Henrietta popped up. “I’m not hiding, I’m—”
“Snooping.”
She blushed and crept forward. “Well, the two of you did keep mentioning my name.”
Tobias stood and faced his sister. “I have taken on three silk weavers in Spitalfields. I mean to make a name for myself and them.”
He was telling all! And confidently, too, as if it were the most natural thing in the world for him to be starting a venture.
Tobias took a step toward his sister and scratched his chin and jaw. “But I need help. I’m not good at the … well, at most of the stuff other than the designs. Selling and housing and delivering and the like. I’ve no head for those things. It occurs to me”—he cut a glance at Maggie—“and to my wife, that you would be the perfect partner for such a venture. Would you, perhaps”—his gaze dropped to the floor and he took a deep breath before meeting his sister’s gaze once more—“be interested in a partnership?”
Maggie could not take her eyes away from her sister-in-law. She almost couldn’t breathe, scared she’d miss the reply.
Henrietta beamed. “Master weavers from Spitalfields? That’s just what my clients are looking for. Yes! I’d very much like to consider it.”
Tobias narrowed his gaze. “You don’t think it’s a foolish idea?” Maggie wanted to banish the hesitancy from his shoulders once and for all. But only Henrietta’s answer had the power to do that.
“Not at all!” Henrietta said. “I’m glad you’ve thought of me for this venture, in fact. We shall talk about it in more detail later, though. Perhaps you should have words with your wife. Would you like to speak privately in our back room?”
His gaze hopped around the shop. “No, actually. This is perfect.” He smiled at Maggie. “Gads, Mags, you couldn’t have picked a better place for this if you’d tried. Not only is there an audience”—he doffed his hat and grinned at a matron and her daughter nearby—“but there’s those.” He made a beeline for one of several small, raised platforms in front of mirrors at the back of the shop. “Perfect.” He jumped on top of one. “Our roles are reversed now.”
Maggie followed him, each step making her feel a bit bolder. He was not angry with her. Thank heavens. And relief made way for curiosity. “What do you mean our roles are reversed?” But the answer crept over her like a rolling fog through a meadow. “Nowyou’reon the pedestal, then? Am I to keep you company while others draw you? Or am I to sketch your form?” Sketching him was not a terrible idea. She’d prefer the privacy of their bedroom, though.
The matron and her daughter looked on, as did three other ladies in the shop, though the gentleman who had accompanied them pretended not to look. Henrietta’s shopgirls gawped like Tobias was an actor at the Royal Theatre.
Tobias shrugged out of his jacket and tugged at his cravat. “You can sketch me if you like, as long as you listen to what I have to say as well.” His gaze locked with hers as he wound the cloth around and around his head, revealing the sinewy muscles of his neck.
She swallowed hard.
His fingers flicked open the top button of his waistcoat.
She licked her lips.
He undid the final button and slipped the waistcoat off his shoulders.
She came to her senses. “What are you doing?”
“Showing you I’m done hiding, done playing a role. Showing youme.”
His fingers slipped into the waistband of his pants.
“No!” she yelped. She grasped at his hands, trying to tuck his shirt back in.
He beat her away playfully. “You can help undress me later, Maggie, when we’re alone. Right now, in this moment, focus please.”
Maggie set her fists on her hips and glared at him. It was either that or stare apologetically at the assembled crowd, but meeting their likely disapproving stares would only increase the heat spilling across her cheeks and chest. “I am focused,” she ground out. “Now would you stop undressing and come down?”
“Not.” Tobias pulled up his shirt, revealing the taut muscles of his abdomen. “Yet.”
Heavens, he was going to pull that shirt right up and over his head, revealing himself to everyone inside the shop. Maggie covered her reddening face with her hands and whirled away from him to gather her thoughts. She lowered her hands and opened her eyes. Oh no.Window.Tobias’s platform stood at an inconvenient angle to a huge window at the front of Henrietta’s shop. Not only could everyone in the shop see him, any industrious passersby outside the shop could, too. And once one person started looking, they’d likely draw the attention of others.
She whirled back around.
Tobias had let the shirt go and it hung loose about his torso. He stared at her, one eyebrow raised. “I can’t do this if you don’t watch.”
“Can you not do this at all? Just tell me what you wish to tell me.”
He stepped down from the platform and took both of her hands in his. When she looked away from him, he tipped her chin up so she had to see into his eyes. His smile was soft and warm and brimming with love. “I want to strip naked before you, Maggie, to show you I am serious. To show you that from now on, I will strip myself of all my disguises and secrets so you do not have to live a life of shadows. You were meant for the sun.”
