She didn’t even let herself hesitate, not this time. ‘No, I don’t.’
‘Well, it won’t be hard for you to find somewhere nice to eat. French restaurants are the best in the world, and most of the servers will help you with the menu.’ Henri chuckled. ‘If they don’t, just watch what other people around you order, see what looks nice, and then point at their plate and ask for that.’
They both laughed, but Blake tried not to be disappointed that he hadn’t asked her for dinner as he leaned in and kissed each of her cheeks. She’d expected him to smell like musk, but instead he smelt faintly like citrus.
‘Here, if you need to contact me, please call this number,’ he said. ‘And you’re still comfortable with me keeping the design? You could bring me back a copy if you’d prefer.’
‘It’s fine, I trust you,’ she said, tucking the little box with the fabric now safely cocooned back inside, in her bag. ‘I’m staying at the Hôtel Providence.’
He passed her his phone. ‘Put your details here. I’ve been so busy lately I fear that I’ll forget which hotel you’re in if I don’t write it down.’
Blake did as he asked, and then they strolled back across to his building, standing on the steps together.
‘Enjoy the rest of your time in Paris, Blake,’ Henri said. ‘Au revoir for now.’
She held up her hand in a wave. ‘Au revoir.’
Blake stood and watched as he unlocked the door and disappeared inside, and if she’d been anywhere other than on the pavement, she expected her legs would have given way right there and then.
I had no idea how handsome and charming Frenchmen could be.
Or how much a grumpy man named Henri could make me desperate to spend the rest of the day with him, so I could spend longer staring into those dreamy blue eyes.
11
PARIS, 1934
Evelina kept her back turned as she stared down at the brilliant-cut diamond ring on her finger. It was familiar to her now, and she was immensely fond of it, just as she’d once been rather fond of her husband, but the more he raised his voice, the less endeared she felt to him. They’d just returned from what should have been a fabulous evening with friends, a dinner at one of the finest restaurants in Paris, but instead he’d humiliated her.
‘Evelina, you are my wife,’ Théo said. ‘Look at me when I speak to you!’
She turned, obeying him as his voice hit an alarmingly high pitch that she’d never heard before. She purposely kept hers low to compensate. ‘I am well aware that I’m your wife, Théo, but it doesn’t mean that I have to agree with you on all matters, and it certainly doesn’t mean that you have permission to share intimate details of our relationship with our friends. I am not the one behaving badly here.’
He came towards her, holding out his hands and catching hers, as if already begging for forgiveness. She’d learnt how quickly his moods could shift—one moment she would be terrified of him, and the next he would be as placid as could be. ‘Please, Evelina. Can you not just accept that it’s time forus to start a family? Everyone is beginning to wonder if there’s something wrong with me, and why we haven’t had a baby yet.’ He sighed. ‘I’m not getting any younger, and you promised me that after three years of marriage?—’
‘No, my love.Youtold me that you wanted to start a family after three years, I didn’t promise you anything. I told you that I wanted to make a name for myself first,’ she replied. ‘In fact, I recall that you were very supportive of that dream before we said our vows, that you loved us working together and thought my ambition admirable. If I’m not mistaken, it was my ambition that made you notice me in the first place.’
Evelina had worked as a seamstress for Théo for many months before he’d asked her to dinner, and the rest was history. They were engaged by the end of the year and married the following summer—her dress designed and made by her, although with her husband’s name on the label, sewn in without her knowledge before their wedding day. At the time she hadn’t thought anything of it, but in hindsight, it was a glimpse into the future. But she’d fallen hard for him, with the safety that a life with him offered her, and the love that he gave her. In the early months of their romance, he’d made her feel special, made her realise what it was like to have attention and love lavished on her. But now, she could see that she’d loved the security of their marriage and that she had never truly beeninlove with him.
It hadn’t taken long for him to ask her opinion on fabrics, to want to see her designs, flattering her when he told her how talented she was, and using her creations for his new collections and then touting them as his own, all the while praising her constantly. And instead of being tucked away in the sewing room, once she was his wife, Evelina had been the one meeting customers and pinning garments to style them to perfection, at the same time listening to her husband accept all the accolades for the way his new dresses were fitting the bodies of women,the way his tailored jackets skimmed the feminine torso without even having to do up the buttons. That was when the flattery slowly began to turn to despair.
‘Evelina, I heard the seamstresses talking. They know how much you’re doing, and if they start to say anything, if anyone begins to suspect…’
‘That it’s been me all this time?’ she finished for him. There it was, the real reason he’d behaved so badly all evening. At least he’d come out and said it—or almost said it. ‘You’re scared of someone finding out that it’s been me at the helm these past few years, I understand that. But why not put both our names on the design, then? We don’t need children to be happy. We could create the House of Devereaux together, as a team. We could be the greatest design duo in Europe, like nothing the world has ever seen before.’ She was breathless with anticipation as she imagined what they could create, but as her eyes lit up, she could see that her husband was not enamoured by the idea.
Théo’s expression darkened. ‘I will give you anything you want, within reason, Evelina, but I will never give you that. My name, and my name alone, is on the door, and nothing will change that. I want to make that quite clear, before you get any ideas about what you think I’ll allow.’
‘So, you no longer want my designs? You no longer want me to share them with you? Is that what you’re saying?’ She knew that would hurt him, knowing how uninterested he had become in creating his own work. ‘You want me to sit at home like a good little wife, while you go back to doing it all yourself?’
‘No, ma chérie, I still want you to share your designs with me, only I want you to share them with me in the privacy of our own home. It can be our little secret, and the fashion world can believe you are my muse, that my designs evolved when I met you because you inspired me.’ He grinned, as if it were the most perfect idea. ‘I will dress you, pamper you, and you will glitter onmy arm when we go out, like an obedient wife. I think it will suit you well, once you get used to the idea.’
‘I am not a shiny bauble that you can have on your arm at your beck and call.’ She let go of his hands and walked to her chair in front of the mirror, carefully taking off her earrings and then her necklace as he sat heavily on the bed, his head in his hands. Her hands were shaking, and she tried to disguise it by keeping them busy, not wanting him to see how angry she was. ‘Coco Chanel has built an empire on her own, and no one is telling her to hide at home and let a man take all the credit.’
‘Chanel? She’s one in a million, you can’t compare yourself to her. But you mark my words, the fashion world will soon tire of a woman like her. This is a man’s world, Evelina. It always has been and it always will be.’
Théo had always been very dramatic and tonight was no exception, although she knew better than to add more fuel to the fire when it came to arguing with her husband. Instead of screaming at him, which was what she dearly wanted to do, she held her tongue and decided to at least attempt to placate him. It would be easier if they both stayed calm.
‘It just so happens that I strongly disagree. Chanel will be one of the most famous designers in the world, Théo, you just wait and see.’
