The Last Dress from Paris by Jade Beer

Author:Jade Beer [Beer, Jade]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2022-06-21T00:00:00+00:00

14

Alice

NOVEMBER 1953, PARIS

THE DEBUSSY

The kiss is intense.

Not the kind of kiss that should be seen by others.

A kiss that is never going to stay just a kiss.

It’s leading somewhere it shouldn’t, and Alice can’t stop it. Antoine doesn’t say a word before he places his lips on hers, but she can feel his passion flowing into her mouth and in the strength of his hands at the small of her back. It’s like everything else in the room is falling away. Nothing else matters. Alice doesn’t think about Albert, or Anne. She doesn’t think about anyone else in the room and how they might retell this story. Whom they might retell it to. She doesn’t even think about the photographers still circulating and whether this kiss is being captured. Every cell in her body is tuned perfectly to Antoine. His familiar smell, the low moan he makes as the kiss moves deeper and deeper into her.

It is Anne who interrupts them.

“Alice, please. This is not a good idea. We need to leave.” Her words are whispered but urgent enough to break the two of them apart.

All three of them move swiftly toward the exit. Just as they are about to make it to the relative safety of the darkness outside, they come face-to-face with Antoine’s mother, one hand wedged at her hip. There is no way to exit the building without dealing with her first.

“This really has got to stop, don’t you think, Madame Ainsley? I mean, really. Is it your ambition to be the subject of every gossip in Paris?” There is no deference being shown to Alice now. They are a long way from the social hierarchy of the residence salon. “What on earth will Monsieur Ainsley say when he finds out? It’s not just your reputation you’re ruining, you know. It’s my son’s.”

Before she can say a word, Antoine jumps to Alice’s defense. “No. It isn’t going to stop, Maman. Not unless Alice wants it to.”

“Your father is going to have a great deal to say about this, you realize. Why can’t you just be more like your brother?” Her words are thrown at Antoine with an air of malice that makes Alice stiffen by his side and provokes a level of anger in Antoine that she has not seen before.

“You’re never going to forgive me, are you? I’ll never live up to your impossible expectations!” he hisses, brushing past her, Alice and Anne trailing with him, out toward Alice’s waiting driver.

Having had no success with her son, Madame du Parcq turns on Alice. “I’m warning you, Madame Ainsley, this will not end well for you. Please, stop it now.” She delivers the words with a studied shake of her head. “What might seem like fun certainly won’t be in the weeks to come. He won’t be able to cope with it.”

Alice isn’t sure whether she means Antoine or Albert, but there is no time to ponder it further.

“You take the car back to the residence, Anne. I’ll make sure Alice is safe,” says Antoine.

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