“Your mouth and your bottom are virginal as well?”
My mouth drops open and my hands clap against it to cover it as I stare at her in shock. Behind her, Madame Atout laughs coarsely.
“You see?” Madame says, snorting. “She did not even realize such things were possible.”
I had not. No one had told me. My understanding was that men want what is between our legs.
My mouth and bottom?
A duke.
Well. If this duke wanted an innocent, I had just proved myself to be one.
The woman smiles. “I think she is perfect.”
A few minutes later, I am dressed again, and we are in Madame Atout’s office with the contract. Excitement buzzes all along my insides. I am going to be a duke’s courtesan! The sum he is offering for a six-month contract nearly makes me faint. I truly can live on that for the rest of my life, if I so choose.
Or I can leverage it into even more, especially if I find another patron quickly after this contract ends. Visions ofendless wealth and a future of luxury and leisure dance in my head. Unlike my mother, I will not need to work myself to the bone until I die. A few years catering to men’s desires and whims, and I will be set.
“Now, we should go over the duke’s expectations,” the woman says. I wave my hand. Apparently my mouth and bottom, along with my pussy, are part of the bargain, but I do not care. For that sum of money, whatever he wants to do with me, I will find a way to handle it.
“I am fine with signing now.” That was another part of Madame Atout’s training. I cannot read, but I can sign my name. “Whatever the duke desires, I am sure I can provide.”
Madame Atout sighs and starts to open her mouth, but the woman shakes her head at her and she subsides. At least one of them respects my decision. I smirk at Madame Atout as I bend over the desk and sign my name along the line, feeling some satisfaction at the ability to do so.
“Well then. That’s that. Come with me, Bettina,” the woman says, gathering up the papers. She looks back at Madame Atout. “I will have your copy with the duke’s signature returned to you.”
“Very well. Good luck, Bettina,” Madame Atout says. “You’re going to need it.”
Something about the way she says it makes me pause. She actually sounds as though she means it. Like she’s… worried about me? But why? She was the one encouraging me to take the contract. Even if there is something she is not telling me, I cannot imagine what cause she would have to say such a thing.
I frown at her.
“Come along, Bettina,” the woman snaps out, appearing beside me again. Rather than grabbing my wrist the way Madame Atout would have done, she smacks my bottom again, making me jump and squeal. I start moving, directing my glareat the ground. The duke has not signed the contract yet, after all, so I need to keep her happy with me until she delivers me to him.
I am very much looking forward to meeting the duke and being done with her.
In six months, I am going to be wealthy beyond even what I had imagined. No matter what I have to do for this ‘particular’ duke with specific desires, it will be worth it.
Chapter Two
“My name is Mrs. Fairfax,” the woman says once we’re in the duke’s coach. I know it is his coach because there was a coat of arms on the door, done in gold. Real gold. Inside, the surroundings are just as rich, just as luxurious. I barely pay attention to Mrs. Fairfax – how can I when I’m surrounded by all of this?
When I finally look at her again, she has a knowing gleam in her eye.
I drop my gaze.
“My name is Mrs. Fairfax, and you’ll be under my care when you’re not with the duke,” she says as the carriage rolls along.
“Like… like a lady’s maid?” She does not resemble any lady’s maid I’ve ever seen, but I do not understand what else she could mean.
“Not exactly, but the duke will want to explain.” She smiles, putting her hands one atop the other over her lap. For all that she’s dressed so severe and buttoned up, she’s actually rather pretty when she smiles. “You will not have to wait long.”
I nod my head, both relieved and a little anxious that I will not have a long wait. Now that I am no longer in the safety of Madame Atout’s house, I am feeling a little less confident. I havemy training, and I have seen the amount I will be getting in return for being the duke’s mistress which is all I need to know I want to do this, but the unknown is still unsettling.
There are heaps of questions spinning round my head. The answers do not matter so much, because I will do my job regardless, but I cannot help the curiosity.
“Is the duke very old?”
