“I’m sure he didn’t, but don’t take it too hard. It’s his job not to like much of anyone.” At the first landing, there were two doors. Bea went to the one on the right, which was unlocked, just as the bouncer had said. Vivian assumed the other one was Honor’s office.
The staircase that stretched beyond the door was narrow and turned sharply after the landing. Vivian followed her friend up, surprised to find that it looked more like someone’s home. There were prints on the wall, seascapes that had been carefully framed and hung, and at the top stood a basket of folded clothes that looked like it had been recently delivered from the laundromat. She caught Bea watching her and looking amused, and she blushed at being caught peeking around.
“You knew Honor lives up here most of the time, right?” Bea asked.
“Well, sure. I just somehow never pictured her with laundry.” A thought occurred to her. “Isn’t it dangerous for her to live above the club? If there are raids, or someone tries to, I don’t know, shake her down for something?”
“That’s why it’s only most of the time,” Bea said. She rapped against one door in a quick, staccato rhythm, then called out, “Vivian’s here to see you, boss.”
The Honor Huxley who opened the door was someone Vivian could only have imagined. Her curly yellow hair was still pinned back, and her makeup was done for the day, or maybe still left from the night before. But instead of her usual sharply tailored suit, she wore a stunning silk wrapper with draped sleeves, patterned with birds and flowers in bright colors. She was in the middle of tying the robe’s sash, and she wasn’t wearing shoes. Vivian felt her skin heat at the unexpected sight of the other woman’s bare toes. She glanced back up quickly.
“Thank you, Beatrice,” Honor said, her eyes on Vivian. “Is Danny here?”
“We just left him heading to breakfast with a pal.”
“Ah.” Honor’s expression turned thoughtful, then she shook her head. “Are you going home or waiting downstairs?”
Bea glanced sideways at Vivian. “I’ll wait, if that’s all right, and have a chat with Silence until you’re done with Viv.”
Honor laughed. “Well, we won’t be long. If Mr. Smith comes, tell him we’re set to open on time tonight, and I want the band playing at its best. And if Danny does show up, remind him we’re checking inventory at five.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Bea gave a small salute. “You gonna shake Vivian down while I’m waiting?”
The way they laughed together did little to calm Vivian’s nerves. Honor smiled. “She’ll still be in one piece when I’m done. But thanks for coming to me last night, Beatrice.” She glanced at Vivian, her smile warming even further. “I’d have hated for one of you girls to be in a jam and not help out.”
“You’re the best, Ms. Huxley,” Bea said, reaching out to give Vivian’s arm a comforting squeeze. “I’ll see you down there soon, okay, Viv?”
“Swell,” Vivian agreed, trying to sound casual in spite of her dry throat and rapidly beating heart.
As Bea disappeared down the stairs once more, Honor opened the door a little wider. “Come in please, Vivian.”
Vivian glanced around, curious and uneasy, as the door closed behind her. The room was furnished half like an office and half like a sitting room. To her surprise, Honor gestured her toward the sitting room side, where a plate of toast and a coffeepot sat on the table between two stylish, masculine chairs.
“I’m sorry to interrupt your breakfast, Ms. Huxley.”
“I was the one who asked you to come.”
“It didn’t seem like a request,” Vivian pointed out. “The way Bea put it, sounded like I didn’t have much of a choice.”
“People always have a choice,” Honor said, taking a seat in one of the chic leather chairs and gesturing for Vivian to do the same.
“Not if I want to come back here, Ms. Huxley.”
“You should really call me Honor, since I have no intention of calling you Miss Kelly.” The club owner leaned back, bare knees flashingbriefly into sight as she crossed her legs and resettled her robe. “So, you had an exciting night.”
“And I hear I have you to thank for bailing me out.”
Honor’s expression grew serious. “It’s not smart to go out the way you do without someone to call.”
Vivian rolled her eyes. “It’s not smart to go out the way I do at all. Can’t seem to stop myself, though.”
“Well, I hope there won’t be a next time, but it pays to have a plan, just in case.”
She wasn’t sure what made her so daring—maybe the sight of those bare knees behind the flutter of bright silk—but Vivian found herself asking, “What if I want to call you?”
Judging by the lift of her eyebrows, the question caught Honor off guard. But she smiled as she stood. “You should always feel free to call me,” she said, crossing to the desk to retrieve a business card. She held it out to Vivian, but didn’t let go right away, and her smile grew deeper as their fingertips brushed against each other. “But I think you know that I’m not the sort of person who does favors for free.”
Vivian swallowed, but she tugged the card deliberately from the other woman’s hand, glancing down at the number on it before looking back up to meet Honor’s eyes. “And what is last night’s favor going to cost me?”
