Lilian squinted.Sure enough, the picture showed the sweet woman grinning with her arm around David’s waist.The knight towered above her, dimples on full display.
“Oh, yeah.”She nodded.“Of course.You uh… win the discount.”
The woman let out an enthusiastic “huzzah!”before hauling her stack of books to the register, but the exchange had already drawn the attention of several other patrons.
“What was that?”another girl asked.
“Our ongoing promotion.”Lilian pointed to the display, which had miraculously grown since the day before.A new picture had been added.Ian in his Viking costume was featured next to the hunk from a Viking TV show.They didn’t look anything alike, with Ian’s dark brown hair and farm-tanned muscles, but it had a clear message.Vikings were hot, and the faire had them.
“Find one of the faire hunks, and you get a discount.You just need to take a picture.”
“Find all three, and you get an even bigger discount,” Margo added from the register.
The women all looked at each other and then huddled around the wall, taking in the display.Lilian finally had a clear path to the back counter, where Margo was ringing up their first photo discount customer.“I see you added a Viking to the line-up.”
Margo laughed.“Of course.He’s in the Ms.Bodice show after all.It only makes sense to show off all your prospective husbands.Mr.Berscotta is next.”
The customer’s eyes shined at the conversation.“There’s more?I’ll have to go look.It gives me a good excuse to take pictures with the handsome men here.”
Lilian smiled.“Please make sure to only take pictures of the actors.They are the ones who are used to it.And ask for permission first.”
“Of course.And may I add, I am so happy that your store is here.”She held up her small pile of books, at least four of which were bodice ripper classics.“I’ve been looking for these, but they’ve been out of print.”
“Paperback is the only way to read them,” Lilian said with a wink.“Any new reprints won’t have the classic stepback artwork.Am I right?”
The woman let out a maniacal cackle.“So true.”
“If you’d like to pick up more, we have a little used bookstore shop in Tenison called Ten Cents.”The promotion slipped in with ease, but it came with a rush of accomplishment.It was something a real business-minded woman would do.
A visible spark of interest flickered across the woman’s face.“You don’t say.”
“This is a fraction of our collection.We have a ton of romance novels, almost three whole rows.You should drop by.”
“Tenison?”the woman said.“I think I will.”She gave her pile a satisfied pat before shuffling out.
Margo and Lilian waited until she was out the door before falling into a fit of giggles.“It’s been like that all morning,” Margo said.“There are going to be some happy ladies tonight.”
They focused their attention on the remaining customers, and at least half left with books in hand.To Lilian’s surprise, a few of the visitors had caught her show that morning and gave her praise.So maybe the show was doing a good job of advertising after all.
By noon, her newly restocked romance section had dwindled down to only a single shelf.
Lilian stared at it.“I can’t believe it.”
“It’s called marketing,” Margo said beside her.“Businesses swear by it.”“Huh, maybe they’re on to something.”
A metallic clanking sound announced the arrival of David at their shop.His forehead was drenched in sweat, dampening his golden curls.He looked around the area cautiously before stepping in.“Sir Debauchery,” Lilian greeted.“What brings you to my humble abode?”
“Well, apparently, we are courting now.I wanted to see my beloved.”He flashed a grin, and then it quickly fell away as he glanced outside.
“Why do you look like you’ve committed a crime?”Margo asked before gasping, “Didyou commit a crime?Are you a knight on the run now?”
“Don’t be silly.I wanted to come by earlier, but this is the first time your place has been empty all day.”
“What’s up?”Lilian asked, dropping her accent, as Margo handed David a water bottle from behind the counter.
Even though it wasn't the hottest day of the season, some actors had it worse than others.The knights spent more time out in the sun than others, and they wore the heaviest costumes.Every weekend, at least one person ended up getting carted off to the med tent for dehydration.
David gave them a look of appreciation before downing the water.“You wouldn’t happen to know why a group of ladies keeps hunting me down, would you?”
