Page 50 of A Pure Lady for the Broken Duke

Helena was beginning to forget her own problems as she was hatching a plan.

“I am going to take you in hand. We need to do something with that hair, and I want to teach you a few tricks to make you look even more appealing.”

“What is wrong with my hair?”

Helena scoffed, “Have you looked at yourself in the mirror lately? When is the last time you washed it?”

“I brush the flour out every day.”

“Oh, Jenny, you need to do much more than that. It needs a wash, a cut and some curl.”

Helena stood and held out her hand. “Come. Let me show you.”

They ran up to Helena’s room and they spent the rest of the afternoon working on Jenny’s hair, applying just the right amount of blush and rouge and working with Jenny’s nails, beaten and broken by her daily work in the bakery.

“When they were done, Jenny sat at the dressing table and stared at herself in the mirror. It was not a blatant transformation but a subtle enhancement of her natural beauty.

“Oh, my dear, how splendid you look.”

Jenny looked up at her friend. “I do look nice. Thank you. But I know not what difference it is going to make. I am going to be in the Pemberton kitchen making pastries for a week, not dancing at the ball nor having afternoon tea with his Grace.”

“Oh, he will notice. Trust me. I know Thomas. And I know men.

Chapter 17

Thomas was devastated to learn from George that the slip of his tongue in front of his uncle had caused Helena’s father to break up the courting couple. George and Thomas were in the Duke’s study furthering their work on the business.

“You know what this means?” George added. “Now we cannot count on Ralph to be one of our investors. He is resentful that you lied to him about your engagement, and he certainly will have nothing to do with me. We are… hoisted on a petard as Shakespeare would say.”

“Then we shall have to work our other contacts,” Thomas said, as he sat on the edge of his desk and tried to figure out what was to be done next.

“I think it is time we talk to my father about investing,” George said.

“But what about you and Helena? Is there anything to be done to repair this breach?”

“Ralph has threatened to disinherit her if she sees me again.”

“Then you are going to abandon her?”

George was shocked that Thomas would think that. “Not at all. But it makes me all the more determined that our business should be a success. If I can provide for us, then we will not need her father’s money.”

“That is very brave of you,” Thomas said with a slight laugh.

“Then we must make our project a success,” George said with great resolve.

“I have two more horses I am interested in buying. But we need to see them.”

“And we need the money to buy them,” George reminded.

“And that too.”

“Then let us go to my father this afternoon. I have prepared the proposal for him, and hopefully, he will be open to our proposition.”

* * *

Jenny had the list of pastries that would be required for the ball. She had broken down all the ingredients needed and had paid a visit to the Pemberton kitchen to coordinate her activities with the head cook in charge of the ball. Now, her last task was to meet with her market providers to make certain she would have the fruits she needed.

As Jenny approached the Drake’s stall on her usual morning shopping for the bakery, she saw Evan lifting crates of apples from the wagon.