Page 45 of Her Infuriating Duke

“Well, that’s problem number one.”

“Really?” she whined.

“Really. Especially when you first start, it’s hard to get a result you’re going to be happy with without an outline of some kind.”

She huffed. “All right, I guess I’ll remember that.”

There were a few chuckles from the rest of the circle.

“You said you thought they were leaves. What about them?”

“What?”

“You were going to give me some advice when you thought they were leaves. What was it going to be?”

“But they aren’t leaves,” Amber blinked.

“No, but if they were, what were you going to tell me?”

“Well, it looks like you’ve moved on from them.”

“I have. They’re done.”

“But they aren’t. See how patchy they are here? You need to layer more over this. Perhaps with a lighter green thread. It would give it a little dimension. May I?”

“Please.”

Amber took up the needle. She showed her how to layer the threads to bring the leaves to life. The others watched in awe.

“There,” she said handing it back to Felicity. “Now you try on the one next to it. It should be easier now that you have a model to work from.”

Felicity looked on in awe.

“You’re incredible!” one of the others said.

“You’re exaggerating,” Amber waved off the praise. “It really isn’t anything that special, but I’m glad you like it.”

“How could I not!” Felicity lit up. “It’s so beautiful, it looks like it belongs in a vase rather than on fabric.”

“You’re being too generous. I’ll have to make you something else when I have more time.”

“You’d make me something?”

She nodded. “I’d like to.”

“That’s so kind of you! Thank you! What are you going to make me?”

“How does a reticule sound?”

“But that’s going to be so much work for you! When you offered to make me something, I assumed it was going to be something small, like a handkerchief or something.”

“I can do that if you prefer.”

“I can assure you, I will be happy with whatever you chose to make me.”

“You’re so sweet. As long as you like it, I’m happy.”

Felicity worked for a few minutes before she said, “The only downside to having you work on this is that anything more I do here will look so shabby in comparison.”

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