Short fair First Lady
I believe the answer is:
eve
'first lady' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'short fair' is the wordplay.
'short' means to remove the last letter.
'fair' becomes 'even' (I've seen this before).
'even' with its last letter taken off is 'EVE'.
(Other definitions for eve that I've seen before include "First mate" , "Mother of Abel" , "The night before a festival" , "Girl" , "Woman of Eden" .)