“I’m glad to hear he’s doing well,” Harriet said.
“He still has a long journey to recovery, but he improves daily, which is all I can hope for.”
“I wish you could have figured out who spooked him,” she said suddenly.
He gave her a lopsided grin. “I have a good idea who it was.”
Harriet was about to respond to his comment when Daphne entered the room. “There you are.” She looked at Lucien. “If you’ll excuse Harriet, the modiste is here to do a fitting.”
“Yes, of course.” He stood and helped Harriet to her feet. “I have a meeting with my partner about a prospective new client, so I’ll be on my way.”
“Will you stop by after your visit with the bishop?” Harriet asked him.
“Of course, I will. Is there anything you wish for me to convey to my mother?”
“Harriet and I are having lunch with your mother tomorrow to go over the wedding and breakfast,” Daphne said.
“Enjoy your meeting, ladies, and I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said and headed out of the room without looking back. It was going to be a long week just to get to their wedding day.
Lucien walked out of the house to his waiting carriage. He instructed the driver to take him to his offices. Sitting back, he closed his eyes. Things had gone quite well today despite Harriet’s mother’s interference and the bishop putting him off a day. By the end of the week, they would be married and enjoyingprivate time in Somerset before beginning their new life together in Surrey.
He needed to purchase a ring for her or ask his mother if there was anything in the family collection that would be worthy of his bride. He’d ask his mother this evening and if nothing caught his eye, he’d go to the family jeweler and see what they might have.
Traffic in London could be horrific and today happened to be one of those days. No one was moving at any great speed today. He sat back in his seat and tried to imagine what it now was keeping all these people from their destinations.
Hopefully the man meeting them at the office wasn’t caught up in all this either. The man was wanting an exact replica of the prince’s car. He and his wife were going on an adventure, traveling by train all the way to India. Even though they could stay in one of the cars the railroad offered, he wanted himself and his wife to be as comfortable as possible. The railroad had offered to purchase the car once they made it to their destination to add to their collection. The man agreed solely because of that. They were going to be traveling by ship when they came back to England. That might make way for other clients. Lucien would find out the particulars once he arrived at his office.
His father had spoken to him about turning the day-to-day operations over to someone else. He’d thought about it and knew that his father was correct. He would do just that. It made the most sense, and the business had been a wonderful learning experience, but it was time for him to expand his business world.
*
Harriet was goingthrough dresses of hers she thought would be appropriate for her wedding. Since it wasn’t a church service, and they were marrying in her cousin’s drawing room, she knewshe had dresses that were almost new and would suffice. There were two that caught her eye, and she had Rex remove them from the closet and place them on the bed. One was sage green with forest-green trimmings and the other was a shade of dark, dusty purple with piping the color of a gem. Either one would be perfect.
At that moment, Daphne and Lucien’s mother, the Duchess of Northumberland came gliding into the room. They were followed in by two footmen carrying two pieces of luggage.
“I apologize for being tardy,” the duchess said. “I brought a couple of gowns along with hats, in case you’d like to wear a hat.”
“Are these ones you had?” Daphne asked.
“Yes,” Harriet replied.
“I brought two. An apricot dress and a dusty rose,” Daphne said.
The duchess nodded. “I brought one in periwinkle and another in a sapphire blue.”
“This isn’t going to be easy, is it?” Harriet quipped.
“I don’t know about you two ladies, but I think I like Harriet’s purple dress,” the duchess remarked as she lightly fingered the dress.
“I do too. I’ve always loved that shade on you, Harriet,” Daphne said.
“Why don’t you try it on?” the duchess added.
Harriet looked at both women knowing she wasn’t going to be able to get out of this. So, instead she smiled and motioned to Rex to ready the dress for her. In the meantime, Daphne and her future mother-in-law helped her out of the dress she was wearing. By the time they finished fussing over her and helping her step into the purple dress, she wondered why women went through all of this.
“That’s the one, don’t you think, Lady Daphne? It’s perfect,” the duchess announced. “You do have slippers to wear with it don’t you?”
“Yes, I do, Your Grace.”
