The Duke and the Dressmaker by Eva Devon

Author:Eva Devon
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Historical Romance; Regency Romance; Historical Romance Books; Regency Romance Books; Romance Books; HEA; Happily Ever After; Once Upon a Wallflower; The Duke and the Dressmaker; Eva Devon; The Beast and the Bookseller; Regency Historical Romance; The Best and the Bookseller by Eva Devon; Duke; Duchess; Europe; England; Women’s Fiction; Women’s Historical Romance; Women’s Fiction Romance; Scandalous Historical Fiction; Opposites Attract; Spicy Regency Books; Spicy Historical Books; Spicy Regency Romance; Adult Romance Books; The Duke and the Dressmaker; The Duke and the Dressmaker by Eva Devon
Publisher: Entangled Publishing, LLC
Published: 2023-08-14T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

The last weeks felt almost like a dream. For the first time since they were small, Lily and Violet knew comfort. Comfort without fear of having it stolen away.

Everyone deserved to be safe. Everyone deserved to be warm, and everyone deserved to have beauty about them. Lily felt that in her very bones. But the way the world had been set up, most would never achieve such things no matter how some strove against the injustices of it.

Now, here in England, so many starved and shivered in cold rooms, huddled in with others, desperate to live, even when they could barely afford a small space in which to lay down. And yet, here in this sumptuous part of London, Violet had a room to herself as big as the dress shop itself. So did Lily.

The ceiling soared overhead, painted with a mural of Venus being praised by dryads. The walls were covered in a beautiful soft pink watered silk; roses were painted onto it. Beautiful white plasterwork of feathers and flowers covered the walls. The wood floor was warmed by an Axminster rug of soft ivory, with lavender and sage accents. A gold-edged mirror hung above the vast fireplace, reflecting the light from the windows, making the room seem one full of delight.

It was a candy box of a room, one that would make the heart feel full of joy when they awoke in the morning. It was so different from the darkness of where they had lived these last ten years, it almost did not feel real. She had become accustomed to a vast, beautiful house visiting her friend Elizabeth in her own ducal abode.

But this was different. This was going to be her house now. She was not going to be seen as a servant, a companion, her sister’s educator, a visitor, or as a dressmaker. She was going to be the mistress of it.

Tears stung her eyes. Tears of relief, and yet she did not know the full price she would pay for this sort of security. She could only hope beyond hope that it would be worth it. And as Violet sat before the small pianoforte tucked into the corner of the room, tracing her hands over the ivory keys, Lily’s heart soared.

Violet, even when she had been but five years old, had loved to play the pianoforte. She’d had the best music teachers. Some had even said she should have toured all of Europe and played for the heads of state. Some had said she would be as welcomed as Mozart’s sister, but poverty and fear had thrust them into darkness.

They had not had a pianoforte to practice upon since Paris.

But here, Violet sat at her own instrument and touched the keys reverently.

Memories crashed back onto Lily, and she pressed her hand to her lips.

Lily crossed over to the pianoforte, tracing the painted wood as her sister played. It was the most beautiful instrument she had ever seen, and she wondered…had it been her

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.