“I can’t make any promises about who’s lurking around the block, but if you don’t mind that, absolutely.” Zane’s voice dropped. “After that, maybe we can stop by my studio for some more measurements.”
Vicki’s core went liquid with anticipation. “I’d like that. Although I’m really just wearing jeans and a t-shirt today.”
Zane, nearly purring, said, “There may be a few more costume pieces waiting for us at the studio,” and Vicki blushed crimson as she got even hotter. She tried to ask ‘how?’ but the word only came out as a squeak. Zane evidently understood, though, as his smile turned soft and wicked. “I’m a tailor, Victoria, and I’m still waiting on the fabric for your dress. I had to dosomethingwith my time.”
Vicki, completely breathless, said, “Youmademe an outfit? Today? While I was at work and you weren’t there with me?”
“It’s a very small outfit,” Zane promised.
Vicki said, “Oh my God,” in anticipation. “Maybe we should skip the coffee.”
“Maybe we should.” He tucked his arm around her waist, nestling her close, and they took the slushy corner towardthe town square at pretty high speed, shouting with apologetic laughter as they nearly ran into someone. Zane, making sure Vicki was steady on her feet, stepped away to say, “Sorry, sorry,” to the man. “We really weren’t looking where we were going.”
“Zane.” The single word was filled with so much venom that Vicki instinctively stepped back, and then, as she realized they’d run into Arthur Lowell, stepped forward again with a fierce protective impulse.
Zane, at her side, drew himself up carefully, squaring his shoulders like he was putting on armor. “Hi, Dad. Sorry. I didn’t see you there.” He sounded stiff and angry, unlike Vicki had ever heard him. “Are you all right?”
“You didn’t see me here,” his father sneered. “Too high and mighty for the town you came from now, is that it? Look what you’re doing to Virtue, you glory-hogging f?—”
Vicki snarled, “Hey,” and Arthur Lowell turned a momentary blank look on her, obviously not knowing who she was for a few seconds before his expression turned even uglier.
“Oh, the outsider. Making things worse right along with my useless son. With people like you in this town it’s a wonder it hasn’t all gone to hell. But we know. The Council of Elders know. We’re not going to let you?—”
“The Council ofElders?” Vicki breathed. “Are you leftover French nobility?”
For a heartbeat, Arthur Lowell was off his game, the blank look returning as he stared at her. Vicki, seizing the opportunity, put on her very best bright, cheery first grade teacher voice. “The Council of Ancients was part of the French legislature during the later half of the French Revolution, and as you might guess from their name, they all had to be,” she took a breath so she could properly emphasize the word, “old.”
Lowell spluttered and Vicki plastered on a big fake grin to go with her super cheery voice. “They had no useful power,” shewent on, “except accepting or rejecting laws put forth by the lower house, which wasfull of people who actually knew what was going on.So whatever’s got your panties in a twist, Mr. Lowell, maybe you should step back and?—”
“Howdareyou!” Lowell found his voice again and surged forward, visibly startled to crash into his son, who put himself between them. “Get out of my way!”
“I don’t think so,” Zane said in a low, calm voice. “You’re a bully, Dad, and I’m not going to let you bully Ms. Hawthorne. Whatever issues you have with me, or even with Virtue, we can discuss those, but you’ll leave her alone.”
“Who do you think you are?” Lowell switched targets effortlessly, contempt dripping from the question. “You abandoned this town, your family, your heritage, everything that ever mattered, for what? Forfashion?”
“For freedom,” Zane said, so sharply and with such passion that it briefly silenced his father again. “For getting out from under your thumb. Know what I found out by coming back here, Dad? That actually, Virtue’s not a bad town. It’s just that it’s got you in it. That’s all that’s really wrong with it. We’ve gotten along just fine without speaking for twenty years. Why don’t we just pretend this never happened, and go along with our lives?”
A crowd hadn’t exactly gathered, but there were quite a few people around the square who were not going about with their lives at the moment. Vicki had the sense that half of Virtue had been waiting for this moment since Zane had arrived back in Virtue, and nobody was willing to miss it. Part of her wanted to point out the audience, because she was sure Zane wouldn’t care but Arthur Lowell, who apparently held his place in town as a point of pride, might.
On the other hand, if anybody in Virtue liked him, maybe watching him make an ass of himself in the public square wouldhelp set them to rights, so Vicki decided to keep her mouth shut and let the men sort things out themselves.
“You are back in my town, and you’ll do as I say, boy,” Lowell growled. Vicki’s eyebrows shot up, but Zane just looked down at his father—he was a good three inches taller—and after a moment, shook his head.
“I haven’t done what you said since you left Mom when I was seven. I don’t know why you imagine I’d start now.”
“For the good of the town,” Arthur snarled. “There’s a referendum coming up and in order to protect this town it needs the support of all the old Virtue families. I expect your vote to align with mine.”
Zane paused a few seconds, taking that in, and then, in a pleasantly neutral tone, said, “Sure, Dad. I’ll check the town hall’s bulletin board for when the meeting is. Ms. Hawthorne, I apologize for this unpleasantness. Why don’t we go ahead and go back to the studio to continue our discussions?”
A look of genuine satisfaction settled into the lines of Lowell’s angry face. Vicki thought he was either so convinced of his superiority and rightness that he couldn’t imagine someone just agreeing to end the conversation, or…not terribly bright. Either way, she murmured, “Yes, of course,” to Zane, and put her hand back into the crook of his elbow so they could walk past Lowell together.
All of a sudden everybody who’d been watching was in motion again, too, although from the corner of her eye Vicki could see them making beelines for each other, clearly so they could discuss what they’d just seen, and get the details if they’d been too far away to overhear it. Zane escorted Vicki down the sidewalk, neither of them looking back, and they walked up the steps to his temporary studio like nothing was wrong.
Once on the other side of the door, though, Zane simply slid down it and folded his hands behind his neck, forehead on hisknees. Vicki dropped to her knees beside him, putting an arm around his shoulders and pulling him a little closer so she could press her mouth against his hair and wait for him to be ready to speak.
When he did, it was to say, “Are you all right?” in a low voice. “I’m really sorry about that.”
She murmured, “I’m fine,” into his hair. “I was about ready to throw down with him on your behalf, but no, I’m fine, and you handled that as well as you possibly could have, I think. You didn’t give him much to fight with.”
