Page 52 of Baron in Check
“We’re here!” Eve cast him a smile. “Greg, you will shine a new path for all of us, and you have all my trust and loving support. Just be careful, darling.” Eve nodded, then went into the hall to speak with the girls.
Greg followed her to his beautiful fiancée because he knew one thing for certain: every bridge he cared to cross led him to her.
CHAPTER 24
A few minutes earlier, on the second floor of the Pearler’s house…
Perhaps the second kiss in the attic hadn’t been all that chaste after all, but as long as nobody else noticed, Hermy told herself that they’d snuck away unnoticed.
She returned to the room where Lizzie, Hannah, and Rachel waited for her.
Well, waited was an understatement. They’d carefully spread out a display of sinful garments on Lizzie’s large double bed.
“I think you should go with black,” Hannah said. “It’s always flattering, and you can wear it under many colors.”
“My preference is for rose or light blue,” Rachel said, “but this time of the year, and especially after a wedding, I’d prefer champagne, ivory, or shades of white.” She came to Hermy’s side and held a few sheer fabrics in shades of creamy whites to her face. “You have a perfect complexion for a cool white.”
“Yes, start with white and save black for later. You’re not in a rush,” Lizzie agreed.
“I’m sorry but what is all this?” Hermy should have been scandalized by the lingerie on the bed, but the three women were all married with children, and they seemed to be genuinely trying to find something for her.
“Why would any of this be for me?”
“Because you don’t have a trousseau, do you?” Lizzie said.
“At dinner, Greg mentioned you had to leave without your things,” Rachel added.
“I know how you must feel, so I suggested that we help you out a little,” Hannah said.
“With your undergarments?”
“None of these are ours yet. Madame Giselle, my modiste, brought them here and told me that you still needed to complete your wardrobe for the end of the season. I will return whatever I don’t need,” Lizzie said. “I thought you might like some of these. You can pay her tomorrow when she comes to take your measurements with her seamstress.”
“Who’s coming?” Hermy couldn’t follow.
“You need a wardrobe suitable for a future Countess.” Rachel unfurled a roll of lace. “I have some Brugge lace that we can add to this one, don’t you think it’s pretty?”
“You’re all trying to help me make a trousseau and dress?”
Lizzie held her head high. “Dress to make an impression. The Ton would love to see you in rags crawling to their feet. Let’s reverse the roles, shall we?”
Hermy’s chest hurt from the gratitude that washed over her. How could she have found three so fiercely intelligent friends in the matter of hours? Or were they Greg’s friends merely trying to be nice to her?
“Why are you doing this for me?”
“Because you’ve been wronged and we know how it feels to be on the receiving end,” Rachel said.
“A strong person is stronger when the people behind her give her a little push,” Hannah said. “That’s what family is for.”
“But you’re not Greg’s family.”
“True, but we’re as close as it gets, and I’m not saying he’s always had my approval,” Hannah said. “You, however, do.”
That meant more coming from Hannah than Hermy could say. “You epitomize everything I’m striving for.”
Hannah furrowed her dark brows and eyed Hermy as if she expected an explanation and Hermy sank onto the edge of the bed needing to sit.
“Well, I was cast aside in the name of religion. Shamed. But in all this time, for years, I couldn’t see a fault in loving Greg with all my heart and body. It’s not chaste, and it’s scandalous, I know that.” She swallowed a ball in her throat willing herself to maintain her composure. “Yet, my brother had killed men during the war and was touted a hero in society. I loved Greg before I was allowed, but it was real and wonderful and I was ruined and locked away in the country for that?”
