Free Always a Princess by Alice Gaines

that, you do.”
    “Thank you.”
    “’is lordship was right to order a dress to match the color of your eyes, but you were right to choose the silk over the satin. It’s softer and brings out the blush to your skin.”
    “You’ll have me blushing in earnest if you don’t stop flattering me like that.”
    “Ain’t flattery.” Sadie hoisted herself to her feet with a grunt. Even as agile as she was, at Sadie’s age lifting her plump frame off the floor took some doing. Sadie walked around Eve, making approving noises, and finally positioned herself behind Eve, looking past her into the mirror. “You’re a beautiful woman, miss. ’is lordship has a keen eye.”
    “Has his lordship sent many other women to you to costume?” Eve asked, even though the answer held no importance to her whatsoever. Whomever he saw, whomever he dressed meant nothing to her.
    “Lord, no. But I’ve made many dresses for young things with hopes to catch his eye, and ain’t none of them caught it that I can see.”
    “These women tell you what man they’re hunting for?”
    “No, but I hear idle talk, all the same. They all want him, but none of them ’ave him.” Sadie puffed out the sleeves of the gown and then tugged them gently, just off Eve’s shoulders. “Tell me what you think.”
    Eve stared at herself in the mirror, still not believing what she saw there. Despite her small stature, Sadie’s dress made her look regal—everything she’d wanted Princess Eugenia to be but hadn’t managed on her own. Standing on a stool added to her height, of course, but even without it, she looked imposing. With its flat front and smallish bustle, the dress didn’t envelop her in hoops and petticoats but emphasized the length of her limbs and of her throat. And the silk—her own choice—brought out the color of her eyes but in an understated way.
    “It’s really wonderful, Sadie,” she said. “I couldn’t have imagined I’d ever look like this.”
    “Do you like the sleeves up or down? Down shows off a little bit of bosom, but not too much to my way of thinking.”
    “I don’t want to show too much bosom,” Eve agreed. But that wasn’t right. Philip Rosemont didn’t want her to show too much bosom, and his opinions didn’t matter. Although he had paid for the gown.
    “’is lordship said the same to me.” Sadie laughed. “Men’s funny. Love looking at women’s breasts but don’t want no one looking at their woman’s.”
    “I’m not his woman,” Eve insisted.
    “Saints, miss. I didn’t say you were.”
    She turned and took the dressmaker’s hands in hers. “Really. I’m not.”
    Sadie looked up into Eve’s face and gave a sweet smile. “I believe you. No need to get yourself all exercised about it.”
    Of course not. She wasn’t his woman, and she wasn’t going to be his woman. She was his cohort in larceny, and if he wanted to buy her a few dresses, that wasn’t anyone’s business but theirs. Still, Sadie had been so kind, and she couldn’t stand having Sadie disapprove of her as a fallen woman—or worse, pity her as a woman who’d reached for a man above her station and ended up no more than his toy.
    Oh, why was she tying herself into knots about this? Sadie obviously didn’t care, so why should she?
    “You could do worse than ’is lordship, though,” Sadie said. “A lot worse.”
    “Thank you, Sadie,” said a deep voice from the doorway. “But I doubt Miss Stanhope will ever agree with you.”
    Eve turned, still standing on the stool, and glanced over to find Lord Wesley on the threshold of the fitting room. Even lounging against the doorjamb, he filled the room with his presence.
    “Lord love ya, there you are, dear boy,” Sadie exclaimed as she rushed over to greet him. “Come and see what I’ve done with your protégée.”
    Sadie took his hand and pulled him bodily into the room, although he didn’t appear to put up too much resistance. He walked to within a few feet of Eve, his