Free A Strange Affair by Rosemary Smith

four day dresses and two evening gowns,’ Mrs Harding told me. ‘I’ll just get my seamstress, Polly, to help me bring them in.’
    While Mrs Harding was gone I went back over once more to the gown, marvelling at how the three roses at the neckline looked so real.
    ‘You are really taken with that gown, aren’t you,’ said Justine indulgently just as Mrs Harding returned with Polly and a couple of my dresses. Trying them on I marvelled that the dressmaker had got everything right from the size to the length. I looked at my reflection in the mirror at the lilac dress I was wearing, the neckline and wrists edged with cream lace and just as I had felt wearing the wine-coloured velvet I could hardly believe it was me.
    It was the same with the other gowns in pinks and blues, I was overwhelmed by it all and by the time I tried my ballgown on I was almost in tears, realising my good fortune and I knew that I had Kieran to thank for marrying me a few weeks ago. How I prayed that things would work out between us for we had certainly reached a tacit understanding during the past week.
    Polly and Mrs Harding slipped the ball gown over my head and it fell into place with little arranging, the turquoise silk shimmered in the daylight and I bent down to pick up the hem allowing me to admire the small turquoise flowers which had been stitched perfectly to it.
    ‘You look beautiful, Barbara, my brother will not be able to resist you when he sees you, and I suggest a long pair of white gloves will finish the effect admirably. Don’t you agree, Mrs Harding?’ She looked to the dressmaker for advice.
    ‘I agree totally,’ she said.
    ‘Would you like to wear one of your new gowns for our return to the castle?’ Justine asked.
    ‘Could I?’ I asked, not having thought it.
    ‘Of course you can,’ laughed Justine.
    Reluctantly I let them remove the ball gown, the soft silk feeling luxurious on my skin. I selected a cornflower blue gown to wear back to the castle, it had a high necked pointed bodice with full skirts and lace of perfect blue stitched at the neckline.
    As we left Mrs Harding’s I felt a different woman, my experiences since I had arrived at Rowan Castle had transformed me from a quiet, shy, retiring young woman into a self-assured one.
    ‘Mistress!’ exclaimed Megan as I stepped into my room. ‘You look right beautiful and the colour suits you perfectly.’
    ‘Thank you,’ I replied enjoying the compliment. Megan was replenishing the fire and as she got to her feet she asked where the other gowns were. ‘They are following later,’ I told her.
    ‘I can’t wait to see them, truly I can’t,’ she said excitedly. ‘The master was looking for you earlier,’ she then told me. ‘I told him you’d be back mid-afternoon. I hope I did the right thing.’
    ‘Absolutely the right thing,’ I assured her. When she left I sat on the armchair by the fire arranging my lovely skirts around me and musing over what Kieran wanted to seek me out for and I was soon to find out for no sooner had I thought it than he knocked on the door and entered quietly. For some time he stood there looking at me before he spoke.
    ‘You look charming, Barbara,’ he said at last. ‘I hope that you will wear it often.’
    ‘If it pleases you, Sir I shall,’ I told him, hot colour suddenly suffusing my cheeks.
    ‘I would be most pleased if you would after all these weeks call me by my Christian name again,’ he said thoughtfully.
    ‘Kieran,’ I said out loud, letting the name fall from my lips like a caress.
    ‘It is so easy, isn’t it?’ he said laughing and I realised that he was right, I had used his name before, but not since our arrival at the castle. This surely was a step forward.
    ‘Are you comfortable in here, Barbara?’ he enquired, his eyes dancing around the room, his gaze resting momentarily on the bed.
    ‘I am very comfortable,’ I assured him.
    ‘There was no need for you to vacate the marital bedroom,’ he