel lovely.”
It was an idea that made too much sense to ignore. Lavinia knew that she had never felt lovely before in her life. Not really. She had always, in her mind, compared herself with her sister. She had always known that she was the less lovely of the two of them. And she had always been conscious of the fact that it was very likely that any gentleman she met would be thinking just the same thing.
Now she wondered. Was it possible that those thoughts had lived only in her own mind? Had it always been possible for her to be seen as beautiful, the way Edwina was?
Perhaps the most important difference between the two of them wasn’t the color of their eyes or the curl in Edwina’s hair, but simply the fact that Edwina had always been told she was beautiful and had come to believe it. Perhaps if Lavinia gave her attention to believing such things about herself, they would come to seem true enough that she would be able to take themseriously, and it would change the way she was perceived by society.
And then, maybe…
Oh, she could hardly allow herself to believe it. It was frightening to let herself believe it. But what if it was true?
What if it was possible that shecouldfall in love sometime in the next ten days? What if she could find herself a marriage that was based on that love? What if she could still have the bright, beautiful future she’d always dreamed of, instead of marrying someone her father had selected for her? A future in which she belonged to a gentleman who truly loved her, someone she truly loved…
That was too much to hope for.
And yet, it was too tempting to let go of the idea. Even knowing that she was risking her own heartbreak, she couldn’t abandon the thought that, just maybe, it could happen.
CHAPTER 9
“All right,” Allan said, pouring out two glasses of port. “It’s just the two of us now, Seth. Tell me what’s really going on.”
The two men were in Allan’s study. It was late in the evening, and the majority of the party guests had gone to bed.
