The RuleThe next day, I went to Madame’s shop for my fitting. Her store front had been tidied, and she met me out front as usual, but stiffly, without a smile. “Come in.”
My outriders dismounted; one went each way, another followed us. Madame turned to Honor and said, “You men aren’t allowed in here.”
Honor hesitated, but Tony’s other man said, “He goes in, or I do. Or we return to the Manor. Your choice.”
Madame glanced at Honor. “Better a footman than a thug.”
The other man snorted in amusement, then faced the street. After Madame, Honor, and I entered the store, Madame turned the placard to “Closed: entry by appointment only,” and crossed to my private curtained dressing room. “He will not come inside.”
Honor said, “Certainly not. But men watch each end of your back alley until we
