Always the Designer, Never the Bride (32 page)

"Really?" Carly looked from Audrey to Kat and asked, "What do you think about this, Kat?"

"I think I'd rather see Audrey Regan Designs affiliated with House of LaMont than to see it swirl the drain."

"Well, don't beat around the bush or be gentle, Katarina. Just tell us how you feel," Audrey exclaimed.

"Sorry. But just two weeks ago, you were trying to figure out how to keep from surrendering. LaMont can help."

"Okay, okay," Audrey told them, using both hands to simulate leveling out. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Let's just wait and see." In an effort to bring things back around, she asked, "J. R., how is your lamb chop?"

"First rate," he replied, exchanging glances with Russell and Devon.

"Rightie-oh, mate," Russell egged him on. "Just stand back and let the women go at it."

"It's the only safe choice," Devon added, and the three men shared a laugh.

Audrey shook her head at them and stared Devon down. "Are you enjoying yourselves?"

Devon shrugged and nodded. "Yeah. Kinda."

Russell, Devon, and J. R. all looked at her, wide-eyed and straight-faced.

"Oh, please. Innocent doesn't work on any one of you."

Russell snorted, setting the other two loose.

"Very mature. Oh . . . What. Ever."

Which only set them to laughing all the harder.

"Children!"

"Ah, Audrey, it's . . . amazing."

"You look remarkable!" Kat said, angling the full-length mirror so that Lisette could see the back of the gown. "It looks so much better on you than on Mac!"

Lisette chuckled and leaned toward the dress form. "I'm sure she meant no offense, Mac."

"I'm glad we went with the chapel-length train," Audrey commented. "I think it's perfect for this silhouette. We still need to add a little something to the boning at the base of your torso, and I'll take it up right here." She gathered small sections at each shoulder blade. "And here. See how much better that looks?"

"Yes. It's just right."

"The strap is a little loose too. Hang on while I re-pin."

Audrey glanced at the metal clock on the wall. Nearly nine. She would have to push things along if she planned to shuffle Lisette out of the office before people started arriving at ten.

"I was surprised to see that you're sharing work space with Weston LaMont," Lisette said as Audrey pulled a straight pin from the cushion wrapped around her wrist.

"Why's that?"

"I read about his new venture in the
Journal
this morning. To tell you the truth, it worried me a little. I don't want to see my one-of-a-kind dress showing up next year on every plussized bride in the country."

Audrey smiled. "What do you mean?"

"The new line. What's it called? Rubenesque?"

Audrey's eyes made a beeline to Kat's, and they stared at one another until Kat blinked.

"He's starting a new line?" she asked.

"You didn't know?" Lisette asked. "I read about it in the car on the way over here. Have a look. The paper is in my bag, on the chair."

Kat zipped toward it and yanked the newspaper out of the tall camel tote.

"On the front page of Fashion and Style."

Audrey finished pinning and looked at Kat expectantly.

"Here it is," she said, and a moment later she gasped. "That snake!"

"Kat, what?!"

"Next season's runways will have to be a little wider," Kat read straight from the paper. "Weston LaMont, renowned designer and a definitive name in bridal and red carpet trends, will now add plus-sized design to his repertoire. Rubenesque Couture, an offshoot of LaMont House of Design, will begin creating high-end fashion for the discriminating curvier woman later this year."

Kat slapped the newspaper section down to the desktop with a stifled scream. "That snake!"

"This can't be right," Audrey said. "How can this be right?"

"Audrey, do you remember what you said to him? You told him that the plus-sized bride was like any other bride, she's just slightly more
Rubenesque."

"You didn't know about this?" Lisette asked, and she suddenly winced. "Ooh. Can I get some help here?"

"Sorry."

Audrey finished unzipping the gown and gingerly lifted it over Lisette's mane of blonde hair. While she slipped into the long gray cashmere sweater she'd worn over her black leggings, Lisette bounced her gaze back and forth between Kat and Audrey.

"So what does this mean?" she asked. "You didn't know about it?"

"No," Audrey declared. "He never mentioned it."

"Maybe that's what he wants to talk to you about," Kat suggested. "Maybe he's going to ask you to design the Rubenesque label."

"Maybe," she said, a little lost in her overload of speculation.

"You wouldn't include my dress, right?" Lisette clarified. "I mean, I really wanted—"

"No," Audrey said, raising her hand. "No, of course not."

After a moment, "But you wouldn't really design for him either, right?"

Audrey glanced at Lisette to meet an expression of consternation.

"I . . . don't know. I'm . . . Why do you ask?"

"I kind of thought you were in business for yourself. I mean, when I checked you out after our first meeting, I read on the internet that Audrey Regan Designs is an up-and-comer, and I just thought you were sort of creating your own name."

"Well. That was the plan."

"Until?"

Rather than explain her financial woes to a paying client, Audrey smiled at Lisette. "No offer has been made to work with Wes. It's pointless to talk about a possibility that hasn't reached the light of day."

"Still, I hope you'll turn him down and keep pursuing your own dream instead of his, Audrey. You're very talented."

Audrey hoped the smile she gave Lisette in return for the compliment didn't look as tired as it felt. So many scenarios wove through the maze in her head, crashing into dead ends and bumping into sharp edges.

