Brianna looked at the wrapped painting Danielle had placed on the table so she wouldn’t forget it. “Is that the one of the ruins?”
“Yes. I hope he likes it.”
“I’m sure he will. I’d still like to see where that is. I can’t believe you’ve been to ruins that I never knew about.”
Danielle noticed her cousin certainly wasn’t her normal bubbly self and appeared to be sulking. “Are you all right? You seem a bit down,” she said, checking the cream to honey ratio in her tea with a sip.
“I’m fine. I just wish Will would take me to things like this ball. Today we’re going to rugby. Again!” Brianna paused to stir her now soggy cold cereal. “Don’t get me wrong, I like rugby, and I love Will, but…”
“Well then tell him, silly, tell him what you want.”
Brianna finished the last of her tea. “I guess you’re right.”
“I am right. He can’t read your mind. I can see that Will is really nice, tell him you want to go dancing tonight.”
Brianna pushed her bowl of inedible sogginess to the side, but then her demeanor brightened to the girl Danielle knew and loved. “I will! Tonight I’m dancing too—it will probably be after rugby, but I guess I can give him that much.”
“Good for you!”
“I still want to know how tonight goes for you. This ball sounds like so much fun.”
“I’ll tell you everything tomorrow, I promise,” she agreed, knowing she would need to edit.
“Lovely!” Brianna then stood and rinsed out her bowl and teacup.
Danielle was still drinking tea when the doorbell rang.
“Ethan, I presume,” Brianna said. “I’ll get it.”
Danielle caught up as Ethan was just stepping into the foyer.
“Hi, ready to go?” he asked.
“Yes.”
Ethan took her hand and stepped toward the door, but then Danielle remembered the painting still sitting on the table. “Wait, no I’m not … hang on a sec.” She tugged her hand back, ran to retrieve the gift and returned.
One eyebrow rose when he saw the wrapped package. “What’s that?”
“It’s a surprise, you can open it later.”
“It looks like a painting.”
“Well, I can’t really hide the shape, you still have to wait.” She stepped out the door and waved to her cousin who waved back and shut the door.
On their way to the car, Ethan reached for the package. “I’ll take that for you,” he offered with a naughty glint in his clear blue eyes.
“No you don’t! I don’t trust you.” She brought the painting closer to her chest.
“You don’t trust me?” he asked, falsely miffed, as if she meant it generally.
“Not with this. What happened to Mr. Always Patient?” she taunted while she waited for him to open the door for her, hugging the gift protectively.
“All right, I’ll wait. But I have a gift for you too,” he told her with a knowing smirk.
Her eyes widened. “Really? What is it?”
“I’m sorry, you’ll just have to wait.”
She exhaled as she seated herself in the Jag because he’d just turned the tables on her, she realized with irritation. He knew she was easily more impatient than him, especially when it came to surprises. Her brows pressed together without her consent.
Ethan chuckled. “You know I love it when your lower lip pouts like that when you’re annoyed with me.”
She said nothing as he kissed her on the cheek and then shut the door.
When they got to the mansion Danielle stashed the package in the drawing room and warned him that he had better not peek.
“Scout’s honor,” he said while he held up the scout hand sign.
“Were you ever a scout?” she asked suspiciously.
“No,” he confessed.
“I didn’t think so ... you can’t say that then.” She folded her arms and then noticed a box on the table. It was a black velvet jewelry box! Could that be her gift? She lifted a hand for it but before she could reach it, Ethan fluently slung her over his broad shoulder and swept her from the room.
“Is that mine?” she asked, suspecting as much, especially with the way he removed her from the room.
“You have to wait if I have to wait,” he informed her sternly.
“That looks expensive; you may be spending too much on me. My gift for you didn’t cost me anything but time.”
“Don’t worry about it. You’re worth every penny and then some. Furthermore, your talent is worth infinitely more than the material it’s painted on.”
She couldn’t fathom how he bestowed such flattery on her talent without even seeing the painting first. “You can decide that after you see it, maybe you won’t like it,” she said straining to keep her head up in this awkward position.
