Pendragon Read Free Page A

jaw, looking like a man in charge of an army, and every soldier in that army was ready to do his bidding.
    When she saw the ball gown Douglas picked out for her to wear the next evening, Madame Jordan nodding enthusiastically, her heart thrummed with excitement and pleasure. It was glorious, tulle over white satin with two lines of exquisite embroidery from the waist down the skirt to the hem, suggesting an open robe.
    â€œThank God you look very fine in white, Meggie,” he said, looking her up and down and nodding. The sleeves were short and tight, the neckline square. There were very narrow flounces, one at the hem, the second nearly to the knees.
    â€œIt’s not overdone,” said Douglas, “and at last the waist is where it should be. You have a nice small waist, Meggie, and your bosom is particularly pleasant—ah, perhaps I shouldn’t point that out in your hearing, but it’s true, just as Madame said. Yes, this style will become you. No more schoolgirl gowns, my dear. You are now a young lady in her first Season.”
    Madame Jordan sighed. “Remember, my lord, when you first brought your young bride to me? What atrocious taste she had, and still has, for that matter, but she did understand the power of her magnificent bosom, and dug in her heels.”
    â€œWomen always understand the power of the bosom,” Douglas said, snorting. “As for my wife, she still wears her gowns cut nearly to her knees, and I don’t like it any more now than I did then. Men ogle her, Nicolette. Three men could ogle her at the same time, she is so well endowed.”
    Madame Jordan laughed and poked his arm. “Ah, a jealous husband, isn’t it delightful, my dear?”
    Meggie looked from Nicolette to her uncle, getting her first glimpse of uncharted territory. “Yes, ma’am, now that I am thinking about it, why yes, it is quite delightful.”
    Then came a riding habit in royal blue that made Meggie want to weep it was so beautiful. “Oh goodness, Uncle Douglas, it is too fine,” she whispered as she ran her fingers over the fabric that one of Madame’s minions had delivered directly to Meggie’s fingertips.
    â€œWe will come back tomorrow, Meggie, to order up more gowns for you and to have your ball gown fitted. This is just the beginning. Tomorrow evening you will look like a princess for the Ranleigh ball.” He said to Madame, “Her coming-out ball will be in two weeks. I want something very special for her that night.”
    â€œI will find it,” Madame said comfortably, and if Meggie wasn’t mistaken—and she wasn’t since she’d seen the same look many times in Mary Rose’s eyes—there was a gleam of pure lust in Madame’s fine dark eyes as she watched Uncle Douglas leave her shop.
    â€œShe, er, really appreciates you, Uncle Douglas.”
    A dark eyebrow went up. “You are eighteen, Meggie, a vicar’s daughter. What do you know of men and women sorts of things?”
    She laughed. “I live with my father and Mary Rose. Those two—they laugh and hug and sneak kisses when they think they’re alone, which they never are in the vicarage. What’s more, Rory came into my bedroom two weeks ago, afraid because he’d heard his mother yelling. I am not an idiot, Uncle Douglas.”
    â€œYour father is a very happy man,” was all that Douglas would say to that revelation. Then, later, he laughed and said, “Ah, I would like to hear some day how you dealt with little Rory’s concern. Now, Meggie, I have something to say to you. You will enjoy yourself here in London. You aren’t hunting for a husband, just having fun. There is no pressure on you to attach some idiot gentleman. That’s all your grandmother’s idea, not ours. Your father is in complete agreement. Also, you are something of an heiress, so there will be some men drooling on yourslippers in hopes of