Free The Tempestuous Debutante: Book 4 in the Cotillion Ball Series (Crimson Romance) by Becky Lower Page A

soft gray wool tweed cap to examine. She placed it on her head and glanced in the mirror.
    “This would be a great cap for Parr, don’t you think, Colleen?”
    “Since when are you thinking of buying presents for someone other than yourself, missy?”
    Jasmine squirmed a bit. Colleen was right. She always had more things she wanted to buy for herself than she had money from her allowance. Still, Parr had not charged her for her riding lessons, and she should pay him back. And his current cap was looking mighty dreadful.
    “It means nothing, Colleen. I merely think he should receive some compensation for helping me with my riding, that’s all. He refused my money, but he can’t refuse a gift, can he?” She primped in front of the mirror again, viewing the cap from as many angles as she could. “Yes, I think this is a good choice.”
    Blake finished up with his customer and moved to their side.
    “You startled me for a moment, Miss Fitzpatrick. I thought you were Heather.”
    Jasmine extended her gloved hand to him. “Well, you should have no problem telling us apart now, Mr. Morgan, since I’m the only one left in town. Nice to see you again.”
    “And may I say you look lovely this morning? That dress is a perfect color for you. You have a good eye.”
    Jasmine smoothed the skirt of her lavender silk gown, which fell in three flounces, each one with a darker color at the edge, and straightened out the fringe on the bodice. Despite the fact this man had relegated her to the sidelines last season in his pursuit of her sister, she couldn’t help but be pleased by his comments on her attire. Especially since this was another of last year’s styles that she and Colleen had updated.
    “What brings you here today?”
    “Well, for starters, I’ll buy this cap for a friend. And I want to talk over a business proposition with you.”
    Blake Morgan’s eyes widened. “A business proposition? What could you possibly know about business?”
    Jasmine’s spine stiffened at his comment. “Mr. Morgan, some of us women want more from life than to sit around and embroider samplers while orchestrating our children’s lives. I want to talk to you about becoming a partner in your business.”
    “Does your father know about this? We talked, briefly, last year about expanding my business, but nothing ever came of it. And with the rumblings that England is cutting back on our exports, it seems likely that nothing will happen this year, either.”
    Jasmine blew out a breath. “I remember hearing you’d spoken with Papa about opening a women’s dress shop. But I’ve come to talk to you about offering ladies’ shoes and boots for sale, along with your collection of men’s hats and footwear.”
    “Well, I’ll be. I hadn’t thought of ladies’ shoes and boots before. Do you have any experience in the design and production of them?”
    Jasmine quickly filled him in on the theft of her clever design by Philippe Louboutin, and her discussion with Colleen’s cobbler about producing her designs.
    “I’m not a fan of sharing my hard work, and especially not getting the credit I deserve. I have many more boot designs that we can manufacture. We can compete with Monsieur Louboutin, and give him a run for his money. What do you say?”
    “Do you have some of your designs with you?”
    Jasmine nearly jumped up and down in her excitement. However, she controlled herself, and acted with the decorum that would be better suited to a business arrangement. “I brought some of my boot designs with me today, yes.” Colleen handed her the sketchpad she’d been working on furiously since the previous day, when she visited the tack room on Alistair’s property. Jasmine opened it to the first page of completed boot designs and handed it to Blake. He sat with the pad on top of the desk while Jasmine and Colleen took seats on the opposite side of the piece of heavy furniture.
    The room was deadly quiet, except for the soft hush made as