Page 50 of Paid to the Pirate

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I entered the wicked establishment and immediately found what I believed to be the proprietor. Dressed stations above the others, the lady couldn’t be missed. As I approached, she made no attempt to hide her perusal of my body with both the boldness of a man and the calculation of a businesswoman. Her scrutiny ended with one side of her lips pulling up into a small smile.

I dusted my skirts and tried not to fidget.

“Hello, my name is Constance,” I introduced myself falsely.

“Lady Wick,” she replied, evenly, and I couldn’t tell if she’d bought my lie.

My heart sped up as I didn’t like speaking in the open room where I could get caught at any moment. I resisted the urge to look over my shoulder, sure that would tip her off to the fact that I was hiding.

“I need a place to spend the night and was hoping you’d be so kind as to assist. I was separated from my party during a scuffle and lost my purse…”

Lady Wick snorted.

“Rooms upstairs are for clients only and you’re distracting from my girls down ’ere,” she said, unabashedly giving me another once-over. Lady Wick crooked an eyebrow. “Unless you’re lookin’ to earn back some of that coin you lost? Seems to me you shouldn’t be turnin’ away any chances you have to improve your situation.”

I blinked, shocked.My she worked fast to seize upon an opportunity and turn it to her favor.

The door opened behind me and I jumped a little, exhaling when two men I didn’t recognize stumbled into the room.

Running out of time and not wanting to be tossed onto the street, I lied, “Yes, yes, fine. I’m amenable to work.” I thought that squaring my shoulders and tossing my hair as I spoke gave me the bold look of a fallen woman, but Lady Wick only laughed.

“Clearly, you’re a shiny new pearl. Why hide it? You’ll fetch a bigger price. My terms are more generous than any other establishment you’ll find. And for a fresh maid such as yourself?” Lady Wick winked. “Fifty-fifty. Though I doubt we’ll find a man to pay such a price as I’m going to ask. There’s always tomorrow evening, and the next, for as long as you’d like to stay.”

How easily she could lure new girls to the work,I marveled.The prospect of a soft bed and a hot meal each night were powerful motivators.

Sweat gathered at the back of my neck as the seconds ticked by -- seconds in which I could get caught. Two facts worked in my favor if I accepted. One, she’d said it was unlikely that we’d find the appropriate customer in one night. Clearly, she took me for an unsoiled woman and wanted to charge the maximum price for a man to do the soiling. And two, if what I’d heard from the crew was true, the exchange between a lady and a gentlemen had to be mutually agreed upon -- meaning I could reject any customer who repulsed me. Which would be all of them.

Lady Wick struck out her hand.

“Fair?” she asked.

“Fair,” I whispered, shaking it and wondering what I’d gotten myself into.The hour grows late,I reassured myself.I can reasonably hide for the remainder of the evening.

“You’re fresh as the morning dew, but those clothes won’t work,” Lady Wick said, signaling to someone over my shoulder. “Get upstairs and get yourself into a new dress. Anna will take you.”

I followed a shy girl up a set of stairs, grateful to find a place to stay for the evening. I shed my clothes as if I could shed my memories of Colt along with them, though I wasn’t keen on the scandalous dress I was offered.

Properly attired, I reluctantly returned to the bar downstairs and was pleased to see it had further emptied for the evening.

Sequestered in the darkest corner, I hid, biding my time.

Chapter 24

Colt

Apretty maid is hard to hide,I mused, scanning the town, trying to temper my panic at the thought of someone else finding her first.

Where would she go? She wasn’t the same scrawny girl I’d once known; she wouldn’t find it possible to pull the same tricks.

Like cannon fire, an idea flashed in my mind and I let a slow smile spread across my face.But she’d be capable of pulling more womanly ones now.

Turning on my heel, I walked briskly in the direction of The Pink Pearl, beckoning beneath flickering torchlights about two hundred feet up the dusty road. Easily distinguished from the rest of the buildings, bright pink desert roses flanked her door. It was an appropriate choice as the flowering plant was both beautiful and highly toxic. Not many who passed through the foliage knew, but I’d often wondered if the cutthroat proprietor simply collected the poisonous sap and served it up to any patrons who got too rough with her girls or tried to skip out on a bill.

I thanked whatever god listened to a man like me when I entered the salon and, quickly scanning, found none of my own men lingering. Either they’d already taken a whore to bed or they’d finished their pleasure, and, running low on coin had moved on to the lively night I’d heard coming from The Crooked Crow up the road. Ale was cheaper than women and in these parts, enough of the former and a man might find himself lucky with the latter,en gratis.

Panic stabbed my chest again as I worried that another man had already found her, taken her, hurt her -

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