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Daniel left Signore Vitale in his living room while he went back to his bedroom and stripped out of his clothes. He unzipped the garment bag and found an exquisite three-piece suit inside—black with silver pinstripes. Although distinctly modern it had a retro 1940s cut to it. All he needed was a fedora to look like he’d just stepped out of a Humphrey Bogart movie.
Once dressed, Daniel stared at his reflection in the mirror. He’d never really seen what women found so compelling about him—not terribly tall and certainly not pretty. But tonight in this suit he looked…
“Damn,” was all Daniel could say.
He went into the living room and found Signore Vitale waiting by the windows.
“Perfect fit,” Daniel said. More than perfect, the suit fit like his own skin.
“My assistant, she does amazing work. Far better than mine even when I was a young man. I’ve never seen her work so hard on one piece before. Even last night she stayed late at the shop picking out the perfect buttons.”
Daniel’s stomach clenched at the thought of Anya working late sewing his suit by hand. “Anya did all the work?”
“Every single stitch. Seemed to be a labor of love for her. Such a talent. I’ll miss her.”
“Miss her?”
Signore Vitale nodded. “She put in her notice. She’s moving back to Quebec to be with her family again.”
Be with her family again? Or to run away from him and how much he had hurt her? If Anya went back to Quebec, he knew she would never leave again. She’d become a mother to her siblings and give up her whole life taking care of them. Daniel couldn’t let that happen.
“When’s her last day?”
“It was yesterday. She’s going back tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?” Auction tonight, leaving tomorrow… “That’s not going to happen. I’ll keep her here if I have to tie her down.”
“Something tells me she might enjoy that.”
Daniel smiled. “Send me the bill. I have to go.”
“No bill. Anya paid for it.”
Guilt speared his heart like a knife. Damn stubborn girl. If she kept this up, he’d be forced to ask her to marry him.
“Send the bill anyway. Thank you for bringing this to me. Now you’ll have to excuse me. I’m going to go buy your assistant.”
Signore Vitale shook his head. “I hope you are as rich as Croesus then. That girl is priceless.”
“Worth every penny.”
Daniel took a cab to Kingsley’s. Limousines and Rolls Royces, Caddies and black Lincolns came and went, dropping off their well-heeled passengers. Daniel pushed past an actress he vaguely recognized and into the house just as Eleanor skipped down the main stairway toward him. He couldn’t help but smile at her. At formal events in Kingsley’s world, all the submissives were expected to wear white. Eleanor had on a white Regency style gown with a bow in the front that fell all the way to the hem. Her long black hair was pinned up in curls and ringlets. And around her neck she wore her white collar that looked merely like a choker. She looked as if she’d stepped out of the pages of a Jane Austen novel.
“Daniel, you look so fucking hot, I’d suck you off right now if we weren’t in public.”
“And Jane Austen spins in her grave. You look lovely.”
“Thank you. So the plan…”
“Is idiotic, as you said. But it’s the only one I have. Can I trust you to go through with it?”
Eleanor batted her dark eyelashes at him. “You know I’ll do anything to get in trouble with Blondie.”
“Is he here?” Daniel asked.
“Of course he is. Maybe we should get him to bid for you instead of me. It’s all kinksters here tonight. Nobody would ever bid against him.”
“I can believe that. No offense but I trust you more than I trust him.”
