A whoop of agreement came from the ladies in the front.Finally, some affirmation!Lilian gave them a grateful smile before giving a dramatic gasp.“Captain!”She threw a hand to cover her bosom.“I’m looking for a husband, not a rake.”
“Why not both?”Logan threw the audience a playful wink, eliciting a couple chuckles.
Laughter.That was good.Lilian relaxed a little bit as Logan called the bachelors to the stage.From there things got easier.The attention focused on the three men.The eyes of their female audience members never wavered from the bachelors.As the show progressed, a few more people stopped to watch.
It helped that Logan’s pirate band stayed for the performance, acting as an unusual entourage of hype men as they cheered and booed.Their input fed into the rest of the crowd.
To keep her own nerves in check, Lilian focused on the row of small shops in the distance.
Alex stood behind the last row, watching like a proud pirate queen as the show went on without any major problems.Once, her eyes found the spot where Hawk had been sitting during their previous practice.It was empty.
Relief flooded through her, even as an unusual tightness cinched her breastbone.Or maybe that was her corset.
They ran through the play.Eliciting laughs and cheers from their small crowd.The boys played it like it was a full theater, so Lilian did as well.When they came to the end, she had a choice to make.Their group agreed that she could switch up the winner of the show each week to keep things fresh.
When Logan eventually asked her who she wanted to be her Mr.Bodice, Lilian was free to pick.She’d been leaning toward David, simply because he was first in line and it made sense for her to fall for the “good guy” on stage.
But then she remembered Logan’s dejected face at rehearsal.She knew this wasn’t their pirate king’s ideal show, but her heart went out to him.It couldn’t be easy nursing a broken leg and a bruised ego.
She turned to Logan, leaning forward and making the best moon eyes she could.“I think you’ve convinced me to go for a rake.What do you say, Captain Devlin?Would you like to try a bodice ripper?”
The gaggle of women cheered loudly in approval, and she heard Logan’s pirate band let out their own whoops for their fearless leader.Alex’s face fell in open surprise.
Logan raised a brow at her but was unable to hide his smile.“Ah, another woman has fallen prey to my charm.Sorry fellas, this one is mine!”he called out, before leaning in to give a polite peck on her cheek.His voice dipped into a soft whisper that hung between the two of them.“Well, this is a pleasant surprise.”
“I have to keep you guys on your toes,” Lilian whispered back as they turned to the stage and gave a little bow.
“Thank you,” she said, louder for the crowd, “I hope you all come to our shop, Bodice and Brawn, and select a few saucy books from our collection.I promise, I have a couple spicy pirate tales for anyone interested.”
The women cheered, and with that, their first show was over.They’d done it.
They exited the stage.As soon as she stepped in the little dark changing room, her legs wobbled as if they were going to give out from beneath her.She managed to stand only because Logan was relying on her as a crutch.
“Well done,” he said.“We might make an actor out of you yet.”
“Thanks,” she managed before the other men joined them.
“That was amazing,” David cheered.“Though next time I won’t lose to some dastardly pirate.”
“Well, I guess I shouldn’t have expected it to work like magic.”Lilian sighed as she took in her empty shop.
Margo gave her a sympathetic look.“Don’t be disappointed.It’s the first one, and we both knew Sunday was a terrible time slot.”
True, but Lilian still couldn’t conceal her disappointment.She’d worked so hard in hopes of bringing more customers in, but it didn’t seem to have any impact.They were still facing the same trickle of visitors they’d had before, and their shelves were still full.Even the fantasy novels she’d put at half price weren’t moving.
“I think I need to go for a walk.”
“Go,” Margo encouraged, eyes focused on the blank wall in front of her.She had been studying it ever since Lilian got back.A twinkle in her eye.“But seriously, don’t let it get you down.I heard you did great!We still have six more weeks.”
Lilian managed a small smile before stepping out of the shop.Six more weeks sounded like a lot of time, but it wasonlysix weekends.Twelve days.That was nothing.She knew she should be concentrating on having fun, but Hawk’s words from the other day still rang in her ear.
She needed to be more business-minded.She was paying a lot to rent space at the faire, and if they didn’t at least break even and clear some shelf space, then this would all have been for nothing.
She didn’t need a long walk.Just a few minutes to get her head straight.She would finish out today, and then she would get serious about the bookshop.Both the one at the faire and her mother's in Tenison.If she didn’t, there was a real chance this would be the only year of Bodice and Brawn.
While she loved the dusty used bookshop in Tenison, she’d always wished for something nicer.Newer.For a while, when she was a kid, there had been a larger retail bookstore twenty minutes away.She used to beg and plead for her mother to take her there once a week.Eventually, that store shut down.After that, the nearest one was forty minutes away, too far for her mother, and their trips were cut down to once a month.
The used bookshop had been her refuge growing up.Tucked between those shelves was where she discoveredThe Raven Kingseries, along with page after yellow-page of romance novels.But she wanted it to be more than that now.Needed it to be more.
