Legacy of Lies

Marie Hélène looked as if she could have eaten an entire box of Alex’s straight pins and spit out staples. “She designed day wear. Little polyester American dresses,” she tacked on dismissively, her tongue as sharp as a seamstress’s needle.

“They may have been polyester, but if they were like any of the designs I saw this afternoon, they must have sold like hotcakes,” Sophie shot back.

Debord turned to Alex. “You have sketches?”

“Yves...” Marie Hélène protested.

The designer ignored his sister. “Do you?” he asked Alex again.

Alex finally understood why her sketches had been rejected without comment. Debord had never seen them. Alex shot a quick, blistering glare Marie Hélène’s way. The directress responded with a cool, challenging look of her own.

Knowing that to accuse his sister of treachery would definitely not endear herself to the designer, Alex bit her tongue practically in two. “My portfolio is at my apartment.” Anger and anticipation had her heart pounding so fast and so hard she wondered if the others could hear it.

“You will bring your sketches to my office first thing tomorrow morning. I will examine them then.”

Ignoring his sister’s silent disapproval, Debord turned again to Sophie. “I hope you enjoy your gowns, madame. As well as the remainder of your time in Paris.”

“If the rest of my trip is half as much fun as today has been,” Sophie professed, “I’m going have one helluva time.” She winked conspiratorially at Alex.

For the first time in her life, Alex understood exactly how Cinderella had felt when her fairy godmother had shown up with that gilded pumpkin coach.

Her idol was finally going to see her sketches!

And when he did, he was bound to realize she was just what he needed to instill new excitement into his fall collection.

Alex indulged in a brief tantalizing fantasy of Debord and herself working together, side by side, spending their days and nights working feverishly to the sounds of Vivaldi, united in a single, brilliant creative effort.

As she returned Sophie Friedman’s smile with a dazzling grin of her own, Alex decided that life didn’t get much better than this.

Chapter Three

Alex didn’t sleep all night. As she dressed for work, running one pair of black panty hose and pulling a button off the front of her dress in her fumbling nervousness, all she could think about was the upcoming moment of truth. When Debord would view her designs.

When she entered the salon, Alex was met with the cold, unwelcoming stare of Marie Hélène.

“Bonjour, Madame,” Alex said with far more aplomb than she was feeling.

Marie Hélène did not return her greeting. “Debord is waiting in his office.”

Taking a deep breath that should have calmed her, but didn’t, Alex headed up the stairs to the designer’s penthouse office.

As she paused before the ebony door, with its Défense d’Entrer sign, Alex had a very good idea how Marie Antoinette must have felt on her way to the guillotine. Sternly reminding herself that a faint heart never achieved anything, that this was what she’d always wanted, she knocked.

Silence. Then, Debord’s deep voice calling out, “Entrez!”

Squaring her shoulders, clad in an uplifting, confidence-building scarlet hunting jacket she’d defiantly worn over her black dress, she entered the designer’s sanctum sanctorum.

Debord was talking in English on the phone. After gesturing her toward a chair on the visitor’s side of his desk, he spun his high-backed chair around and continued his conversation. From his tight, rigidly controlled tone, Alex sensed that the telephone call was not delivering good news.

She took advantage of the delay to study the office. Like the workrooms, everything was pristine. The desk had such a sheen Debord was reflected in its gleaming jet surface. On the stark white wall behind the desk, Debord appeared in triplicate in Warhol portraits.

“Of course, Madame Lord,” Debord was saying. “I understand your reluctance to commit funds just now.”

Alex watched his fingers twist the telephone cord and had an idea that the designer would love to put those artistic fingers around Madame Lord’s neck.

She’d heard about the possibility of Debord designing a line of ready-to-wear for Lord’s, the prestigious department store chain. After last week’s debacle, the gossip around the atelier was that the designer was desperate for such a deal in order to salvage a disastrous season.

Now, unfortunately, it appeared that Eleanor Lord, like everyone else, had deserted Debord.

“Certainly. I will look forward to seeing you at the fall défilé in July. We shall, of course, reserve your usual seat. Certainement, in the first row.”

That statement revealed how important he considered the American executive. Seating was significant at couture showings; indeed, many fashion editors behaved as if their seat assignments were more important than the clothes being shown.

“Au revoir, Madame Lord.”

The designer muttered a pungent curse, but when he turned toward Alex, his expression was bland. He did, however, lift an inquiring brow at her jacket. When he failed to offer a word of criticism, Alex let out a breath she’d been unaware of holding.

“Americans,” he said dismissively. “They cannot understand that risk-taking is the entire point of couture.”

“Mrs. Friedman bought your entire collection.”

“True. However, I cannot understand why she chose my designs when they are so obviously inappropriate for her figure.”

“She told me she likes your work.” Alex was not about to reveal Sophie’s actual reasons for buying Debord’s collection. “And Lady Smythe seemed pleased with that black cocktail dress.”

That particular purchase had been viewed as a positive sign, since Miranda Smythe not only happened to be Eleanor Lord’s niece and style consultant for the Lord’s London store, but was rumored to be the person who’d brought Debord to the department store executive’s attention in the first place.

Unfortunately it appeared that when it came to business Lady Smythe had scant influence with her powerful aunt.

“I would feel a great deal better about the sale if Miranda Smythe had actually paid for the dress,” he countered. “I cannot understand Marie Hélène. The discounts she allows that woman are tantamount to giving my work away.”

Alex was not about to criticize Debord’s formidable sister. “I suppose it doesn’t hurt to have the wife of a British peer wearing your designs,” she said carefully.

“Such things never hurt. But the British are so dam-nably tightfisted, they seldom buy couture. The average Englishwoman would rather spend her money on commissioning a bronze of her nasty little dogs, or a new horse trailer. Besides, Lady Miranda is about to get a divorce.”

Alex had heard Marie Hélène and Françoise, Miranda Lord Baptista Smythe’s personal vendeuse, discussing the socialite’s marital record just yesterday.

“Let us keep our fingers crossed,” Debord decided. “Perhaps, with luck, this time the fickle lady will wed a Kuwaiti prince. They never ask for discounts.”

Alex laughed, as she was supposed to.

At last she couldn’t stand the suspense a minute longer. “I know you’re very busy, Monsieur. Would you like to see my portfolio now?”

“In a moment. First, I would like to know why such a beautiful woman would choose to labor behind the scenes when she could easily be a successful model.”

“I’m not thin enough to be a model. Or tall enough. Besides, I’ve wanted to be a designer forever.”

“Forever?” he asked with a faintly mocking smile.