Her Mystery Duke by Natasha Blackthorne

lock of her hair back
then tucked it behind her ear.
    “They dismissed you because they found out you were
literate. All the world despises a lower servant who is literate.”
    “Oh, I don’t think that was the reason.”
    “Jeanne, I am telling you it is the very reason. I would
wager a year’s rents on it.”
    So, he was a property owner. Of course he was. But how large
was his estate? It really didn’t matter. After tomorrow she would never see him
again.
    “What happened next?” His voice rang with impatience.
    “At the third position, the master began to pay me too much
attention and his wife wasn’t happy. She accused me of being fractious and
disobedient. The doctor he told me that he would never recommend me for another
position—he had put his reputation at risk three times. He said I was just not
the right cut of cloth for service.”
    “You were much too young for such a determination to be
made.”
    “I think he was correct, David. I am a little like Papa in
that way. I daydream too much and I become distracted. But the expense of
keeping Papa comfortable was mounting and I needed to eat and have a roof over
my head. The doctor explained to me that some women are just meant to serve men
and to give them pleasure.
    “He said if I would be agreeable, he would take me to his
bed and show me what to do. In exchange, he would pay Papa’s expenses himself
and give me money for rent and food. Later he helped me find other providers
from among those he trusted. I never had to suffer the indignity of selling my
wares on the street or in some tavern. I never had to be afraid that a man
would intentionally hurt me.”
    David‘s sharp inhalation made her turn and look at him. His
nostrils had flared, ever so slightly. There was a pinched look to his
expression. Authority and power suddenly radiated from him. He seemed to be a
stranger lying beside her.
    She tried to back away but he tightened his hold on her.
“Hold for a moment. You mean to tell me that not only did the doctor know you
were a virgin and that you had no formal training to make your own living but
that he still took advantage of your dire circumstances? And his solution was
to train you to be a whore for his friends?”
    “He was very kind to me.”
    “You were a virgin.”
    “He was very considerate about that part, very gentle and
patient.”
    “Oh, I see—the very soul of consideration, was he?”
    “I was very nervous.”
    “You were terrified.”
    “Terrified is too strong a word. I was apprehensive about
the pain. But he saw to it I became quite tipsy on claret and he applied some
salve that made everything numb, I felt no pain when he penetrated me.”
    David actually paled and gaped at her for a long moment.
“Good. God.”
    “Stop, please. You’re making it sound as though he were this
heinous villain.”
    “He took your innocence.” David sat and then swept his hand
about the chamber. “And left you here.”
    “What was he supposed to do?”
    “He could have wed you—or kept you in better quarters.”
    “Wasn’t Thérèse your mistress?”
    “That’s not the same.”
    “Isn’t it?”
    “No, it is not the same at all. I showered her with every
luxury. In addition, I gave her security. More security than most women find in
their marriages. She also was a woman, fully grown and capable of making an
informed decision. She wasn’t some starry-eyed, seventeen-year-old chit.”
    “I wasn’t starry-eyed.”
    “All seventeen-year-olds are starry-eyed.”
    “I wasn’t seventeen when he took me to bed. I had just
turned eighteen.”
    “He took shameless advantage of you. And he didn’t even give
you pleasure.”
    “He gave me pleasure.”
    David gave her skeptical look.
    “Not as you do, but there was some pleasure. But David, I
don’t want you to have the wrong impression of the doctor. He helped me when no
one else would.”
    “Surely you had relations who would help?”
    “When I was sixteen, when Papa