A Duke’s Love for a Dressmaker (Preview)

Chapter One

London, 1811

“Ouch,” Julia Cooper muttered to herself as she accidentally stabbed herself with the embroidery needle, in the back room of her mother’s dress shop. She cursed herself for making such a foolish mistake. She examined her finger in the dim light from the lacemaker’s lamp, and was relieved to see it wasn’t bleeding.

Her mother, Lydia, was bent over her own work, sewing a simple muslin petticoat. “You better not be getting blood on that dress. If you do, then fabric costs are coming out of your wages.”

Julia displayed her hand to show it was clean. “It was nothing.”

Her mother scoffed. “Careless child,” she muttered. 

The young woman rolled her eyes. Her mother was in a foul mood lately because two customers with expensive orders were late with payment. The few orders they had were barely enough to pay the bills and they were both feeling the financial squeeze. It was best not to provoke her.

Just then, the bell rang, telling them both that a customer was in the shop. Julia set aside her work to go to the front of the store. She was happy to get a chance to stand up and stretch her legs after hours of sewing. It was overcast, so even with the curtains open, the lacemaker’s lamp was a necessity for her to see her work, and she was tired of squinting in the dim light at her embroidery work. 

Two young ladies dressed in fine silk day dresses were looking at the rows of fabric bolts on the wall. When Julia came out, one of them looked at her with a sweet smile.

“Good morning,” she said. 

Julia smiled back. “Good morning, ma’am. What can I help you with today?”

The other woman picked up one piece of fabric with two fingers, as if it was a disgusting bug. 

“I do not believe you can help me at all. Not if you think it is in good taste to have such gaudy fabric on display.” 

The first woman flushed. 

“Tiffany, there’s no need to be so rude.” She flashed a smile at Julia. “I would like a new day dress,” she said. “Do you have something in light blue or green?”

Julia nodded and gestured to some bolts of fabric in the back.

 “We just received a shipment of lovely blue silk, if you would like to see.”

“I would love that,” she said, grinning.

Julia couldn’t help but smile sincerely at her youthful excitement. It wasn’t often someone so genuinely sweet came into the store and she was happy about it. “This way, then.”

Tiffany crossed her arms and hung back. “I’ll stay back here,” she said. “There’s no point in getting my shoes any dirtier in this dreadful shop. I already know I won’t be purchasing anything here.”

Please, tell me more good news. If Julia had to make a dress for Tiffany, she would be tempted to “accidentally” use the itchiest fabric available for the petticoat. She decided to ignore Tiffany altogether and took the other lady to look at the silk. 

“This is absolutely delightful!” the young woman said. “It would look so pretty with a lace trim on the bodice. And maybe an empire waist. Is that possible?”

Julia smiled. “Absolutely. Empire waists are my specialty.”
“Do you make the dresses yourself?”

“Me and my mother do, yes. She’s the ‘Lydia’ in Miss Lydia’s Dress Shop.”
“If you don’t mind me asking, what’s it like to work in a shop?” The curiosity was plain on her face and Julia wished she knew how to answer. The truth was, she had no idea. She didn’t know anything except working in a dress shop, so how could she describe it as anything? She might as well try describing her experience as a living, breathing human.

The lady must have taken her lack of response as offense because she lowered her eyes. “Forgive me. My brother tells me I’m too nosy for my own good sometimes. He might be right.”

“Well perhaps he should be more curious,” Julia said without thinking.

It was rarely a good idea to criticize a customer’s sibling, but the young lady luckily laughed. “I will have to tell him that tonight.”

Julia smiled. “And to answer your question, I love my work. There’s something magical about making clothing out of some fabric and thread.” She decided not to talk about the back aches from working for long hours hunched over a half-sewn dress, or how her hands cramped after too much needlework, while her mother constantly made mental calculations to make sure they had enough coin to keep the shop running another day. She didn’t know what women in polite society talked about, but she knew those unsavory details were left between her and her mother. “Now, you said empire waist and floral embroidery, correct?”

Julia took her measurements. Once the young woman finished putting in her order, they arranged a day for alterations.

“And what’s the name for this order?” Julia asked. 

“Lady Sarah Fitzwilliam.” She was practically dancing with excitement about the order. 

Julia nodded and wrote the name down on the order sheet. “Thank you, my lady.”