“I’m sure I’ll like it.”
Danielle grunted; this wasn’t the most comfortable way to be carried. “You can put me down now. I promise I won’t try to look.”
He lowered her feet to the floor, she stood upright and then mock turned back like she was going to run for it. Ethan went to grasp her again. “Kidding! I’m kidding,” she said before she wound up on his shoulder again.
“Right.” He studied her, his expression leery.
“You don’t take jokes very well.” She began walking in the direction he’d been taking her. “Where am I going?” she asked.
Ethan decided to follow, but she could tell he didn’t trust her yet. “To Sophia’s room to get your hair done.”
“Okay, what are you going to do while I get beautiful?”
“I’ll be preparing your lunch.”
“Oh, thank you.”
“It’s my pleasure,” he said as he captured her arm and then pushed Sophia’s bedroom door open. She’d nearly passed it.
“What are you making for me?” she asked as Ethan leaned toward her for a kiss.
But before he could answer or kiss her, Nadia appeared and yanked her into the room. “Come this way, Danielle, I think you’ll survive for a little while separated from Ethan.”
Ethan slipped away laughing.
Sophia’s room was spacious and elegant. The carpeting, floral wallpaper and jacquard bedspread were done in rich tones of green and gold. A grouping of overstuffed chairs sat next to the fireplace, and a modesty screen stood across from that with a full-length cheval mirror against the wall.
“We need to get our under-things on first,” Sophia said as she took Danielle’s hand.
Sophia guided her to a king-sized, pillow-smothered bed where three white chemises and three corsets lay on one side, and on the other side lay the three ball gowns. Danielle recognized hers, she hadn’t seen it out of the box yet, and had forgotten what a pretty shade of silvery blue it was.
Nadia pointed to one chemise and said, “That one’s yours, Danielle, you can change behind the screen.”
She slid the chemise out from under the corset and moved to the screen. Danielle folded her clothes and set them on the chair behind the divider. When she emerged, they both had their chemises on and were now lacing up each other’s corsets. The two—already beautiful—vampires looked lovely in just their under-things. Danielle lifted the pretty contraption off the bed and tried to figure out how to get it on. She may have been girly, but she’d never worn anything like this before.
“You’ll need help with that, Danielle,” Sophia said while Nadia tied off her corset for her.
After Nadia’s corset was laced up as well, they helped Danielle into hers and carefully tightened the laces, taking great care to not underestimate their vampire strength for fear of crushing her ribs. Even during daylight, Danielle knew firsthand how secretly powerful they still were.
“Is that too tight?” Nadia asked.
Danielle felt her bruised ribs twinge for a moment, then settle. “No, it’s fine, thank you.” She wondered if she looked as pretty as they did so she moved to the mirror and gasped when she saw herself. S
he had an hourglass figure before, but the corset exaggerated it to an alarming degree. “Yikes, that’s almost indecent,” she said twisting to see how the back looked.
“No, I don’t think you look naughty, but I know Ethan’s going to love it,” Nadia said.
“We’d better get started on our hair. That’s what takes the longest,” said Sophia.
They moved to Sophia’s spacious bathroom. An ornately framed mirror hung over a vanity with a chintz slip-covered chair in front of it. The table was cluttered with all kinds of hair products, face creams, makeup, a silver comb and brush, hairpins and perfumes. There were also hot rollers and curling irons plugged in and ready.
“Who is going to be first?” Sophia asked.
“You,” Nadia replied as she held out the chair. “Let’s do lots of curls on top.” Nadia then grabbed a gold bottle with French wording on it. It appeared to be a fragranced styling mousse. She held it upside-down over her hand and squirted a beehive-shaped pile of creamy foam into her palm. She then smashed it between her hands and massaged it through Sophia’s hair.
It took at least an hour and a half to do Sophia’s hair with both Danielle and Nadia working a curling iron on each side of her head. Then they did Nadia’s, which took another hour and a half. Just as they set Danielle down into the chair to begin her hair, they heard a knock at the bedroom door—right before it opened.
