Startled, Sophie spun to peer around the numerous mannequins and piles of fabric to the threshold of the small shop. She hadn’t heard anyone come in, but the space was cluttered with every kind of tool for dressmaking, and the rain outside was heavy.
‘Dominic, you wicked creature! Sneaking up on us like that!’ Lu Lu exclaimed, clapping her hands together. ‘But doesn’t she look like a young Parisian noblewoman? Now,ma chérie, you will need to watch your step for she will truly be the belle of the ball!’
‘I have no doubt about that,’ Lord Rotherby replied, doffing his hat with a faint smile.
Sophie gazed at his dampened hair, recalling his abrupt exit from the Tuileries Palace, before realising the shop had fallen silent.
‘What brings you here, Lord Rotherby?’ she asked coolly.
She felt the modiste glance from her to his lordship with a suspicious frown. Sophie inhaled quickly, feeling the visit get more complex by the second.
‘Business,’ he returned abruptly. ‘Please do excuse my intrusion, ladies. Madame Dupres’s butler was kind enough to furnish me with your location, and I come only to confirm news which I hope may have already been shared.’
At this, Lu Lu looked horror-stricken, while Sophie’s hopes sank fully into her new silk slippers.
‘Oh,ma chérie, please forgive me. I was so thrilled about Versailles, and then Madame Montmartre, and the divinecloak… And now you and Dominic will both besocross, and it’s all my fault…’
Lu Lu’s hand flew to her mouth, while her eyes were so wide and guilty that Sophie forgave her instantly.
‘Alors,’ she rallied valiantly. ‘I will tell him whatweagreed,ma chérie. Dominic,’ Lu Lu said sternly, ‘Miss Sophie is not to be told what to do. She must be allowed to salvageherself, no matter if her reputation is in tatters!’
Sophie closed her eyes, while the modiste looked on with suspicion.
‘Miss Fairfax is in tatters?’ the modiste asked, frowning, her hands on her hips.
‘Oh hush, madame,’ Lu Lu chastised, ‘I have it on good authority you still take orders south of the Seine, so I’ll have no Cheltenham tragedies or Canterbury tales from you!’
At this, the modiste pressed her lips together defiantly, while Sophie drew a breath.
‘What news?’ she asked Lu Lu quietly.
‘Why,ma chérie, only that dear Dominic has located an English pastor he wishes you to meet in Chartres,’ she replied with a nervous smile. ‘But really, we have many other things to think about just now because it is Le Grand Bal Masqué de Versailles very soon,oui?’
Sophie lifted her gaze slowly, while the modiste muttered something about heroic ladies and wicked m’lords beneath her breath.
‘The truth is, my dear Miss Fairfax,’ Lord Rotherby replied seriously, ‘that while a mask will serve you for now, the moment anyone removes it, you are defenceless, which is why we must proceed with my plan, with all speed, as soon as possible.’
Sophie felt herself pale as she took in Lord Rotherby’s unflinching expression.
‘I exist in a space where no one gets hurt.’
And yet she would now, no matter what happened.
‘I will go with you to Versailles, Lu Lu,’ Sophie replied steadily, ‘but I shall not presume on you any longer than the week’s end, and I will certainlynotbe travelling on to Chartres with Lord Rotherby.’
It was Madame Dupres’s turn to pale, as Lord Rotherby’s frown deepened.
‘As you wish,ma chérie. You see, Dominic, she likesles mathématiquesfar too much to be with you.’
‘No, it is not forles mathématiques, Lu Lu,’ Sophie corrected in a low voice, ‘or for any reason other than I cannot envisage a life beside his Lordship.’
She closed her eyes briefly then, partly to stop his shadowed greens whispering words that sent a hollow ache through her core, but mostly because she’d lied. Shecouldenvisage a life with Lord Dominic Rotherby so easily, and yet how could she bestow her heart when he could give her none?
She drew a breath, and forced a tone she was far from feeling.
‘And my mind is quite made up.’
* * *