Tiffany was still standing in the doorway with a haughty look on her face. “Do hurry up, Sarah,” she said. “Honestly, it’s bad enough to drag me down to Cheapside, and now you want to linger in this sad little shop.” Her nose wrinkled as she looked pointedly around the place. 

Julia gritted her teeth. Her mother’s shop was a little smaller than some of the others but would dare say it was just as pleasant and well stocked as any dress shop in London. She forced a smile as she finished her business with Sarah and was secretly relieved when the two ladies left the shop, even if one of them had been more amiable than the other. 

After the door closed behind them, Lydia appeared in the doorway between the front and back of the shop. “Paying customers?” she asked. 

“One dress for a Lady Sarah Fitzwilliam,” Julia said, showing her the order slip. “Lovely girl. But her friend is a bloody–”

“Not a single word more,” she snapped. “You never know when someone could be listening. It’s best to keep those insults out of the shop altogether.”

Julia sighed. “At least we have some more work. She’s a lady, too. Perhaps she’ll tell her friends about us.”

Lydia gave her daughter a tired smile. “Perhaps,” she said, as if straining herself for some uncharacteristic optimism. “Back to work. No sense in dilly dallying.”

 Not five minutes later, a wealthy man walked through the door, wearing an understated but impeccably tailored suit. 

“Good day,” he said amiably as Julia came to attend him. “I’m looking for a new evening jacket.”

***

Griffinwich Manor, Essex

“James! James, look!”

The duke’s sister came running into his study, excitedly holding a society paper in her hand. She beamed at her brother in a way that made James smile. It was rare to see Sarah look so happy lately. Ever since their father died, she had been a shadow of herself. He took the paper from her. “What am I looking at, exactly?”

James started to compose a message to Lord Silas Campbell, his trusted She pointed to an article about a little-known shop in Cheapside called Miss Lydia’s Dress Shop. “This is the shop where I ordered my dress from the other day. Yesterday, Beau Brummel visited the shop. Look what he said about it.”

James skimmed the article before he read it out loud. “A hidden gem in Cheapside with cleverly skilled seamstresses, Miss Lydia’s is one of the few places a fashionable lady can shop this London season. High praise indeed.”

Sarah beamed. “And I’ll be one of the first to have a dress from there! Just by coincidence. And to think Tiffany turned up her nose at a Cheapside shop.”

James handed her back the paper. “You’ll be the envy of all the girls in London,” he said. “Perhaps we can order you some more dresses today.”

Her smile dimmed a little. “Not today. I’m sure it will be awfully busy with all the other ladies visiting and I’m afraid I’m not yet ready for that. Going to a little-known shop with Tiffany was manageable, but I knew I wouldn’t run into anyone I know. Today, it is different.”

James nodded. “I understand.” He was also savoring the time before the season officially began. He and Sarah were less than a week out of mourning for their late father. Even though six months had passed, and he and Sarah were no longer dressing in mourning clothes, he didn’t feel back to normal. He missed his father terribly and was not used to the attention and responsibility he received as the Duke of Griffinwich. “I’m glad you were able to go with Lady Tiffany to Cheapside. I know the two of you are good friends.” 

He didn’t know Tiffany that well, even though they shared similar social circles for years. But she and Sarah had grown close since the funeral, and he was happy his sister was able to find solace with a friend.

Sarah smiled. “Yes, it was lovely to go out without someone offering their condolences for once. And the lady at the shop was very kind.”

He decided not to remind her that shop girls were paid to be kind. He was just happy she had a pleasant experience because she had so few of them these days.

“I should leave you to your work,” she said. “I just wanted to share the news.”

“I’m glad you did,” he said sincerely. “It’s refreshing to have some happy news for once.”

She flashed him a small smile before leaving his study. 

James couldn’t focus on his work. There seemed to be so much to do before the London season started in a few weeks, not least of which was responding to his mother’s invitation to tea, which sounded less than pleasant after their last encounter, when she made clear her opinion in his choice of women.

It was all too easy to remember the last time he stood in his mother’s drawing room one month ago. She sat upright in her favorite drawing room chair with all the regality of a queen as he stood before her. 

“You’re a grown man, James, and if you want to propose to Miss Long, then you can. But will she still marry you after she finds out I’ve cut you out of my will?”

“You will truly disinherit me if I marry her?” He couldn’t believe it. He never thought his mother to be so cold. But the woman, dressed head to toe in black with a sour look on her face, felt like a faint resemblance of the woman who raised him.