“Ladies, are you decent? I have Danielle’s lunch.” It was Ethan.
“Yes, we’re decent. Bring her food into the bathroom,” Nadia called.
Danielle’s eyes dropped to her chest with panic, she felt like she was practically busting out and Nadia thought they were decent? She couldn’t say she agreed, but she knew it was too late as she heard his footsteps drawing closer. Danielle watched with round eyes as Ethan entered and stopped cold. His eyes nearly popped out of his head. “Uh … er … I thought you ladies said you were decent?”
“We are, Ethan. We’re not standing here naked, and these chemise things cover everything,” Nadia replied casually.
Danielle knew Ethan could see more of her than he ever had before. She never wore things this low cut, and the chemise was cut lower than the dress since it wasn’t supposed to show. But to top it all off, the chemise and corset were both white. That may have been what stunned him so completely.
He goggled at her like she was actually nude. Luckily, it seemed to dawn on Sophia and she took the tray of food from him before he dropped it. “Thank you, dear, you may leave now.”
Ethan backed away bashfully and left the room. She then heard the door click closed again.
“We may actually have to supervise you two as your uncle had requested, I’ve never seen Ethan behave like that,” Sophia said with an amused twinkle in her clear blue eyes. A smirk touched the corner of her full lips while she combed mousse through a section of Danielle’s hair before twisting it around a curling iron.
Nadia erupted into fervent giggles. “Danielle, you have him completely wrapped around your little finger.”
She wasn’t sure what to say, she’d never seen him act like that either. Not even when she walked down in a white dress. She looked at herself in the mirror trying to see what it was that he saw. It was true, she supposed, because even in that white dress, she didn’t look anything like this.
Sophia had set the tray down on the vanity in front of her. He’d made a nice lunch for her, with more of those little “tasty tarts” she’d enjoyed at their picnic. Ethan was easily a better cook than Sophia, but she didn’t tell her that. She ate the gourmet lunch as they worked on her hair.
It took them longer to do Danielle’s hair and about two hours after Ethan had brought lunch in, there was another knock at the door. He opened the door and asked hopefully, “Is she ready yet?” Impatience could be heard in his tone.
“Sorry, Ethan, you’ll need to hang in there a little while longer,” Nadia informed him.
He sighed and closed the door again.
Danielle giggled that time. “Is he impatient?”
“Yes, the ever patient Ethan is impatient. What have you done to him, Danielle?” Sophia asked.
“I have no idea.”
They finally got all of her hair pinned beautifully on top of her head, leaving a few tendrils out. “Now we put the dresses on, then makeup. What time is it, Nadia?” Sophia asked.
Nadia checked the clock in the bedroom. “Oh my! No wonder Ethan’s impatient it’s almost five!” she exclaimed with shock. “We need to hurry, Danielle needs to eat dinner before the ball starts, and I know Ethan had other plans of his own.”
“What does he have planned?” Danielle asked curiously.
“I can’t spoil that for you, Ethan would kill me.”
They stepped into their dresses, fastened each other up and then did makeup.
Nadia looked lovely in her dress, which was a pretty shade of sage green. It was breathtaking with her black hair, fair skin, pink lips and emerald green eyes.
Sophia looked like a princess from a fairytale in her deep gold dress.
They both agreed that Danielle needed red lips with the silvery blue dress. They were right. When they stood her in front of the mirror, she almost didn’t recognize herself. Even for prom, she’d never gone to this extent before. She felt beautiful and she absolutely loved the dress. It fit exactly right, and she couldn’t fathom how Ethan had managed to guess her size so flawlessly. The fitted bodice tapered down to just above her hips. The long silky fabric of the skirt draped gracefully over her hips to the floor. The neckline came higher than the chemise, but it was still somewhat revealing without being risqué. She realized as she twisted that the crystals on her hairpins matched the ones adorning her dress. And the color he’d chosen complemented her complexion and hair color perfectly. Ethan had wonderful taste.
