Page 93 of Lady for a Season
She leant her head on his shoulder for a moment, revelling in the intimacy of the gesture in public.
Much of the rest of the day was taken up with polite conversation with their guests, before everyone retired to their rooms early to begin preparing for the ball.
“I will leave off your shift,” said Celine, “We do not want it bulking out the dress, it will sit better this way.”
She dressed Maggie, first in her longline corset, which cupped and lifted her breasts and came down as far as her waist, added a pink silk petticoat and tied her white silk stockings with ribbons,her white dancing slippers with rose-coloured ribbons. Finally, she drew the dress over Maggie’s head, the pale pink silk bodice and its silk roses giving way to a white silk gauze skirt which, sitting over the pink silk below, took on a rosy shimmering glow when she moved. All over the gauze skirt were worked tiny rosy silk petals, as though they had fallen from the roses on her bodice.
“It is so beautiful,” breathed Maggie.
“Wait until you have these,” said Celine, turning to the two large leather boxes at her side, one square, one a long rectangle.
“What are they?”
“This,” said Celine, gleaming with a secret, “is the Buckingham diamondparure.”
“The what?”
“Aparureis a set of jewels,” explained Celine. “The Buckinghams have several, of course, but these are the Buckingham diamonds, and they are exquisite.”
She lifted the lid of the box and Maggie gasped. Inside, laid out on black velvet, were a tiara, a necklace, two bracelets and a pair of earrings, all made of magnificent, glittering diamonds larger than she had ever seen.
“These are yours now,” said Celine with satisfaction. “They are worn only by the Duchess of Buckingham. Some of the other sets are occasionally lent to a relative, but not these. Only you have the right to wear these now.”
Carefully, she lifted each item and placed them on Maggie’s head, around her neck and wrists, then finally inserted the earrings.
“I feel like a queen,” murmured Maggie.
“One more thing.”
“There is more?”
Celine opened the second box and lifted out three huge ostrich plumes, creamy white and soft, trembling in her hands. She slideach one into Maggie’s hair and pinned them. “See, Your Grace,” she said, and Maggie turned to the looking glass.
“I am beautiful,” she managed at last, and her voice shook.
“You are,” agreed Celine.
There was a knock at the door.
“Enter,” called Maggie.
Edward stood in the doorway, in a dark blue silk that made his eyes a richer and deeper hue.
“You look so handsome,” Maggie said, smiling.
But he also looked angry. “Leave us,” he said to Celine. She curtseyed and closed the door behind her.
“Is – is something wrong?”
He crossed the space between them and pulled her to him so hard that she let out a cry. “How are you so beautiful?” he asked, one arm still holding her, the other hand cupping her face. “How?”
She tried to laugh but his mouth was on hers, his tongue already seeking hers, the kiss so passionate it left her breathless.
“Edward… they will be waiting for us downstairs.”
“I do not care,” he said. “They can wait.”
His movements grew slower. He pulled out each of the three feathers in her hair, dropping them onto her dressing table. His lips brushed her shoulders while his fingers unbuttoned her bodice, allowing the silk and gauze dress to fall to the floor, exposing her corset beneath it and the delicate silk ribbon which gathered the fabric around her breasts.
