Say You Love Me(5)

“You were expecting something tawdry?” He’d smiled when her look said as much. “I cater to the ton, dearie, and have found they are much more willing to part with their money if they feel at home while doing it.” And then he’d laughed. “The lower classes can’t afford my prices, don’t even make it through the door.”

“I see,” she’d said, not that she did. Men would take their pleasures where they found them, and there were houses of ill repute all over London to prove that. This just happened to be one of the more expensive ones.

And before he left her, he’d stressed once more, “You do fully understand this arrangement you’ve agreed to and how it differs from a normal arrangement of this sort?”

“Yes.”

“And that you will receive nothing for it yourself, other than what presents your gentleman decides to give you during your time with him?” She’d nodded, but he still wanted it perfectly clear, continuing, “A minimum figure will be set, the amount your uncle requires, and that will go to him. Whatever is paid beyond that I will have a share in, for arranging the sale. But no amount at all will go to you.”

She did know that, and prayed a good deal more would be offered, at least enough to tide her family over until Elliott got a new job and stuck with it. Otherwise, she would have made this sacrifice for nothing more than a temporary postponement of disaster. But on their way to London, her uncle had sworn to her that he would get a job and keep it, no matter if it wasn’t up to his standards, that he would never find himself in such a ruinous predicament again.

What worried her, however, considering just how much Elliott owed, and what she finally asked Lonny, was “Do you really think anyone will pay that much?”

“Oh, yes,” he replied with complete confidence. “These rich nabobs have nothing else to spend their money on. Horses, women, and gambling are their major pursuits. I’m happy to supply two out of three, and any other vice they have a desire for, short of murder.”

“Any vice?”

He’d chuckled. “Dearie, you would be surprised what some of these lords—and ladies—request. Why, I’ve got one countess who comes here at least twice a month and pays me to supply her with a different lord each time who will whip her—carefully, of course—and treat her like a lowly slave. She wears a mask, so no one will recognize her. In fact, the gentlemen I send to her merely assume she’s just another one of my girls. Would be happy to supply the service myself, her being a looker like yourself, but that isn’t what she wants. What titillates her the most is that she knows each of them personally, but they don’t know it’s her, and she sees them all at the ton gatherings, dancing with them, playing cards across the table from them, knowing their dirty little secrets.”

Kelsey had gone red in the face, as well as being rendered speechless, after hearing that. That people actually did such things—and paid to do them and have them done. Never would she have conceived of such a thing!

Which was why Lonny said in disgust, “Gah, them blushes are well enough for now, but you better get used to such talk, girl. It’s going to be your job henceforth to supply the man who buys you with sex, however he wants it, you understand? A man will do things with his mistress that he won’t do with his wife. That’s what a mistress is bloody well for. I’ll be sending one of my girls by to explain that to you in more detail, since your uncle obviously didn’t see fit to.”

And he’d done just that, to Kelsey’s further mortification. A pretty young woman named May had come by in the night, bringing the gaudy gown that Kelsey was now wearing, and had spent several hours discussing the facts of sexual life with her. May had covered everything from how to avoid unwanted pregnancies to every way imaginable to pleasure a man, ways to incite them to lust, and ways to get what she wanted out of them. The last had probably been something Lonny hadn’t intended Kelsey to learn, but May had seemed to feel sorry for her, so had volunteered that information too.

It had certainly been nothing like the brief talk Kelsey had had with her mother more than a year before, when she’d turned seventeen, about love and marriage. Her mother had discussed lovemaking and babies in her forthright way, then went right on to an unrelated subject, as if they both weren’t embarrassed to their toes by the previous one.

May had left her with the parting advice, “Just remember, it’s likely a married man that will buy you, and the reason he wants a mistress in the first place is he gets no satisfaction from his wife. Hell, some of them ain’t never seen their wives naked, believe it or not. Anyone will tell you—well, anyone of my acquaintance will tell you—that a man likes looking at a naked woman. Just give him what he don’t get at home and he’ll adore you.”