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“What has got you acting so strangely?” Chloe asked as Rosaline nodded her head another time. “You have a crick in your neck?” she jested, forcing Rosaline to do it again. “You will do soon at the rate you are going.”
Chloe looked to the door, seeing what had made Rosaline so excited. Maeve was there, hurrying through the door dressed finely in one of Chloe’s gowns and a bonnet with loose matching duck egg blue ribbons. Yet she was not alone. Behind her, Leo had arrived. He strode easily into the shop, looking dapper himself in what Chloe judged to be a new waistcoat.
“Oh, Chloe!” Maeve exclaimed, so full of excitement that she hurried across the shop, tottering on her toes. Behind her, Leo caught Chloe’s eye and smiled. She couldn’t help returning that smile with vigor.
How can he have such an effect on me?
It was as if her wish to smile had stretched through every fiber of her body, encapsulating her in a kind of happiness she had not known was possible.
“What do you think, Maeve?” Chloe asked as her friend took her hands. “Do you like it? Please tell me you do.”
“I adore it.” Maeve squeezed her hands and turned her head back and forth, just as Rosaline stood behind the counter, admiring from afar. “It is the success I always wanted for you.” As Maeve spoke, more ladies came into the shop.
Chloe felt her lips part in wonder. Never could she have hoped for such a successful first few minutes. This new group of ladies followed by their maids were especially eager, taking up bolts of material and admiring certain designs that hung in the windows.
“Oh, how am I to remember all their names?” Chloe whispered as Maeve moved to her side.
“Here, let me.” Maeve quickly took a slip of paper out from the counter, and the pencil Chloe usually used to do her drawings, then wrote down the names of those she knew in the shop. Chloe hurried to look over them, as Maeve pointed each lady out. “From now on, you’ll have to remember them, for believe me, they will remember you!”
Chloe took the note and committed the names to memory.
The shop was quickly becoming packed. Maeve moved to stand beside Chloe on her side of the counter, and Leo stepped close too. When he knocked over a small display of silver thimbles, he managed to turn and catch them before they hit the floor.
Maeve didn’t seem to notice, for she was too busy talking at length about the beauty of the shop.
“Oh, the designs in the window, they are quite perfect, Chloe. People will not stop looking at them . . .”
Chloe was quite distracted from her friends’ words. She was busy looking at Leo. As he replaced the silver thimbles to their display, he shared another smile with her. It was a private one, as if no one else was in the shop but the two of them.
“What do you think, my lord?” Chloe asked, eager to have his opinion. She was careful this time to address him formally, as they were in front of others. The moment the words were out of her mouth she found she missed the informal and more private world they shared together, away from prying eyes. “Do you like it?”
He didn’t even turn to look at the shop, but he held her gaze, that charming countenance still in place.
“I cannot praise you enough for how wonderfully you have done,” he said with ease. “Look at the place. You would think you had filled the shop with diamonds for the interest it had attracted.”
“I took your advice regarding the table at the far end . . .” Chloe stepped toward him, eager to speak to him, but she couldn’t finish the sentence. Ladies were moving toward her.
“Miss Green? Oh, Miss Green, I simply must have your opinion on a new gown. I have been longing for this day ever since I heard of you opening your own shop. How could I not be the first customer through your door to ask for a design?” The lady was so excitable that Chloe had to turn away from Leo and deal with her customer.
He passed behind her, brushing a hand to her arm in a subtle way. She supposed it was his way of showing that he didn’t mind the interruption and wanted her to be with her customers, yet it had another effect altogether. That simple touch started a tremor through her body. As Leo crossed the shop with his sister, turning their attention to the different materials, Chloe wished he would return to her side.
“Here, tell me everything you have in mind.” Chloe fixed her attention on the customer and pulled out a sketchpad from beneath her counter. “Once I know what you like, we can put together a design.”
Chloe was soon absorbed in discussing the needs of her new client, a Lady Chartwell, but occasionally, she was distracted. It became swiftly apparent that Leo was not the only gentleman in the shop, but Lord Gloucester had arrived too.
It hardly takes a great leap of imagination to wonder why he is here . . .
Chloe smirked at her own jest, watching out of the corner of her eye as Lord Gloucester approached Rosaline. They greeted one another with plain excitement, and Rosaline blushed, almost as red as her bright hair. After a couple of minutes of talking, Chloe walked off to fetch something for her client. She purposefully walked past Rosaline and Lord Gloucester, the better to hear their conversation.
“I came as I am in need of a gown for my sister,” he said rather hurriedly.
“Well, I’m sure Chloe can help you. Shall I take you to her?”
“She has a queue, and I am more than content to wait. If you have nowhere to be, Miss Baker, I would be happy to wait with you.” His easy words made Rosaline blush all the more.
Chloe picked up a sample of silk and used the opportunity to push a stool behind Rosaline.
“What is that for?” Rosaline whispered to her distractedly.
