The Modiste Mishap: Heist Club, #2
By Erica Ridley
()
About this ebook
A Regency-set comedic caper featuring a book club of meddling spinsters.
Miss Sybil Stamper is the least fancy member of the reading circle known as The Heist Club. To her friends, bespectacled Sybil is the Queen of Lists, but she'd rather be belle of the ball. When she finally acquires an evening gown, her life looks like it's falling into place. But when a client's valuable objects go missing, not only is Sybil's happy ending in jeopardy—so are the futures of other young ladies just like her!
With the help of the Wild Wynchesters—a uniquely talented family of caper-committing siblings who don't let "laws" stop them from righting wrongs—Sybil and her club of delightfully bookish spinsters take on the heist of the Season.
Erica Ridley
Erica Ridley is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of witty, feel-good historical romance novels. When not reading or writing romances, Erica can be found riding camels in Africa, zip-lining through rainforests in Costa Rica, or getting hopelessly lost in the middle of Budapest.
Read more from Erica Ridley
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Titles in the series (2)
The Rake Mistake: Heist Club, #1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Modiste Mishap: Heist Club, #2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
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The Modiste Mishap - Erica Ridley
THE MODISTE MISHAP
HEIST CLUB
BOOK TWO
ERICA RIDLEY
CONTENTS
Also by Erica Ridley
The Modiste Mishap
The Modiste Mishap
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Acknowledgments
Nobody’s Princess
Nobody’s Princess
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Thank You
Free Books
Thank You For Reading
About the Author
Copyright © 2022 Erica Ridley
Design © Erica Ridley
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the author.
ALSO BY ERICA RIDLEY
The Dukes of War:
The Viscount’s Tempting Minx (FREE!)
The Earl’s Defiant Wallflower
The Captain’s Bluestocking Mistress
The Major’s Faux Fiancée
The Brigadier’s Runaway Bride
The Pirate's Tempting Stowaway
The Duke's Accidental Wife
A Match, Unmasked
All I Want
The Wild Wynchesters:
The Governess Gambit (FREE!)
The Duke Heist
The Perks of Loving a Wallflower
Nobody’s Princess
Heist Club:
The Rake Mistake
The Modiste Mishap
Rogues to Riches:
Lord of Chance
Lord of Pleasure
Lord of Night
Lord of Temptation
Lord of Secrets
Lord of Vice
Lord of the Masquerade
The 12 Dukes of Christmas:
Once Upon a Duke (FREE!)
Kiss of a Duke
Wish Upon a Duke
Never Say Duke
Dukes, Actually
The Duke’s Bride
The Duke’s Embrace
The Duke’s Desire
Dawn With a Duke
One Night With a Duke
Ten Days With a Duke
Forever Your Duke
Making Merry
Gothic Love Stories:
Too Wicked to Kiss
Too Sinful to Deny
Too Tempting to Resist
Too Wanton to Wed
Too Brazen to Bite
Magic & Mayhem:
Kissed by Magic
Must Love Magic
Smitten by Magic
The Siren’s Retreat Quartet
A Tryst by the Sea by Grace Burrowes
An Affair by the Sea by Erica Ridley
A Spinster by the Sea by Grace Burrowes
Love Letters by the Sea by Erica Ridley
The Wicked Dukes Club:
One Night for Seduction by Erica Ridley
One Night of Surrender by Darcy Burke
One Night of Passion by Erica Ridley
One Night of Scandal by Darcy Burke
One Night to Remember by Erica Ridley
One Night of Temptation by Darcy Burke
THE MODISTE MISHAP
FREE BOOK
Did you miss the Wild Wynchesters prequel?
Grab The Governess Gambit FREE for a limited time!
THE MODISTE MISHAP
A WILD WYNCHESTERS CAPER
Miss Sybil Stamper is the least fancy member of the reading circle known as The Heist Club. To her friends, bespectacled Sybil is the Queen of Lists, but she’d rather be belle of the ball. When she finally acquires an evening gown, her life looks like it’s falling into place. But when a client’s valuable objects go missing, not only is Sybil’s happy ending in jeopardy—so are the futures of other young ladies just like her!
With the help of the Wild Wynchesters—a uniquely talented family of caper-committing siblings who don’t let laws
stop them from righting wrongs—Sybil and her club of delightfully bookish spinsters take on the heist of the Season.
Erica Ridley is a delight!
—Julia Quinn
A family of delightful scoundrels... I want to be a Wynchester!
—Eloisa James
CHAPTER 1
Miss Sybil Stamper did her best not to allow herself to become distracted by the contents of the leatherbound volumes she was sliding onto the shelves in a colorful pattern.
