Page 47 of Be Less Panda

‘Are you sure you weren’t being nosey?’

‘Cross my heart.’

‘Hmm. So what did you think?’

‘Of what?’

‘Of my special room.’

‘Well, I’ve not seen anything quite like it in Ideal Home magazine.’

Madame Dubois laughed. ‘No. I don’t think it’s a style of decor that’s currently in vogue, not outside the bespoke binding community anyway. She leaned forward in her chair. ‘I’m pleased you came back today. I’ve lost a few assistants once they realised what was happening up there.’

‘It’s not for me to judge.’

‘I appreciate you taking that understanding attitude. I have a proposition for you.’

Nancy felt nervous.

‘My bespoke binding business keeps me very busy.’ Madame Dubois raised an eyebrow. ‘Too busy, but I don’t like to let my clients down, so I’ve been searching for a suitable apprentice for a while. Would that interest you?’

Nancy hadn’t anticipated that at all. ‘It’s not my sort of thing.’

‘It doesn’t have to be. In fact, it’s better if it’s not. You strike me as the sort of girl who doesn’t take any nonsense from men. I think you’d take to it very well.’

‘Well, I ….’

‘It’s all legal if that’s what’s worrying you. I don’t have sex with them. I’ll train you, of course. And I’ll pay you handsomely.’

Nancy thought about the extra money she owed Patty. ‘How handsomely?’

‘Let’s say 40 francs net for an hour’s session.’

Nearly eight times the hourly rate for shop work! She’d only need to stick it out for ten sessions, and she’d have all the cash she needed for Patty.

But it was still a highly unusual job. And it sounded as if Madame Dubois had unsuccessfully tried to fill the position before. ‘How about 50 francs an hour?’ Nancy suggested.

Madame Dubois smiled. ‘I like your style, Nancy. Shall we split the difference and say 45?’

So, it had been worth negotiating. ‘I’m willing to settle for 45 francs with a review after ten sessions.’

Madame Dubois held out her hand to shake Nancy’s. ‘That’s a deal. I need your absolute discretion, of course. Thisisn’t the sort of information that you should share with anyone. No one else needs to know what goes on upstairs here.’

‘No, of course not,’ Nancy said, worried now about what she’d already said to Olivia and Hans.

23

‘It fits perfectly,’ Madame Dubois stood back, admiring Nancy’s new look. ‘I thought we were a similar size.’

Nancy looked at her reflection in the mirror in Madame Dubois’s dungeon. No one would recognise her with the heavy make-up, the leather skirt, thigh-high patent leather boots and the tight bodice that made her look like she’d got decent-sized boobs. She hoped no one who knew her recognised her, anyway. It had seemed like a good idea when she’d accepted Madame Dubois’s offer last week, but now it was becoming a reality she felt uncharacteristically nervous.

‘But you do need to get the hang of walking in those heels,’ Madame Dubois frowned as Nancy walked across the room for the third time. ‘You’re supposed to intimidate clients, not remind them of a foal trying to stand for the first time.’

‘This tight skirt isn’t making it easy.’ Nancy said, pulling it up slightly to see if that helped. ‘And I’m worried my boobs will fall out.’

‘Take the outfit home tonight and practise until you look like you’re on the catwalk.’

‘But what about now?’

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