Sophie laughed. “Let us not overdo this wardrobe. After all, I need onlyonegentleman.”
“Ah, but you must trust me on this. We will make sure he is therightgentleman.”
At that moment, a door slammed and voices rose in argument in the space behind the fitting room.
One of Madame Bonheur’s assistants appeared through the curtain at the rear with a tall, familiar figure swathed in a swirling cape of dark green velvet.
“Mrs. Withers…” Sophie nearly dropped her cup before launching into the arms of the newcomer. “Mrs. Withers is my father’s old friend,” she explained, once she turned back to the modiste, wiping a tear from her cheek.
“My darling girl,” the woman said. “I’ve missed you so much since Paolo died.” She stopped, as if unable to go on.
“But you,” Sophie said. “You are very well known in the theater now.”
“Yes. Too well known. That is why Marie’s handsome young guard stopped me. I had to come in the back way to avoid some of my…shall we say, ‘admirers.’”
“Did he bother you overly much?” Sophie’s voice took on an indignant tone.
“Oh,” Mrs. Withers drawled. “He’syourhandsome young guard.”
“But did he keep you from entering?”
The actress gave a deep, husky laugh. “I was so enchanted with those deep, blue eyes of his, I hardly noticed. And the way those shoulders strain against his jacket.Sauve moi de moi-meme.” She gave her face a mock fanning, all the while grinning.
Sophie could not stop the deep flush spreading from her neck to her face.
“You two should continue your reunion while I finish the hem on Mrs. Withers’s new costume.” Madame Bonheur nodded to both of them before slipping through the rear curtain.
“Sophie, you must tell me everything that has happened since your father died. And don’t leave anything out, including why you seem to need a guard, albeit such a handsome one.” The actress poured herself some tea and refilled Sophie’s cup before joining her on the plump-cushioned settee.
Arnaud returned from a walk around the perimeter of the mantua maker’s shop with reinforcements. He’d noticed Cullen lurking outside a nearby tea shop and dragged him along.
“Were you going to stand over there and make me spend the day alone?” Arnaud stamped the snow from the bottoms of his boots before opening Madame Bonheur’s rear door.
“I’d think you would have had a fairly easy time up until now. I canna ken what could possibly go wrong at a women’s sewing establishment.”
“That shows how littleyouknow about women. I did have a near thing a few minutes ago.” At the alarmed look in his friend’s eyes, Arnaud relented. “I thought someone was sneaking in from the alley, but the ‘intruder’ turned out to be an actress trying to avoid an ‘admirer.’”
“You were afraid of a wee slip of a thing?”
“More like one of the Amazons of legends.”
“An Amazon?”
“As tall as you. She could look me in the eye.”
“This I have to see.” Cullen made to enter the shop before Arnaud stopped him short with a hand on his shoulder.
“Trust me. You do not want to venture in there. Nothing but chattering women, rolls of fabric, and thin teacups. You’d be like a bear wandering through a shop full of pottery.”
“Then where do we keep watch?” Cullen asked, resignation in his voice.
“Right here,” Arnaud said, and dragged two stiff wooden chairs just inside the doorway. “Every hour we’ll walk the perimeter of the shop to make sure no one is loitering in the street outside.”
At that moment, Madame Bonheur’s assistant appeared with a tray of sandwiches to go with a steaming pot of tea. A wide grin replaced the scowl on Cullen’s face. Arnaud shook his head. His surgeon was so easily appeased by a pretty face and the prospect of a full stomach.
“That is exactly what you need.” Mrs. Withers lounged with her long legs draped across one of the fitting room settees. Sophie stood on a stool, and the seamstress’s assistant pinned up a deep, rose-colored silk evening dress while Madame Bonheur bustled around, deftly fitting the bodice to Sophie’s contours.
“I cannot possibly…” Sophie craned her neck to peer down the back of the gown where embroidered greenery delineated the high waistline.