Kat walked Lisette downstairs and, after she left the building, Audrey must have read the
Journal
article over five times. For someone with such little regard for human imperfection, it struck her as strange that LaMont had chosen to go this route with his designs.

"I just don't get it," she said aloud as Kat returned to the room.

"Well, you'll get the chance to ask him about it in person in about three minutes. His car arrived just as Lisette's pulled away from the building."

"Too close for comfort."

"I'll say."

"I just . . . don't . . . get it," she repeated, shaking her head. "I wonder how long this has been in the works."

Before the speculation could go any further, LaMont stepped into the doorway.

"Nice article," Audrey blurted before he could say a word.

"Oh, you saw it," he replied, and he crossed the room and sat down in the chair across from her desk. "So what do you think?"

Behind him, Kat opened her mouth to speak, and Audrey silenced her with the raise of her hand. "Katarina. Can you check with Billie about that delivery, please?"

Kat wrinkled her brow and stared at her for a moment before spinning on her heel and leaving the office.

"What do I think?" Audrey said. "I think it's a little strange that you would start a plus-size line when you clearly can't stand plus-size people."

"Ironic, isn't it?" he remarked. "Frankly, I had been thinking of expanding my demographic for quite a while. I was right in the middle of working on a business plan when I saw what you had done right here."

She wanted to stop him from even glancing at Lisette's gown, but LaMont stood up and walked toward it where she and Kat had placed it on the form. She found herself wishing she'd never been so foolish as to ask this man for help of any kind.

"It's exquisite, really."

Audrey leaned back in her chair and watched him. His words and tone didn't quite match.

"For me to inspire a designer of your caliber," she said cautiously, "is a highlight of my career."

"Your short career."

"I'm sorry. What?"

"You've been designing for, what? Three years?"

"If you count Barbie couture, it's been more than twenty." He didn't appear to find the amusement in her statement. "But professionally, since I graduated five or six years ago."

"Still so many dues to pay," he commented.

What you don't know about the dues I've paid could fill several of your glass-encased offices.

"I'd considered asking you to join my house. Did you know that?"

"No," she fibbed.

"What would you have said?"

The way he looked at her made Audrey antsy somehow.

"If you'd extended an offer that you've clearly decided now not to extend?" she clarified with a push-up smile. "I normally save my brain cells for actual problem-solving rather than the hypothetical variety."

"I suspect you would have accepted," he observed as he folded back into the chair.

"Oh?"

He nodded, looking at her over the bridge of his glasses. "Mm-hm. Because Audrey Regan Designs is, for all intents and purposes, ready to capsize. In fact, it should have already if not for a fluke break here and there. And although you would prefer to navigate the fashion world under your own name, you might have accepted a position working for me just to keep the dream going a little longer."

"You seem to have given this a lot of thought, Wes."

"You're talented, Audrey. You have a good eye and a fresh perspective."

"Thank you for saying so."

"But you still have years of hits and misses before you're ever going to be able to stand on your own two feet. My taking you under the considerable banner of House of LaMont would just make your trip around the mountain that much longer, and my investment in you futile."

Audrey vowed silently not to show him reaction of any sort. She would not lower her eyes, nor would she take one breath that might be mistaken for a sigh of resignation or disappointment.

"I don't happen to agree with you," she finally said coolly. "Regardless of that, we are at least on the same page. I don't see working for you as something in the best interest of my design career. So if you had made the offer, Wes, I would have . . . respectfully declined."

His grin seemed to slither across his face.

"That being said, I appreciate so much that you opened your doors to me while I worked in Atlanta." She knew better than to continue, but she couldn't manage to stop herself. "I hope you'll reconsider and allow me to reimburse you for the office space we've occupied?"

Audrey gulped. The empty offer hovered over her like thick morning vapor on a very still lake.

"Certainly not."

Oh, thank God!

"I have you to thank for the new direction with Rubenesque. You're my muse, Audrey."

He rose from the chair and just stood there looking at her for a long, uncomfortable gap of time before he finally turned and clicked across the floor and out the door.

Audrey inhaled sharply, holding the air inside her lungs for several seconds before releasing it slowly. On her second shot, Kat scurried into the room and closed the door behind her.

"He has pictures."

Audrey blew out the air from her lungs before asking, "Sorry, what?"

"I was just talking to Billie, Audrey. LaMont has digital photographs of Lisette's gown. He had her upload them to his laptop yesterday when Monique was out sick."

"And Billie just
told
you this."

"She can't stand the bugger either," Kat revealed, her eyes open wide and her expression so serious that Audrey almost laughed.

"Will she help us to—"

"Yep."

"Are you sure?"

Kat nodded emphatically.

"Let's pack up then. We'll need to vacate quickly once the deed is done."

Rather than stop and examine this new information and try to figure it all out, Audrey leapt to her feet. She and Kat sprang into action. While Kat packed several boxes with remnants of fabric, beading, thread, and pattern paper, Audrey draped a garment bag carefully atop the gown and dress form.

When she picked up her cell phone from the desk and began to dial, Kat asked her, "What are you doing?"

"Calling for reinforcements."

A moment later, J. R. had agreed to drive into Atlanta with Devon's truck. The bed would be plenty big enough to house a couple of boxes and a super-sized body with no head.