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‘I must say I don’t wear them very often myself since I tend to go for trousers rather than skirts, but just once in a while I have to admit there’s something rather special and sexy about wearing stockings.
‘This is one of our most popular ranges, especially with brides,’ she said, removing a delicate garter belt of white silk and lace from the rack and holding it out for Lucianna’s inspection. ’We do a matching strapless bustier-cum-corset piece, which is ideal for strapless dresses, but if it’s just the belt you want I can definitely recommend this one. And these are the briefs that go with it,’ she added, reaching for a pair which Lucianna could see on a display behind her.
‘Of course, you’ll probably need a small size,’ she added thoughtfully, subjecting Lucianna to a professional inspection. ‘And if you were thinking of buying a bra to go with them as well, then I’d definitely recommend that we measure you properly to make sure we get the right fit.’
In the end it was a good two hours before Lucianna finally left the shop.
In addition to the suspender belt and two pairs of stockings she had also bought the briefs and a pretty bra that matched the belt and briefs, although she had complained to the salesgirl that there was so little of it that she wasn’t sure how on earth it could be so expensive.
‘Wait until the man in your life sees you wearing it,’ the salesgirl had advised her with a grin. ‘Then you’ll know it was worth every penny! Trust me…I know!’
She had also purchased two other bras in a shimmery and virtually transparent soft, coffee-coloured Lycra, and their matching strings, which the girl had assured her were just the thing to wear beneath white or any kind of transparent fabric, since, once on, their unusual colour meant that they could not be detected.
Once outside again in the sunshine, Lucianna decided that the odd and unfamiliar sense of lightheartedness and recklessness that seemed to be propelling her across the piazza in the direction of a shoe shop the salesgirl had recommended to her must have something to do with the fact that she hadn’t eaten her breakfast—just like the disturbing mental images that kept on popping up out of nowhere, showing herself dressed in all her new finery—including the new underwear—whilst Jake gazed on in stunned awe!
Why on earth it should be Jake rather than John who was stunned speechless by her transformation she had no clear idea…Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that it was Jake who had suggested she buy the stuff in the first place.
The saleswoman in the shoe shop showed every sign of being equally helpful and knowledgeable about the goods she was selling as the girl in the underwear shop had been, but by now Lucianna was well into her own stride and, with an aplomb and sense of assurance which startled herself a little, she very quickly and calmly picked out a pair of lightweight shoes to wear with her new silk suit plus a pair of strappy sandals which, as yet, she had nothing in her wardrobe to wear with—unless, of course, you counted the stockings and suspenders!
It was now definitely time for her to go home, Lucianna decided dizzily as she emerged from the shop clutching her parcels, but first she needed a cup of coffee. And it was whilst she was seated on the pavement under an umbrella to protect her from the heat of the sun that she noticed the banner hanging in the window of the chemist’s on the other side of the road, announcing that they were giving free make-up demonstrations and make-overs to anyone who wished to avail themselves of this treat.
Without knowing quite how it had happened, Lucianna found herself inside the chemist’s enjoying the cool draught of their air-conditioning whilst she studied the vast array of cosmetics on sale.
Her brothers had teased the life out of her when she had first started experimenting with make-up in her early teens, and David had even gone so far as to make her wash off the garish red lipstick and bright blue eyeshadow which she had secretly saved her pocket money for weeks to buy. But the kind of make-up on sale here was very different from the cheap, brightly coloured cosmetics she had bought as a young girl, she realised. Very different…
‘Would you like some help?’
As she turned her head towards the smiling salesgirl approaching her, Lucianna bowed to the inevitable.
Back at the farmhouse David glanced frowningly at his watch.
‘Luce can’t still be shopping,’ he told Janey. ‘She’s been gone for over four hours.’
‘Of course she can,’ Janey replied smugly, adding with a smile, ‘She’s a woman.’
Thoroughly baffled, David retreated into the farming article he had been reading. He might not be an expert on the female sex like Jake was, but he knew when he was beaten!
‘It would be just your luck for this—’ Janey patted her small bump lovingly ‘—to turn out to be a girl,’ she told him, correctly guessing what he was thinking.
‘Girl or boy, I don’t honestly mind,’ David told her truthfully, putting down his magazine and walking round the table to take her in his arms and hold her, hold them both, tenderly. ‘In fact, so far as I’m concerned you can go ahead and produce a whole tribe of girls…’
‘I can produce?’ Janey scoffed. ‘You’re the one who decides what sex our offspring are going to be, and as for us having a tribe…’
CHAPTER SEVEN
LUCIANNA frowned critically as she studied her reflection in her bedroom mirror. With David and Janey out of the way on a rare night out together, she had taken the opportunity to experiment with her new make-up purchases, and not just her make-up, she acknowledged as she stared intently into her mirror, trying to gauge if she had followed the salesgirl’s advice, or if she ought to add just a touch more depth to the eyeshadow she had so carefully and nervously applied.
‘With your colouring, taupes and muted colours will suit your eyes best,’ the girl had told her, laughing sympathetically when Lucianna had relaxed enough to tell her ruefully about her unhappy experiments with bright blue eyeshadow.
Now, with the taupe eyeshadow highlighting the size and colour of her eyes, Lucianna was slightly startled to see how both that and the softly pretty coral lipstick she was wearing brought out and emphasised the femininity of her facial features in a way which made her look and feel very different from her normal workaday self.
Would John be similarly surprised?
He had rung her earlier in the day, but she had had a customer waiting to collect her car and so their conversation had been rushed and not very satisfactory. John had sounded distant and on edge, more concerned with telling her all about the way he was being fêted by his colleagues in the Canadian office than interested in talking to her about their own relationship.
Their relationship.
Rather nervously Lucianna stepped back from the mirror and studied her reflection full-length, forcing herself not to look away from what she saw but to examine herself. It was just as well she wasn’t wearing any blusher—the rosy glow colouring her skin was more than colour enough—and even though she knew it was ridiculous to feel embarrassed by her own reflection, and in the privacy of her own bedroom, Lucianna couldn’t help it. The reflection in front of her was just so very different from the one she was used to seeing.