“I do not like her, and it is my right to write my will as I please. Of course, you will still have your title and your inheritance from your father. Your life will be comfortable enough, even without my fortune.”

He gritted his teeth as anger flared up inside of him. In truth, it wasn’t the money that was giving him pause. He had just said goodbye to one parent. He wasn’t willing to lose another one. “Fine,” he hissed. “I’ll end the courtship as you wish.”

James forced himself back to the present. He put that bitter memory out of his mind, instead thinking about his sister’s excitement when she talked about her new dress from Miss Lydia’s and his own spirits lightened at the thought. That was more excitement than he had seen in a while from her, and he wanted to bring that excitement and happiness back into her life. Even if she was not ready to go back to the shop, he wanted her to have more than a simple day dress from the shop. He wanted her to wear a Miss Lydia original for her very first ball of her debut season.

James started to compose a message to Lord Silas Campbell, his trusted friend and estate agent. With his help, he would be able to create a very pleasant surprise for Sarah

Chapter Two

Miss Lydia’s was packed with ladies chatting excitedly among themselves, as they browsed the fabric and design selections while they got ready for the new London season. 

For the first time since the shop opened, neither Julia nor Lydia remained in the back of the shop. Instead, both of them were in the front, taking measurements and writing down orders as quickly as they could. Many of the women were paying in advance to ensure they would get their dresses in a timely manner, which was a welcome relief for both mother and daughter. Neither of them had to worry about finances any time soon, but Julia couldn’t help but think about the growing stack of order slips without some trepidation. She could already feel her hands and back cramping from all of the hours she would spend hunched over her sewing in the back of the shop. 

After a full day of attending to customers with very little time to sew, the shop closed for the day. Both mother and daughter took a breath at the same time, looked at each other, and started laughing. 

“I never thought we would see a day like that,” Julia said. “We need to order more silk!”

“We have the coin for it now,” Lydia said, grinning. “Can you imagine, gentlewomen payin’ us in advance? Just because you charmed a dandy friend of the prince.”

Julia smiled. “We’ll have no trouble staying in business now.”

“Definitely not. We have enough coin now to turn you into a noble woman yourself.”

Julia gave an unladylike snort. “Me? Dancing around at a ball, calling out ‘how do you do’?” She twirled around before dropping into a clumsy, exaggerated curtsy. “‘Good day to you, Your Majesty. Fine weather we’re having. Fancy a game of croquet?”

Lydia laughed, which sent a nice warm feeling through Julia. She couldn’t remember the last time she saw her mother in such good spirits. The influx of business was enough to lift a weight off her shoulders, even if the reality of the amount of work they now had to do would eventually sink in. “Perhaps nobility doesn’t suit you,” she said. “But now that the shop has a lot of business, I can hire more help. You don’t have to work here for the rest of your life. You can have a life of your own. You could get married.”

Julia smiled but shook her head. “I wouldn’t know what to do with a husband if he landed in my lap and gave me a kiss on the cheek. Besides, how could I leave the shop? It’s all I’ve known.”

“But it doesn’t have to be your entire life, Julia. You’re not going to be twenty forever, you know. You should think about the future. Perhaps I can pass this shop to my grandchildren someday.”

Julia giggled. “Now there’s an idea.” Then she shook her head. “I’m perfectly happy growing into a spinster. I would rather run this shop with you than marry a dreary man who will never let me see the light of day.” She straightened up. “Let’s get to bed. We have a long day of work tomorrow.”

Julia’s prediction about the next day was correct. More customers spilled in with more orders. Lydia and Julia took turns manning the front of the store, finding it prudent to get to work on the influx of dresses as soon as possible. The ball gowns especially would take a long time. Julia knew there were many late nights in their future, but despite the physical strain from the work, she would rather have too much work instead of too little.

Just as Julia’s hands started cramping from wielding fabric shears to cut out the fabric pieces of a dress, Lydia came into the back room, looking frazzled. “I need you out on the floor, Julia.”

She nodded and put the shears down before following her mother outside. There were a few women looking at fabric, and a single man, waiting with an impatient expression on his face. He had the air of a gentleman, but his suit, though once fashionable, was definitely a few years old, and had just enough wear to prove it. 

“Whatever you do, get rid of that man,” her mother said in a hushed tone. The ladies were making just enough noise where they didn’t have to worry about being overheard. “We don’t have the time for him, not when we have so many ball gowns to make.”

