“Ever since you showed up in those pantaloons at Harry’s.”
“Thank you. They are all perfect. Beautiful.” She had never owned dresses like these. She probably never would again. It was the sort of wardrobe that made a woman more beautiful than nature decreed.
“You can wear the evening dress tonight at dinner. I will enjoy seeing you in it.”
She embraced him. She showed him with her kiss how much she appreciated this surprise.
Her reaction pleased him. “I will leave you to do whatever women do with new garments.”
He left her to play with her new toys. She sat with the dinner dress on her lap, fingering the lace.
She wondered if he had given all of this to her for reasons besides his own enjoyment or her delight. Perhaps he wanted her to have better than her remade garments when she left England. Maybe he wanted to give her the sort of advantage that fine clothes create.
His thoughtfulness touched her deeply.
She dressed for dinner with great care. She had her woman do something new with her hair. She pinched her cheeks to bring up their color.
When she entered the dining room, she saw he had done the same. His cravat gleamed with stark precision. He examined her in the dress with a scandalous gaze, looking down slowly, then up again until he stopped at her neck. “It needs something more. Something to set off the color just so. Perhaps this will do.” His hand emerged from his pocket with a little velvet sack. He took her hand and poured out the contents.
She stared, speechless. A necklace of gold filigree draped over her palm. The fine lines expanded their loops and swirls toward the center until they supported a clear stone there. A diamond.
He took it from her and stepped around to fasten it on her neck. Then he led her to a chair at the table.
She fingered the necklace. “You are too generous.”
“I found myself regretting that you have asked nothing of me. It was an odd reaction to have. Normally I regret a woman’s lack of subtlety in reminding me what gifts she thinks she deserves.”
“I’m sure I could be as avaricious as anyone in the right circumstances.”
Champagne arrived. He set a glass by her hand. “I know why you did not. I know why you left the locket on the carpet that night. Things are different between us now, so I decided you might agree to accept a few gifts from me.”
Gifts given in affection. She did not doubt that. His delight in giving them said as much. Yet she suspected this necklace, like the wardrobe, was also a way to ensure she would not be impoverished when he sent her off to America.
There had been no letter today. There might be none tomorrow. With each day that passed, the likelihood of it arriving the next increased, however. That meant each night might be the last one of freedom, when only the anticipation of “someday soon” shadowed her.
He admired the champagne after he drank some. “You will have to sing tonight. A happy song, though. Not that sad ballad from last time.”
“I will sing if you promise not to fall asleep.”
“I won’t fall asleep.”
“You can’t be trusted with champagne. You enjoy it too much.” She pretended to ponder the matter.
“I will find a way to make sure I stay awake.” He lowered his voice because a footman arrived with some food. “A wonderful way.”
She laughed. “That probably means a naughty way.”
“I am not sure naughty does it justice.”
* * *
She held the looking glass so she could see the necklace again. She had spent half an hour admiring herself in it. Normally she let the woman help her into her nightdress before sending her away, but tonight, upon retiring, she had told her to leave at once.
It was a diamond, she was almost sure. A real one. In this light, it gave off blue sparks. Mama had taught her the difference between real jewels and paste. That she had seen few real jewels during the last ten years did not mean she could not still see the difference.
She moved the looking glass so she could see how the dress looked on her too. The fine fabric hugged her form. It felt almost as though it had been made for her. She wondered how he had known it would.
They had shared a wonderful dinner and evening. One of laughter and joy. He’d regaled her with stories about the trouble he and his friends had made when young men on the town. She’d told him about leading midnight raids on the kitchen at school to steal cakes from a tin that held them. The trick was to take one from each layer, not grab all the ones right on top.
