Page 19 of Bookshop Cinderella

Evie frowned, utterly lost at sea. “And where is ‘here,’ Your Grace? Justwhatare you suggesting?”

“A holiday, Miss Harlow. I am suggesting that you take a holiday.”

5

Aholiday? The prospect was so ludicrous, so impossible, and so typical of what a member of his class would suggest, that Evie could only laugh.

“At least I’ve succeeded in amusing you,” he said, “and I’m glad, even though it’s at my expense.”

“Can I be blamed for that?”

“No,” he conceded, “but after you stop laughing and before you send me packing, let me make my case.”

“Case for what? Helping you win a hundred pounds?”

“For you to take a holiday,” he reminded. “Delia told me how hard you work, so I suspect you’re in need of one.”

“How sweet of you to think of what I need,” she murmured.

He grinned, not seeming the least put out. “If you agree to this, there would be other benefits for you.”

“Ah, yes.” She gave a sigh of mock rapture. “I always knew I could be a beauty if only some man would come along and show me how.”

His grin faded, but a suspicious curve still lingered at the edges of his mouth, showing that her attempts to needle him were a waste of breath. “I don’t intend to show you anything,” he said. “Revealing your very best self to the world will be your responsibility, not mine.”

“I do all the work, and you win a hundred pounds. What girl could resist such an offer?”

“Does a fashionable new wardrobe tempt you? If you’re going into society, you’ll need one.”

Sadly, she couldn’t argue with him about her clothes. They were…

Unremarkable.

“I’ll arrange for you to see a modiste who will help you to assemble a wardrobe appropriate to the season. For the next six weeks, I propose you stay at the Savoy and have a maid attend you. You can sleep as late as you like, have breakfast in bed—”

“But I can’t afford—”

“Will you stop interrupting?” he chided.

She made an expansive gesture, though she knew he was wasting his time. “Do go on.”

“I can arrange for you to attend the theater, the opera, whatever you’d like. In a few weeks, when Delia returns from Rome, she can chaperone you, and with a bit of help from me, she’ll introduce you into the appropriate circles. You’ll meet new people, make new friends, and enjoy all the pleasures the London season has to offer. You will have fun, I promise you, and fun is something I sense you don’t often allow yourself.”

The indulgences he was describing were beyond her experience and even her imagination, and she couldn’t see why anyone would be inclined to launch her into society merely to win a bet or how any of it would transform her into something she wasn’t.

She could, however, appreciate the practical difficulties. “But what about my shop?”

“I propose that for the next six weeks, you close your shop.”

“What?” She stared at him, aghast. “I can’t do that.”

“Why not? It is your shop, isn’t it?”

“I realize running a business seems incredibly mundane to someone of your position, but for someone like me, it’s a bit different. And I can’t afford to do without an income, not even for a week, much less six.”

“Very well. Leave your shop open. We’ll hire someone from an employment agency to run things while you’re away.”

“Which still costs money.”

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