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“The happiness on their faces.” Chloe smiled, clearly recalling that feeling. “It was a feeling like no other. It made me wonder, why should gowns be so expensive?”
Leo quirked an eyebrow, finding humor in her comment.
“Do I need to remind you of all your outgoings? How expensive the silk is, the lace, not to mention the time you put into creating each design and then making it?” Leo laughed at the idea. “It is naturally expensive.”
“Yes, but I wish it wasn’t so.” She leaned forward in the boat, making it bob a little beneath them. Leo paused with the oars, the better to watch her. “What if there was a way to produce a line of gowns that were not so expensive, but were specifically sold for ladies like Rosaline? For those who long for something beautiful to call their own and wear on special occasions.”
Leo was dumbstruck for a minute, staring at her.
“Do you think I am a fool?” she whispered.
“A fool? No! No indeed. An idealist, well . . .” His pause for comic effect made her lips quirk a little. “It would be a difficult thing to accomplish. It would be a risk to your business.”
“I know.” She nodded solemnly.
“Yet it is what you want, is it not?”
“To make people like Rosaline happy? To see those smiles again?” Chloe shrugged as if the matter were a plain thing. “Does the sun come up in the morning? Of course, it is what I long for.”
“Then perhaps it is doable.” Leo sat forward, taken by the idea.
“Do you really think so?” Chloe moved forward an inch, the two of them coming quite close together.
“I could help. There could be a way to source materials from elsewhere, cheaper variants. Would you like that?”
“Yes, please. I would be glad of your help.” Chloe looked so excited by the idea, bouncing on her toes that Leo’s mind ran wild, of other ways he could help her, for the chance to see her so excited again.
“Then we have an accord.” Leo nodded. With his mind made up, he lifted the oars once again. As he began to draw up ideas in his head, thinking of how to accomplish this next dream of Chloe’s, he felt a certainty grow inside of him.
What kindness it is for her to want this for others. To risk her business, just to see others happy.
He knew then in that moment how he felt about her. He could not doubt it, for the power of the feeling was that strong.
I am in love with Chloe.
Chapter 15
Chloe
“If you yawn another time . . .” Leo’s words made Chloe abruptly close her lips and look up.
Beside her, Leo was sat in a corner of the room above the body of the shop, pouring over some papers on a desk. With his tailcoat discarded at his side and his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, she had become rather distracted looking at him in the candlelight.
“I didn’t yawn,” Chloe lied, as she tried to stifle yet another yawn.
“Hmm.” Leo pointed to her in emphasis as she hid the yawn and turned her focus back to the gown she was working on. “Keep yawning, and we shall have to stop for the night.”
“Not yet,” Chloe pleaded. Since she and Leo had gone for their row across the river two days before, each evening they had spent together in this way. Chloe would work on gowns for her customers, and Leo would sit beside her, making a plan for her new line of affordable gowns. “I am excited by the progress I am making.”
“Well, the signs are certainly promising.” Leo was a man of business once again. He cleared his throat, sat straight, and pushed his sleeves further past his elbows, appearing fully in control as he laid out the papers. Chloe couldn’t help admiring him in that moment, for he had command of this world in a way she did not have, and he did it with ease. “A different cotton merchant will certainly help to provide cheaper material. As for the beads . . .” He pushed forward another sheet of paper, urging her to take a look at it.
She lowered the gown with her needle and thread on her lap, before peering at the paper beside her on the table. It listed two new suppliers for beads and pearls.
“These are second-hand suppliers.” Leo gestured to the names. “The price is considerably cheaper for something that is really the same as when it was new.”
“It is mad how much cheaper it is.” Chloe blew out a heavy sigh when she saw the difference in prices.
“Just so.” Leo nodded. “Then this is promising too.” He pulled out a third sheet of paper. “I made some enquiries earlier today about a different supplier for laces. I found this gentleman.” He presented another name on another sheet of paper.
