Scandal Bound by Anita Mills

Author:Anita Mills [Mills, Anita]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: (¯`'•.¸//(*_*)\\¸.•'´¯), Romance
ISBN: 9780451148537
Publisher: Signet
Published: 1987-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

10

“YOU CANNOT BE serious, my lord,” Crawfurd sputtered indignantly. “I am a gentleman’s gentleman—not a lady’s maid! What would I know of such things?”

The carriage was stopped in front of a dressmaker’s shop in the city of York. A sign in the window indicated, “A large selection of the latest stuffs, twills, satins, and bombazines executed in the French style.” A card below proclaimed further, “A good variety of pelisses, dresses, millinery, flowers, and feathers of adornment.”

The marquess gave him a decidedly pained look. “Have I ever imposed on you before, Crawfurd?”

“Frequently. But I simply cannot do this.”

“Do you remember Leach?”

“Alex, do not tease Mr. Crawfurd. I shall choose my own gown, thank you.” Ellen reached for the door handle and started to twist it before Trent caught her arm.

“Goose! Would you have everyone see you like this? No, I did not think you would,” he noted smugly as a flush crept into her cheeks. “Just so. We cannot take you to Augusta Sandbridge’s dressed like a gypsy beggar, but we cannot openly take you shopping either.”

“And how am I to fit her, I ask?” Crawfurd continued to protest. “I have no experience in such things. Would you have me go in and say as nice as you please, ‘I should like a lady’s gown and whatever else ’tis necessary, but I am not precisely sure as to the size’? They should laugh me out of the place, my lord.”

“Oh, very well!” Trent snapped irritably as he owned the truth of the aggrieved valet’s complaint. “I suppose I shall have to see to it myself.”

Dobbs swung down and opened the carriage door with a flourish. “And would yer ’ave us walk th’ horses, yer lor’ship?”

“No. I shan’t be long.”

“Ellen wished she could have seen the expression of the modiste’s and shopgirl’s faces when the Marquess of Trent swept in and demanded a complete toilette for a lady of fashion on the instant. She was denied the treat, however, and he returned some twenty minutes later trailed by a manservant carrying two boxes. Trent took them and thrust them into the coach in front of him. “There—that should take care of everything, I believe,” he told her as he settled in across from her. “I have instructed Dobbs to seek a secluded lane where you may change.”

“I cannot dress in the open, Alex,” she told him flatly.

“Well, you certainly cannot dress in her drive either, can you?” he responded reasonably. “Crawfurd and I will get out while you dress. You will find everything you require in those boxes, I even thought of a hairbrush.”

“But there is not room. I cannot even stand to straighten my skirt, much less twist to do my buttons in such a narrow place.”

“Do you have a better notion, my dear?”

“No,” she admitted reluctantly, “but I shall feel the veriest fool.”

“It is a simple gown, Ellie, and should not require much help. And when you are done, Crawfurd will help you with your hair.”

The carriage rolled to a halt a short distance out of town, and Trent looked out the window before nodding.

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