She had read all of these titles before, which one might think would lessen the temptation to crack open the covers and read. And perhaps that could have worked, had she not been instructed to choose her very favorite books of all time for inclusion in the charity lending libraries she and the fellow members of her weekly reading circle had recently launched all over London. By definition, favorite books were the ones she could not help but want to read again.
She also couldn’t help the pang of envy at the thought of dozens—or hundreds—of eager new borrowers who would get to experience the magic and wonder of Sybil’s favorite authors for the very first time. It was absolutely going to knock their stockings off in the best possible way when they reached chapter seven, only to learn—
Brilliant!
boomed the local cobbler, looking not at the gothic adventure tale in Sybil’s hand, but rather beaming directly into her face.
The cheerful, portly older man had thanked her four times already—Sybil had kept count; she kept count of everything, she couldn’t help it—and he showed no sign of ceasing his effusive praise.
Along with countless maids and footmen,
the cobbler continued, even some ladies are bringing their boots in themselves in order to have a look at the new shelves whilst I secure their soles or resew their seams. Business has blossomed, and I have you to thank!
Not me personally,
Sybil demurred.
As the self-appointed list-maker of her philanthropic group of bluestockings, Sybil collated all of the book donations and additional title suggestions, and catalogued which volumes were to go where, and when. But the new books were not purchased from the coins in her purse. Largely because there were never any spare coins in her purse. It was the largesse of her wealthy friends and of the charity endeavor’s aristocratic benefactors that enabled the miniature lending libraries to exist.
I indeed thank you, personally,
the ruddy-cheeked cobbler insisted. It is you who inspects these shelves every fortnight or so—
Every other Wednesday, at ten forty-five in the morning.
Sybil’s calendar-keeping was just as obsessively correct as her list-making.
—and it is you who tidies the collection and keeps it fresh for the next customer.
She had a system for that, as well. The titles were organized by color, then size, then subject, with fiction sliding in before fact. Her purse might be of no assistance, but Sybil’s hands could make quick work of a task as simple as this. Besides, who didn’t want to spend an hour playing with books every morning?
The best part was seeing the positive effect that her club’s libraries had on communities where constituents didn’t usually have access to expensive luxuries like books.
Sybil herself had borrowed far more books in her life than she had ever purchased. The two dozen bluestockings in her reading circle collectively owned enough titles to rival the Royal Library. Sybil borrowed their books for free. A privilege, considering the subscription costs to most circulating libraries—if indeed they allowed women or the average commoner to become a member.
These charity libraries were different. They were located in ordinary shopping districts and residential neighborhoods. It cost a lowly farthing to borrow a book. One hundred percent of those earnings, as well as the coins in convenient donation boxes, went toward the purchase of more books. And the better-connected members of the reading circle regularly coaxed their wealthy friends to donate old books or greater sums of money to the cause.
The sight of all these volumes warmed Sybil’s heart. The two dozen members of her reading circle were as close as family, but the ordinary girls out there in desperate need of a literary escape felt like an extension of Sybil’s self.
What’s that chart you’re always checking?
asked the cobbler.
An activity timetable.
Sybil adjusted her spectacles. She kept good lists and checked them thrice.
She didn’t expect the cobbler to understand her love of lists. And what was a timetable, but a specific sort of list? Sybil had created a special page in a fresh journal for each miniature library. Every week, she tracked which titles had been borrowed, which had been returned, and which went ignored. In this manner, she could tailor the local catalogue to each neighborhood’s preferences, ensuring the right books found their way into eager hands.
And…if she was being fully honest, she used list-keeping as a distraction. In this case, from her nervousness about tomorrow’s meeting with Mademoiselle LaChapelle, the second best modiste in London.
All right, third best. Maybe fourth. Oh very well, Mademoiselle LaChapelle had few ton clients at all.
But Sybil wasn’t part of the ton either. Mademoiselle LaChapelle was the fanciest modiste she could afford—if saving every penny for three years meant the cost was affordable
.
Mlle. LaChapelle was an up-and-coming diamond. Just like Sybil longed to be. Many of the ladies in her reading circle were spinsters by choice. Others wouldn’t remain unwed for much longer.
And then there was Sybil.
She wasn’t just a wallflower. She was from a family considered shabby-genteel. Respectable, but a little bit embarrassing. Not so low as to be dealt the cut direct by her betters, but also not cultured enough to be invited to their teas and their balls.
But this year would be different. A fortnight from now, Vauxhall Gardens was hosting an extravagant ball which was already the talk of the Town. Everyone who was anyone would be there—as well as Aspiring Someones like Sybil, because Vauxhall Gardens