Page 36 of A Duchess for his Family

“It is unnecessary.”

“So are chandeliers,” Frances replied. “Yet one does not sit in darkness merely to prove economy.”

“This is not a chandelier.”

“No, it is much more becoming.”

Sophia returned her gaze to the gown. The silk seemed almost luminous beneath the sun. She could imagine how it might feel against her skin, cool at first, then warming with her body. She could imagine entering a room in it. More dangerously, she could imagine Benedict seeing her.

Her pulse gave a small, traitorous leap.

“It is too fine for me,” she said quietly.

Emma’s hand stilled upon the fabric. Frances’s teasing expression vanished.

“Sophia,” Emma spoke tenderly.

Sophia wished at once that she had chosen her words more carefully.

“I only meant that I have never worn anything like it.”

“Then it is time you did,” Frances replied.

Sophia shook her head. “You are both being absurd.”

“We are being sisters,” Emma said gently.

Frances lifted the gown from the box with careful hands and held it against Sophia. The silk fell in long, elegant folds before her, pale against the darker muslin of her morning dress. Sophia caught sight of herself in the tall looking glass across from her.

For one suspended moment, she hardly recognized the woman reflected there. The color softened her complexion and brought warmth to her hazel eyes. The embroidered bodice appeared graceful rather than ostentatious, and the skirt seemed designed not to overwhelm her but to move with her.

Frances smiled triumphantly. “There.”

Sophia looked away first.

“It requires accessories,” Emma observed.

“It requires returning.”

“You attempted that,” Frances reminded her. “The gown has demonstrated a stronger character than you anticipated.”

“I might give it away.”

“To whom?” Frances asked. “A woman of precisely your height, coloring, and measurements?”

Sophia opened her mouth. Nothing useful emerged.

Emma began examining the sleeves. “Gloves in cream, perhaps. Nothing too bright.”

“And slippers,” Frances added. “Pale satin.”

“I possess slippers.”

“Not worthy of this gown.”

Sophia folded her arms. “I am not spending the Duke’s money on unnecessary ornaments.”

“Then spend it on necessary ones,” Emma suggested.