Page 2 of Refining the Debutante
“It’s far lovelier with your adaptions. I never would have been able to put this combination together.” Jane turned and preened in front of the mirror. “Thank you.”
Madame Gillespie clasped her hands together in front of her chest. “Miss Bartley has excellent taste. She sometimes sketches designs inspired by her travels.”
“I am most impressed,” Jane said.
Ethan was too.Miss Bartley .He would remember her name.
“I am happy to share one with you, although my skills pale compared to Madame Gillespie’s,” Miss Bartley said. She pulled out a sketch from her reticule. “I happen to have one I did just this morning. What do you think of this? Oh, forgive me; I don’t even know your name.”
“This is Miss Roderick,” Madame Gillespie supplied.
“May I?” Jane took the picture and gasped. “It’s like a Grecian princess.”
“I think an English lady like yourself could do it justice too. It’s yours. I believe a soft blue would do well with your coloring.”
“Thank you, Miss Bartley,” Jane cooed.
Miss Bartley smiled at her and stepped back into the vestibule. Jane returned to studying her reflection in the mirror, her eyes sparkling.
Ethan chuckled. “You’ve made my sister feel very beautiful.”
“She seems most deserving.”
“You were right about her insecurity and the worry lines on her face. You have done something in minutes that my family hasn’t managed in two years.”
“Well, I—” Her eyes widened. “Your sister? She is not your wife?”
“Jane is my sister. But don’t worry. When I marry, I will be sure to compliment my wife just as you’ve instructed. I will insist on having an exact replica of her dress made to fit me. I will select her shawls and feathers. And I will sketch all the designs for her gowns.”
“Oh...” She sputtered. “That would be most extraordinary of you.” She took a step backward. “Perhaps I should return for my appointment when your sister is through.”
“I’m disappointed. You cannot be finished instructing me on my behavior already,” he teased.
“Instructing?” She looked perfectly bewildered—as innocent as a dove. “Why would I do that? We have not even been properly introduced. I wouldn’t dare speak with a stranger.”
He bit back a grin. “Heaven forbid.”
“My thoughts exactly.”
Madame Gillespie stepped out of the room at that moment and gasped. “Don’t move!” She returned with a piece of parchment and a pencil and started sketching something. “Just one more minute.”
“What is she doing?” Ethan asked Miss Bartley.
“Don’t interrupt an artist at work.”
He couldn’t help the movement of his lips. He grinned. This woman was a great deal more outspoken than most. “An artist?”
“She draws fashion plates forLa Belle Assemblée, the lady’s magazine.”
“Oh.” Ethan frowned. “I hardly think—”
“You will be famous.”
“Me? In a lady’s magazine?” He cringed.
Madame Gillespie lifted her pencil from the paper and studied her work. “What do you think?” She handed it to Miss Bartley, but Ethan could easily see it. Miss Bartley was the focus of the sketch, which did not surprise him.
“Add a scalloped edge to the hem of my dress and give Mr. Roderick a pale-green scarf.”
