Read Online Love Then Begins by Gail McEwen, Tina Moncton - Free Book Online Page B

immediate possession of a beautiful fur-trimmed cloak that had caught his eye while the first purchase was being wrapped. When he learned that Hibbings also had a matching hat and muff in the back, he turned a deaf ear to her worries over extravagance and purchased those as well. Despite his initial reluctance to leave the warm seclusion of Clyne Cottage and interrupt their honeymoon, his spirits rose as he looked around him, and he remarked how odd it was that he had never before realised how much fun shopping could be.
    “Now then,” he said briskly, eyes darting brightly around as he escorted her back to the street, clad in her elegant new outerwear, “Is there such thing as a dressmaker in Clanough?”
    Holly replied in the affirmative, but added that he certainly needed no such direction. Baugham persisted, refusing to budge another step until he was told, so she had to give in. She loved leaning on his arm as they walked down the street, she loved being addressed as “your ladyship” or “Lady Baugham” by the people they passed, and—she had to admit—she loved, just a little bit, the way he spoilt her once they arrived at Mrs Gilley’s fine establishment.
    “That brown velvet,” he declared after looking around for only a moment at the fabrics on display, “Something soft and long-sleeved, I should think, for winter. And not too much of that frilly, lacy thing around the neck . . . ” Any further instructions hung in the air as his attention was taken by something in the back.
    “Is that . . . ?” he strode through curtain that separated the public area from the workroom and fingered a bolt of fabric balanced against a table. “It is!” he cried in triumph, calling his wife back to see.
    “Holly, look at this green! Now, I think I should like to see you in a dress of this colour.”
    “You have,” she replied dryly.
    She let him cast about in his mind for a time before relieving him of his confusion.
    “At the Tristam’s.”
    He still looked confused, so she prodded him a little further.
    “Remember? The soiree - musicale ? The one and only time you saw me at the Tristam’s?”
    “Ah,” he said as understanding slowly dawned, “no wonder I like this colour. You were very beautiful that night.”
    His words made Holly flush with pleasure nearly as much as his second order for “something pretty for everyday” made Mrs. Gilley do the same, but she did insist on two dresses being quite enough and that it was high time for tea.
    “Now you see,” she added smugly, “walking out with me is not as absurd as you first thought, is it?”
    “That is not it at all,” he said and leaned close while Mrs Gilley turned away for a moment, “it just means I am bored with undressing you of the same garments day after day . . . ”
    He had to laugh as she blushed furiously but a kiss on the cheek placated her and she took his arm again. He escorted her outside once more and they walked around the corner to the tea shop where, to her ladyship’s dismay and his lordship’s delight, they ran into the very family they had just been discussing.
    “Lady Tristam! Sir Torquil!” Baugham called, smiling broadly as he determinedly led Holly across the room directly to their table. “Miss Patience, Miss Prudence,” he nodded in greeting. The couple was showered with greetings, squeals of delight and good wishes, but then he turned his attention to the eldest daughter who was uncharacteristically quiet.
    “Miss Tristam?”
    Singled out as she was, Primrose Tristam could not help but return the greeting.
    “Lord Baugham,” and shifting her eyes to Holly, “my lady.”
    Suddenly Holly realised this was one of those moments every woman has dreamt about, and Holly was no different in that respect. The particulars had perhaps not been clearly defined, but the circumstances fit the bill exactly. It was a golden opportunity to actually live and speak the words that had carefully been formed and perfected in the