Secret Strangers in Love novel · Chapter 11 of 24

Chapter 11: The Dress

On Wednesday Mr. Stanhope bought me a dress without asking, and I let him, because the taxi principle did not apply to gowns.

"The gala is black tie," he said. "You'll need one."

"I have a black dress."

"You have a black dress you wore to a funeral."

"It's multipurpose."

He drove me to a boutique on Oak Street with a silver door.

A woman at the desk wore pearls to answer the phone.

He sat in a velvet chair with his ankle on his knee while three assistants fussed over me.

The gown they brought was the color of dark red wine.

When I came out of the fitting room, he went completely still.

"Turn around," he said.

I turned.

The dress hugged my ribs and fell to the floor in a long unbroken line, with a back that dipped lower than I'd have chosen.

"We'll take it," he said hoarsely.

"You haven't asked the price."

"I know the price."

"Then that's what's wrong with you."

He grinned, and I loved him so much that I had to look at the mirror.

The saleswoman went to ring up the sale.

I stood on the little platform while an assistant knelt at my hem with a pincushion, and the silver door chimed.

The heels came first, then the cream coat, then the smell of perfume.

"I'm here for the Gaillard gown," said Brooke Haldane. "It should be hanging in the back."

I went rigid.

I could see her in the mirror.

She could see me.

Her eyes met mine in the glass, and she smiled very slowly.

Mr. Stanhope had gone to the register to sign for the dress, and he stood with his back to us, ten feet away.

If I ran, the assistant would pull the pins out of my hem and tear the silk.

If I spoke, the game was over.

"Oh, you're busy," Brooke said sweetly to the assistant. "Let me help. I have such a good eye."

She stepped onto the platform behind me.

"Look at you," she said, quietly, to the mirror. "Wine red. It suits a spy."

"Brooke."

"Hold still."

She took a pin from the cushion.

I felt her fingers at my back, a sharp point at my ribs, the small stab of a needle gone just under the skin.

"If you move," she said very softly, "this goes in for real."

My breath went shallow.

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