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CHAPTER ONE
CAROLINE concentrated on a spot on the hile Fabbiano, kneeling on the floor beside her, whisked a needle and thread through the he to her like a second skin
“My best creation,” he muttered to the coterie of assistants clustered anxiously around him, “and see what has happened to it!”
Their eyes shifted to her accusingly, as if the hem’s collapse were her fault
“Turn,” the designer coy hand “Quickly, quickly, signorina Now, stand still”
The needle snicked in and out of the fabric, and then he leaned back on his heels, scowling
“Carlo The chalk”
An assistant stepped briskly forward and slapped a stick of yellow chalk into Fabbiano’s outstretched hand
“Pins”
Another slap Caroline’s lips quivered She had a sudden vision of the designer’s rotund forical scrubs Surely next someone would step up and wipe his brow
“Scissors”
The little ain and Caroline quickly raised her eyes to the ceiling Don’t s else Think of how surprised the well-heeled audience beyond the velvet curtain would be if it could see as going on back here, the last- a dozen models and heaven only kne eneral, all-purpose “gofers” into the crae at the Sala dell’Arte
No That was the wrong thing to think about It only rehter when they’d seen the engraved invitations that had gone out in three languages for this evening’s showing
“‘The Hall of the Arts’,” Trish had read in her flat Midwestern twang “‘What locale could be better suited for the unveiling of Fabbiano’s stunning Fall Collection on behalf of the Children’s Aid Fund?’”
“The local pescheria?” Caroline had suggested with an innocent bat of her long lashes, and the rooles
“I agree,” Trish had said when they’d stopped laughing “The fish ns, but no one’s going to say so”
“Especially when he’s been cagey enough to tie the showing to a charity affair,” Caroline had added with a sigh “All he’ll get is praise I’ll bet there won’t be an empty seat in the house”
There wasn’t One of the models had peeked at the audience froe and reported breathlessly that every spindly-legged gilt chair in the crowded hall was taken
“Wait until you see who’s here,” she’d whispered excitedly, then reeled off a dizzying list of names that had drawn oohs and aahs
Even Caroline, asn’t nized sos drew people very litz and no substance But tonight there was a fair sprinkling of media people and others, those with ly called old blood
“Signorina Signorina, are you deaf?”
Caroline looked down Fabbiano, still on his knees, was glaring up at her, his hands on his hips “I ask you to turn in a circle, please You must hurry, if we are to finish It is almost showtime”
Well, that was honest, anyway Showtined a year’s contract with International Models, it had been because she’d wanted to learn everything she could about the fashion business A year in Milan, Italy’s great fashion center, had sounded close to perfect—at least, that was how the woman who’d interviewed her at International Models had made it sound
“You’ll ith the finest talents in the business,” she’d said earnestly, “you’ll make oodles of money, and you’ll return to the States at the top of your profession”
Caroline hadn’t caredwas only a step on the road to a career in design But earning enough to pay for design courses at Pratt or at the Fashion Institute in New York had beenwith people in the business had been the clincher She had, in her naïveté or her stupidity—she was never sure which—i at the elbow of a Valentino or an Ars that had classical beauty
It had seemed a dream come true
And that was the trouble, she thought wryly It had been exactly that—a drea quite different Oh, she liked Milan The city was a spirited blend of the old world and the new In the saaze on the incredible beauty of Da Vinci’s The Last Supper and stroll the Galleria Vittorio E mall And always, on a clear day, you could look up and see the nificent, snow-capped Alps
But not one of the agency’s promises had come true Caroline ners like hier than the lives of fruit flies, whose successes were dependent not on talent but on flash and dash As for the ency took half her pay before she ever saw it, sos, the rest to pay her share of the rent on the irls
But worst of all was finding that she disliked fashion-show , but she felt incredibly vulnerable shi in a trendy, often skimpy outfit while pop music blasted and people stared It was, she knew, a stupid way to feel She was a model; people looked at models They were supposed to It was just that she couldn’t help seeing beyond those stares, to the envy of the wo sexual avarice of the men
Eventually, she’d found a way to endure her e The trick was to turn off the instant you stepped on the catwalk Not to make eye contact with anyone in the audience Not to think about the silly outfits you earing or the paint slathered on your face or hair that had been whipped and frothed into a lion’s mane
Instead, you held your head high and let a glazed look mask your eyes You moved to the music in a way that the show demanded And all the time you weren’t really there, you were somewhere else entirely, and the funniest part of it was that you ended up looking like a pro, like a model who lived for these moments in the public eye
“D’accordo!”
Caroline started, then looked down again Fabbiano was rising creakily to his feet, all s, he clasp
ed her shoulders and pressed kisses into the air on either side of her face
“It is done,” he announced “You, signorina, are superb Al Yes?”
Caroline cleared her throat “It’s—it’s quite unusual”
“Unusual?” he said, casting his entourage an a wo you will ever wear—until I surpass myself the next time!”
“I don’t see how you could,” she said pleasantly “You’ve just about gone the limit now”
The little man’s eyes narrowed lish pero would not
“Enjoy yourself, signorina,” he said with a s after him
“Fat chance of that,” Caroline said “Well, it’s the thought that counts, I guess”
“Is that what’s supposed to keep hts?”
Caroline whirled around Trish was cori a chartreuse dress that looked as if it had been spray-painted on
“My God,” Caroline said with a groan, “what’s that?”
“A good question” Trish lifted her hair from her shoulders and turned her back “Do me a favor, would you? See if you can zip me up”
“I can,” Caroline muttered as she inched the tiny plastic teeth shut, “if you can do without breathing There How’s that?”
“I around and faced her “It is beautiful,” she said coyly, “it is the most beautiful dress I will ever wear, until I surpass myself the next time”
Caroline laughed “You heard?”
“Yeah” She stepped back, eyes narrowed, and surveyed her roommate dispassionately “Too bad you couldn’t tell hiets it owes to you”
Caroline tugged at the thin straps that held the red silk up over the generous curve of her breasts, then sically hs
“And you haven’t seen what I get to put on next,” she said with a shudder “What the heck? Another hour or so, I can get back into my jeans and—”
“Not tonight, old buddy”