Read Online Miss Molly Robbins Designs a Seduction by Jayne Fresina - Free Book Online

lightly. “You may call upon me, Robbins, now that you are returned. I was planning a new wardrobe for the summer myself.”
    Molly granted her a little smile but made no commitment. She prepared to move on, but the lady stopped her again.
    “I daresay I know your client.”
    “I daresay. But she would not like me to disclose her identity. And I am always discreet.” With a nod, Molly hurried onward, leaving both ladies on the pavement behind her.
    The next morning she was surprised by a visitor. It was not quite twelve when her awestruck landlady, with lace cap askew and flour on her hands, brought the guest to her room and announced, “Lady Anne Rothespur to see Miss Margaret Robbins.”
    A slender creature with a piquant face, shining blue eyes, and a short dark fringe of hair under her bonnet came swiftly through the door, already talking. “So sorry to disturb you this early, Miss Robbins, and my governess says I should have sent a card first, but since I have more than thirty balls and dinner parties to attend already this Season, you can see I’m desperate for your services. Do say you’ll have time to take me on. I’m afraid I’m rather an odd shape—like a damn plum pudding, my brother says.”
    Eyeing the tiny sash at the visitor’s waist, Molly could only conclude her brother, whoever he was, liked to tease.
    “Jumping Jacks, what a small room you have here. Are these your designs? How perfectly precious.”
    At first, Molly had no idea how the young lady had found her. Then she remembered that St. John Rothespur, the Earl of Saxonby, was a close friend of Carver Danforthe’s. This must be the younger sister who was sixteen and had come up to London to make her debut that Season. Obviously she would have had gowns already made, but someone had sent her to Molly for more. The chirpy creature dashed about the room as if she had wheels upon her feet, examining the sketches on the wall and the vase of dried lavender stalks, even the prospect from the window.
    “Well, this is very…quaint, Miss Robbins.” She stared at the flaking wall plaster, shivered, and rubbed her arms under a ruffled tippet. “Very…cozy.”
    Molly urged her to sit while they discussed designs, but the lady preferred to move about in busy circles, talking the entire time. “I really don’t have any opinions on color or material, so I’ll leave that up to you, and since my brother doesn’t want me to embarrass him, he’d better be prepared to pay any price. He doesn’t care much for these wide collars. He says they make me look like a bat.”
    “You mean the pelerine en ailes d’oiseau . It can broaden the shoulders too much, but I like to soften the shape with a few layers.”
    “Oh, that is the Princess Victoria on your wall. She’s just a little younger than me, you know. I hear she’s very amiable and accomplished. But, of course, my brother says everyone is amiable compared to me. He says I’m a damn inconvenience. He says ‘damn’ quite a lot.”
    Eventually she stood still long enough for Molly to take down a few measurements.
    “I want to look sultry and sophisticated,” she exclaimed. “Do you think it’s possible? Is there any hope? My brother says I’m not in the least ladylike, and that it would take an entire team of fairy godmothers to turn me into a Society belle. I do so want to prove him wrong.”
    Molly finally squeezed some words in. “We can but try, my lady.”
    The customer stayed for half an hour and then left as suddenly as she’d arrived, clasping Molly’s hand warmly and exclaiming that she had the greatest confidence in her abilities, since she’d come so highly recommended.
    Bemused, standing by her window, Molly watched the young lady being gently chided by a thin-faced, elderly woman—probably the disapproving governess she’d mentioned—and then the two figures climbed into the Rothespurs’ carriage and departed. She’d never expected clients to come to her lodgings in