Page 59 of A Virgin for the Icy Highlander
Grace stifled a laugh at his side.
She was so beautiful, so perfect, so much more than he deserved, that he didn’t know how he would bear it when she left.
Once she kens the truth, she will.
He drew in a breath, remembering how earnestly she’d said, “I trust you.” And how he had done nothing to earn those words from her.
Once she heard the story, she would never be able to trust him again.
23
“It isperfect, Grace!” Lilian gushed while whipping out her handkerchief to dab at her eyes. “One would think it had been made for you!”
The softhearted woman hadn’t stopped weeping since she’d stepped out of the carriage, mumbling earnest apologies every time the emotions seized her, insisting that they were the happiest of tears.
Grace believed it, for Lilian had never been a good liar, and there could be no mistaking the gleam in her blue eyes as anything but the most overwhelming joy.
“If I had a much smaller bust, perhaps,” Grace said out of the corner of her mouth because she was struggling to breathe.
The gown itself was exceptionally beautiful—a vibrant creation of ivory silk and the richest hue of what the dressmaker hadcalled ‘thistle purple,’ though Lilian had whispered that it had a redder undertone than a thistle and was more the color of mulberry juice.
It was trimmed at the hem, sleeves, bodice, and down the front of the skirts with the most elegant ribbon of gold embroidered on cream silk, and had ivory petticoats to match, gauzy sleeves, and a golden belt, like a chatelaine, for the waist. It was a gown fit for a queen… or a Lady of Clan MacLogan.
Almost.
“I want my husband to like it,” Grace wheezed, craning her neck to peek through the gap in the doorway of the back room, making sure Hunter wasn’t stealing a glimpse. “But I don’t want to be a distraction for everyone, worrying if I am about to…spill outat any moment. I should also like to breathe, if possible.”
Hunter had been directed to the main room of the shop, where he kept watch over Ellie, who had made the dressmaker rather exasperated with all of her sartorial ideas. Both had been banned from entering the back room.
The dressmaker stifled a laugh and nodded emphatically. “I quite understand, Me Lady. There is a delicate balance between a shapely bosom and an obscene one.”
She unfurled a length of string, getting rather close to Grace as she measured her bust. Pinching the spot with her fingers, she took the string to the workbench and made a mark with a chunk of chalk.
“It shouldnae be too difficult,” she said. “I can have it altered in… two days, if that is agreeable?”
Grace nodded. “Two days would be perfect, thank you.”
“Now, shall we get that off ye?” the dressmaker asked, though she was already behind Grace, tugging at the laces of the bodice, freeing her from that beautifully crafted prison. “Me Lady, do ye think ye could help me?”
Lilian pointed to herself.
The dressmaker nodded, huffing and puffing a little.
Staring at herself in the long mirror before her, Grace watched her cheeks flame, her dignity vanishing with each rough tug and jolt of Lilian and the dressmaker struggling to get her out of the gown again.
It wasn’t the first time she had been embarrassed in a dressmaker’s shop, and she doubted it would be the last, though shehadhoped she had left thatparticular hurdle behind in London. After all, Mrs. Dunn at Lockton had never struggled.
That is where I shall get my gowns when I am Lady MacLogan.
A smile crept onto her lips, reflected by the woman in the mirror.
I will be Lady MacLogan. Hunter’s wife.
It wasn’t until that moment that it began to feel real. Her future, her choice, stretching out before her with no dread whatsoever, for the first time in her life.
Just then, Lilian burst into tears again, holding her handkerchief to her mouth as she wailed, “You are just so beautiful, Grace! My goodness, you will be the most beautiful bride there ever was. I think I may die of happiness!”
Grace laughed, and, wearing just her shift, as if they were back at Horndean, getting ready for bed in their shared room, she walked over to her friend, put her arms around her, and held her with all the gratitude and affection she possessed.
