Daphne Clair - Infamous Bargain

‘Do you want to marry me off, too?’ Briar asked her.

‘No, of course not! I love having you here, I don’t know what I’d do without you. But we don’t want to selfishly keep you at home.’

‘You’re not a bit selfish. And you don’t really need my help.’

Laura looked doubtful, and Xavier gave a snort that made his daughter throw him a quick glance, but he didn’t seem to notice.

‘Anyway,’ Briar said, ‘Kynan isn’t likely to suggest seeing me again.’

He’d probably go off and find someone who was less prickly. And good luck to him.

* * *

So she was startled when one day she looked up from serving a customer in the boutique and saw an unmistakable dark head bent over a rack of silk scarves in a corner.

When she had wrapped the customer’s purchase and the woman had left the shop, Kynan turned and smiled at her. ‘So this is where you are,’ he said.

Did that mean his visit was coincidence? She hadn’t told him the name of the shop or exactly where it was. She said, safely, ‘Yes. Can I help you?’

He surveyed her silently for a moment, as though debating what to say. Then he smiled again. ‘Sure. I want to buy someone a present.’

‘A woman?’ There were racks of men’s ties and unisex scarves, but he was in the section containing more obviously feminine wear, and she came out from behind the counter to stand on the other side of the circular display rack.

‘Yes, a woman.’

‘Do you know what colours she likes? What kind of clothes she feels comfortable in? Casual or dressy? And is she dark or fair or—?’

‘Dark,’ he said. ‘Dark-haired, fair-skinned. Brown eyes. She reads Vogue and shops at Saks. Her favourite oufit is a sort of rusty red suit and a blouse with lots of green in it. And she’s just bought herself a red dress.’

He knew a lot about her, Briar thought. She wondered how long he’d known this woman—and how intimately.

Not that it was any concern of hers, of course. As two more people entered the shop, she turned her attention to the scarves, pushing aside a couple of tie-dyed ones and another in blue and green stripes. ‘Perhaps this?’ she suggested, pulling out a big silk square printed with autumn leaves. ‘Or this?’ The pattern was abstract, a daring combination of green, orange and red splashed with black.

‘Mmm,’ he said, fingering the second one. ‘I think she’d like that.’ He took it from her and spread it between his hands, finally nodding. ‘I’ll take it.’

So ‘she’ was no conservative dresser, Briar deduced. ‘Would you like it gift-wrapped? And I can give you a card, if you like.’

‘Thank you.’ He slid a hand into his breast pocket and took out a brown leather wallet. ‘How much?’

He hadn’t looked at the price tags. The scarf wasn’t a cheap one, but he put down a fifty-dollar note on the counter without comment.

Another customer approached, holding two packets of tights. Cutting off a piece of gift-wrap, Briar called through the screened doorway leading to the back of the shop, ‘Pat? Can you serve?’

She deftly wrapped the parcel and was showing Kynan a card for his approval when Pat came in and Kynan looked up, his gaze suddenly arrested.

‘All right?’ Briar prompted him.

He turned to her. ‘Yes. That’s fine.’ His eyes went back to her partner. ‘I hadn’t realised—’

Puzzled, she glanced at the red-headed young man by her side who was serving the other customer. It dawned on her that Kynan had expected her friend and employer to be female.

He was looking at her again now, a peculiarly searching look. She smiled at him blandly and handed him the card. ‘Do you want to write something in it?’

He scrawled, ‘Love, Kynan’ on the inside. She could read it, even upside-down and trying not to. He hadn’t attempted to hide it. She placed the card in the parcel and made a professional job of wrapping it before tucking the fifty dollars in the till and handing him the change.

He picked up the parcel and stood as though weighing it in his hand. Then he said, ‘What time do you finish here?’

‘We lock up at five tonight, and spend about ten minutes cashing up.’

Pat glanced at her curiously as he reached across to the till, and she stepped back to give him room.

Kynan waited until the other transaction was finished, the two people had left, and Pat was moving away to help another customer who was picking up bags and belts at random and replacing them.

‘Come and have a drink with me before you go home,’ Kynan suggested. ‘Or better still, let me take you to dinner.’

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