Julia couldn’t help but remember how just the other day her mother scolded her for insulting a snooty woman in an empty shop, just in case someone was listening outside the door. Now she was happy to speak about a potential customer when he was standing right there. It looked like her mother’s usual stressed demeanor was back, just with a different attitude.

While Lydia went to attend to the ladies, Julia turned to the man. Something about him told her it wouldn’t be a good idea to outright turn him away. Despite his suit, he was clearly a gentleman, and gentlemen had influence with people, even if funds were tight. She could at least hear what he had to say. So, she put on her best customer service smile. “Good afternoon, sir. What brings you into our store today?”

His sour expression turned to one of surprise before he smiled amiably. “Hello, miss. I am Lord Silas Campbell, and I have an order of the utmost importance.” He spoke in hushed tones so no one else could overhear. “There’s a young lady who would dearly love a custom-made dress from this shop, for her first ball.”

Julia smiled. “We shall be happy to fulfill such a request. Do you have the lady’s measurements? I should warn you that we have been quite busy lately, so it may take some time to—”

“I’m afraid you misunderstand.” He glanced over at the group of young women, who were now in intense conversation with Lydia over design choices. “We cannot discuss details of this dress in the shop. It’s of the utmost confidence. The dress is for the Duke of Griffinwich’s sister for her debut ball. It will have to be made at His Grace’s manor in Essex, instead of here in the shop, because he wants to make sure his sister has only the best.”

Julia was surprised at the nature of the request, and even more surprised that the name sounded familiar to her. Since Brummel’s endorsement, she had written up orders for so many nobles that the names blurred together in her head. But that one still rang a bell. “I’m sorry, sir, but that’s simply not possible. We have so much work as it is. It’s just my mother and me working in this store.”

“But it’s for the duke’s sister—”

“The dress could be for the duke himself. Traveling to Essex isn’t possible at this time.”

Lord Campbell looked slightly taken aback before he laughed. “His Grace in a dress. Wouldn’t that be a sight. I understand this is an inconvenience and you will be well compensated for it. Miss Lydia will have more than enough money to hire extra shop girls. Getting an endorsement from Mr. Brummel is a great achievement, enough to put this shop on the map. But designing a masterpiece of a dress for His Grace’s sister—and making her the belle of the ball—will ensure your reputation and prestige will carry over into next year.”

Julia understood what he was saying. A single comment from Beau Brummel was enough to make the ton flock to their modest little shop, but it was only a matter of time before the Prince Regent’s best friend found a new hidden gem to be fascinated with. Once he deemed another dress shop as the place to shop, all of their newfound business could disappear. But making a dress for a duke’s sister—one beautiful and elegant enough to make the ton take notice—could keep them coming back next year. After all, seeing a masterpiece of a dress with their own eyes is more effective than getting a positive comment, even from someone like Beau Brummel.

She also had to admit she would rather devote all of her attention to one dress than spend a lot of time working on several dresses at once. 

Before she could respond, her mother came over with a tight smile. She had just finished attending to the women, who had just left the shop. 

“I’m not sure if my daughter explained our current situation to you, sir, but I’m afraid we have more orders than we know what to do with. We cannot possibly take on one more.”

“I believe you’ll want to take this one on, madam.” He explained the request to her. Her mother’s eyes lit up when he told her who the dress was for, but then she looked disappointed when he mentioned bringing Julia to Essex.

“That sounds wonderful, but I cannot spare my daughter at a time like this.”

“No,” Julia found herself saying. “I would like to go.”

Her mother looked incredulous. “Julia, we have a stack of orders as thick as my wrist—”

“You can hire more shop girls, Mama. This is a good opportunity, and you know it.”

Her mother crossed her arms in front of herself as she faced Lord Campbell. “How much money is the duke willing to pay? Julia is an expert dressmaker. It was her work that charmed Mr. Brummel. I will need to hire at least three shop girls to replace her.”
The gentleman smiled and said a number that took Julia’s breath away. Even with the influx of business, it was more money than Julia and Lydia had ever seen at one time. “He will pay half now, and half upon the completion of the dress.”

“Yes,” Lydia said breathlessly. “Yes, I suppose that can be arranged.”

Julia’s heart lifted with excitement. She couldn’t believe her good fortune. Not only would she be designing and crafting a dress worn by the duke’s sister, but she would be staying in a manor while doing it. However, mixed with the excitement was nerves. Essex might be neighbors with London, but it felt like a world away from her mother’s dress shop.