An Unsinkable Love - By Terri Benson Page 0,15

work. She pulled the straps up until the gown hung correctly and pinned them, then took up additional pleats across the bodice and sides until it fit snuggly. She quickly secured the hem and eased the dress off. Bree caught Elizabeth as she tottered, the older woman's elbow knocking Bree's cap askew. It fell to the floor and rolled under a side table as Bree led her to a velvet chaise.

"Thank you, dear. I do feel a bit dizzy," Elizabeth said, a hand on her brow.

"I think the doctor is right. You should stay in, though I know you'd hate to miss the dinner party."

"Oh, it's not that. I never really enjoy these dinners. Eldon insists everyone misses me if I don't attend, but many of the people at table are Eldon's friends or business acquaintances I've not met before. I dislike making small talk with strangers. It seems I'm always on the wrong side of politics, and rarely attend the theater so I don't know which plays are the current rage. Most of his friends aren't interested in 53

An Unsinkable Love

by Terri Benson

books, but reading is the one thing I do a lot. It's Eldon everyone wants to see. He's very amusing and clever. And handsome. Some of the women, even married ones, are so forward with him I can't believe it. I really don't think anyone even notices if I'm sitting there or not."

Bree expelled the breath she hadn't realized she held. This was too familiar. Having escaped the atmosphere she'd grown up in, she was shocked to find it existed in the thin air of the elite as well. Her own mother, a gentlewoman, had been surrounded by her husband's coarse and often drunken friends—people with whom she had nothing in common. They had followed Bree's father's lead, making his wife miserable in every way possible.

Bree determined to help this time. "I guess we'll have to make you so lovely everyone, including Eldon, will be too busy staring to make silly small talk."

Elizabeth gazed down at her hands and sighed. "I don't know why Eldon married me. I'm lucky he even noticed me with all the beautiful women who flutter around him. I'm so boring and he's so exciting. He has everyone on the edge of their seats, waiting for his next word."

Bree looked closely. The older woman had a great beauty under the lines of sadness. Only a few faint streaks of gray showed in the fine, white-blonde hair. Elizabeth's huge gray eyes were deeply sunken above sculpted cheekbones, her skin flawless. A straight nose perched above wide, full lips.

Her graceful neck had yet to show folds of loose skin. Her type of beauty only improved with age.

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An Unsinkable Love

by Terri Benson

Bree knew she was a total opposite with her mop of auburn hair and spattering of faint freckles, which proclaimed her Irish ancestry.

"We'll just see about that," she said. "When we get done, he'll have eyes for no one but you." Bree hadn't been able to help her own mother. If she aided this woman, perhaps it would help make up for it in some way.

Time slipped away. After assisting Elizabeth to lie down until it was time to dress, Bree set about altering the gown.

She worked feverishly, her fingers flying over the fabric. The big round windows were just beginning to show stars as, with a heavy sigh of relief, Bree tugged a thread to tighten the final knot and clipped the silk with her scissors. She quickly took a few measurements to help her with alterations on the other gowns and laid the dress over her arm. From the bedroom doorway, she peeked in and found Elizabeth awake, her expression dreamy.

"Is it done already? I almost hoped it wouldn't be, but I suppose I mustn't disappoint Eldon."

"Does it matter so much, ma'am?" Bree asked.

Elizabeth nodded and struggled out of bed. Bree hurried to help her. As Bree held the dress up, the older woman seemed to shrink within herself, then sighed and removed her robe.

Bree carefully slipped the dress over her head and did up the line of frog fasteners at the back. She helped Elizabeth into the matching emerald green heeled shoes with jeweled buckles and they stepped over to the large standing mirror.

Elizabeth's gray eyes widened in shock. Where before the dress had made a mockery of her figure, it now enhanced her 55

An Unsinkable Love

by Terri Benson

slight curves. The tucked bodice pushed her bosom up to show creamy cleavage above