She fought the tears that threatened to mess up her face when she realized this vintage fantasy of hers was becoming a dream-like reality....
Ethan suddenly burst into the room without knocking this time. “Please tell me she’s—” He became speechless when he saw her and she nearly fainted when she saw him, because, there stood a perfect replacement for Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy. Ethan looked like he belonged in eighteen or nineteen-whatever with his black, early twentieth-century style tux. His hair was immaculate and the smile that spread across his face was enough to make her heart squeeze.
With an air of reverence he took her hand, slipped it formally around his arm and led her from the room.
“Ethan! Don’t you dare mess her up!” threatened Nadia.
“Thank you, ladies,” he said as he left without glancing back.
“Thank you,” Danielle said, gliding a hand over the embroidered silk, feeling like she imagined Lizzy Bennet must have felt. “For the gown. For everything.”
“You’re welcome, love. You look absolutely ethereal.”
“This is nice too,” she said, touching his vintage-looking tie, or the correct word would probably be cravat.
He guided her to the sofa in the drawing room. Danielle soon realized the corset forced her to sit up tall and straight. She never knew how likely she was to slouch until then.
“We need pictures,” Ethan announced. He lifted a digital camera from the bookshelf and began snapping pictures of her from different angles.
Danielle giggled. “Now that’s enough of me, I want some of you too and some of us together, please.” She scooted over, making room for him to sit next to her.
“Of course.” Ethan sat down, snaked an arm around her waist and took a few of them together with his hand held out as far as he could stretch it. He took some with his cheek pressed next to hers, some while he placed soft kisses on her cheek, and some while he playfully nuzzled her neck. Giggles pealed out of her then, but she managed to sober when he handed the camera to her and then posed for her. After they’d taken several shots, Ethan set the camera back on the bookshelf.
She then noticed the jewelry box still sitting w
here it had been, which reminded her of the painting and she began looking around for it, it had been on the sofa where she was now sitting.
“Looking for this?” Ethan held up the still wrapped package.
“Yes, you didn’t peek did you?”
“Of course not!”
“Well, I’d like you to see it now, so please open it,” she urged as she tried to lean back into the couch with a stiff torso.
Ethan accepted the invitation and tore into the paper eagerly. He froze while he studied the painting of his childhood home that was now ruins. His brows pinched together and he looked distraught. Thinking it might bother him to see the ruins as a painting, her heart sank to her knees. “I’m sorry…. Did I do a bad thing? You don’t like it, do you?” She looked away as she wrestled with the tears tormenting her emotions again.
“No, Danielle!” He seated himself next to her again, and took her hand into his. “No, I mean yes, I love it! No, you didn’t do a bad thing. I had no idea you did this. It’s wonderful! I know exactly where I want to hang it.” He lifted her hand to his lips and brushed a kiss across her fingers.
She gasped when a tear dripped from the corner of his eye. “Oh! So you like it?”
“No, I love it! That was incredibly thoughtful of you, Danielle. Thank you.” He stroked her cheek gently with the back of his fingers.
She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply at his touch. “Really? You really love it?”
“Yes.” He leaned forward to kiss her, but halted at the red lips. He went for her cheek instead.
“Now for your gift.” He lifted the velvet box from the table. It was long, most likely a necklace or a bracelet. Danielle sat up readily.
“Remember how I said you were a rarity in this world, and that I cherished rare things?”
“Yes.” Oh no, this is expensive.
“I decided this belongs around your neck.” He opened the box revealing a pearl “Y” necklace with a large white pearl hanging from the center drop. “This is a White South Sea natural pearl, it’s the largest and the rarest pearl in the world. These pearls do come in different colors, but yours had to be white.” He removed the necklace from the box then fastened it around her neck. “And, you need matching earrings.” He pulled another velvet box from his pocket, and pulled out a pair of earrings with pearl dangles. “These aren’t South Sea Pearls because those would be far too big hanging from your lovely lobes.”
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