“I can wear my—” The curtain was drawn shut on her, and suddenly Mary was alone with the mirror. She did not like looking in the mirror and avoided it where possible. But there it was, right in front of her.
Were her breasts nice? She’d always thought them horrid. Her waist was small enough, and perhaps her hair was nice. She wasn’t tall, just average in height. A little flutter of excitement built in her belly at the thought of a new dress.
The curtain was opened once more, and Phoebe appeared, holding several garments.
“Now, Mary, I have two dresses for you here if they fit. One is a day dress, which you can wear when you leave my boutique, and the next is for the Littleton garden party, which could be chilly given the current weather we are experiencing, so you may wear a coat over it. You do have a coat that is not a fashion disaster, don’t you, Mary?”
“Yes, Phoebe.”
“Excellent. And wear your hair softer, with less adornment. You’re neither eighty years old nor a Morris dancer.”
“Yes, Phoebe,” Mary said meekly. Her eyes were on the dresses. The soft, light fabrics looked unlike anything she’d worn before. She realized in that moment she wanted this more than anything she’d wanted before. From this day forth, she would take charge of what she wore, even if it meant she had to battle her mother every step of the way.
CHAPTERTHIRTEEN
Garden parties, in Zach’s mind, were for people to show off even more than they did in the crowded ballrooms they frequented at night. They could strut about the place in their finery and be seen by those they wanted to impress. In his current foul mood, it was not the destination he would have chosen to be on a chilly day.
He’d been off since the visit to Lolly’s bookstore. This business with Mary had him worked up, and of course there was also Madame Lucienne. Plunge too was something of a conundrum he wasn’t sure how to work out. Was the man playing some kind of smoky game and none of them had realized?
He’d woken in a cold sweat last night with a vision of Mary’s cheek inflamed from whatever had been under his handkerchief.This really had to stop.He wanted to get back to what they’d had yet knew deep inside that was not a possibility. What was a possibility, he had no clue.
“I hate garden parties,” he muttered. “Why was this one not cancelled, seeing as it’s cold out?”
He and his family were standing in the entranceway, behind other guests waiting to greet their hosts. With his hands in his pockets to keep them warm, Zach was studying the ceiling of Lord and Lady Littleton’s home. It had a very nice cream rose from which was suspended the biggest candelabra he’d ever seen. It was the large floating Pegasus beside it that was disturbing.
The flying horse could fall at any given moment and flatten anyone wandering beneath it.
“What did you say?” Michael asked.
“I hate garden parties,” Zach replied.
“No you don’t,” Michael said. “You love garden parties because they have everything you enjoy. A lot of delicious food and young ladies to flirt with. Plus, you get to show off your prowess paddling said young ladies around the lake. There are also the statues.”
Lord Littleton had a collection of statues that were envied by many. Roman and Greek, they were quite something, and he was always adding to it. Zach enjoyed wandering through the room when he was here, which was not often as Littleton tended to ramble. In fact, he could talk on the subject of his statues for hours without pausing to draw breath.
“And the cold is bracing. Plus, if it is not too hot no fool will overindulge and end up in the water, and therefore one of us will not need to save him,” Nathan added.
Two years ago at this very party, Lord Plunge had fallen in the pond at the rear of the Littleton property, and Nathan had rescued him.
“Why do you look like Hampton tied your necktie too tight?” his sister Abby said. All his family were in attendance today. She was a slender, prettier version of her brothers. With her was her husband, Daniel Dillinger. A self-made man who had built his fortune alongside his brother by using their wits, he could not be intimidated by Abby’s brothers, which had eventually forced them to admire him.
However, the Deville brothers would not hesitate to destroy Daniel should he harm their sister in any way.
“I have no look,” Zach said, wondering why his family felt he had looks and moods these days that they constantly needed to comment on. “How is my nephew?”
Talking about Tobias, Abby and Daniel’s son, usually distracted her. Her smile told him he’d succeeded.
“Wonderful.” She was radiant.
Zach leaned in to study her closely. “You’re having a baby.”
Annoyance flashed across her face as her husband laughed at her side.
“How is it you know that? Gabe guessed last time. It’s extremely vexing. I had planned to tell you all tomorrow.”
Abby didn’t stamp her foot, but Zach guessed it was a near thing.
“Baby?” Gabe said, moving to his side. “Did I hear that correctly?”
